Gemma Collins did little to mask her glee when she was asked about rumours Jason Gardiner is set to be replaced on Dancing On Ice.
As you may well recall, the pair clashed repeatedly when she was a contestant on the most recent series, which reached a peak when she accused him of “selling stories” about her in the press – claims he branded “libellous” and “salacious”.
On Tuesday night, The Sun published a story with quotes from an “ITV source”, who suggested that producers were looking to replace Jason as they feared that some contestants might “have a cause for complaint” due to his acerbic putdowns.
Asked how she felt about this during an appearance on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain, Gemma said: “Hallelujah, this is great news.”
“Will we miss him this year? Hell no,” she continued. “Some people might think that’s a bit strong but… you can criticise someone but you don’t have to get personal. Criticise me all day long, but you don’t have to get personal. Especially with mental health and bullying and stuff like that.”
HuffPost UK has contacted ITV for comment.
When Gemma was voted off Dancing On Ice midway through this year’s series, it seemed she and Jason had reached a truce, only for their feud to reignite when she accused him of comparing her to a fridge.
She wrote on Instagram: “This is NOT ACCEPTABLE on any level comparing any human to an electrical appliance is not acceptable.”
Jason later insisted that this was not the case and his words had been twisted, tweeting: “I was not calling Gemma a refrigerator it was meant as a light hearted joke when Phillip said the ‘GC’ which sounds like a white goods brand. What has happened to having a [sense of humour]?”
Dancing On Ice will return to our screens in January 2020, while Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.