This Morning Editor Martin Frizell has now addressed Phillip Schofield, stating that "all will be made public". The 64-year-old was asked a number of questions, including whether ITV bosses knew about the former hosts' affair, which came out after Phil stepped away from This Morning in May.
Martin was asked on Dan Wootton Tonight, airing on GB News, whether it was possible that bosses did not know, reports the Mirror. He was asked: "On what planet is it feasible that you guys never knew about Schofield’s lover when he was on stage with you at the NTAs?"
"There was a good statement that came out from Carolyn [McCall, ITV's chief executive]. I’ll stick with that," he replied to the GB News reporter in footage aired on Dan Wootton Tonight. "I know but it’s very corporate and I think you owe it to your viewers and shareholders for some proper answers. Why was a production assistant on stage with you, Phillip and Holly?" Reporter Ben Leo asked.
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The This Morning editor responded: "She made a good statement. Listen, the KC will go through all these things and you’ll find that, you know, when it comes out, everything will be made public." The reporter continued to question Martin on whether he was aware of the affair but the editor referred back to Carolyn's statement.
Martin was then asked to address Eamonn Holmes' recent claims that there was a "culture of toxicity" at This Morning. "We love Eamonn. Eamonn’s Eamonn," Martin replied before refusing to address whether he would resign if the external investigation declared that the editor did in fact know about the affair.
In a a letter to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage, and the Ofcom chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, Dame Carolyn McCall announced ITV has asked a barrister to carry out an external review after Phillip's exit from This Morning.
She wrote: "You will have seen the significant media coverage concerning Phillip Schofield. As you would expect we take the matter extremely seriously and have reviewed our own records over the weekend. These show that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in late 2019/early 2020, ITV investigated.
"Both parties were questioned then and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours, as did Phillip's then agency, YMU. In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on the This Morning and wider Daytime team and were not provided with, and did not find any evidence of, a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
"Given the ongoing rumours, we continued to ask questions of both parties, who both continued to deny the rumours, including as recently as this month." The letter states that ITV offered "support" to the younger colleague that Phillip had an affair with.
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