Have I Got News For You couldn’t help but make multiple jokes about Holly Willoughby and the This Morning drama.
On Monday, the Wylde Moon creator made his first appearance on the ITV daytime show since Phillip Schofield admitted to a ‘unwise but not criminal’ romance with a younger runner.
Holly, 42, opened her widely criticised speech to audiences by asking, ‘Firstly, are you ok?’
‘It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil,’ she continued. ‘And I imagine you have been feeling a lot like I have: shaken, troubled, let down.’
Before HIGNFY even began, a clip from Holly’s speech in which she said ‘deep breath’ was shown, followed by the guest presenter, Harry Hill, who followed her orders and took a quick inhalation of breath.
But the comedian, 58, didn’t stop there, commenting on a new Apple AI headgear that allows users to live in a “mixed reality” and adding, “I guess like Holly Willoughby does.”
Later in the programme, the panel made a more direct allusion to the upheaval at This Morning and Phillip’s abrupt departure from ITV after admitting to the affair.
After replaying Holly’s speech in full, Ian Hislop commented: ‘Her tone of voice suggested that Phil Schofield and everyone he knew had all been murdered by terrorists.’
‘Did you feel let down, Ian?’ Paul Merton asked, referencing Holly’s choice of words.
‘I was just wondering if that was a cocktail: shaken, let down,’ Ian joked. ‘I think the audience doesn’t feel anything except, well, “This is quite interesting, unlike the show normally”.’
Holly also featured in the image round of Have I Got News For You, in which the guests had to identify the odd one out.
‘They’ve all been affected by anything they’ve seen on the television save from Holly Willoughby who made a specific statement about it and how unhappy she was on the telly,’ Harry continued, explaining why the Dancing On Ice presenter was the correct response.
‘After everyone else had said their piece, it took Holly Willoughby more than a week to take a statement. Not like her to be the last in the queue.’
Harry was referring to the outrage Holly and Phil received for allegedly ‘jumping’ the queue to view the late Queen laying in state for a This Morning programme.
Holly has not addressed Phillip, who stated in a series of dramatic interviews that they had not talked since the affair was made public.
She has, however, made a number of mysterious social media postings, one about ‘talking to a buddy’ and another about ‘coincidences’ and ‘secret messages.’
Have I Got News For You continues on Friday at 9pm on BBC One.
Source My Celebrity Life.