Phillip Schofield managed to sidestep a comment about the “queuegate” furore that he and Holly Willoughby found themselves at the centre of last month, when he was backstage at this year’s NTAs.
In the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, the This Morning duo were forced to deny rumours that they “jumped the queue” to see the late monarch lying in state.
Addressing the matter on air, the pair insisted they “would never jump a queue” and were instead given permission to attend the hall to make a piece for This Morning “like hundreds of accredited broadcasters and journalists”.
On Thursday night, the presenters took to the stage when This Morning scooped its 12th consecutive National Television Award, as voted for by viewers.
Backstage, Phillip was asked by journalist Oliver Whitfield-Miočić whether he felt This Morning’s win “vindicates you for queuegate” and is a sign of the public saying “actually we don’t care that much about queuegate”.
In a video posted by Oliver on Twitter, Phillip said simply: “We are so grateful to our amazing viewers… we love them.”
He and co-presenter Rochelle Humes were then seen leaving the backstage area.
ITV’s chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall told reporters during a recent BBC interview that the fall-out from “queuegate” had been “horrible” for both Phillip and Holly.
“I don’t think they’re feeling great. I mean, it’s hard,” she said.
“Imagine yourself in the eye of a storm like this, where you’re trying to say you’ve done nothing wrong, and all the noise around you is saying that you have. It’s difficult to handle.”