Phillip Schofield has pledged to tell his story of “survival, both on a desert island and off it” in a Channel 5 show that sees him return the screen following his nearly two-year absence from the limelight.
The three-part show Phillip Schofield: Cast Away will see the former presenter marooned on a tropical island off the coast of Madagascar.
Schofield, 62, has made few public appearances following his resignation from ITV last May after admitting to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague.
On Wednesday, he wrote on Instagram: “Now you know how I spent my Summer! Alone for 10 days, no food, no water, no crew. My story of survival, both on a desert island and off it.”
He also posted an image of himself on a beach with his normally clean shaven face looking shaggy with a white beard, and wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
The series will air across three nights, from Monday until Wednesday, and will see the former presenter getting to grips with isolation across 10 days and nine nights.
Channel 5 said the experience of Schofield being left alone allows him to “confront the challenges of total isolation, the forces of nature and provides the time to battle within his own mind as he explores his own controversial story”.
Schofield said: “This is most definitely a first for me and the only thing I felt compelled to do. It appealed to me on so many levels.
“I’ve recently had a lot of time to think about my life, what went right and what went wrong, but I’ve always had the safe arms of friends and family wrapped around me. This time it’s just me, no phone, no comforts, no crew and only lip balm as a luxury.
“I’m looking forward to exploring the island, trying to tie knots to secure my shelter and foraging and fending for myself in the wild … with no help. Maybe I’ll be Robinson Crusoe, or maybe I’ll just be Tom Hanks’ Wilson and quietly drift off into the wild blue yonder.”
In the 2000 film, Cast Away Tom Hanks’ character Charles “Chuck” Noland crashes in the Pacific Ocean, and has to fend for himself for years with only a volleyball for company. Robinson Crusoe tells the story of a shipwrecked sailor trapped for decades, and meeting mutineers and natives on an island.
Channel 5 commissioning editor Guy Davies said: “This isn’t just a survival challenge, it’s chance for Phillip to look back over the last explosive 18 months of his life, and explore what happened.
“The audience will learn how he feels now about television and the future, as well as the past. And it will be Phillip Schofield as we have never seen him before – unguarded, emotional and brutally honest.”
Before the announcement, the channel posted a short clip of a mystery star walking across a remote beach, as it teased its “brand new” desert island programme on social media.
During the first season of Cast Away, comedian Ruby Wax was left on an island in the the Indian Ocean for 10 days, and had to document her own story with body and hand-held cameras.
Executive producer and managing director at production company Burning Bright Productions, Clive Tulloh, said: “We are very excited about this powerful and emotional series. It is much-watch TV. It gives a whole new meaning to survival.”
Channel 5 listings say the first episode sees Schofield “excited and optimistic” about the challenge ahead, when he lands on the beach, until a “gale force” rips through his camp in the middle of the night.
He will also receive a training day with a survival expert prior to arriving via boat, as he is “left to navigate his new island home alone, attempting to scavenge for mangoes, find a water source and catch fish”.
Schofield will also “reflect on some of the tougher times in his life” amid days “without any meaningful food”.
Hungry, he will try to catch crab for dinner during dusk, before getting lost “in the dense jungle with only a headlamp and no idea of how to get back to camp”, the episode description also says.
Schofield said last year he had “lost everything” after admitting to the affair, and that the fallout had had a “catastrophic effect” on his mind.
An external review, revealed in December, found that ITV made “considerable efforts” to find out the truth about an alleged relationship between him and a runner on This Morning in 2019 but was “unable to uncover the relevant evidence” until the presenter’s own admission in late May 2023.
Carried out by Jane Mulcahy KC, and commissioned by ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall, Schofield “reluctantly declined” to take part because of “the risk to his health”.
Holly Willoughby, who was a co-host of This Morning with Schofield for more than a decade left the daytime programme in October 2023, and continued at ITV by presenting Dancing On Ice with Stephen Mulhern, instead of her former on-screen partner.
– Phillip Schofield: Cast Away begins airing at 9pm on Monday on Channel 5.
