Phillip Schofield says 'This Morning' is like a "support group".
Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are returning next week
The 60-year-old presenter - who will be returning to the sofa with co-host Holly Willoughby, 41, on Monday (05.09.22) after their summer break - compared the backstage mood on the ITV show to a trip to Las Vegas, with everyone trusting each other to keep anything they talk about under wraps.
He said: "We just have such fun. I mean, in the make-up room in the mornings, everyone's chatting - it’s like ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!’ Everyone knows everything about everybody, and that’s nice…so I always miss that friendship group.
"But we all stay in touch outside of the show anyway, WhatsApping stuff and keeping up with everyone’s news. This Morning is more than just a show, it’s such a lovely group of people to come to work with and you do miss that - it’s not really a job!
"It's more than a job, it’s much much more than that… and I’m not gonna lie, 'This Morning' is one of my support groups and that’s a lovely thing to have."
When it comes to the WhatsApp group chats, the team have a few different ones set up, all with their own tone and level of decency.
He explained: "We definitely have a boxset-watching group! If someone is watching something and they like it, it’s a place for recommendations…
"And there are other ones where we are being a little more outrageous where we tell each other stories and update on things that we’ve done and send pictures of where we are.
"We have lots of different WhatsApp groups. We’ve got one with Martin our editor too - but nothing outrageous gets sent to him!"
Meanwhile, Holly explained how it helps having a co-star to settle back into work with after a break.
She said: "You know what, I sometimes forget what I’m doing after a long weekend! But you soon get back into the swing of things and that’s nice when there’s two of you because if I was on my own I’d be much more worried about that ... we’ve always got each other to fall back on."
Phillip and Holly return to 'This Morning' from Monday, September 5 at 10am on ITV.
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