AN awkward silence descended on This Morning today – when Phillip Schofield started reading a message he shouldn’t live on air.
The live TV veteran, 59, trailed off after it emerged the Elf on the Shelf phone-in was about to go off the rails.
Referring to a viewer’s picture of two elves in a tree he read: “Chippy and his wife Bubbles are back, says Steph.
“The next 23 nights are going to consist of us getting into bed and realising that we haven’t…”
But he then stopped, adding: “I don’t think I’m going to read that out.”
After a pause, during which jaunty Christmas music played in the background, he said: “I’m not going to read that one out because that, that…”
“Those are the pictures of their elves and that’s… er… amazingly very involved in their Christmas.”
Holly Willoughby stepped in to try and move on, saying breezily: “Chippy and his wife, right.”
The pair were reading out messages from viewers along with photos of things their dolls had been up to.
Elf on the Shelf is a festive phenomenon started in the US where parents place the cheeky-looking toys in different situations every night.
Children them wake up to find them in amusing situations each morning in December.
