Declan Donnelly pokes fun at Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield's joint holidays

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Declan Donnelly was forced to defend himself after Chris Evans playfully asked if it was "part of your contracts" to holiday together, after he joined Holly, 38, and Phil, 57, on their recent holiday to Portugal.

Chris joked: "So is it an ITV thing, is it part of your contracts that you get to come here all together in the sunshine?"

To which Dec replied: "Absolutely."

All jokes aside, new-dad Dec revealed his part in Holly and Phil's annual trip happened "organically" - after he bonded with Holly whilst filming last year's I'm A Celeb during Ant McPartlin's hiatus.

Holly and Dec watch a challenge on last night's I'm A Celeb

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He explained: "It's all kind of happened organically, we've all holidayed out here in the past and we just seem to meet up here in the August."

Chris - who is doing his Virgin Radio Breakfast Show from Portugal - said it pays that the ITV presenters get on so well.

"Back at base it does work, because the bonds are there and that permeates throughout all your production teams, they all know that you lot get on and it's good for business, isn't it," he added.

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Holly and Phil have been enjoying joint holidays for years after becoming firm friends outside of their daily This Morning gig.

In a sweet tribute to her best pal, Holly revealed that Philip "protects her" in every aspect of her life.

"The first person that would be outraged is Phil, actually," she said during a discussion about the gender pay gap. "He’d be devastated. He would be the first person to make a stand. He protects me in every other area of my life, so there’s no way he wouldn’t do that."

And, the pair are so close now they're like family.

"Now we’ve got to the stage where we’ll say the same things at the same time on screen, in the same way. It’s really weird. The only other person I’ve got that with is my sister."

 

Georgia normally writes across Woman & Home and Goodto specializing in all things royal. She has also written for What to Watch. Labeled the "Queen of the royals," Georgia knows exactly who's who and what's what when it comes to the monarchy. When she's not eagerly following the royal family, Georgia enjoys shopping and self-care. She lives with this motto in mind: "if your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough."