The ITV presenter holds “quite a bit of power now with ITV bosses” for This Morning to survive following the Philip Schofield controversy.
That’s according to UK-based journalist and media consultant Enda Brady, who told The Pat Kenny Show that Holly Willoughby has “played a clever hand” in the fallout of Mr Schofield’s career.
“She must be mortified because she sat on the sofa with this guy for 13/14 years,” he said.
“She stood by him when he came out a couple of years ago.
“Right now, privately, she will be very, very angry.
“He lied to her, he lied to his family, he lied to the management, and his reputation right now is in ruins.”
Philip Schofield
Mr Brady said Schofield’s admission that his relationship was “unwise but not illegal” was a “staggering statement.”
“This was a guy who was perceived to have been so squeaky clean,” he said.
“It's all imploded spectacularly ... it's a war of words now.
“He has just put that statement out saying that there are a lot of people who have it in for him and I think all chickens are coming home to roost really.”
Phillip and his former co-host Holly Willoughby. Photo via Phillip Schofield's Twitter.ITV
Chairman of the Communications Clinic and Irish Examiner Columnist Terry Prone said reputation damage in a corporation “is like a blood stain.”
“It doesn't stay where it should stay, it begins to seep into everything else,” she said.
“That's what ITV is looking at now.
“The corporate morality and the private sexual morality have to be kept separate.
“The issue is also the power issue and the fact that this man had influence within the organisation.
“ITV in retrospect, don't seem to have interrogated the thing as well as they might have.”
Sponsorships
Ms Prone said sponsorship for the show will likely see changes following the scandal.
“A company like Marks and Spencer that does a lot of sponsorship of Holly Willoughby's clothes, they're going to look at this and say … ‘It's a seeping squalor. Do we want to put money into it?’”
Arnold Clark car dealers, This Morning’s main sponsor, announced they would not be renewing their deal with the show.
According to reports published in The Sun this morning, it is reported that the network has lost over £2 million in sponsorships.
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Main image shows Phillip and his former co-host Holly Willoughby. Picture by: ITV
