Entertainment
Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield sign off early for Christmas from This Morning and viewers are baffled-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro
Holly and Phil have regularly taken long Christmas breaks.
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This Morning viewers raised a few eyebrows when Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby announced their Christmas holidays had kicked off.
But The Cube presenter and The Games host have regularly taken their annual leave around the same time over the past few years to enjoy the festive period with their families.
The duo presented Friday’s (December 9) instalment of the ITV daytime programme, which raised festive cheer with appearances from the likes of the English National Opera.
But, of course, it wouldn’t be This Morning with the odd tense moment, with Carol Vorderman and Gyles Brandreth disagreeing over Prince Harry in the wake of the launch of his doc with Meghan Markle.
After rounding off the episode by sampling some yuletide tipples, including a rather pricey whiskey, mother-of-three Holly announced they would be (almost) signing off for the year.
However, the Wylde Moon founder, 41, and Phil, 60, revealed they would be back on the big day itself to present a festive edition of the long-running series.
While Holly and Phil kick back and relax, fear not: This Morning will still be on our screens, with Alison Hammond, 47, and Dermot O’Leary, 49, taking over presenting duties next week.
Holly and Phil will return only once more this year for Christmas day (Picture: ITV)
Holly told the audience: ‘Well we are off for a bit of a break now but we look forward to seeing you on Christmas day.
‘Next week Alison and Dermot will be joined by another popstar aiming for number one, it’s Basil Brush.
This Morning fans were quick to express their outrage over the ‘extended’ break, with one fuming: ‘I’m not saying Holly and Phil go on their Christmas break earlier and earlier every year but I’m not sure if they’ve finished up today for Christmas 2022 or Christmas 2023. #ThisMorning.’
Another jumped in to comment on the long holidaying, penning: ‘It’s Friday and Holly & Phil are presenting #ThisMorning Must mean they won’t be back till January! #extendedxmasbreak ?’
Other viewers commented that they ‘seem to break up earlier every year’, with many joking about them pushing back their holiday in the future to ‘October’
Sarcastically pointing out the date of their final day of the year, a social media account remarked simply: ‘I take it this is holly and phils last episode of the year on the 9th December #ThisMorning.’
Holly said she and Phil were ‘off for a bit of a break’ (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
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Last year Holly and Phil also went on their Xmas hols around the same time, on Friday December 10, for another generous break.
It was similar in 2020, with the duo signing off on Friday December 12, while they bid farewell for the year on the same day in 2019.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to reps for Holly, Phil and ITV for comment.
This Morning continues on ITV from 10am on Monday.
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