Dr Ranj questions speaking out over This Morning 'toxicity' as he loses work
Dr Ranj Singh has claimed to have lost work after speaking out on This Morning's "toxicity".
The TV doctor left the ITV show in 2022 after 10 years and publicly slammed the programme when conversations arose about its backstage culture when presenter Phillip Schofield's affair was outed. Phil admitted to having an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger male colleague while at the helm.
As the revelations poured out, Dr Ranj and fellow ex This Morning employee Eamonn Holmes both blasted the show as they lifted the lid on their time working there. The conversations sparked an external review was conducted after a complaint was made by Dr Ranj, but ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall stated that there was "no evidence of bullying or discrimination".
Now Dr Ranj has questioned whether he should have just 'stayed silent' during the scandal, as he claimed he's lost work over his words.
Speaking on BBC's Imposter Syndrome, he said: "For me it was the culture that had developed, in many ways about the way people were being treated and being made to feel and it wasn't good for people's mental health. The only real difference is when I think to myself should I have just shut up? Should I have just shut up and got on with it like everyone else?"
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Asked if he thought his decision to speak out affected his career, Dr Ranj said: 'I think so. You know I was a mental health ambassador, anti-bullying ambassador on this channel, whose job it is to look after people. It's my job to say something and say, "look, things aren't quite right and now we need to do something about this".'
Dr Ranj left This Morning in 2022 after 10 years (Graham Stone/REX/Shutterstock)The NHS doctor says he has not spoken to Holly Willoughby or Phil since the drama unfolded this summer.
He explained there was "grieving process" after leaving the ITV flagship show and described his exit as "really painful". "I was doing stuff behind the scenes as well because I felt passionately about so many of the values that we were doing across the channel. So diversity and pride stuff, you know, anti-bullying stuff. When it went away it was really painful," he said.
ITV boss Dame Carolyn confirmed earlier this year that the show had received two complaints about bullying or harassment in five years, including one from Dr Ranj, who is now the resident doctor on BBC's Morning Live. When the news broke of Phillip Schofield's affair, the former This Morning TV doctor spoke out on a culture of "toxicity".
In a lengthy Instagram post, Dr Ranj said: 'I've thought long and hard about posting this. If I'm honest, I really wish I didn't have to. But I've got to clarify some things that have ben reported about me, and in light of recent events, I finally feel like I might be believed... To the journalists who have offered me money this weekend to share my experience of working at This Morning, thank you but it would go against my principles to 'sell my story' - especially about something like this.
"However, given that ITV have commented on my departure, I feel it's only fair for me to do so too to avoid any further conjecture. I was on the show for 10 years and I genuinely loved and valued working there. However over time I grew increasingly worried about how things were behind-the-scenes and how people, including myself, were being treated."
Dr Ranj said he "didn't know the truth about what was going on with Philip" but that it creates more than one person to "create a culture". He claimed that after raising his concerns he found himself "being used less and less".
"I even took my concerns directly to the top of ITV: the culture at This Morning has become toxic, no longer aligned with ITV values, and I felt like because I whistle-blew I was managed out. But as history and experience have taught us, things like bullying and discrimination are very hard to prove, particularly in hindsight and when the 'people in power' control the narrative. As we've seen, no review of investigation is foolproof.
"Still, I was assured that certain things were going to be addressed and changes made. I haven't worked on the show since... and I am not the only one who has spoken up or experienced similar."
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