07 March 2024 , 19:45
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A very public Twitter row erupted between Fern Britton and Phillip Schofield after she believed This Morning had snubbed her at the Baftas.
Fern Britton recently revealed she would quit the Celebrity Big Brother house if her former This Morning co-host came into the revamped ITV reality show. During a chat with Princess Kate's uncle Gary Goldsmith, the presenter, who is now an author, was discussing Phil’s dramatic exit from the morning magazine show.
He quit last year after tensions between him and Holly Willoughby and after he admitted lying about an extramarital affair with one of the show’s staff.
Gary, 58, told Fern that he’d heard rumours 61-year-old Phil could be entering the Big Brother house. Fern, 66, looked alarmed by the idea and made it clear she wouldn’t be sticking around if he was to come in: "Oh, well. That didn’t happen yet. Maybe that will happen as a surprise? I might have to leave at that point!"
The relationship between the former colleagues, who appeared together on the This Morning sofa for seven years until 2009 when Fern suddenly resigned, is known to be very strained.
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Fern has been having revealing chats in the CBB house (ITV)When telly icon Fern announced she was quitting her role after 10 years and less than halfway through her contract, rumours at the time suggested it was because she was put out Phil was being paid more than her. She denied that was the issue and simply said she wanted to spend more time with her family.
In the years that followed both Fern and Phil said they were no longer in contact and glossed over the topic. In a 2013 Heat magazine interview Phil said that the pair were "not really" in touch anymore. "We were involved in the show and mates at the time, but we don't really [speak]," he said.
Around the same time Fern spoke to the Daily Mail about her past relationship with Phil and diplomatically recalled: "Like Morecambe and Wise, we chose not to live in each other’s pockets. We were a great professional partnership but we never went on holiday together."
Fern's last day on This Morning (Ken McKay/REX/Shutterstock)However in 2018 things came to a head during This Morning’s 30th anniversary, when Fern was being interviewed by Phil and Holly as part of the celebrations via video link. She said to him: "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."
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 Twitter and they aired their true thoughts in public - with Phil even making 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."
The plot thickened when Fern's agents admitted they'd made a mistake and had declined the invite on her behalf. Troika Talent publicly apologised to both Fern and This Morning and said it had been a diary mix-up.
They tweeted: "HUGE apologies from Troika to @ThisMorning. An invitation to @Fern_Britton from #BAFTA did arrive, but as she was touring with #CalendarGirls we assumed she wouldn't be able to attend, and we declined. Fern had no idea that she had been invited. Luckily, she has forgiven us."
Do you think Phil should go into the CBB house? Let us know in the comments below.
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