THREE of This Morning’s most popular stars who were “sidelined” by departing boss Martin Frizell could be set to make a sensational comeback.
Amanda Holden, Rylan Clark and Ruth Langsford are the favourites to return to the sofa in some capacity as the rumoured new boss replacing Martin secretly plans a huge show shake-up.
Insiders say his expected promotion means Rylan could return with a regular slot – along with Amanda and Ruth for the first time since their feuds with ex-host Phillip Schofield.
A source told The Sun: “Despite being sidelined on the show by Phillip and Martin, Rylan, Amanda and Ruth are still incredibly popular at ITV.
“They are all hugely successful and experienced presenters and the viewers have always loved them – they are also huge favourites of Vivek.
“It wouldn’t surprise anyone if those three return to the This Morning studio when Martin leaves – they should never have left in the first place.
“Fans will be over the moon if they return.”
Despite soaring ratings while Amanda was on the ITV show, the plans for her to take over from Holly Willoughby while she was away hosting I’m A Celebrity in 2018 were scuppered by then-host Phillip.
He demanded Amanda was passed over for the hosting gig in favour of his first choice, Rochelle Humes.
Amanda went on to celebrate huge success in her new job building the UK’s largest commercial breakfast radio show at Heart and hasn’t been back on This Morning since the snub.
Meanwhile, Phil was axed amid fury over an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a young runner on This Morning.
Although ITV are externally advertising the £155,000-a-year role, current Associate Editor Vivek Sharma is heavily tipped to land the biggest job in TV.
This Morning’s ratings dropped to fewer than 700,000 viewers in September under new presenting duo Ben Shepherd and Cat Deeley.
Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden has 4.2million weekly listeners – and it’s hoped Amanda’s return to This Morning could provide the boost the show needs.
Loose Women anchor Ruth was axed alongside her husband Eamonn Holmes in 2020 in favour of Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary, who took over Fridays.
Schofe cut off Ruth, 64, while she was in the middle of a live link, teasing what was coming up on Loose Women.
The incident ultimately led to Ruth making a complaint over his behaviour to ITV.
The next year she was sacked alongside furious Eamonn whose long feud with Phil has been branded the “b****iest, most vicious fall out in showbiz”.
Ruth and Eamonn’s close friend Rylan found himself pushed out from This Morning because he sided with his TV “mum and dad” and not Phillip.
He only recently returned to guest host once Phil was long gone from the ITV show.
ALL good things must come to an end - and after 10 years, and a particularly turbulent past 18 months - the end was nigh for Martin Frizell.
Mercurial, passionate, talented and combative, he is one of the last of the old-school Editors.
But under his helm, the myth of the cosy world of daytime telly was shattered. Unquestionably Holly and Phillip’s toxic feud tarnished the brand – and to this day, their spectre haunts This Morning.
Just weeks ago, The Ghost of Schofield Past came back to haunt Martin, over a Madagascan camp fire.
Frizell – whose charity campaigns must be lauded – can be proud of his legacy. But major changes, surely, are coming to This Morning.
Fiery editor Martin, 65, announced his departure yesterday in an internal email to all staff – minutes before the official announcement from broadcast bosses.
He will use his time away from London’s White City to spend more time with his wife, former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2022.
This Morning has never truly recovered from Holly and Phil’s departure, which suffered two years of turbulent toxicity.
Phillip and Martin – who had an “exceedingly tight-knit” relationship – fell out spectacularly in the wake of Queuegate.
Martin ordered Holly and Phillip to “jump” the huge queues to see the late Queen lying in state.
Holly and Phillip were ridiculed online by the public with countless memes, claiming their actions were disrespectful.
Martin did not own up to his error and let the pair take the flak – something the former Dancing On Ice host was utterly seething about.
Phillip recently slammed Martin as a “s***” when he spoke out about his sacking while trying to survive on a deserted island for a Channel 5 show.
Announcing his departure in a statement, Martin said: “Next year I’m expecting my family priorities to change so I need to free up time for them.
“I love my team at ITV and will miss them and the thrill of live telly but it’s an always on, 24 hours a day, seven days a week commitment and I won’t be able to do both.
“It’s been a privilege to lead truly great presenters and producers, between us we’ve turned out more than six thousand hours of live topical telly, that’s around 20,000 items and the gongs are always nice.”
The Sun has gone to ITV for comment.
By Rod McPhee
OVER three nights – and three hour-long episodes – Phillip Schofield has been bearing his soul in new Channel 5 show Cast Away.
And it’s basically a chance for the former This Morning host to explain the circumstances that saw him leave the show last year.
To put it mildly, he left under something of a cloud, admitting he’d had a fling with a much younger runner on the programme. But in the C5 show he presents his own versions of events – one which is at odds with the narrative that emerged at the time.
He was portrayed as a man who’d had an “unwise” affair, who’d resigned as a result and had let many of his colleagues down.
But in Cast Away Philip insists he was fired by ITV and not for the affair, but because of the bad publicity that surrounded the crimes of his paedophile brother. He summed it up best when he claimed he’d been “pushed under a bus.”
After watching Cast Away what you’re left with is something rather confusing, however.
Did Philip think he’d done something wrong by having the fling with the runner, or not? For example, he said he wouldn’t have been slammed for it quite so much if it were a heterosexual fling.
He said he: “would have received a pat on the back for having an affair with a woman.” This infers that the only thing wrong with it was that it was a same sex fling. So why does he also say: “I will be forever sorry. I screwed up. I made a mistake.”
The answer, I suspect, is that the whole affair was a murky business. There were so many blurred lines around appropriateness, professionalism and honesty.
The only firm conclusion you can draw from the show is that Phillip himself isn’t ENTIRELY sure to what extent He was guilty of wrongdoing.
Amid the confusion, what will the viewing public think? I suspect that this will leave those who disliked Phillip to feel even more suspicious of him.
Those who backed him, will feel reassured too. But those who still aren’t sure what to think will be none-the-wiser – and I’m not sure if that’s what Phillip would have wanted.
