ITV has issued a statement on the future of This Morning as the show is set to return.
The channel's flagship daytime programme has been rocked with drama as Phillip Schofield quit the channel. The 61-year-old broadcaster initially stepped away from This Morning amid reports an alleged feud with Holly Willoughby reached fever pitch.
Mr Schofield was set to continue his working relationship with ITV and was scheduled to host the British Soap Awards this week. However, he quit the channel with immediate effect on Friday as he admitted to having an affair with a runner who worked on the show.
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He told the Daily Mail: "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.
"I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife."
The story was addressed on today's edition of Good Morning Britain as Sean Fletcher read out the morning headlines. A report from the Sunday People claimed ITV was considering axing the programme amid the ongoing controversy.
However, the channel shut down the rumours as a statement said: "This Morning is not under review and there’s no plans for the show to be axed." Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary will return as hosts for This Morning, which will be broadcast at 10am.
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