Fern Britton is tipped to address her feud with Phillip Schofield during her time in the Celebrity Big Brother house.
The former This Morning presenter turned author is among the stars set to appear in the first series when ITV reboots the reality show. Britton hosted the ITV daytime show from 1999 to 2009 and worked with Schofield for seven years. But she reportedly blamed her co-host for her departure from This Morning when she was replaced by Holly Willoughby.
Over the years, Britton, 66, has hinted that she felt like she was treated poorly during her time on the show. But she has never spoken out directly about the rumored feud between herself and Schofield. Before the former Ready Steady Cook presenter potentially opens up about what happened during her time in the CBB house, we look back at everything she’s said so far about leaving This Morning.’
Yahoo UK has contacted representatives from Britton, Schofield and This Morning for comment.
Breaking down rumors
Schofield joined This Morning in 2002, replacing Britton’s previous co-host John Leslie. The pair seemed to get along well on screen and often laughed together on screen. But over time, the friendship was rumored to have grown frosty. Ultimately, Britton left the show in 2009 and was replaced by Willoughby, who previously co-presented with Schofield when he acted as holiday and sick cover for Britton.
Britton later said that she had felt mistreated during the show. She told RTE radio in 2020: “I started not enjoying it very much and the morning I resigned I didn’t know I was going to resign. Something happened and I thought, ‘That’s really it’ and I walked away and resigned. … I was actually treated quite badly. And after a while I just thought, ‘Sod it'”.
Not about money
After Britton left the show, there were rumors that she had quit over a pay dispute – having discovered that Schofield was being paid more than £250,000 a year more than her for doing the same work.
But the Brit has always denied this. She told Hello! magazine: “That was certainly not true, not least because I had no idea what Phillip had been paid. I knew what I was getting and it was more than fair. It’s appalling that if you do the same work as a man you get paid less and I’m absolutely in favor of equal pay, but at that time, even though Phillip was paid more than me, he did more programs on television. .”
And in 2020, she told RTE radio: “There was also a persistent rumor that I left because Phillip was paid more than me and I always say to people, ‘Why would I leave a show to go to nothing if I was worried about money?’ ?’.”
Arc manipulator
Britton’s former agent Jon Roseman has called Schofield an “arch manipulator” and said he tried to take control of the show. In 2019, a public feud broke out between Schofield and Amanda Holden amid reports that he ‘blocked’ her from replacing Holly Willoughby as his guest co-host. ITV and Schofield denied the claims, but the Britain’s Got Talent judge continued to make sly comments, suggesting there was a falling out between the two.
It was during this time that Britton’s former agent Roseman told the Daily Mail: ‘From day one he started interfering with the editorial content of the show. Fern always left it up to the editor, a mistake she tried to correct, but too late. His stranglehold was too tight by the time she realized what he was up to.
“Their ability to work together was similar to the friction between Eamonn Holmes and Anthea Turner. He befriended Simon Shaps, the then boss of the Network Center. After this friendship, all bets were off… he got exactly what he wanted. “
Inflexible working
Britton has claimed she was put under extreme pressure to return to This Morning almost immediately after the birth of her daughter Winifred in 2001, just a year before quitting the show. The working mother-of-four told Kate Thornton on the White Wine Question Time podcast in 2022 that ITV bosses had apparently told her there would be “no job for her” unless she came straight back to work.
Britton claimed that her boss told her, “Well, you have to come back,” and that she told him, “I’m 44. I can’t just show up.” She continued, “And he said, ‘Well, if you don’t come, then there’s no job for you.’ I said, ‘Sorry, that’s bad timing then. But no, I can’t, I can’t just come to work because I just had another baby. No.'”
The TV presenter said producers then brought her in after struggling to find suitable presenters to fill in for her, and agreed to meet her terms.
She said: ‘I have to come with Winnie every day because I feed her and she can’t live without me. Can you help me? [with] someone to take care of while we’re on the air? So they said, ‘Yes, that’s fine.’ So then I did that for a year and it was fun because she got her picture taken with so many people in the green room. And she would sleep and eat and I would feed her during commercial breaks.”
Awards ‘stupid’
Britton and Schofield had an awkward reunion in 2018 when she appeared on the show via video link to congratulate Schofield and her successor Willoughby on a special TV Bafta award in recognition of the show’s 30 years on air. Britton said: “Congratulations on Bafta. That was absolutely amazing and brilliant and I would have loved to have been there but I didn’t get an invite…”
This led to a public spat between the two when Schofield claimed on social media that Britton had been invited but had declined to attend. He tweeted: “Strange actually, because she was invited and declined #amnesia we would have liked her to be there. An essential and beloved part of the show.” Britton strike back: “No. I did not receive an invitation to decline.”
But she eventually came back and revealed that she had been invited, but her agents had forgotten to tell her. She wrote: “And this is what happened! Thank God I was invited, even though I didn’t actually receive the invite. See you next time @BAFTA xxxx.”
And in 2022, Britton appeared to make a slight comment on Schofield and Willoughby’s 11-year run of wins for best daytime show at the National Television Awards when she said it was embarrassing how many presenters begged viewers for votes.
She said: “I couldn’t bear it then, I can’t bear it now, when all the programs for the National Television Awards are all: ‘Oh, you have to vote for us. Vote for us, vote for us.’ You think: how embarrassing is that? I couldn’t bear that. People are going to vote for you whether they like you or not. I’m not running a campaign, we’re not prime minister. It’s just to get a stupid statue. …similar!”
sweet words
When This Morning celebrated Schofield’s 400th anniversary of working in television in 2022, Britton was among the presenters who sent video messages of congratulations. She said: “Forty years is an incredible milestone, and it’s time to pause and look back and see everything you’ve achieved, and be proud of that. I wish you a very happy future. Congratulations and keep it up.”
And Scofield shared fond memories of working with her after producers played a clip from his very first day hosting the show with her in 2002. He said: “Oh my god, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that… And I was nervous too. But Fern was so sweet to me and took care of me.”
Celebrity Big Brother starts on March 4 on ITV1, STV, ITVX and STV Player.