A brief moment on Phillip Schofield’s comeback to British television on Channel 5’s Cast Away, has left viewers looking away from the television.
The disgraced formerThis Morning presenter has made his return to television for the first time in 16 months, spending 10 days on an island off the coast of Madagascar.
The 62-year-old, left ITV last year after admitting he had lied about having a consensual relationship with a younger man, who worked as a runner on This Morning.
In the final episode of the show, Schofield finally decided that after more than a week on the island, that he would go for a swim in the ocean.
However, viewers were shocked when they saw Schofield sprinting past the camera at night with absolutely nothing on, with his campfire lighting up his backside, leaving almost nothing to the imagination.
This was shortly after Schofield had made a list of all the people that he considered to be “toxic” in his life before throwing the piece of paper in the fire.
Although it was only a brief glimpse, viewers couldn’t help but be taken aback. One asked: “Did we really have to see Philip Schofield’s naked bottom?”
A second said: “I need to bleach my eyes. I just saw Philip Schofield’s bare ass on my TV.”
A third wrote: “No way have I just seen Phillip Schofield naked running into the sea.”
Another viewer noted: “Honestly, the fact that it took Schofield ten days to have a swim in that beautiful sea tells me all I need to know about him.”
Elsewhere in the final episode, Schofield claimed he was “fired for someone else’s crime,” insinuating that he was sacked for crimes committed by his brother.
Schofield said that he refused “to name and refuse to acknowledge” his sibling and that he had “absolutely no qualms whatsoever in shopping” to police, who he said had “praised” him for getting “justice done”.
Schofield went on to say: “My phone rang and I picked it up, ‘mate, are you somewhere quiet’ which is never a good sign,’I’ve got a bit of a shock, I’m afraid you’ve been let go from This Morning’. What? ‘Yeah that’s it, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday’.
“What? because of what? ‘Think it’s the publicity, mate’, that’s got nothing to do with me, that has nothing to do with me. Why would I be sacked for something someone else did? I’ve just been fired because of him. Because I was becoming more of a story than the programme.”
At the end of the Channel 5 programme, Schofield said he was undecided on whether he would return to presenting.
Beginning to tear up, he said: “Now I’m not saying I’m done but you know, never in a million years will I go back to daytime telly. I’ve lived a hundred TV lives.”
At the end of the programme, Schofield could be seen reuniting with his daughter Molly, 31, and their dog, with Molly saying she was “proud to say he’s my dad”.
