Culture

Phillip Schofield tears into influencer who flew to Dubai mid-pandemic to do ‘essential’ work

Phillip Schofield Sheridan Mordew This Morning

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby tore into influencer Sheridan Mordew after she defended her decision to travel to Dubai despite surging coronavirus cases. (YouTube/This Morning)

This Morning spoke to an influencer in Dubai who said she has been on an “essential work trip” since January it’s fair to say things got heated.

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby have won plaudits from This Morning viewers after they tore into an influencer who claimed she travelled to Dubai for “essential work”.

Influencer Sheridan Mordew faced significant backlash from fans after she flew to Dubai ahead of the New Year, despite the surge in coronavirus cases in England.

Mordew appeared on ITV’s This Morning on Tuesday (26 January) where she tried to defend her actions – but Willoughby and Schofield were having none of it.

The influencer claimed that she had to travel to Dubai to continue her “Shape Up With Sher” business, which sees her share fitness routines with people on Instagram.

However, Phillip Schofield was quick to point out that most of her fitness videos filmed in Dubai were recorded inside her apartment – and therefore could have been made at home.

Mordew said: “The reason I came out to Dubai was purely for business, I’m a personal trainer – a lot of gyms have closed, so basically I took my online business over to Dubai and now I do things in my apartment.”

Schofield quickly replied: “It’s interesting you say you’re doing it in your apartment, a lot of the fitness stuff could have been filmed in your garage in Bolton – you don’t have to be in Dubai to do that.”

Phillip Schofield asked if riding a camel in Dubai is ‘essential work’.

The influencer promptly changed her defence, instead telling Schofield and Willoughby that she was force to travel abroad for her mental health”.

“Obviously during the second lockdown I was really struggling, a lot of my clients spend on me to bring them motivation and happiness,” she said.

“As the third lockdown was coming in I thought: “Well, my mental health is suffering, I’m not going to start something new just sitting in this house… I had this idea but I could not be bothered.”

She continued: “With my own struggles, I thought the only way I’m going to get out of this is if I get on the plane for essential travel and go to Dubai.”

Willoughby took Mordew to task on her comments, asking if she had considered that her Instagram snaps in the sun might actually be making her followers feel bad that they can’t go abroad.

Mordew admitted that she sometimes feels “guilty” for having travelled abroad, and she occasionally wonders if sharing images from her Dubai trip is the right thing to do.

Laughing, Phillip Schofield said: “If you go to Dubai and you don’t post then you have absolutely no excuse to go in the first place!”

Elsewhere in her interview, producers played a clip of Mordew riding a camel – a video that she shared on Instagram .

Schofield could be seen visibly laughing at the video, and asked Mordew: “That was essential, what you posted there was essential?”

Mordew defended the video, saying she also had videos on her Instagram of workouts, adding: “I think in a world where you be anything, be kind, and I think a lot of people forget about that.”

Willoughby went on to ask Mordew if she is being “kind” to frontline healthcare workers, who are currently stretched to breaking point as they try to cope with the current surge in coronavirus cases.

Mordew once again defended her actions, claiming that she travelled to Dubai to “motivate” her followers.

Her arguments did not convince people at home, with many taking to Twitter to lambast Mordew for flouting coronavirus restrictions.

 

 

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