PHILLIP SCHOFIELD hit the headlines in May 2023 when he announced his shock departure from This Morning and ITV.
Many viewers speculated about the presenter’s relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby in the wake of the exit, and revelation about his affair with a younger staffer, but his rumoured “feud” with another ITV star, Amanda Holden, also garnered much attention.
In 2014, when Holly went on maternity leave with her third child, Phillip was joined on the This Morning sofa by Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda, who filled in as a guest presenter.
The Heart Breakfast radio host took over from the October to the January – before she went off to film BGT auditions – then returned again for a few months.
Amanda and Phil, who stepped down from This Morning on May 20, 2023, had also previously hosted The Sun’s Military Awards together and appeared to get on well.
Years later, however, it was reported that relations between the pair had turned sour, with Amanda confirming on her radio show that she doesn’t ever plan on a reconciliation with her former co-worker.
Phillip and Amanda’s feud is rumoured to have begun when Amanda was passed over for a hosting gig in favour of Phil’s first choice, Rochelle Humes.
Amanda had been tipped to stand in for Holly on This Morning during her time away hosting I’m A Celebrity in 2018 but The Saturdays star Rochelle booked the job instead.
A former daytime TV executive told The Sun at the time: “Phillip actively campaigned for Rochelle to get the job despite Amanda being more experienced — and having been told privately she’d got the gig.
“She feels Phil unfairly used his powers of persuasion. She was told he’d chosen Rochelle because she was easier to ‘manage’ on air – and understandably that incensed her.”
An ITV spokesperson denied the claims at the time and released a statement of support for Phillip.
The statement read: “Presenter line-ups on This Morning change regularly. Final decisions are made by producers, not presenters.
“Phillip is a much-loved broadcaster and part of the ITV family. He’s a consummate professional and held in high regard at ITV.
“Amanda is also held in high regard as a judge on one of our biggest shows.”
Shortly after Rochelle was confirmed as Holly’s replacement, Amanda appeared on This Morning to talk about her work with pregnancy and baby loss charity, Tommy’s.
During an ad break on the October 2018 episode, Amanda reportedly confronted Phil about her suspicions that he had campaigned for Rochelle to replace Holly instead of her.
A source told The Sun: “She made it clear that she felt very let down.
“He was lost for words but didn’t have much time to respond to Amanda’s claims because the show was going back on air.
“Neither of them realised that Amanda could be overheard by most of the team because she was still wearing her mic pack.”
In 2019, Amanda confirmed her and Phillip’s feud to co-host Jamie Theakston on their Heart Radio Breakfast show , and insisted they’ll never reconcile.
She said she asked to meet Phillip in a bid to clear the air but was ghosted by the star.
In the unearthed clip, that has been doing the rounds since Phil was axed from This Morning, Amanda says: “I’ve moved on from it Jamie, you need to move on from it.”
He replies: “You might have moved on but I just wanted to know, is there any more to the story?”
She then reveals: “I did offer to meet him for a coffee months ago, he didn’t reply to my text. What can I say?”
Jamie pushes again: “The olive branch had been extended.”
“Oh, yes,” Amanda replies.
Referring to the famous photo of Katy Perry and Taylor Swift hugging while dressed up as fast food after they’d resolved their own feud, Jamie asks Amanda if there will be a “burger and fries moment” – but Amanda adamantly says “no”.
Amanda has since appeared to make several digs at Phillip, including posting a strongman arm Emoji to her Instagram page after news of his This Morning exit broke, commenting on who should replace him, and taking a cheeky swipe after the “queue-jumping” controversy surrounding Phillip and Holly’s visit to see the Queen lying in state.
Phillip has not directly addressed his rumoured fallout with Amanda but, prior to the alleged end of their friendship, he had revealed what it was like to work with her.
In 2015, he spoke to Heat magazine about his former co-worker, saying: “She kept me on my toes.
“She has a faulty edit button and she forgets she’s on the telly, which is enormously endearing and funny, but occasionally quite scary.”
He also appeared to reference the rumours surrounding his relationship with Amanda after The Sun reported that Amanda had made a formal complaint to ITV boss Kevin Lygo about the This Morning hiring incident.
Phil addressed the speculation on Twitter, saying: “The end of another really sad weekend.
“When you try for 35 years to be the easiest, most fun person to work with and you read such hurtful and wildly untrue stories from nameless ‘sources’.
“Obviously I’ll take it on the chin..I just hope you know me better.”
