Holly Willoughby’s new YouTube lifestyle show has become the centre of a behind-the-scenes dispute with ITV, after bosses at the broadcaster appeared to book guests from her upcoming episodes before they were released online.
Two guests who had filmed segments for Together, Willoughby’s new show, were invited onto This Morning ahead of their appearances on her channel. Sources believe the bookings followed a press release issued to promote the show’s launch.
Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in April 2022 following what she believes was an online challenge gone wrong, was interviewed by This Morning hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on Thursday. That appearance came five days before her pre-recorded segment with Willoughby was set to go live on YouTube. Food bloggers Original Flava also cooked on This Morning on Wednesday, ahead of their appearance on Together.
A source familiar with the bookings said there was no way the timing was a coincidence, adding that it felt like sabotage. The source said Willoughby’s team had shared the press release in good faith, and that This Morning had swept in and grabbed the guests in the intervening period.
Willoughby, 45, hosted This Morning for 14 years before quitting suddenly in October 2023, five months after her co-host Phillip Schofield was ousted. She left after police told her they had foiled a plot by former security guard Gary Plumb to kidnap, rape and murder her. She struggled to leave her home for several months following the revelation.
She returned to ITV on Dancing On Ice in 2024 but later turned down a role hosting a reboot of the game show You Bet!. This Morning is now primarily hosted by Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, and draws around 500,000 viewers per episode, compared to the 3 million the show attracted during its peak with Willoughby and Schofield.
Despite the first episode of Together being panned by critics, Willoughby’s team reported she was thrilled with the response. The YouTube channel had 141,000 views in total, including a teaser video. The first episode, featuring actor Stanley Tucci, had 59,000 views after four days, outpacing YouTube shows from former ITV colleagues Ant and Dec and Davina McCall, which had 19,000 and 31,000 views respectively over a similar period.
