Carol McGiffin has launched a scathing attack on Loose Women, branding the show “boring, strained and unfriendly” and calling for it to be axed.
The 66-year-old was a staple of the ITV series for well over a decade, having started on the panel in 2000. She quickly became a fixture alongside mainstays Denise Welch, Kaye Adams and Coleen Nolan. She initially walked away in 2013 before returning five years later, but in 2023 she took a step back for good.
Column attack
After taking a swipe at the weekday afternoon programme following Denise’s exit earlier this month, the TV presenter claimed that it has become “a sad shadow of its former self” in her new column.
In her latest column for Best magazine, via the Sun, Carol reportedly fumed: “There’s nothing worse than having to watch someone you love die a slow, painful death but it’s also painful to watch when something you loved dies a slow death.
“And so it is, in my opinion, with Loose Women. It’s been happening for a while but now it seems to be in its final throes. Loose Women used to be a show full of humour, with strong sassy women, innuendo and risqué topics.
“It was a joy to do and an even bigger joy to watch. Watching now it’s a sad shadow of its former self, boring, strained, unfriendly and with too many rich, whinging women going on about the menopause or their terrible lives.”
Exit explained
According to the outlet, the former Celebrity Big Brother star ended the column with the plea: “Time to let it go.”
Carol officially walked away from the Loose Women panel in 2023, nearly 25 years after she made her debut. Opening up about her exit at the time, she explained that it stemmed from a “difficult contract issue” with bosses.
“The problem was, ITV were insisting, for the first time since I went back in 2018, that if I wanted to carry on doing the show, I would have to sign a contract that was totally unjust and unworkable for me, so I had to say 'no thanks,’” she told Best Magazine.
“I feel quite upset about it, if I'm honest, because although it is my decision, I felt like it was one I was being forced to make. No one in their right mind would have signed that contract. And I can't see a way back from it.”
Previous criticism
This isn’t the first time the host has made her feelings known about her time on Loose Women, and previously claimed that the show had become “too woke” in recent years.
During an interview with TNT talk radio, Carol said: “I always look back at when I started working in television and radio as the good old days because they were much less policed, I suppose. Much less restricted and it was a freer place to be.
“When I look back at the old Loose Womens I used to do from 2000 all the way until I left in 2013, they're completely different. There is so much offence. People take so much offence at so much and they never used to.”
The Mirror has contacted Loose Women for a comment.
