Holly Willoughby claims her career is based on ‘luck’ and admits she ‘owes everything’ to Phillip Schofield after he pushed for her to get This Morning job
Stunning presenter thanks co-host for getting her top TV job
HOLLY Willoughby has revealed she owes This Morning co-host Phillip Schofield "everything" after he pushed for her to join him on the iconic ITV sofa.
The mum-of-three first worked with the silver haired 54-year-old when they presented Dancing On Ice in 2006, and their on-screen chemistry soon landed Holly the biggest job in daytime TV three years later.
Speaking to the , Holly, 36, said: "There’s no way I would even have been considered for This Morning if it hadn’t been for Phil.
“I know for a fact that he was the one that mentioned me.
"He pushed for me to get the job in the first place.
“I totally owe him everything."
She said: "I know that when he’s away or when he films other things, someone else steps in and that’s great.
“But I just can’t imagine doing the show without him.
“I think I need him on that show, so, yes, we are a total team."
Never was their camaraderie more apparent than when they appeared on the show still in the night before's outfits after winning the Live Magazine prize at the National Television Awards last year.
The duo, tipsy and elated, had the nation in stitches as they tried to keep it together while in such high spirits.
However, don't expect to see a repeat performance.
She laughed: “Last year was a real one-off event.
"I do think you only get away with doing something like that once.
“We were just so happy to win and it’s really important in life to celebrate those moments.
“Life goes so fast and all too soon I’ll be sat at home on the sofa – hopefully as a grandma – watching the 50th NTAs or whatever it is and thinking: ‘Wow, once I was there’.
“You have to mark it. That’s the best award we could possibly win."
However, despite the accolades and being a National Treasure, Holly remains modest, claiming that her career has been based on "total and utter luck."
She explained: “It was while I was doing Ministry Of Mayhem that I got Dancing On Ice.
"And I still don’t understand how I made that leap from Saturday mornings to Saturday nights.
“That just doesn’t happen. It was pure luck.
"I know it was an executive called Nigel Pickard who made that decision and I will be grateful to him forever and a day.
“Why he did it I have no idea. Mornings I could do with my eyes shut, but you put me in that prime-time arena and I was like a rabbit in the headlights.
“It was absolutely terrifying. But I still think it’s good to challenge myself, even now.
!It just makes life a bit more exciting.”
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