The British Soap Awards will go ahead as planned when Phillip Schofield steps down

ITV has confirmed that the British Soap Awards will go ahead as planned after Phillip Schofield resigned with just eight days’ notice amid the confession of his affair.

The broadcaster has yet to confirm who will host next Saturday’s event in place of the 61-year-old Phillip, but bookies have tipped Joel Dommett as the favorite to take over.

It comes after 61-year-old Phillip resigned from ITV and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting he had an affair with a young This Morning colleague.

He confessed to having a ‘reckless but not illegal’ relationship with a man during his marriage to Stephanie Lowe, and previously denied the affair when questioned about it by his agent.

Phillip was due to host the British Soap Awards next weekend after leaving This Morning last week, but confirmed in Friday’s statement that he has left all his jobs at ITV, including the ceremony.

Following its announcement, ITV said the British Soap Awards would still take place in Manchester on June 3, with a replacement host to be confirmed “in due course”.

An ITV spokesperson said: “The British Soap Awards will take place next Saturday as scheduled, and we will make further announcements in due course.”

Although an official replacement has yet to be confirmed, Joel Dommett is the bookies’ favorite to take over as gig host, followed by Dermot O’Leary.

Bookmakers Coral put The Masked Singer UK presenter Joel, 37, at 1/2 the odds of hosting the Soap Awards, closely followed by This Morning’s Dermot, 50, at 5/2.

Other presenters in the race are Bradley Walsh, Alison Hammond and Vernon Kay, according to Coral.

Coral’s John Hill said: “Joel Dommett beats our bets to replace Philip Schofield as host of the 2023 British Soap Awards.” ITV will likely consider him perfect, as he is now one of the channel’s most popular presenters.

“Dermot O’Leary and Vernon Kay are names that have been well endorsed, while Mo Giligan could be in the mix following his Brit Awards experience.”

After leaving This Morning, Phillip was still set to present the Soap Awards for the 13th year in a row, but confirmed he would be leaving ITV entirely on Friday.

Favourite: The broadcaster has yet to confirm who will host next Saturday’s event in place of the 61-year-old Phillip, but bookies have tipped Joel Dommett as the favorite to take over.

Host: After leaving This Morning, Phillip was still set to host the Soap Awards for the 13th year in a row, but confirmed he would be leaving ITV entirely on Friday.

Phillip admitted to having an affair with a younger male colleague, which he said was “reckless but not illegal,” in a lengthy published statement, also apologizing to his wife and family.

The ‘reckless’ relationship took place during his marriage of almost 30 years to his wife Stephanie, 59, and Phillip said he was ‘very sorry’ for being unfaithful.

Stephanie, who shares two children Ruby, 27, and Molly, 29, with Phillip, issued a statement when her husband came out as gay in a moving segment on This Morning in 2020.

Phillip stepped down from his duties as host of This Morning last weekend after more than 20 years on the airwaves before confirming the matter in a statement to the Daily Mail on Friday.

He has also resigned from ITV and will not host the British Soap Awards. He has also been released by his agents at YMU ‘effective immediately’.

In a statement, the former ITV presenter said: ‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail, whom I have already personally apologized for misleading, via my lawyer, who I also misled, on a story. [sic] who wanted to write about me a few days ago.

“The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry that I lied to them and many others about a relationship I had with someone who worked at This Morning.

Bombshell – Comes after 61-year-old Phillip left ITV and was dumped by his talent agency YMU after admitting he had an affair with a young This Morning colleague.

“I had a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague on This Morning.

“Contrary to speculation, although I met the man as a teenager and was asked to help him break into television, it was only after he started working on the show that it became more than just a friendship.

That relationship was reckless, but not illegal. Now it’s over…

I am painfully aware that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore to the public and most importantly to my family. I’m very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife…

‘I am resigning from ITV with immediate effect, expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the incredible opportunities they have given me.

“I will reflect on my very poor judgment in participating in the relationship and then lying about it.”

Following his statement, an ITV spokesman said: “We are deeply disappointed by the admissions of cheating made tonight by Phillip Schofield.”

‘The relationships we have with those we work with are based on trust. Philip assured us that he now acknowledges that they were not true and we were very disappointed.

“We accept his resignation from ITV and can therefore confirm that he will not appear on ITV as previously stated.”

Following his statement, Phillip also parted ways with his YMU management team after 35 years.

Mary Bekhait, Group CEO of YMU Group, said: ‘Honesty and integrity are core values ​​to the entire YMU business, defining everything we do.

Admission: Phillip confessed to having an ‘reckless but not illegal’ affair with a man during his marriage to Stephanie Lowe, and previously denied the affair when asked by his agent

‘Talent management is a relationship based entirely on trust.

‘This week, we have learned important new information about our client Phillip Schofield.

‘These facts contradicted what Phillip had previously told YMU, as well as the outside advisers we had brought in to support him.

“As a result, on Thursday we agreed to part ways with Phillip, effective immediately.”