07 March 2024 , 10:23
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Fern Britton has warned that she will quit the Celebrity Big Brother house if Phillip Schofield joins the 2024 cast.
The 66-year-old presenting icon is one of the twelve celebrities taking part in the 23rd season of Celebrity Big Brother - which kicked off on ITV1 on Monday night. The TV star is most famous for being a This Morning presenter from 1999 until 2009 - and during the final seven of those years, she co-hosted the show with disgraced presenter Phillip Schofield, 61.
Fern and Phil’s professional friendship ended on bitter terms - with Fern quitting This Morning amid rumours they had argued over difference in payments with reports suggesting Fern discovered Phil was earning a higher fee than she was. Fern and Phil have since made snide and savage comments about one other through the media in the years following - and Fern's latest swipe at Phillip suggests she will be quick to quit the show if he was to enter the famous house.
Fern Britton said she will quit Celebrity Big Brother if Phillip Schofield enters the house (ITV)During Wednesday's instalment of the ITV reality TV show, Fern made her blunt declaration during a candid chat with Gary Goldsmith - the 58-year-old uncle of Catherine, Princess of Wales, 42. Viewers watched as Fern opened up about her time on This Morning - and the recent spectacular implosion of Phil’s career. Phil quit This Morning in May last year as reports of backstage arguments with Holly Willoughby, 42, began to overshadow the show. He quit in the hopes his exit would allow the show to carry on without more troubles - but then days later announced he was quitting working with ITV altogether as he admitted he had lied about an extramarital affair he had with a This Morning crew member.
Gary asked Fern if she knew any details of the scandal. Fern responded: “Genuinely I haven’t been there for 15 years. I got off the train and it's way over the horizon so I honestly don’t know. Anything I do say would be supposition.”
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Of her time working on the ITV show alongside Phil, Fern said: “It was tricky at times. It is an institution that like the monarchy it rocks. I think Ben and Cat will do a great job. It’s a new era.” Gary then declared: “There were rumours that Phil was coming in here.” Fern looked alarmed by the idea and said: “Oh, well. That didn’t happen yet. Maybe that will happen as a surprise? I might have to leave at that point."
Ferne's last appearance on This Morning in 2009 (Ken McKay/REX/Shutterstock)But what was the real reason for Fern and Phillip's seemingly bitter fallout? After 10 years at the helm of This Morning and less than halfway through her contract, Fern dramatically quit the ITV show and Holly stepped in as her replacement. At the time, she told fans she was leaving to spend more time with her family, but a different version of events soon came to light.
It was later reported that she walked after finding out that Phil was being paid £250,000 more than her. Friends of the TV star revealed that she felt "undervalued" by ITV bosses and was "living in Phil's shadow". It was also reported that he had earned three times her salary while they were presenting game show Mr & Mrs together - with him reportedly earning £45,000 per hour to her £15,000. When she announced her departure, she paid tribute to the entire team but failed to mention Phil’s name.
Then, in 2013, Phillip revealed to Heat magazine that the pair were "not really" in touch anymore adding to the rumours of a bitter rift. "We were involved in the show and mates at the time, but we don't really," he said. "I see Phil [Fern's then-husband, chef Phil Vickery] when he's inThis Morning... But we're not in touch now."
Three years after that, Fern denied reports she left the show over a pay gap. She told Hello! magazine : "That certainly wasn't true, not least because I had no idea what Philip had been paid," she said. Later that year, Fern didn’t turn up to the programme's 25th birthday celebrations. She denied she had been snubbed because of the feud and said she was just busy.
However, things came to a head following the show's 30th anniversary in 2018. Fern was interviewed via video link as part of the celebrations and said to Phil: "Congrats on the BAFTA. That was absolutely wonderful and brilliant. I would have loved to have been there but I didn't get an invitation."
The former This Morning hosts in 2005 (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Phil disagreed and said it was because she had been on stage in Scotland so couldn’t have made it but she replied: "I wasn't on Monday night, I would have come but I wasn't invited." After the awkward interaction, the pair traded blows online when the spat moved on to where the pair shared their thoughts in public - and Phil even made a cruel jibe.
Commenting on the difficult incident, Phil wrote: "Odd really, because she was invited and declined #memoryloss we'd have loved her to be there. A vital and much-loved part of the show." Fern retweeted his post and hit back: "No. I had no invitation to decline."
And in his 2020 book Life Is What You Make It, Phil revealed he had an awkward disagreement with Fern back in 2009 when she accused him of "meddling" with the content of the show. He wrote: "I walked back into the make-up room and calmly said, 'Please don't do that to me again’. I think, for whatever reason, that was the point Fern decided she didn't want to do This Morning any more." Phil also revealed Fern didn’t reach out to him after he came out as gay on This Morning in 2020, but that she did message his wife Steph.
Following the scandal when Phil’s secret "unwise, but not illegal" extramarital affair with a younger male member of the This Morning crew was exposed, Fern appeared to make a loaded comment about her former co-star, teasing that she'd had the "loveliest catch up" with Phil's staunch rival Eamonn Holmes.
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She tweeted: "Unexpected calls from old mates are so lovely. Just had the loveliest catch up with @EamonnHolmes.. I think we have known each other since the 80's when we were babies. Shooting the breeze."
Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.