Can brand Holly Willoughby survive Phillip Schofield fallout? PR experts say This Morning star ‘has enough goodwill in the public bank’ but warn she must ‘stay firmly on the sidelines’ and stick with ITV to ride out scandal
- Willoughby is due to return to This Morning next Monday after half-term break
- PR experts says she has enough goodwill to overcome ‘huge blip in her career’
Holly Willoughby must ‘stay firmly on the sidelines’ to maintain her brand and stick with ITV amid the scandal surrounding Phillip Schofield, PR experts said today.
Willoughby is due to return to This Morning next Monday following the half-term break, having taken an early holiday when news of Schofield’s departure emerged.
PR experts said she has enough goodwill in the bank to overcome this ‘huge blip in her career’, and that it was important for her to work with ITV on future projects.
It comes after former presenter Eamonn Holmes predicted that Willoughby, 42, will not return to the sofa on ITV’s daytime show following Schofield’s bombshell exit.
Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV on Friday and was dropped by his agency YMU after admitting to an ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair with a younger male colleague.
The relationship took place while Schofield was still married to wife Stephanie Lowe and before he came out publicly as gay. After his resignation, the show has been plagued by allegations of ‘toxicity’ – which has also impacted Willoughby’s standing.
Producers have also faced guests turning down offers to appear on This Morning – and its biggest sponsor, car dealer Arnold Clark, has revealed it will not be renewing an existing multi-million-pound deal with the channel in autumn as planned.
Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on the sofa of ITV’s This Morning earlier this month
Willoughby is thought to be paid around £200,000 per series of ITV’s Dancing On Ice
Willoughby’s deal with home furnishing store Dunelm (pictured) has bagged her £1million
And PR expert Andy Barr told MailOnline today: ‘Holly will be waiting to see what other bad news comes out of the woodwork before then reviewing her options.
How Holly Willoughby amassed her fortune
This Morning: Holly Willoughby earns an estimated £730,000 per year for presenting ITV’s flagship daytime show
Dancing On Ice: Willoughby is thought to be paid around £200,000 per series of the ITV entertainment programme
Take Off: Willoughby received an estimated £370,000 for presenting the BBC game show with Bradley Walsh.
Wim Hof’s Superstar Survival: She is thought to have netted £300,000 for appearing on the reality show.
Roxy Media Ltd: Willoughby’s TV gigs are paid through Roxy Media Ltd, of which she owns 80 per cent. Her husband of 16 years, TV producer Dan Baldwin, owns the other 20 per cent.
Wylde Moon: Willoughby sells jewellery through her wellness and lifestyle brand company Wylde Moon, which she set up in 2021 – akin to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop. It has necklaces up for sale for £450 and candles which could set you back £65.
Dunelm: It is though that Willoughby’s deal with home furnishing store Dunelm has bagged her £1million. The TV star now has her own range available at stores across the country, which was launched in 2010.
Garnier: Willoughby is a long-standing brand ambassador for the cosmetics brand alongside Davina McCall. She is said to have taken home around £750,000 from Garnier in 2021.
Marks and Spencer: Willoughby’s deal with M&S is thought to have already earned her £950,000. She has her own clothing line with the retailer which features dresses, tops, jeans and shoes. M&S renewed her deal for two more years in October last year.
Diet Coke: Willoughby was earning an estimated £450,000 a year with Diet Coke before ending the deal in 2019.
Reflections: It is thought Holly earned over £1million for her book Reflections with publishing company Penguin.
Public speaking: She is estimated to take home £35,000 a time when she does speaking engagements.
‘Her brand currently has enough goodwill in the public bank and this means she can overcome this huge blip in her career, but only if her team carry on distancing her from the drama that is unfolding.
‘She needs to totally steer clear of the war of words that is escalating between Eamonn Holmes and Phillip Schofield and stay firmly on the sidelines.’
He added that Willoughby ‘really has little choice but to stick with ITV’, because the BBC would not want to hire her amid all the current uncertainty, and Channel 4 would not have the budget to do so.
Mr Barr, who is chief executive of the public relations firm 10 Yetis, continued: ‘She doesn’t quite yet have the global appeal for one of the giant streaming platforms to come in for her so a new show with ITV is her best option.’
Another PR expert, Mark Borkowski, told MailOnline that he believes Willoughby should stay with This Morning but also work out how she can progress with ITV.
He said today: ‘I think that ITV should in some ways see her as an asset. Depending on where this whole story goes and whether it’s finished or not, there could be a recovery period.
‘If you’ve got talent and you are pretty adept at social media, which she is, I think this is a massive learning curve for her but it now depends on playing the correct game to regain what possible is damaged, which is trust in her, in terms of what is now unveiling as a story that we still haven’t got to the truth of yet.
‘You can’t make career decisions on rumours and innuendo but if things flatten out, she’s a commodity, there’s a talent there and it’s whether or not This Morning goes back to personalities and has a more collegiate approach with groups of people rather than pinpointing figurehead stars who come with a lot of baggage if things go wrong.
‘I wouldn’t be writing any obituaries at the moment, but this story keeps on pivoting and developing every day – and what I say and feel today might change.’
Insisting that she should stay with ITV and not quit This Morning at this stage, Mr Borkowski added: ‘I would think it’s important for her to work with ITV.
‘ITV are a massive commercial organisation – they obviously have a lot of time for her. So she should be sitting down asking what plans she has. She certainly has to go beyond This Moirning if she’s going to progress.
‘I think that she’s got to do something more than just This Morning, and some of the bits and pieces she does round the edges.
‘I think she’d be looking for a significant move when this settles down, if she decides to leave.’
Holly Willoughby hosted I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ with Declan Donnelly in 2018 – the 18th series of the ITV show, which was won by Harry Redknapp
Holly Willoughby is an ambassador for Garnier and is pictured at an event in London on May 4
Holly Willoughby’s deal with M&S (above) is thought to have already earned her £950,000
Willoughby is thought to be paid £730,000 a year to present This Morning but has a growing business empire, estimated to be worth £10million.
ITV shares shrug off Schofield scandal
Broadcaster ITV has seen its shares hold firm despite speculation swirling around former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield’s departure and the future of its flagship daytime show.
Shares in the FTSE 250 listed firm initially dropped nearly 2 per cent on opening, but quickly regained their poise to edge 0.1 per cent higher in morning trading today.
The stock was in sharp focus when trading opened this morning after the long bank holiday weekend, after disclosures over the past few days about Schofield. But experts said the saga is unlikely at this stage to impact the wider group in the long term.
Roddy Davidson, a media analyst at Shore Capital, said: ‘It’s not helpful in terms of the general noise around the company, but it’s not significant in terms of the overall investors’ perception and how that impacts the share price.’
He said investors are more concentrated on ITV’s long-term prospects and the broader shift away from traditional terrestrial television towards online streaming, rather than the Schofield scandal.
He said: ‘It’s about the individual but I don’t think it’s about the broader integrity of ITV. Much worse happens in Westminster, for example.
‘Not to underestimate the seriousness of what’s gone on, and it’s very unfortunate for the individuals involved, but I think it will blow over.’
He added: ‘Advertisers, at the end of the day, advertise on ITV because it can generate an enormous mass market audience in the day. I don’t think this will impact that.’
Susannah Streeter at Hargreaves Lansdown added: ‘Although the drama has concentrated minds about the need for consistently popular content in important slots which keeps eyes on screen and advertising revenues returning, this is being viewed as a short-term hiccup rather than a longer-term problem for the company.
‘Instead, there will be a much closer eye trained on advertising prospects over the longer term, given high inflation and the worry that a further ratcheting up in interest rates could push the UK into a recession after all, which could lead to marketing budgets being squeezed.’
She has partly amassed her fortune through her television portfolio, presenting shows such as I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Dancing with The Stars.
However she has also has a series of lucrative brand deals from Marks and Spencer to Dunelm and Diet Coke and Garnier, and as a wellness and lifestyle brand called Wylde Moon.
Speaking on Dan Wootton’s GB News show yesterday, Holmes said: ‘Not only should Phillip go, but Holly should follow him close out the door.
‘I don’t think you will ever see Holly Willoughby back on the couch.
‘There are people who say for her it’s not about what Phillip did, for her it’s not about protecting the young fellow involved or whatever.
‘There are people who are financial experts who will say this is about brand protection with her. She’s got her company and she’s got advertising deals, which suspiciously looks like she’s trying to distance herself from Phillip to protect those.’
Holmes, who said he was ‘tossed out the door’ when he was given the boot from ITV, has alleged there was a ‘total cover-up’ on This Morning over Schofield’s affair.
He told Wootton: ‘Those in authority had to know what was going on and they thought they would dodge a bullet with this, which they do, and they do constantly, because with Schofield talking about those who speak out against him, namely me, Amanda Holden and you (Dan Wootton), you’ll be included in the toxicity that goes on. Dr Ranj, of course, as well.
‘And you simply sit there and think, ‘No, mate. You’ve had it all your way for too long’.’
The show’s former resident doctor, Dr Ranj Singh, has hit out at the daytime show’s ‘toxic’ culture, saying he raised concerns about ‘bullying and discrimination’ two years ago when he worked there and afterwards felt like he was ‘managed out’ for whistleblowing.
On Saturday, ITV said it investigated the affair rumour in early 2020 but Schofield ‘categorically’ denied it was true.
‘Further to our statement last night, ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated,’ a spokesperson for the broadcaster said.
‘Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours, as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
‘In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
‘Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.’
Phillip Schofield with Holly Willoughby, Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford in February 2020
In an Instagram post earlier on Monday, Schofield hit back at his critics, saying there was ‘no toxicity’ on This Morning.
Timeline of the Phillip Schofield scandal
September 2022 – Schofield and Ms 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 Schofield is found guilty of ’emotionally blackmailing’ the teenager into performing sex acts and watching porn with him.
May 10 – Reports emerge that Phillip Schofield and Willoughby are ‘barely speaking’. A day later he issues a statement calling her ‘my rock’.
May 15 – The pair present a united front while presenting This Morning, but rumours of a feud continue. They are said to have fallen out due to Schofield’s failure to warn her 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 had had an affair with a ‘much younger’ colleague but then lied about it.
May 27 – Willoughby blasts him 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’.
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.’
Referring to those comments, Holmes instead accused Schofield of ‘toxicity’.
‘I think that Phillip is absolutely right about toxicity,’ he said. ‘But, my friend, the toxicity is not with me, Dan Wootton, or anyone else. The toxicity is with you.’
He said Schofield ‘created an atmosphere’ on This Morning ‘where people hated him’.
He said: ‘This nonsense that he wrote today about toxicity, about how (This Morning) is a happy place or whatever, holy God, what planet does this man live on?
‘He created an atmosphere where people hated him.
‘People would avoid him in the corridor. He didn’t look at anybody, didn’t know anybody’s name.
‘Holly doesn’t know people’s names either. This is legendary within the production team, how distant they are and how they just don’t care.’
Schofield has declined to comment on the claims following the interview on GB News.
When This Morning aired on Monday, hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond and contributor Gyles Brandreth appeared to defend the show from the toxicity allegations.
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.’
Hammond added: ‘We really do and that’s exactly what we are going to do, we are going to continue to do that.’
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.’
ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment refused to answer questions about Schofield after being pursued on the street by a GB News producer.
In a segment broadcast on Dan Wootton’s GB News show yesterday, producer Ben Leo tracked down ITV’s Kevin Lygo and asked him if there was a ‘cover-up’ of Schofield’s affair.
He also asked Mr Lygo if he ‘protected’ Schofield. Mr Lygo walked away from the producer, telling him: ‘We really have no more to say.’
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