We Axe Any Star: Phillip Schofield’s ad deals evaporate as embattled star is dropped as ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, airbrushed from used car firm’s YouTube adverts and even his own wine range
- When In Rome is the latest brand that appears to have ditched the broadcaster
Phillip Schofield’s advertising deals and once entrusted ambassador roles have started to evaporate following the shamed presenter’s revelation that he lied about an affair with a much younger male colleague.
Last night When In Rome, the wine company the ex-This Morning star had a partnership with, appeared to ditch him by removing all listings of his products from their websites.
The Prince’s Trust, a charity set up by King Charles back in 1976 to help support disadvantage people under 30, removed Schofield as an ambassador earlier as it was ‘no longer appropriate to work together’.
And We Buy Any Car axed all its adverts featuring the 61-year-old from its YouTube channel.
It comes as the fallout from Schofield’s admission to the ‘unwise, but not illegal relationship’ rumbles on into its second week.
Last night Phillip Schofield’s own wine company called When in Rome, sold exclusively at Waitrose stores and Waitrose cellars, removed all listings of his products from their websites
Schofield has also been removed as an ambassador from the Prince’s Trust website. The charity was set up by the King back in 1976 to help disadvantaged young people
We Buy Any Car has also removed all adverts featuring former ITV presenter Schofield from its YouTube channel, it emerged today. Mr Schofield is pictured in one of the ads
On When in Rome’s website, it says ‘there are no products in this collection’ under Schofield’s name
Schofield’s wine company, which sold two premium Italian wines, launched in 2020.
But those looking for the tipples, made from Falanghina grape and a red Nero di Troia grape, last night would have found a message that read there are ‘no products available in this collection’.
A spokesperson for When in Rome told MailOnline: ‘We have worked with Phillip Schofield on his range of Italian craft wines for three years and this collaboration has drawn to a natural conclusion.
‘There are no further plans to continue filling the Schofield range for future orders.’
READ MORE: ‘He fell on his knees crying and told me ‘I’m gay”: Eamonn Holmes recalls how Phillip Schofield confided in him in green room before star came out live on air
When in Rome chief executive and co-founder Rob Main previously said: ‘Having someone like Phillip on board to support the box wine category, demonstrates the size of the opportunity we have in the market to educate consumers that there is another way to enjoy high quality wine that doesn’t have to be bought in a bottle.’
A then smiling Schofield added: ‘I have really enjoyed the process of sourcing, selecting and now sharing these wines with everyone.
‘I don’t think there is anything I have been so passionate about, so I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do.’
His wine was previously axed from Waitrose after being branded ‘undrinkable’ by customers.
MailOnline has contacted When in Rome about the matter.
The King’s charity, which has a number of celebrity partners including Fearne Cotton, Idris Elba and Gareth Southgate, has also taken steps to distance itself from Schofield.
References to the Prince’s Trust have since been cut from Schofield’s own website.
It previously read: ‘Outside of work, Phillip is an Ambassador for the charity The Prince’s Trust, dedicating time to further the work of supporting vulnerable young people in the UK.’
Schofield’s wine company, which sold two premium Italian wines, launched in 2020
We Buy Any Car included Schofield in its campaigns for nearly six years and encouraged shoppers to be ‘more like Phil’. He was reportedly paid £1million per year to front the ads
The page which details information ‘about’ the presenter is currently unavailable due to a website ‘error’.
Yesterday there were still photographs of Schofield laughing with the Monarch alongside Ms Cotton at a previous event, the Mirror reported.
READ HERE: Eamonn Holmes slams ‘woke’ ITV boss Carolyn McCall and says he was never given a reason for being axed from This Morning
A Prince’s Trust spokesperson, however, confirmed last night that Schofield would no longer work with the charity.
They said: ‘In light of Phillip’s recent admissions, we have agreed with him that it is no longer appropriate to work together.’
We Buy Any Car included Schofield in its campaigns for nearly six years and encouraged shoppers to be ‘more like Phil’, with the TV personality reportedly paid £1 million per year to front the ads.
He appeared in countless tongue-in-cheek WeBuyAnyCar ads, which often portrayed him as ‘the most loved man in Britain’, since striking a deal with the company in 2017.
But the firm allowed his contract to lapse last autumn when he and his co-host Holly Willoughby came under fire queue-jumping while the Queen was lying-in-state.
We Buy Any Car declined to MailOnline’s request for comment today. It is unclear what specifically prompted the firm to now remove the adverts – months after the partnership with Schofield ended.
References to the Prince’s Trust have been cut from Schofield’s own website. It previously said Schofield (pictured with Fearne Cotton at one of the charity’s events in 2019) dedicates his ‘time to further the work of supporting vulnerable young people in the UK’
The firm dropped Mr Schofield from its advertising campaigns in October last year. He is pictured in a WeBuyAnyCar advert
Several of the campaign videos are still available for viewing on other channels on YouTube.
We Buy Any Car, which purchases second hand vehicles for cash, was among several brand’s teased in the wake of the scandal, with memes changing their branding to We Jump Any Queue shared widely on social media.
A spokesperson for the dealership told MailOnline at the time: ‘WeBuyAnyCar and Phillip Schofield agreed earlier this year that the WeBuyAnyCar/Phillip Schofield campaign would come to an end in 2022, having worked together for over five years.
‘The decision was made prior to any recent stories regarding Phillip.’
Schofield admitted lying to his talent agency YMU, his lawyers, his co-star of 14 years and ITV about his ‘unwise, but not illegal affair with a younger male colleague’.
Schofield appeared in countless tongue-in-cheek WeBuyAnyCar ads since he struck a deal with the company in 2017. Pictured: A still from one of the Phillip Schofield adverts
WeBuyAnyCar often portrayed Mr Schofield as ‘the most loved man in Britain’. He is pictured in one of the firm’s video campaigns
It is unclear what specifically prompted the firm to now remove the adverts – months after the partnership with Mr Schofield ended. WeBuyAnyCar today declined MailOnline’s request for comment
The relationship took place while the TV star was still married to wife Stephanie Lowe and before he came out publicly.
Following Schofield’s resignation, the show has been plagued by allegations of ‘toxicity.’ The affair has also raised questions about abuse of power in the entertainment industry and the culture at the broadcaster.
His removal from the car dealer adverts and King’s charity come as a series of photos of emerged of Schofield’s younger lover giving his co-host Holly Willoughby, 42, a kiss on the cheek at the National Television Awards (NTAs) at the O2 Arena in 2020.
This was where Schofield’s ex-lover declared his lover for the former presenter, according to former ITV producer Cristo Foufas.
Mr Foufas described an ‘incident’ at the awards on January 28, 2020 when Schofield’s lover stunned his colleagues by ‘declaring his love for Phil’.
The photos show the man approaching Holly and her husband Daniel Baldwin, sharing a few words, before jumping in a waiting cab.
Schofield does not take part in the conversation and is seen vaping nearby with his then wife Stephanie Lowe.
A series of pictures show Holly Willoughb y and her producer husband Daniel Baldwin leaving the National Television Awards before being approached by Schofield’s young lover in 2020
He shares a few words with Holly, 42, outside the 02 Arena before kissing her on the cheek
Schofield, 61, does not take part in the conversation but is seen vaping nearby accompanied by his wife, Stephanie Lowe
Timeline of the Phillip Schofield scandal
September 2022 – Schofield and Willoughby are criticised for failing to queue for the Queen’s Lying in State. ITV insisted the pair were there to report from the venue.
April 2023 – Phillip is absent from This Morning for two weeks while his brother Timothy, 54, is tried at Exeter Crown Court for sexually abusing a teenage boy.
April 3 – Timothy is found guilty of ’emotionally blackmailing’ the teenager into performing sex acts and watching porn with him.
May 10 – Reports emerge Phillip and Holly are ‘barely speaking’, but a day later he issues a statement calling Holly ‘my rock’.
May 15 – The pair present a united front while presenting This Morning, but rumours of a feud continue. The pair are said to have fallen out due to Phillip’s failure to warn Holly of his brother’s trial.
May 20 – Schofield announces he is stepping down from This Morning with ‘immediate effect’.
May 22 – Stand-in presenters Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond pay tribute to their former colleague as ‘one of the best live television broadcasters this country has ever had’.
May 26 – Schofield releases a statement admitting he’d had an affair with a ‘much younger’ colleague but then lied about it.
May 27 – Holly blasts Phillip for lying to her.
May 28 – This Morning’s former resident doctor Dr Ranj Singh hits out at the show’s ‘toxic’ culture.
May 29 – Schofield releases a statement denying claims the show had a toxic culture, only for Eamonn Holmes to slam him as ‘delusional’ on Twitter.
In more footage that has emerged, an extraordinary Snapchat video shows the former broadcaster partying with the young man 34 years his junior and his best friend Simon Schofield.
In the clip from March 2017, Schofield begins by sharing a snap of his pint of beer before dragging on a shisha. He then giggles: ‘I can’t get a tune out of these bagpipes’.
Schofield reportedly met his future lover while he was at stage school in 2012.
In 2016, he was around 18 or 19, he landed a job on This Morning. The shisha video was filmed a year later when the young man is believed to be around 20 while Schofield was 55.
It is thought they were in a relationship at the time the video was recorded.
Just ten days later Schofield wrote an emotional Instagram post revealing he was gay, before speaking about it moments later to Eamonn Holmes and his wife, Ruth Langsford.
Yesterday Holmes, a former presenter on the show, said on Twitter that four high-up members of ITV’s management knew ‘what sort of man’ Schofield was and never took any action to prevent him taking advantage of his position.
ITV said in a statement on Saturday that it had investigated rumours of a relationship between the 61-year-old star and the young worker in 2020, but both parties had denied the allegations.
In an Instagram post yesterday, Schofield hit back at his critics, saying there was ‘no toxicity’ on This Morning.
He added: ‘I hope you have noticed that it’s the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.’
Holmes, however, hit back at the statement, calling Schofield ‘delusional’ and told Dan Wootton’s show last night that ‘[Schofield] was so rude’.
‘This nonsense that he wrote today about toxicity, it’s a happy place and whatever… what planet does this man live on?’ he said.
‘He created an atmosphere where people hated him, that people would avoid them in the corridor, he didn’t look at anybody, he didn’t know anybody’s names.’
He went on to accuse ITV of a ‘total cover-up’ of the affair, claiming that ‘those in authority had to know’ about it because the man would be ferried between Schofield’s flat and studios in taxis ‘paid for by ITV’.
Holmes also alleged that the former presenter would take his ex-lover back to his £1million flat in White City in west London – close to the ITV studio.
The intervention recorded on GB News raises serious questions for Mr Lygo, director of television at ITV, ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall, head of Daytime, Ms Gormley and This Morning editor Martin Frizzell.
Schofield was filmed smoking shisha with his young lover, right, and his best friend Simon Schofield, left, in 2017
Mr Schofield quit ITV and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair with a younger male colleague. He is pictured with his former co-star Holly Willoughby presenting This Morning on May 16
When This Morning aired yesterday, hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond and contributor Gyles Brandreth also appeared to defend the show from the toxicity allegations.
Mr O’Leary said: ‘We all know we happen to be in the news at the moment and of course we appreciate that, but just from both of us, the whole team here, the crew, the guys downstairs, we love making this show for all of you.’
Ms Hammond added: ‘We really do and that’s exactly what we are going to do, we are going to continue to do that.’
Mr Brandreth, who was in the studio to review the news stories of the day, said: ‘We are very happy to be here, can I say that as well?
‘This is a happy place to work, I enjoy coming in here and have done since I began coming in. We are happy people in a happy place.’
Schofield’s former co-presenter, Willoughby is due to return to the show on Monday after the half-term break, having taken an early holiday when news of Mr Schofield’s departure emerged.
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