Drag Race UK star Cheryl Hole throws major shade at Phillip Schofield
Drag Race UK alumn Cheryl Hole has waded into the drama around Phillip Schofield’s dramatic break with ITV after the former This Morning presenter admitted to lying about an affair with a younger male colleague.
The world of British daytime TV was rocked on Friday (26 May) after former ITV darling Schofield, 61, revealed that he’d had a relationship with a junior colleague, who he met when the man was a teenager.
According to Schofield’s statement, released via the Daily Mail, he had been asked to help the unnamed man “get into television”, but it was only after the man had started working at ITV that they had become more than friends.
Schofield clarified that the relationship was “unwise, but not illegal”.
On Saturday (27 May), ITV revealed that the broadcaster had investigated rumours of the affair in 2020, the year that Schofield came out publicly as gay, but both parties “categorically and repeatedly denied” the claims.
Schofield’s former co-presenter Holly Willoughby, also broke her silence, writing in a post on Instagram Stories that when she “directly” asked her This Morning sofa-mate whether the rumours of his affair were true, she was lied to.
Willoughby’s chemistry with Schofield and their seemingly warm and easy friendship was a key part of This Morning’s popularity. She described being deceived as “very hurtful”.
Schofield has now parted ways with ITV, will no longer present the British Soap Awards in June or front a new prime-time show for the broadcaster.
A whole host of public figures have weighed in on the revelations in Schofield’s statement, including former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes and former ITV regular Dan Wootton. But perhaps the shadiest comment has come from Drag Race UK season one queen Cheryl Hole.
The Essex queen tweeted on Saturday about an alleged incident at the 2020 National Television Awards (NTA) where Hole was less than impressed by Schofield’s reaction to the Drag Race UK cast.
Shade was thrown with Hole posting: “I smiled at Phillip Schofield at the NTAs in 2020 and he looked at all us Drag Race girlies in disgust so I call this karma.”
I smiled at Phillip Schofield at the NTA’s in 2020 and he looked at all us Drag Race girlies in disgust so I call this karma
— Cheryl Hole (@CherylHoleQueen) May 27, 2023
Cheryl Hole was eliminated on episode seven of Drag Race UK season one after losing her lip sync to final three queen, the indomitable Baga Chipz.
In 2022, Hole appeared as a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs the World, and was the second queen to go home. The same year also saw her make her West End debut in the drag murder mystery Death Drop.
Hole also starred in Death Drop: Back in the Habit alongside other Drag Race faves VIctoria Scone, Kitty Scott Claus and Jujubee, which ran from 31 January until 4 February 2023.
PinkNews has reached out to Phillip Schofield and his representatives for comment.