Former Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner worked alongside Holly Willoughby on the show (Picture: Getty)
Former Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner claimed he didn’t recognise Holly Willoughby during his final stint on the ITV series.
The Australian choreographer, 51, had been a regular on the annual programme alongside Holly, 24, since it started in 2006.
Jason claimed that at the beginning him and Holly were close and often shared a laugh behind the scenes, but that all changed during his last appearance as a judge.
‘On the last series I was on she had a team of about eight people in an entourage following everywhere she went,’ he said.
He added to The Sun: ‘She became ‘Brand Holly’.
‘I didn’t know her anymore.’
‘On the last series I was on she had a team of about eight people’ (Picture: ITV)
Jason was one of the original Dancing On Ice judges (Picture: ITV)
The broadcasting company has been thrown into crisis after Phillip Schofield sensationally quit This Morning and subsequently resigned from all his ITV projects after admitting to an affair.
Phil, 61, revealed he had an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a young male runner on This Morning while still with his wife Stephanie Lowe, which he said he had lied about.
Since then, Holly has been presenting the ITV daytime programme with the likes of Josie Gibson, though it has yet to be confirmed who will be Phillip’s permanent replacement.
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On Monday June 5 Holly returned to This Morning after a two-week break, and said: ‘Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you ok? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil.’
She continued: ‘I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have – shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions.
‘You me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Holly Willoughby’s reps for comment.
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‘She became ‘Brand Holly’.