EXCLUSIVE Revealed: ‘ITV paid for’ Phillip Schofield’s lover’s astonishing showreel in which he interviews host in This Morning studios – as channel insiders ask why he was given extraordinary access
The runner who became Phillip Schofield’s lover filmed a showreel at the This Morning studios in a bid to launch himself as a TV personality.
The man, who the Mail is not identifying, interviewed Schofield himself in the reel, which sources say was ‘made and paid for by ITV’, raising yet more questions for under-fire channel bosses who insist they knew nothing of the fling.
The video shows a closeness and ease between the pair, with the runner discussing ‘singing in the shower’.
The reel was created and shared in 2015, the year the younger man, now in his mid-20s, arrived to work on the show.
A senior ITV source said: ‘This is quite extraordinary. It shows the extent of Schofield’s influence that he could make this happen for someone so junior.
The showreel begins with the young runner walking down a corridor and pointing out portraits of presenters, including Phillip Schofield
The man, who the Mail is not identifying, interviewed Schofield himself in the reel, which sources say was ‘made and paid for by ITV’
‘Everyone who allowed it to happen will have of course wondered why this was being done for a runner and what the relationship was between them.
READ MORE – Holly should move on and ‘cannot be associated with This Morning’, ex-ITV boss says
‘Of course it was all bought and paid for by ITV – it was filmed in the This Morning studios by the show’s cameramen. It even starts with the This Morning music. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it.
‘How many runners get access to the cameras, studio and main presenter? I’ll tell you how many: none.’
The bombshell video again raises questions about who at ITV knew or suspected that the presenter was having what he called an ‘unwise but not illegal’ romance with a very junior colleague.
ITV bosses faced further questions today about what they knew when after claims emerged that the younger lover received a financial settlement from the broadcaster.
A source told the Mail that the money was handed to the man, who, after he declared his love for Schofield at an awards ceremony in January 2020, was shunted to another of the network’s daytime programmes, Loose Women.
ITV has repeatedly declined to comment on the alleged settlement or deny it.
The video again raises questions about who at ITV knew or suspected that the presenter was having what he called an ‘unwise but not illegal’ romance with a very junior colleague
The young man spends a brief period in the This Morning kitchen where he invites viewers to email him about their favourite foods, before introducing Schofield
The pair met when Schofield was in his 50s and giving a talk to a theatre school. At that time, his future lover was 15 and keen to make a career in the TV industry.
He was later hired to work for This Morning on a junior basis, but left the show in 2020, the year that Schofield came out as gay.
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In the four minute 19 second video, the young man emerges from the lifts at This Morning.
He says: ‘You can probably tell where I am just by the star on the lift. That’s right, I’m at the This Morning studios – where hundreds of famous faces have come right out of this lift, from A-listers like Channing Tatum and Russell Crowe and Julie Andrews to famous politicians like Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair and David Cameron. And our very own This Morning family.’
Walking along the corridor past framed pictures of the presenters, he says: ‘There is Gino D’Acampo, our wonderful Italian stallion, and Phil Vickery. Hi Eamonn! And lovely Holly. Holly is on maternity leave. And one man who knows this room all too well is this guy, Mr Phillip Schofield – and I’ll be having a chat with him in just a few minutes.’
Then comes a brief spell in the This Morning kitchen where he invites viewers to email him about their favourite foods, before introducing Schofield.
‘Next year he will have had 34 years – wow – on screen. This man started presenting the occasional Friday and he’s still here after 12 years. That’s a long temporary job, isn’t it Phillip!?’
Smiling, Schofield tells the story of how he came to be cast in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Schofield asks: ‘Can you sing?’
Smiling, Schofield tells the story of how he came to be cast in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Schofield asks: ‘Can you sing?’
The runner interjects: ‘Well I sing in the shower’ to which Schofield agrees, adding: ‘In the car.’
The two laugh over a clip of Schofield in his days presenting children’s programmes for the BBC with Gordon the Gopher from the 1980s ‘broom cupboard’ set. Schofield says: ‘I don’t know what’s worse there – whether it’s the singing or the jumper.’
READ MORE Phillip Schofield ‘begged YouTuber who filmed shamed star with This Morning lover not to post video of them together – telling him it could ‘ruin my career”
The younger man counters: ‘I think its all brilliant, I really do. For me that’s what I think a children’s presenter should be. It’s entertaining.’
He goes on to tell his mentor: ‘I think you are doing very well,’ adding: ‘You are getting away with it, managing to keep it going.’
ITV did not respond to a request for comment on the video today.
A friend of Schofield’s said this week that his young boyfriend was ambitious enough to forge friendships with Schofield’s famous friends.
‘He was very much into the spotlight and the lifestyle,’ they said. ‘It was obvious to everyone that they were an item.’
On Friday last week, Schofield released a statement to the Mail in which he said that he was ‘deeply sorry’ for having lied about his relationship with the boy following questions from our sister paper, The Mail on Sunday.
He said: ‘I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody ‘forced’ me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me.
‘In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship. But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.’
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