Exclusive:
Body language expert Judi James has given her verdict on Phillip Schofield’s missing perma-smile as he attempts to relaunch his career on a desert island
Channel 5 teases new show Cast Away
It’s the moment many This Morning viewers never thought would happen – Phillip Schofield is staging his return to TV.
Appearing bedraggled and tired with unkempt stubble, a worn t-shirt and messy bleached hair, the former ITV presenter looks worlds away from his perma-smiling self. In a trailer for Channel 5’s Cast Away, Phillip is seen walking on an idyllic sandy beach after being stranded on a tropical island in Madagascar.
The ex-This Morning host sensationally quit his 21-year role on the ITV show and lost a handful of lucrative brand deals after dmitting to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a much younger male colleague in 2023. He later went on to do a bombshell interview with the BBC’s Amol Rajan in which he denied grooming allegations, claimed he was a victim of hate and believed his TV career was over.
In the Channel 5 programme, Phillip will discuss his two-year nightmare while filming himself battling the Madagascan wilderness. There was no camera crew or production present and the project is said to have been “top secret”.
But what does his demeanour tell us about how he’s really feeling upon his TV return? And is he using any techniques to elicit certain feelings from the audience? The Mirror spoke to Judi James, who has given her verdict on Phillip’s body language…
TV career rehab normally involves a stint on ‘I’m a Celeb’ chewing on bull testicles but the risk there is that the other celebs might turn antsy and start asking some difficult questions or that the public will rise up as one and vote you off first, before you have made your pitch.
Schofield seems to be getting an open offer here though, given what looks like the chance to create the biggest super-selfie ever, ‘surviving’ and what sounds like ‘suffering’ alone with no-one to compete with in terms of popularity or camera time and with what looks like the luxury of speaking his thoughts to camera without the filter of any interviewer.
His body language in the clip and the photo look suitably dramatic. He is mooching along an idyllic-looking beach with only a drone for company. In the photo we are shown shocking-looking image in terms of styling. The TV perma-smile is gone, to be replaced by a tightly clamped mouth that is pulled down hard at the corners in what looks like an expression of deep sadness or tragedy but which is possibly Schofield’s more normal ‘resting’ expression when he’s not beaming on set. His eyes look reflective and equally tragic. He’s got the kind of tan and bleached hair and beard that people normally envy when someone comes back from holiday but which add a ‘Castaway’ vibe to his branding here.
The broken-looking man we saw clutching his vape during his exit from TV interview might not have seemed the most comfortable or ideal candidate for filmed solitude and some sort of survival challenge, which would be an emotional assault course to the strongest personality. But Schofield is a veteran in the TV business and will know exactly how this kind of thing works, so it is hopefully low on risk.
Presumably if this technique is successful in terms of a career or life re-boot then we can look forward to a watching a queue of well-known characters and politicians vying for their chance to get on a plane and get filming. That island could get quite crowded.
Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
