Jeremy Clarkson has leapt to the defence of Phillip Schofield, saying he is ‘delighted’ by the former This Morning presenter’s TV return in his new Channel 5 show.
In a new article for The Sun, Clarkson has revealed that he actually phoned the former TV star up following the controversy to offer support.
Schofield stepped down from his position on This Morning following the reveal he had an 'unwise but not illegal' extra-marital affair with a young ITV staffer.
The staff member was 20 when the affair began, with Schofield having first met him when he has 15, and having got him work experience at ITV when he was 19.
This came following Schofield revealing he was gay in 2020, with him announcing he was separating from his wife.
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The former This Morning presenter will be returning to TV with Cast Away, in which he is left on an island for ten days with no camera crew or producers to help him.
Schofield admits in episode one of the show that his affair was ‘unwise but not illegal’ before calling it a ‘mistake’.
Clarkson said in his new article: “When Phillip Schofield announced on morning television that he was gay, everyone rallied round and said how brave he'd been.
“But when it turned out that he'd actually done gay stuff, he was sacked, cancelled, eviscerated and swept into the bucket of history marked 'disgraced ageing TV stars’.
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“It was actually quite cross about this, so even though I don’t know him at all well, I called him up and we had a long chat.
"It was like talking to a completely broken man because he could see no way back. I was therefore delighted to hear this week that he’s managed it”.
The Clarkson’s Farm star is not the only major TV personality to respond to the show however, with Eammon Holmes having weighed in on Schofield’s return.
Holmes’ comments came after it was revealed Schofield felt he was ‘thrown under the bus’ in his TV return.
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He said: “I believe he is where he deserves to be. If I am one of the people who threw him under the bus, I am very proud to have done it."
Topics: Phillip Schofield, This Morning, ITV, Channel 5, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin