GB News star Eamonn Holmes has hit back at Phillip Schofield over his TV comeback, saying he is “'very proud to have thrown him under the bus”.
Schofield departed ITV in May 2023 in the wake of secret affair revelations, after leaving This Morning that same month.
Speaking in a new Channel 5 show, Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, the former This Morning presenter claimed he was thrown under a bus, and criticised some former colleagues - who he did not name - for not showing loyalty.
Told about Schofield’s comments on Monday's edition of his GB News show, Holmes made his feelings clear, saying: “'Well if I'm one of the people who threw him under the bus I'm very proud to have done it...
“This man is addicted to fame, absolutely addicted to fame.”
He later added that Schofield deserved “to be in exile”.
Speaking on the Channel 5 reality series, which sees him spend ten days alone on a small island off the coast of Madagascar in his first return to a TV series since leaving ITV, the media personality said there was "no toxicity" on This Morning at the time, and his allegations were about the "same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice".
He addressed the claims of toxicity again during the series’ second episode, saying at first it was "utter bollocks", before saying that "there wasn't (toxicity) when I was there".
"I found out after I left that there are a few people in there that might be a little bit toxic," he added.
"I never saw it ... when (you're) on the telly, you don't see stuff like that, you're protected from it, people don't tell you, so I had no clue."
Schofield also said that morning TV has a lot of "amazing" people, before taking aim at what he called "three shits".
He called two of them cowards - one for not defending him over "queuegate", and the second for not "stepping up" over another matter, which he did not clarify.
The final person, he said, was "just brand-orientated".
This has been interpreted as being an attack on then co-host Holly Willoughby.
Alongside Willoughby, Schofield faced a backlash over claims the pair skipped the queue for the late Queen Elizabeth II's lying in state.
They were defended by the chief executive of ITV, Dame Carolyn McCall, who stressed the pair had been attending as members of the media to film a segment for This Morning.
Schofield was also upset that there was "absolutely no loyalty shown" to him during the furore over his affair, despite his 20-plus years on This Morning, and added: "I know what I did was unwise, not sensible, but is it enough to absolutely destroy someone, literally destroy someone?"
When he was dropped by his talent agency YMU on the same day he resigned from ITV after more than three decades with the company, he says he was "suicidal".
An external review, carried out by Jane Mulcahy KC on behalf of ITV found the channel made "considerable efforts" to find out the truth about an alleged affair between Schofield and a runner in 2019, but was not able to find evidence about the rumours.
Schofield "reluctantly declined" to take part in the probe because of "the risk to his health", the report in December 2023 said.
Ms Mulcahy said that for the period she reviewed, she could not find evidence of a "toxic" culture, and urged ITV to help junior employees who think speaking out will have a "detrimental impact on their careers".
