Gemma Collins: Jason Gardiner 'wouldn't look at me' during Dancing on Ice rehearsals


Gemma Collins has lifted the lid on her Dancing on Ice spat with Justin Gardiner, saying he refused to even look at her before the episode when he denied they were friends.

Reality star Collins fell out with show judge Gardiner early in the series when she accused him of selling stories about her and he called her a brat, but she tried to extend an olive branch in Sunday’s show (February 3) by saying they had become friends.

However, Gardiner knocked her back by replying “I wouldn’t go that far”, and now Collins has revealed that he also ignored her during that episode’s rehearsals.

In her first appearance as entertainment reporter on Good Morning Britain, she said: “Do you know what was weird, in rehearsal he wouldn’t look at me.

“So before we do the live show, we have to do a run through, and the judging panel are all there and he turned this way (looking over her shoulder) and I thought, ‘Oh, no, not this again’.

“Because, like, let’s move on from it.”

The GC also addressed her dramatic fall during skating the previous week, clarifying that it definitely hadn’t been a fake.

She explained: “Being nearly the pro skater that I am and looking back at the footage, at the time I was like ‘oh my God what the hell happened’ and I was in shock.

“But looking back in a calm state of mind I got over excited, and when you’re performing in ice skating you have to keep your movements small – they say stay in the tube.

“At that point I got so excited, I was out of that tube and it just went horribly wrong.”

Asked what she had been thinking as she fell, she said: “‘Oh my God, oh my God, this is over for me.’

“I said to Matt I felt like I blacked out and he said ‘no, what that means is when you’re an athlete’ – fancy being called an athlete, I was so impressed – ‘you go into this zone and you almost do have a bit of a blackout’.

“I was thinking have I got any teeth left, am I alive…I was in excruciating pain but I was so embarrassed, I had to just get up and put a brave face on it.”

GMB host Piers Morgan, who has supported Collins and her recovery from the fall, praised her for trying her best despite not being very good on the ice.

Collins said: “I used to be a car dealer, that’s what I used to do, I was a sales person.”

Read more
Gemma Collins left in tears by Dancing on Ice judges’ comments
Brendan Cole brands Jason Gardiner ‘vicious’
Gemma Collins thanks Piers Morgan for ice fall support