Piers Morgan has said there's a 'viper at ITV worse than Phillip Schofield' after the presenter quit This Morning following a reported fall-out with Holly Willoughby.
Phil, 61, left the 'show he loves' on Saturday after saying he understood 'ITV felt the current situation couldn't continue'.
Piers, 58, who quit Good Morning Britain after storming out following his Meghan Markle outburst, has now waded into the drama with the former Broom Cupboard star, saying ITV is "infested by a pack of savages".
In his column, he claimed an ITV star had contacted him to say sorry about his departure from GMB after 'just texting a senior ITV executive for his job'.
Saying he wasn't "remotely surprised" by the 'hypocrisy', he wrote: "When I was asked about his [Phil's] sacking, and described daytime TV as being "infested by a pack of savages", I got an email from a former senior ITV executive saying simply: 'You’re not wrong. Absolute nest of vipers with zero loyalty!'"
Piers continued in The Sun: "These two-faced wastrels would billow constant adoring smoke up my a** to my face, but behind my back many of the same smiley, happy, nicey-nicey people were pouring toxic buckets of foul-mouthed manure over me."
The TalkTV host then went onto lay into current This Morning host Holly, 42, who he said suggested she took over presenting Life Stories after being asked to 'record an obit' about Piers by 'pranksters'.
Claiming he didn't know if she was joking or not, Piers said: "Holly’s a friend of mine, but beneath the benign butter-wouldn’t-melt grin and touchy-feely motivational Instagram posts lurks a tough, ambitious, brand-protective cookie, which is one of the reasons why I like her."
Holly released a statement after Phil quit, thanking her former colleague for his 'knowledge and humour', adding 'the sofa wouldn't feel the same without him'.
But Phil didn't mention the mum-of-three once when he announced he was leaving This Morning after more than 20 years.
There have been reports the Wylde Moon Guru issued ITV with ultimatum, saying she would walk if Phil didn't go.
However, ITV told the Mirror: "Phillip Schofield’s decision to step down from This Morning was (as his statement made clear) a decision agreed between Phillip and ITV."
In a case of seriously awkward timing, Phillip and Holly have been recognised in the National Television Awards longlist for best TV presenter, while This Morning is up for the daytime prize.
Days after Phil quit, it was announced he and his former co-host were among 50 names long-listed for the NTA presenter prize, alongside fellow This Morning presenters Alison Hammond, Dermot O’Leary and Rylan Clark.
Rylan is one of the runners and riders said to be in with a chance of taking over Phil's job on the ITV daytime show, including Dermot, Joel Dommett and Stephen Mulherne.
The Mirror has contacted reps for ITV, Phil and Holly for comment on this story.
