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Vanessa Feltz addressed Phillip Schofield’s controversial return to TV 16 months after exiting This Morning over his widely reported affair scandal.
On Tuesday (24 September), it was announced that the former ITV host had spent the summer secretly filming a three-part series, titled Cast Away, which sees him spending 10 days trying to survive on an island in the Indian Ocean.
It will mark the presenter’s first return to TV since he admitted to having an affair with a younger male colleague he worked with on the ITV programme.
Addressing the affair in the series trailer, Schofield asks the camera: “I know what I did was unwise, but is it enough to absolutely destroy someone?”
Feltz, a colleague and friend of Schofield, warned that there could be a “risk” with his reality TV stint, but she will be supporting him along the way.
“Any reality TV show anyone does is a risk, that’s the whole point, you could come out brilliantly and everyone could fall in love with you and you could impress them to the max,” she told Metro.co.uk.
The presenter wished Schofield “all the luck in the world” and said he should be allowed to do whatever he wants “to make him feel better” in the aftermath of the scandal.
Feltz continued: “Obviously I haven’t seen [Cast Away], so I don’t know how he copes in isolation for all those days, and whether it turns out to be a good thing or a bad thing.”
“But he is a very seasoned TV professional, and I really hope that it’s the right thing for him, and it does him the power of good, that he personally enjoys it and that the viewers enjoy it and that it makes him feel better and it makes everybody feel better. That’s what I would like. I’d like it to be a success.”
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Since the news broke, Feltz said she hasn’t been in touch with Schofield because she doesn’t want to “jump on the bandwagon of messaging”.
She explained: “When there’s a story about me in the media, suddenly everybody that I haven’t heard from for ages jumps in and says something, and you know they’re only doing it because they want to tell their friend, ‘I spoke to Vanessa, and she says this, or she says that, or she is feeling well or not feeling well,’ or whatever it is, and I always think, ‘Oh, god come on, be a bit more subtle than that.’”
“So no, I haven’t messaged because what would I message? I mean, obviously he knows I wish him well, we’re good friends.”
Feltz joined This Morning in 1992 and Schofield joined a decade later. Since Schofield’s exit last year, his presenting partner Holly Willoughby left the show, with Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard taking over their roles.
At the time of his sensational departure, the married presenter said he had a “consensual on-off relationship” that was “unwise, but not illegal”.
He apologised for the affair, which happened while he was married to his wife of 30 years, Stephanie Lowe.
Speaking about huge changes rocking the morning programme, Feltz said it was “sad” to see colleagues leave.
“I was there on [Schofield’s] very first day on This Morning, and when they showed the footage on his 20 year anniversary there I was sitting on the sofa about a yard away from him on the very first of his day broadcasting.”
“So I’ve been there a very long time and when people that you’ve worked with leave it’s always sad, just like it would be working in any office with long-term work mates that you like. So that was a shame.”
