Phillip and Hollys popularity plummets as This Morning loses more viewers

This Morning: Phil tries to make Holly laugh

This Morning has suffered a devastating blow as the ITV show has reportedly lost 100,000 viewers this week. 

The huge drop in figures comes amid rumours that hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have fallen out behind the scenes.

Rumours of a rift started after Phillip released a statement revealing the past few weeks haven’t been easy for them and Holly deleted a tribute to her co-star on Twitter.

This week, they’ve put on a united front on-screen and continued with their presenting hosting duties, however, many viewers were quick to spot tension between them both with some calling their interactions “fake” and “awkward”.

Their rumoured feud has had a huge impact on the ITV show’s viewing figures as they’ve plummeted in their thousands.

Compared to the week before, Monday’s episode saw ratings fall by 20 percent to 724,000, with ITV bosses apparently “beside themselves’ at the drop.

Thankfully, Tuesday’s instalment saw a slightly higher average of 663,000.

However, it was Wednesday that saw the most significant change as figures dropped by more than 100,000.

Last week saw 647,000 tuning into the midweek episode of This Morning with only 551,000 watching this week.

Don’t miss…
Naga Munchetty swipes ‘we never break’ as Ant and Dec quit ITV show[VIDEO]
Eamonn Holmes in fresh swipe at Phillip Schofield over ‘feud'[ITV]
Emmerdale exit for Wendy Posner after Liam Cavanagh betrayal[SOAP]

There was also a massive reduction in peak viewership across the week with it going from 905,000 to 683,000.

With ratings falling drastically and viewers calling out the tension between the duo, there’s speculation Phillip won’t be hosting the show for much longer.

The 61-year-old started fronting This Morning back in 2002 and was joined by Holly in 2009, and for over a decade they’ve presented it side-by-side.

Despite referring to one another as “best friends” over the years, it’s heavily reported they’re barely speaking when the cameras stop rolling.

A source told The Sun that it’s likely viewers won’t see Phillip return back to the show in Autumn after his summer break, which starts in July.

They said: “This Morning is preparing for some seismic changes this summer and Phil is lined up as the first major name for the chop when his contract expires this summer.

“It’s highly unlikely he’ll be back in September. Plans are being drawn up for a new look This Morning and, at the moment, Phil is not featuring in them.”

This Morning continues weekdays on ITV from 10am

Source: Read Full Article