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Dr Ranj attacks ‘people trying to cause damage’ after photo of him with Schofield’s lover resurfaces

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Dr. Ranj Singh has spoken out after a photo of himself with disgraced former This Morning host Phillip Schofield’s young lover resurfaced this week. 

Singh, 43, worked on the show as a resident medical expert alongside Schofield and his co-host Holly Willoughby for six years before stepping down in 2022. 

Veteran TV presenter Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV on Friday and was subsequently dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair with a young male colleague on This Morning.

Addressing his own departure from the show over the weekend, Singh said he had raised concerns about ‘bullying and discrimination’ two years ago when he worked there and afterwards felt like he was ‘managed out’ for whistleblowing.

He has since moved to defend himself after a six-year old selfie taken by Singh with the young runner at the heart of Schofield’s departure emerged on social media.  

Statement: Dr. Ranj Singh has spoken out after a photo featuring himself alongside disgraced former This Morning host Phillip Schofield ‘s young lover resurfaced this week 

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: ‘It’s sad that there are people out there trying to cause damage and insinuate things from a harmless picture. 

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‘So here are some facts: [Phil’s ex] and I worked together at This Morning.  He was 21 when we took this picture at the studio. And it was obviously taken as a joke.’ 

Singh’s post comes just days after he became the latest former employee to condemn the show. 

In a lengthy social media post, he wrote: ‘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.

‘I didn’t know the truth about what was going on with Phillip, but I do know the issues with TM (This Morning) go far beyond him.

‘It takes more than one person to create a culture.’ 

Singh said he raised his concerns with senior executives at ITV as he had been heavily involved in ‘diversity, anti-bullying and mental health projects’ across the channel.

‘I then found myself being used less and less,’  he continued. ‘I even took my concerns directly to the top of ITV: the culture at This Morning had become toxic, no longer aligned with ITV values, and I felt like because I whistle-blew I was managed out.

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Familiar face: Singh worked on the show as a resident medical expert alongside Schofield and his co-host Holly Willoughby for six years before stepping down in 2022

Familiar face: Singh worked on the show as a resident medical expert alongside Schofield and his co-host Holly Willoughby for six years before stepping down in 2022 

The television medic confirmed that he had taken concerns about the behaviour of editors and senior producers to ITV and had then seen his screentime drop

The television medic confirmed that he had taken concerns about the behaviour of editors and senior producers to ITV and had then seen his screentime drop

Speaking out: The television medic previously confirmed that he had taken concerns about the behaviour of editors and senior producers to ITV and had then seen his screentime drop

Old times: Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby with Dr Ranj on This Morning in  2019. The TV doctor said he felt he had to speak up

Old times: Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby with Dr Ranj on This Morning in  2019. The TV doctor said he felt he had to speak up 

‘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 or investigation is foolproof.’ 

The doctor said he was assured that things would be addressed and changes made but he has not worked on the show since – adding it ‘still hurts’ two years on from lodging complaints.

An ITV spokesman said: ‘We are sorry to read Dr Ranj’s post today. At ITV we are fully committed to providing every opportunity for anyone who works with us to raise any concern or comments they may have.

‘Following a complaint made by Dr Ranj, we appointed an external and independent adviser to carry out a review. This external review found no evidence of bullying or discrimination.’

According to The Mail On Sunday, Schofield first met the younger ITV colleague whom he later had an affair with when he was aged 15.

Lawyers representing Schofield have confirmed they met when the boy was 15, but said the affair began after he started working at ITV, and the man’s lawyers have also said that it started after he joined the broadcaster.

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In a statement on Friday, Schofield said it was when the younger man joined the show as an adult that their affair began.

Over and out: Schofield has relinquished all ties with ITV after stepping down last week

Over and out: Schofield has relinquished all ties with ITV after stepping down last week   

Playtime: Schofield with fellow younger colleague who became his lover leaving The Ivy Club, London

They met when the man was 15

Playtime: Schofield with fellow younger colleague who became his lover leaving The Ivy Club, London

The 61-year-old presenter quit ITV on Friday after admitting to the Daily Mail that he lied about an 'unwise but not illegal' affair with a much younger man. His co-host of 13 years Holly said it was 'hurtful' to find out she had been lied to

The 61-year-old presenter quit ITV on Friday after admitting to the Daily Mail that he lied about an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a much younger man. His co-host of 13 years Holly said it was ‘hurtful’ to find out she had been lied to 

ITV said it investigated ‘rumours of a relationship’ between Schofield and the ITV employee about three years ago but both parties ‘categorically and repeatedly denied’ it.

A spokesman for the broadcaster said on Saturday that ITV was ‘not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour’ when it looked into the matter in 2020.

‘Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship,’ they added.

The broadcaster also said it was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the ‘admissions of deceit’ by Schofield after he spoke publicly about the affair.

Long-time co-host Willoughby said in an Instagram story posted on Saturday: ‘When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not.

‘It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie.’

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In his own statement, Schofield apologised for lying about the relationship.

‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them (the Daily Mail), and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning,’ he said.

Devastated: Sources close to Willoughby said it had been a 'traumatic' revelation for the This Morning host and a 'time of real sadness'

Devastated: Sources close to Willoughby said it had been a ‘traumatic’ revelation for the This Morning host and a ‘time of real sadness’

‘I did have a consensual, on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.’ 

He went on: ‘In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.

‘But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.’ 

Willoughby, who is officially due to be back on the show on Monday June 5 after a two-week family holiday, could extend her time off in a desperate attempt to avoid being dragged further into controversy, PR guru Mark Borkowski has said.

The team behind ITV’s golden girl, including her advisers, agents and lawyers, will now need to ‘come up with the goods’ to guarantee her future, he claimed.

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Borkowski told MailOnline: ‘For Holly it’s a case of staying out of the headlines, taking time out. Disappearing from public view.

‘Clearly she won’t do TV at the moment, she might possibly extend that. She’s the girl next door. She has huge commercial deals, clearly a talent, clearly liked.’

Speaking out: Eamonn Holmes - who previously presented This Morning but now works for GB News - has accused ITV of a cover-up

Speaking out: Eamonn Holmes – who previously presented This Morning but now works for GB News – has accused ITV of a cover-up 

London digs: Phillip Schofield seen arriving at his new central London flat following the announcement that he was gay in 2020

London digs: Phillip Schofield seen arriving at his new central London flat following the announcement that he was gay in 2020

London digs: Phillip Schofield seen arriving at his new central London flat following the announcement that he was gay in 2020. Holmes claimed Schofield would take his former lover back to a different £1 million flat in an exclusive block at White City in West London

Old times: Schofield with co-0host Holly Willoughby and his former lover on the This Morning sofa

Old times: Schofield with co-0host Holly Willoughby and his former lover on the This Morning sofa

He added that Willoughby now must demonstrate she can be trusted by viewers – as many are questioning who at the channel knew about Schofield’s relationship with his colleague. 

On the reputation of ITV’s bubbly breakfast presenter, he said: ‘Just because you’re a celebrity you are held to a higher degree of scrutiny [but] every human fails, there is drama in everyone’s lives.

‘My view is that we are yet to know and it’s for her to rebuild trust of her audience and get her representatives to work extremely hard in regaining some of the ground that might have been lost.’ 

Meanwhile former This Morning colleague Eamonn Holmes accused ITV of a ‘total cover-up’ of Schofield’s affair, claiming that ‘those in authority had to know’ about it because the man would be ferried between Schofield’s flat and studios in taxis ‘paid for by ITV’.

He told fellow GB News presenter Dan Wootton last night that he had decided to stand up for ‘people who hadn’t got a voice’. He revealed that the younger man, whom MailOnline has decided not to name, had been badly hurt by Schofield, and suggested he was a victim of the man he described as a ‘chief narcissist’.

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He said: ‘Thursday was playtime when he and Phillip would hit the town and then he obviously stayed overnight. There are records to show that he was brought in the next day separately in cars paid for by ITV.’

Calling the younger man ‘lovely’, and a ‘really good talented fella’, he said the taxi to work on a Friday morning was part of a ‘cover-up’ by ITV bosses. He said: ‘Unless Phillip paid the bills separately, but it would still have to go through the accounts office. They would have seen that and known.’

Candid: Holmes also told how his wife Ruth Langsford (pictured far left with him, Holly Willoughby and Schofield) was still in touch with Schofield's ex-lover, whom he described as a 'lovely fella'

Candid: Holmes also told how his wife Ruth Langsford (pictured far left with him, Holly Willoughby and Schofield) was still in touch with Schofield’s ex-lover, whom he described as a ‘lovely fella’

Allegation: Holmes also spoke of how Thursday's were known as 'playtime' for Schofield and his younger former partner, with the pair arriving at ITV studios in separate cars on Friday mornings

Allegation: Holmes also spoke of how Thursday’s were known as ‘playtime’ for Schofield and his younger former partner, with the pair arriving at ITV studios in separate cars on Friday mornings

Schofield took to social media yesterday to defend himself and the show he presented for more than 20 years, posting on Instagram: ‘Now I no longer work on This Morning I am free to say this. 

‘I hope you have noticed that it is the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice. This Morning is the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked there, there was no toxicity’.

Appearing on Wootton’s show last night, Holmes hit back at the statement – and laid into Schofield’s co-host Holly Willoughby. ‘[Schofield] was so rude,’ he said. 

‘This nonsense that he wrote today about toxicity, it’s a happy place and whatever… what planet does this man live on? He created an atmosphere where people hated him, that people would avoid them in the corridor, he didn’t look at anybody, he didn’t know anybody’s names. 

‘Holly doesn’t know people’s names either. This is legendary within the production team, how distant they are, and how they just don’t care.

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‘Not only should Phillip go, but Holly should follow him out the door. I don’t think you’ll ever see Holly back on the couch again.’

Shamed: Schofield apologised to his wife Stephanie Lowe (pictured) who stood by him after he came out as gay in 2020

Shamed: Schofield apologised to his wife Stephanie Lowe (pictured) who stood by him after he came out as gay in 2020

Emotional: The presenter is held by Holly Willoughby as he comes out as gay on This Morning in 2020

Emotional: The presenter is held by Holly Willoughby as he comes out as gay on This Morning in 2020

Holmes claimed Schofield would take his former lover back to his £1million flat in an exclusive block at White City in west London. The pair are said to have entered through an adjacent hotel to avoid any suspicions of their secret trysts. 

On Friday Schofield admitted that he had lied about the relationship, plunging ITV into meltdown and losing millions of pounds of sponsorship deals in the aftermath.

Holmes also told how his wife Ruth Langsford was still in touch with Phil’s ex-lover, whom he described as a ‘lovely fella’, but added that ‘life is tough’ for him. 

Speaking of the scandal engulfing ITV, Holmes said: ‘It’s a total cover-up. Those in authority had to know.

‘They had to know what was going on and they thought they would dodge the bullet, which they did and they do constantly.

‘All I’m here to do is to speak for people who hadn’t got a voice… I’m speaking on behalf of them.’ 

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MailOnline has approached ITV for comment. 

Sources close to Schofield said of the interview: ‘Phillip is not in a great place right now. If Eamonn Holmes wants to be that cruel to someone in Phillip’s position then that I think says more about Eamonn than Phillip.’ 

Kevin Lygo, ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment, refused to answer questions about Schofield after being pursued on the street by a GB News producer.

He was asked outside a station whether there had been a cover-up of the affair, but Mr Lygo walked away, telling the producer: ‘We really have no more to say.’

Source: Daily Mail

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