The presenter spent 10 days totally alone on an island off Madagascar

What did you miss?

Phillip Schofield stripped off and went skinny-dipping as he said he hoped his desert island experience would be “the start of a new beginning”.

The presenter returned to television in Channel 5’s Cast Away after last year’s scandal, which saw him leaving This Morning and admitting to having what he said was an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague at ITV. He spent 10 days alone on an island off Madagascar, foraging for his own food and water as he tried to tell his side of the story.

In the final instalment, he burned a piece of paper containing the names of people who were “toxic” in his life before going for a naked nighttime swim. He also said he had “nothing” lined up after Cast Away and was “happy” with that, adding: “I’ve lived a 100 TV lives and this is, what a way to say thank you very much indeed, I have absolutely loved it.”

What, how and why?

The last of the three episodes in the series saw Schofield lighting a ceremonial fire on the beach on his final night on the island. “You shed all sorts of skins through your life, there are things that didn’t work out, there are people that you hoped would be around and then they are not and you shed that skin,” he said.

“Over the course of my 10 days I have written down all the things and all the people who were and are toxic in my life and so I have that now, it’s there, that’s it,” he said, as he ripped out the page from a notebook, crumpled it and tossed it into the flames.

“And now the toxic bank is empty. The goodness bank is full. Don’t dwell on what you’ve lost, live for what you have and be grateful for it.”

The TV presenter then said he had to get approval for a scene, before the camera showed him running naked into the water. He said: “This next scene I will shoot I will need approval, explicit approval. Thankyou. So I want to look forward with positivity and joy – what an opportunity.”

Phillip Schofield said he will ‘never’ return to daytime TV

The show’s crew arrived to collect Schofield after his 10 days on the island and one person asked what he was doing next.

“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing. I’m happy with nothing. I’ve got family and friends and dog.”

He went on: “Now I’m not saying I’m done, but I, you know, never in a million years will I go back to daytime telly. I’ve lived a 100 TV lives and this is, what a way to say thank you very much indeed, I have absolutely loved it.”

Schofield also told how he had experienced “10 days of unbelievable moments” while he was alone on the island and that it had become something of a happy place for him.

Discussing what he hoped people would take from the show, he said: “I think the most important thing I’d like anybody to take away would be to say, ‘OK that’s the guy he is, that’s what he’s like, he’s like that.’

“This is the person that my family see – this is who I am.”

What did viewers say?

Schofield has had his supporters as he returns to TV, with some people posting messages on X saying they “support his decision to tell his side of the story” as the series aired.

“Loved it – the haters will always hate but let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” said one. “Of course no-one will come forward as no one is perfect.”

However, many have branded the programme “narcissistic” and “self-pitying”.

The skinny dip in particular was slated as the last episode aired, with people calling it a “cringe” moment and saying that they hadn’t expected to see Schofield naked.

“Did we really have to see Philip Schofield’s naked bottom?” one person asked on X. “The cringe keeps coming,” wrote another viewer.

Someone else posted: “Did any of us need to see him naked?? Narcissist.”