Piers Morgan has waded into the ‘Dancing On Ice’ row between Gemma Collins and Jason Gardiner, and has surprised us all by backing the ‘TOWIE’ star.
The ‘Good Morning Britain’ presenter is usually a vocal detractor of reality stars (apart from when they run for President, of course), but has spoken up for The GC after her clash with judge Jason on Sunday night’s show, in which she accused him of “selling stories” about her.
Piers called out Jason for acting “unprofessionally” by calling Gemma “lazy” in a press interview last week, also criticising him for “abusing” her with comments about her weight during their on-air showdown.
Speaking on Monday’s edition of ‘GMB’, Piers said: “During the competition, trashing her the way he did, I think was completely unprofessional.
“You shouldn’t be abusive to people you’ve asked to take part in your show. On Britain’s Got Talent, we had all sorts of contestants but if you invite people to take part in your show and compete, don’t go to national papers during the competition and bury them the way that he did. And then when you get challenged on it, don’t look all shell-shocked and outraged. The audience were on her side.
“I admire her, already she’s doing that better than I could do.”
Piers continued: “All that stuff about ‘we’re not going to see big lifts’, what he means is, you’re overweight is that he’s saying to her.
“He’s body-shaming her, he’s abusing her. I don’t know her, I’ve met her a couple of times and she strikes me as an entertaining reality star, but she’s giving it everything she’s got.
“I admire the attempt to try and be better than she clearly is and for Jason Gardiner to be burying her in the press in the week I think it completely wrong.”
After Gemma received the lowest score of the night for her performance on Sunday, Jason suggested it had been more “Anna Nicole Smith” than “Marilyn Monroe”, before declaring she was “all over the place, hun”.
As he stated she needed to “up the ante” because we’re “not going to see big lifts from you”, Gemma responded: “Maybe if you didn’t sell stories on me I wouldn’t have been so upset from you.”
When Jason protested that he “didn’t need” to sell stories and that she was harming her own cause, Gemma continued: “Move on. Boring. Next! Don’t sell stories on me. Don’t sell stories on me.”
‘Dancing On Ice’ continues on Sunday at 6pm, while ‘Good Morning Britain’ airs weekdays from 6am, both on ITV.