‘Dancing On Ice’ judge Jason Gardiner has responded to Gemma Collins’ claims that he has been “selling stories” about her in the press, branding them “salacious and libellous”.
During Sunday night’s live show, Jason and Gemma came to blows as he critiqued her performance, which she conceded was subpar because she’d been too upset to rehearse properly, due to rumours about her in the press.
Live on air, she then accused Jason of “selling stories” about her, and while he immediately denied that this was the case, he has since cleared up the matter on Twitter.
“For those foolish enough to believe the salacious & libellous accusations about me selling stories to @TheSun,” he wrote, along with a screengrab of the tabloid’s Bizarre showbiz column, “Read what journalist @SimonBoyle87 says as he sets the record straight!”
He also retweeted a message from Simon Boyle, which read: “For the avoidance of any doubt, @officialJasonG gave me and @TheSun an interview to promote #DancingOnIce in which I asked him about (among many other things) the incident involving Gemma. He simply gave his honest opinion.”
Jason went on to suggest that Gemma had deliberately set out to “defame his character”, adding: “Hopefully now people will wake up & stop believing the BS that come out of @missgemcollins gob.”
Prior to Sunday’s live show, Jason told The Sun he was concerned Gemma was turning the show into a “circus”, noting: “What I don’t want is it to become is a pantomime. I don’t want people to destroy the great legacy the show has already achieved.”
This came after Gemma’s claims the show had turned “a bit blade wars” behind the scenes, and that she was close to discovering who had been selling stories about her to the press.
When one ‘Dancing On Ice’ fan said they were concerned controversy was overshadowing the skating on the current series, Jason responded: “Couldn’t agree more.
“I spoke about all the contestants for the interview but they have only run with what’s been printed. You’ve made a valid observation about the role our media play in all this. Sadly the other celebs are being overlooked by the press.”
‘Dancing On Ice’ returns on Sunday night at 6pm on ITV.