Loose Women stars 'upset' as 'major part of show axed' amid major ITV shake-ups

Loose Women are said to be axing a major part of the show. It comes after ITV announced a string of major changes to the network, which will come into play next year. In May, the network announced a major overhaul of their daytime schedules, which affects both Loose Women and Lorraine Kelly's self-titled morning programme.

However, despite being hit with a mass loss of viewers, the magazine show This Morning remains unaffected. While both Lorraine and Loose Women air throughout the year, they will be axed to just 30 weeks of airtime. But it's now claimed that an integral part of Loose Women will no longer make the cut.

It's said that the show will no longer have the manpower to work behind the scenes to pull off the segment, leaving the regular presenters "upset." Sources claim that celebrity guests will no longer be included, despite the show having previously pulled in the likes of Dame Joan Collins, Tina Knowles, Naomi Campbell, Janet Jackson and even Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

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A source said: "Not having guests is a big blow for both the presenters and viewers at home. The guests are often one of the highest parts of the show, so it feels like a very strange decision to cut them altogether. Instead, the focus will be on guests for Lorraine and This Morning."

They went on to tell MailOnline: "Firstly, there are four hosts conducting the conversation, and secondly, they use their interviews to discuss female-focused issues, something shows like This Morning don't do as often.

"In recent years, Loose Women have welcomed Elizabeth Hurley, Joan Collins and have down sit down one on one interviews with Janet Jackson and Naomi Campbell who all chose to do their chats with the show because they love it."

They went on to add that the programme will become a "shell of itself" amid fears it may be cancelled altogether, although this has been denied by ITV. A spokesperson for the broadcaster said: "The Loose Women team is still working on the show and its content for next year."

Regular panellist Nadia Sawalha has spoken openly about her views on the ongoing changes at ITV. Speaking on her YouTube channel, she said: "Do you know what, at the moment, all of us on screen are in work and are proud of what we do. But behind the scenes there are people that are really suffering, and what you don't realise is when you attack the show you attack them, because you never see all the army of people behind the scenes and how hard they work.

"So to all my friends and colleagues behind the scenes who have just got a huge shock out of the blue, I'm so sorry. Mark knows how upset I've been at home about it. I just can't bear it. So just be f*****g kind to people."

She then added: "What people don't realise at Loose Women is that we're self-employed, I am self-employed. Every contract is a new contract. I could be let go tomorrow, in five years, you don't know because we're not employees.

"So I can't tell you anything except I am on for my next contract. What has been brutal over the past week, and I am getting tearful about it, is that hundreds of people are going to be made redundant out of the blue. A lot of my friends and colleagues have been there for decades and I cannot tell you how upsetting it was to see people walking around numb with shock and fear about what they are going to do. That has been so awful. It has been worse than whatever trolls have been saying about our show that we feel really protective of."

The Mirror has approached Loose Women for comment.

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