Gemma Collins' Dancing on Ice row: Piers Morgan leaps to GC's defence as he slams ‘inappropriate’ Jason Gardiner

Gemma Collins has found herself an unlikely defender in Piers Morgan after he hit out at Jason Gardiner, branding him “inappropriate” for “ridiculing” the Dancing on Ice contestant.

Collins and Gardiner had a heated exchange on Sunday night’s live show which saw Collins accuse the opinionated judge of “selling stories” about her after he branded her “lazy” and “mediocre” in an interview with The Sun.

Discussing the incident on Good Morning Britain, Morgan said: “You know what? I think they’ve been very mean to her.

“They put her on the show knowing she’s probably not going to be that great, and now they’ve been sort of taunting her and ridiculing her. I think she’s giving it a damn good go.

He added: “I didn’t think that I’d be the Gemma Collins defender in all this!”

Morgan claimed most viewers are “on her side… because he did give a big interview dumping all over her”.

He branded Gardiner “inappropriate” and said he would never have acted that way when he was a judge on Britain’s Got Talent. “It’s completely unprofessional,” he said. “He’s got plenty of gob on him that guy and now he’s found someone with a bigger gob than him. I’m on team Collins.”

Collins hit out at Gardiner after he criticised her lack of “elegance” throughout her routine to Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend on Sunday night.

He said: “Gemma I know you were channelling Marilyn but we ended up with Anna Nicole Smith. That was because there wasn’t any elegance. She’s a woman that’s in control of her femininity, you were all over the place.

“You need to up the anti because we’re not going to see any big lifts from you [and] we’re not going to get any impressive moves.”

Collins hit back: “Can I just say one thing? Maybe if you didn’t sell stories on me, maybe I wouldn’t have been so upset this week. So take that. Boring. Next. Don’t sell stories on me. Please don’t sell stories on me.”

Dancing on Ice is on ITV, Sunday at 6pm