Carol McGiffin has spoken extensively about her time on Loose Women and how she feels about the programme now she no longer presents it
Carol McGiffin has hit out at the bosses of ITV's Loose Women over how they used to dress their presenters.
Carol, 64, has criticised the show’s mandated dress codes and how the presenters went from dressing how they liked, to being told what to wear so they were co-ordinated.
She added that she disliked how much clothing wastage their was, claiming that some clothes were discarded even if they’d only been worn once.
Carol had two stints on Loose Women. First from 2000 until 2013, and then again from 2018 until 2023. Writing in Best UK, she said: “I did Loose Women for almost 20 years and the mandated dress codes used to exhaust me.
“We went from wearing our own clothes to being bought stuff to adhere to ludicrous wardrobe policies like ‘no arms on show’, presumably because our ageing biceps were morphing into bingo wings.
“I always loathed being ‘dressed’ or ‘styled’ as they preferred to call it. You always had to be coordinated up to the eyeballs in nice slacks, wrap dresses or boiler suits.
“It used to make me shudder, nearly as much as the insane amount of waste on unimaginable amounts of clothes that had mostly only been worn once.”
This isn’t the first time Carol has spoken out about Loose Women in recent years. Opening up to Woman’s Own last year, she discussed her reasons for leaving and how she felt about the career manoeuvre. She said: “I don't regret leaving, I don't fit in there anymore.”
The comment echoes one she made to OK! Magazine last year. She told the publication: “I don’t regret leaving – I don’t fit in there any more.
“Someone, somewhere will be offended by absolutely everything. I'd rather not be on a show that panders to that. It’s boring – and I won’t be told what I can or can’t say.”
Despite her exit, Carol still keeps in touch with a few of her former co-presenters, but has admitted she has maintained more friendly relations with some than others, reports the Daily Express.
Carol explained: “I’m still very good friends with a lot of the Loose ladies... Denise Welch popped down here with Lincoln [Townley, her husband] last year and we met them for lunch. I’ve seen Kaye [Adams], Jane [Moore] and Nadia [Sawalha] a few times.
“Some, I have nothing in common with. As I said to them, 'You’re not friends, you’re just people I work with, who I really like.' Which horrified them.”
