This Morning scandals: biggest dramas on ITV show from Phillip Schofield affair to Queen’s queue jump drama

Holly Willoughby has quit This Morning five months after her co-presenter Phillip Schofield left the show over an affair with a younger colleague. 

Willoughby’s decision to leave the morning chat show, which is also fronted by Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary, after 14 years comes following an alleged kidnap plot against her was revealed.

In the last 14 months This Morning has weathered more than its fair share of scandals, most of which surrounded its two main presenters, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.

With Holly’s decision to leave the series now official, producers may be hoping for a clean break from its recent scandals going forward. These are the biggest scandals that This Morning has faced during Holly and Phil’s time on the show.

David Cameron interview

Almost forgotten now in the shadow of many other more recent scandals, at the time Holly and Phil’s interview with Prime Minister David Cameron provoked a strong reaction from viewers. During the interview, Phil showed Cameron a printed list of five people named as paedophiles relating to a contemporary child abuse scandal. 

The names of former Conservative politicians could be seen on the list and Phil was criticised for being irresponsible in showing it live on air, given that the allegations against those on the list were unproven. Cameron later criticised the move, and Lord McAlpine won £125,000 plus costs from ITV in a defamation suit as he was implicated in the abuse scandal by Phil’s stunt.

Spin to Win energy bills

On an episode in September 2022, during the cost of living crisis, This Morning added a new prize of four months of energy bills payments to the popular regular Spin to Win game. Holly and Phil, who have a combined net worth of around £20 million, hosted the segment which saw some contestants miss out on the top prize when they failed to give the right passcode. Others were on the edge of tears when they learned that their fuel bills would be taken care of for the next few months.

Viewers were quick to complain about the dystopian nature of the segment, comparing it to an episode of Black Mirror or Squid Game. Phil didn’t seem to get the problem though, in an episode following the backlash he quipped ‘I wonder how much of that they can complain about online’. The energy bills prize was quickly removed from the Spin to Win wheel.

Queue Gate

One of This Morning’s most unexpected scandals came as a result of a segment filmed for the coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. As part of the filming, Holly and Phil attended the lying in state of the Queen at Westminster Hall but were spotted apparently jumping the queue whilst a quarter of a million people waited in line for hours to pay their respects.

However, This Morning issued a statement claiming that the presenters had been escorted to the press gallery by government staff and did not actually file past the coffin, as those in the queue had done. Despite the explanation the episode sparked a massive furore with a petition launched for Holly and Phil to be sacked. In hindsight, this moment seemed to mark the beginning of the end for the pair’s time on the show, as neither star’s popularity fully recovered in the year since.

Philip Schofield affair

The revelation about Philip Schofield’s affair with a much younger ITV employee came on the back of months of speculation about his private life, and a short absence from the show during his brother Timothy’s sex abuse trial - which Phil was not implicated in.

Schofield, who had come out as gay in 2020 and separated from his wife of 27 years, admitted in May 2023 that he had had an affair with a young male employee and lied about it to ITV producers. Holly later spoke about her hurt at being lied to by her co-presenter. Schofield didn’t help his case by arguing that the affair was ‘unwise but not illegal’, and on 26 May he officially quit This Morning.

Holly Willoughby quits

Presenter Holly Willoughby announced on Tuesday (10 October) that she was quitting This Morning after 14 years with immediate effect ‘for the sake of me and my family’, The news came days after an alleged kidnap plot of the star emerged.

Speaking of her decision to leave the ITV show, Willoughby said: "To everyone who has ever worked on the show over the years, thank you so so much. This is such a difficult goodbye, you are incredible and I forever will be proud of what we've done together. Thank you to everyone at ITV for being supportive. To every guest who has sat on our sofa, thank you."