Former Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner claimed he didn’t recognise Holly Willoughby during his final stint on the ITV series.
Since the show’s inception in 2006, the Australian choreographer, 51, has been a regular with Holly, 24.
Jason stated that he and Holly were close at first and frequently had a joke behind the scenes, but it all changed on his final 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.’
The television corporation has been thrown into disarray after Phillip Schofield abruptly left This Morning and resigned from all of his ITV projects after confessing to an affair.
Phil, 61, said on This Morning that he had a ‘unwise but not criminal’ romance with a young male runner while still married to Stephanie Lowe, which he claimed he lied about.
Holly has since been hosting the ITV daytime show alongside Josie Gibson, however it is yet to be announced who will be Phillip’s permanent replacement.
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.’
Source My Celebrity Life.