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Saira Khan: My kids were distressed by Gemma Collins' 'Dancing on Ice' rant


Dancing on Ice contestant Saira Khan has become the latest of the show’s stars to hit out at Gemma Collins’ lack of effort and commitment.

The Loose Women panellist was in Sunday evening’s skate-off against Richard Blackwood, and despite being saved to skate again, she had some tough home truths for Collins when she dialled into her ITV daytime show on Monday.

Collins got into an argument on live TV with skating judge Jason Gardiner on Sunday night’s episode. This was in response to Gardiner slating her lack of effort in an interview with The Sun and complaining that the UK “celebrate the mediocre.” On Sunday’s episode Collins shouted at him “stop selling stories on me” and he responded “you’re just a brat.”

‘The GC’ had complained that she was so upset by Gardiner’s interview that she hadn’t been able to concentrate on training – but Khan pointed out that Wes Nelson, who was top of the class, had suffered some equally tough press with rumours his Love Island girlfriend Megan Barton Hanson was jealous of his skating partner Vanessa Bauer.

Khan told Loose Women: “To be fair, Wes has been through an equally stressful time this week but he’s turned up to every rehearsal and training session.

“We had to send a runner to (Collins’) home to get her in to skate.”

However, Khan did add: “She has apologised to all of us now.”

She also conceded: “I don’t think it’s appropriate for a judge to be talking about a contestant like that.”

Viewers had complained about The Only Way is Essex star Collins sullying the family show with her outburst and Khan, whose young son and daughter were in the audience, agreed.

She said: “My children were upset and quite distressed. Our young people don’t need to see behaviour like that.”

However, earlier on Lorraine, voted out Blackwood said: “When I heard (the row) I thought, ‘Yep. That’s The GC’.

“I’ve got nothing but respect for her.”

Collins with dance partner Matt Evers on Dancing on Ice. (ITV Pictures)
Collins with dance partner Matt Evers on Dancing on Ice. (ITV Pictures)

Meanwhile, Collins’ pro skating partner Matt Evers was a guest on Heart radio where he gave his version of events.

He said: “First and foremost I will defend Jason – yes, there wasn’t a lot of content. I didn’t have a lot of rehearsal time with her this past week. He was absolutely correct saying that, as well as the other judges on that part.

“However, word has it he did sell a couple of stories this week and she went for gold. It was spicy.”

Explaining the timeline of events, Evers continued: “Thursday, the story came out that she was a disgrace to humanity for lack of a better term.

“Basically ITV then came to us because she was really upset by it, and said it didn’t come from our camp that came from Jason himself. Word on the street – it was him.”

Asked whether he thought it was true that Gardiner had been selling stories on Collins, Evers replied: “It sounds like it.”

Collins had hit headlines last week with reports that she was angry over hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield questioning her professionalism on This Morning after she failed to stick around for the farewell skate at the end of the previous week’s Dancing on Ice show.


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