Loose Women presenter Carol McGiffin has hit out at ITV bosses over a rule she was forced to follow during her time on the show, which used to make her “shudder”

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Carol McGiffin (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Carol McGiffin, 64, has criticised ITV’s Loose Women bosses for their approach to dressing the show’s presenters.

She expressed her disapproval of the enforced dress codes and how the presenters transitioned from wearing what they wanted, to being instructed on what to wear for coordination.

She was also left concerned about the amount of clothing waste, 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. In an article for Best UK, she stated: “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.

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Carol said she hated being ‘styled’(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

“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”, she added.

This isn’t the first time Carol has spoken out about Loose Women in recent years. In a conversation with Woman’s Own last year, she discussed her reasons for leaving and her feelings about the career move.

She said: “I don’t regret leaving, I don’t fit in there anymore.”

Her sentiments mirror a previous statement made to OK! Magazine, where she also said: “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.”

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Carol says she still keeps in touch with some of her former Loose Women co-stars(Image: ITV)

Although she has parted ways with the show, Carol remains in contact with some of her former colleagues, having warmer relationships with a select few.

She 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.”

Carol added: “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.”