Phillip Schofield reportedly ‘begged’ a YouTube not to post a video of him with the young man he was having an affair with as it could ‘ruin his career.’
The former This Morning presenter, 61, last week sensationally confessed to lying about an affair with a man almost 30 years his junior in what he called ‘unwise but not illegal.’
They met when the younger man was 15, with Schofield saying the relationship did not start until he was 18 and working as a runner on This Morning, after he asked Schofield to help him get a job on TV.
He has since resigned from ITV as a whole, been dropped by his agency, and on Tuesday was dropped as an ambassador for youth charity The Prince’s Trust.
Now a YouTuber who unknowingly caught the TV star with the unnamed young runner during a prank video years ago has spoken out, saying Schofield ‘begged’ him not to post it.
Jack Jones surprised Schofield in a café where he was sitting with the young man, and shocked them both when he suddenly pulled confetti and declared he had reached one million followers.
Schofield was seen laughing and joking in the short clip, which Jones did indeed post online, but he now claims the presenter begged him not to once the camera had stopped rolling.
In a new video posted to Twitter, Jones claimed: ‘After I did the video he begged me not to put the video up because he said, “It could ruin my career.”
‘And I said, “How could it ruin your career?” And he said he didn’t want to get into it.’
Schofield declined to comment when approached by Metro.co.uk.
It comes as an insider claimed to the Daily Mail that the young runner at the centre of the bombshell confession by Schofield was ‘paid off by ITV’ after the relationship came to an end.
The man had been moved from This Morning to Loose Women after his relationship with the presenter reportedly soured, which Eamonn Holmes has claimed in an interview with GB News was a ‘promotion’ he had not asked for.
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According to the Mail, sources have claimed the runner was given a financial settlement from the broadcaster, which ITV reportedly refused on numerous occasions to comment on or deny.
An insider reportedly claimed someone senior at ITV must have known about the payment as it required ‘people of some seniority’ to sign off it.
It was announced on Tuesday that The Prince’s Trust. a charity set up by King Charles III, had dropped Schofield as an ambassador as it was ‘no longer appropriate.’
A spokesperson said in a statement: ‘In light of Phillip’s recent admissions, we have agreed with him that it is no longer appropriate to work together.’
The Prince’s Trust is a charity which works with young people aged between 11 and 30 who are struggling with the likes of school or unemployment; it operates in over 20 countries across the world.
Phillip Schofield statement in full
‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody “forced” me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me. In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.
‘But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
‘I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.
‘I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.
‘I will reflect on my very bad judgment in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it. To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so.
‘I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.’
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