Phillip Schofield "never forgets how lucky" he is after celebrating 20 years on 'This Morning.'

Phillip Schofield celebrates 20 years on This Morning

Phillip Schofield celebrates 20 years on This Morning

The 60-year-old star was chosen to front the long-running daytime show as a replacement for John Leslie back in 2002 and co-host Holly Willoughby opened the show on Tuesday (06.09.22) by surprising Phil with the news that it was a milestone anniversary.

Holly said: "We couldn’t start today’s show without mentioning something very special. Actually, it really is a huge achievement. Yesterday, we were doing our meeting, it’s always at the end of the show and it’s like, ‘What’s coming on tomorrow’s show’ and the producers went, ‘Did you know, it’s 20 years exactly since Phil officially started presenting on 'This Morning?' 20 years!"

The former children's TV presenter then exclaimed that the time has gone so fast but admitted he "never forgets" how lucky he is because he didn't audition for the job in the first place and was never formally offered the role.

He responded: "I didn't realise! It’s gone like that!' Wow, thank you, I haven’t heard anything about the auditions… no one’s ever told me I’ve got the job! I never forget how lucky I am, so thank you very much."

The former children's TV presenter - who initially fronted 'This Morning' alongside Fern Britton until she was replaced by Holly, 41, back in 2009 - was then shown a video montage of clips from his first day on the programme presenting a segment about the first series of 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here'.

He said: "Oh my god, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that! That must have been the first series of 'I’m a Celeb'… that’s mad. I was nervy as well. Fern [Britton] was so lovely looking after me!"

Holly - who at the time Phillip started on 'This Morning' was a model who had just begun her presenting career on CBBC - remarked that it was "weird" to see the old clips because he looked like the "new boy."

She said: "Do you know what’s weird about that? Seeing you as the new boy. That’s so weird because it just feels like you’ve been here forever!"

'This Morning' airs weekdays from 10am on ITV and ITV Hub.

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