On thin Ice
DANCING On Ice star Matt Evers has confirmed judge Jason Gardiner took it upon himself to sell stories on Gemma Collins last week.
In last night's episode of the ITV skating competition the Towie star accused Jason of "selling stories" on her and insisted her performance would have been better if she hadn't been so "upset" by the negative press.
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Now her professional skate partner has revealed ITV insiders confirmed the negative comments about Gemma, which slam her as a "disgrace to humanity", came from the panellist.
, Matt said: "When it comes to Dancing On Ice, you have a choice to go through ITV press office to release interviews and statements etc. It’s in house.
"On Thursday, the story came out that she was a disgrace to humanity.
"ITV came to us, as she was really upset by it, to say that it came from Jason himself. It sounds like [he has been selling stories on her]."
The ice battle continues between Gemma Collins and Jason Gardiner as Holly Willoughby makes sassy comment while Piers Morgan slams the judges
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The American skater has also jumped to defend his 37-year-old partner, who was told she didn't perform enough in her routine on Sunday night.
Matt agreed with the remarks but insisted they didn't have much rehearsal time together.
He said: "There wasn’t a lot of content ... we didn’t have a lot of rehearsal time with her this week. She respected that [but] word has it he sold some stories and she went for gold."
Matt and Gemma also came under fire from viewers for not being present in a segment of the show, when they were backstage getting dressed with Melody Thornton in the same predicament.
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He said: "We were fine. What happens after we skated - and it happened with Melody Thornton, as well - we had a quick change.
"We have to get set in to our second costume for the skate off, so we were basically running around naked backstage. We got a lot of backlash again on social media, 'how come they weren't in that shot, how come they weren't getting interviewed?' We had a quick change."
James Argent's girlfriend slipped into a fuschia pink tassle number when she took to the ice to perform her routine to Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.
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Gemma was lifted in the air on a mock diamond ring while surrounded by other male skaters in her routine, but the judges were not impressed.
Harsh Jason - who scored a 3 said: "Gemma, I know you were channelling Marilyn but we ended up with Anna Nicole Smith and that was because there wasn’t any elegance. Like you were saying in the VT, she had to be elegant, she’s a woman who’s in control of her femininity, you were all over the place still.
"As Ashley said, there’s not enough skating content still and this is your second skate now. ‘You need to up the ante because we’re not going to see big lifts from you."
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Gemma Collins tells Jason Gardiner to shut up as he calls her a brat during Dancing on Ice spat
But the comment enraged Gemma who retaliated. She said: "Can I just say one thing, maybe if you didn’t sell stories on me maybe I wouldn’t have been so upset this week. So take that."
A defensive Jason retorted: "I don’t have to sell stories, I’m talking about your performance darling."
Gemma and Matt will skate again next week, as EastEnders actor Richard Blackwood was booted off the programme.
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