Phillip Schofield made his big return to TV this week as he starred in the new Channel 5 series Cast Away.

The disgraced presenter, 62, secretly filmed a special three part series which required him to give up his home comforts for 10 days of soul-searching on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean, which he described as his ‘story of survival’.

It was the first time he had been on TV since leaving ITV‘s This Morning in May 2023 after admitting to having a relationship with a much younger male colleague.

Before his shock exit, Schofield had been working in the TV industry for almost 40 years. 

But now Cast Away is over after the last episode aired on Wednesday night – it appears more and more likely that he will never return to TV again.

Here are all the signs he will NEVER return to TV again:

Phillip Schofield made his big return to TV this week as he starred in the new Channel 5 series Cast Away - but all signs appear to show that won't be on our screens much more in the future
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Phillip Schofield made his big return to TV this week as he starred in the new Channel 5 series Cast Away – but all signs appear to show that won’t be on our screens much more in the future

The disgraced presenter, 62, secretly filmed a special three part series which required him to give up his home comforts for 10 days of soul-searching on a tropical island
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The disgraced presenter, 62, secretly filmed a special three part series which required him to give up his home comforts for 10 days of soul-searching on a tropical island

Says he is ‘bowing out’ of showbusiness

Schofield  broke down in tears and said the scandal around his departure from This Morning ‘destroyed’ him as he appeared in the show.

The scandal, which dominated the headlines for months, led to the breakdown of his friendship with co-presenter Holly and ‘devastated’ his wife Steph.

The couple separated in 2020 when Phillip came out as gay but had remained close until his betrayal was revealed.

One clip from the show saw Schofield in tears telling the camera: ‘I know what I did was unwise, but is it enough to completely destroy someone?’

Looking disheveled, he added: ‘I’ll be slammed for this, ‘Phillip Schofield mad rant [shakes his head]’.

‘But the thing is, I don’t care anymore. I don’t care. This is me having my say as I bow out.’

Schofield broke down in tears and said the scandal around his departure from This Morning 'destroyed' him as he appeared in the show (seen with ex colleague Holly Willoughby)
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Schofield broke down in tears and said the scandal around his departure from This Morning ‘destroyed’ him as he appeared in the show (seen with ex colleague Holly Willoughby)

He said of his TV future: 'Isolation has forced me to revisit the past and come to some big decisions about my future. I don't think I want to do it any more'
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He said of his TV future: ‘Isolation has forced me to revisit the past and come to some big decisions about my future. I don’t think I want to do it any more’

Another scene saw him reflecting by the fire and openly contemplated his television career’s prospects.

He said: ‘Isolation has forced me to revisit the past and come to some big decisions about my future. I don’t think I want to do it any more.

‘Look, I love telly. I’ve got telly in my bones. But I won’t sit on a sofa again, I’m not going to do that again.’

Lack of channels to work with

Schofield continued to express his disillusionment with certain aspects of the industry on another episode this week.

He said: ‘There are some people I won’t work for again, some people I won’t work with again.

‘I’ve been hurt so badly by that sort of telly, and by some of the people in that sort of telly, that you get to the point where you think, ‘I don’t wanna do it any more’.’

Concluding his candid outburst, Phil announced: ‘Mic drop. I quit.’

Schofield continued to express his disillusionment with certain aspects of the industry on another episode this week. He said: 'There are some people I won't work for again, some people I won't work with again'
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Schofield continued to express his disillusionment with certain aspects of the industry on another episode this week. He said: ‘There are some people I won’t work for again, some people I won’t work with again’

He had a successful career in the TV industry for decades until his affair was revealed and he left This Morning
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He had a successful career in the TV industry for decades until his affair was revealed and he left This Morning

As well as This Morning he hosted Dancing On Ice with Holly - and was subsequently replaced by Stephen Mulhern
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As well as This Morning he hosted Dancing On Ice with Holly – and was subsequently replaced by Stephen Mulhern

It is unlikely after what happened on This Morning that he would ever work for ITV again.

Richard Osman and Marina Hyde pointed out that ITV probably wouldn’t want to work with him anyway.

‘I’m sure Kevin Lygo, the director of programming at ITV, is crying into his coffee about that one,’ said Hyde on their podcast The Rest Is Entertainment.

Osman added that he wasn’t invited to do I’m A Celeb.

Poor ratings

He had hoped his TV comeback would redeem him.

But Schofield lost out to Ben Shephard – the man who replaced him on This Morning – in the ratings war.

Despite a huge promotional campaign and a 9pm prime time slot, ITV‘s afternoon quiz show Tipping Point attracted more viewers than Cast Away on Monday night.

Aired on Channel 5 at 9pm, Cast Away brought in a peak of 1.5 million viewers.

Schofield lost out to Ben Shephard - the man who replaced him on This Morning - in the ratings war
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Schofield lost out to Ben Shephard – the man who replaced him on This Morning – in the ratings war

Despite a huge promotional campaign and a 9pm prime time slot, ITV's afternoon quiz show Tipping Point attracted more viewers than Cast Away on Monday night
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Despite a huge promotional campaign and a 9pm prime time slot, ITV’s afternoon quiz show Tipping Point attracted more viewers than Cast Away on Monday night

Meanwhile, ITV’s Tipping Point at 4pm received two million viewers.

Elsewhere on television, ITV’s The Chase raked in 3.1 million viewers and Coronation Street, 3.5 million.

ITV’s new drama Joan, starring Sophie Turner, had a peak audience of two million.

In comparison to the BBC, The One Show had 2.8 million viewers and Bargain Hunt, 2.3.

Negative viewer reaction

Whilst watching on Monday night, viewers branded Cast Away as ‘boring’ and ‘cringe’ and claimed they ‘won’t be watching the next episode’.

Taking to X to slam it, one wrote: ‘THIS IS BORING AS HELL #PhillipSchofield.’

‘Well that’s an hour of my life I won’t get back.’

‘Prob won’t watch the next episode of the pity party, was fun to wind up the Schofield Sympathisers for an hour though #phillipschofield #castaway,’ another said.

Another wrote: ‘Well that was the most boring hour of television I’ve ever watched on Channel 5 and he is still as annoying as we all already knew. #CastAway #PhillipSchofield.’

‘This #PhillipSchofield thing is insanely cringe,’ another said.

Channel 5 bosses are said to be assessing the public’s reaction and ratings of the new series before lining up any future projects involving Schofield.

Schofield is said to have turned down a selection of big money TV offers before choosing to sign up for Cast Away.

Whilst watching on Monday night, viewers branded Cast Away as 'boring' and 'cringe' and claimed they 'won't be watching the next episode'
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Whilst watching on Monday night, viewers branded Cast Away as ‘boring’ and ‘cringe’ and claimed they ‘won’t be watching the next episode’