[AaronTV]

Genuinely quite surprised by this; to leave immediately after twenty years with no goodbye, particularly on a show that relies on familiarity with the presenters, is a brutal way to go.

As others have said, there must surely be more to come on this story - as far as we know Schofield hasn’t actually done anything wrong.

If nothing further actually comes out in the wash, it sets quite the precedent at ITV. If the papers now decide Holly was the problem all along and continue reporting about her, does she have to quit? If Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway, for example, are reported to have had a massive fallout and the tabloids decide it’s now too awkward for them to work together, does Ben have to quit? Where does it stop?

Giving into tabloid pressure is certainly nothing new, but it is telling that someone like Schofield, who has been loyal to the ITV machine for two decades, can be spat out as easily as this.

I do also think what was *not* said throughout this saga is more interesting than what was.

Indeed, Holly could most likely have helped to prevent this outcome, but by declining to release her own statement, or even put her a name to a joint statement to refute the rumours, essentially made it a much bigger story.

A joint statement, being seen to socialise over the weekend (and getting it up on social media) and addressing it on Monday’s show, ie - ‘we can assure you we are still the best of friends and there is nothing to worry about’ probably would have put the whole thing to bed.

If they were still genuinely friends before all of this, Holly declining to do *something* to try and help resolve it probably meant they weren’t by the end of it…

As others have noted, Philip’s statement today doesn’t even mention Holly, whilst Holly’s statement is not exactly glowing. Certainly confirms large parts of the speculation, that’s for sure.