Ex-Loose Women star Saira Khan claims only Stacey Solomon was allowed to be fun

Ex-Loose Women star Saira Khan has taken another swipe at her former show, this time claiming that Stacey Solomon was the only panellist allowed to be fun.

The former Apprentice contestant quit the ITV daytime show in 2020 after five years as a regular panellist, famously claiming at the time that she had to "tolerate" some of her co-stars.

Since leaving, she has lifted the lid on many of her gripes towards the show and has now slammed Loose Women again for pigeon-holing its contributors.

Khan, 53, told Closer magazine: "On Loose Women you saw me being quite passionate, heated and feisty, but that's the silo they put me in.

"I wanted to have a bit of fun, but that wasn't for me, that was for Stacey Solomon. Stacey was the fun one, but I had to be the loud, gobby one."

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Solomon still regularly appears on the show, where other stars include Ruth Langsford, Linda Robson, Janet Street Porter, Brenda Edwards, Coleen Nolan and Katie Piper.

At the time when she quit Loose Women, Khan told The Mirror: "I’d outgrown the programme. There were some women that I just thought: 'I’ve got to just tolerate you to do the job and in real life you wouldn’t be my friend'. They’d say the same about me."

That wasn't where Khan's issues with the programme ended, though - she also told Hello! magazine: "There were elements both on screen and behind the scenes of being a Loose Woman that towards the end I didn't enjoy and I didn't feel it was part of the sisterhood.

“It wasn't making me happy, so I had to bow out, look after my mental health and give someone else my platform.”

One of her complaints included saying that she had been asked to open an OnlyFans account to make a story for the show.

She alleged in her Sunday Mirror column: "The straw that broke the camel’s back was when one of the young producers was sent running after me to ask whether I would be prepared to open an OnlyFans account."

Khan added that the producer appeared "mortified" to have to ask her to do it.

She continued: "There and then, I knew my time was up on the show. I felt humiliated, angry, disappointed and like fodder."

Khan has also claimed that the show wanted her to "tick the box of 'gobby Muslim woman'."

Responding to Khan's claims when she spoke out in 2022, ITV had said: "We strongly refute all of these claims. Duty of care is of paramount importance for all of our panellists. Saira left the panel almost two years ago and we wish her well."