Loose Women star GK Barry breaks her silence on brutal ITV cuts as she praises the show for giving women a voice

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Loose Women star GK Barry has broken her silence on the upcoming ITV cuts and has revealed whether viewers can expect to still see her on their screens.
It was revealed back in May that the show has been axed for half of the year and Lorraine's runtime has been slashed by 30 minutes, as Daytime bosses announced cuts with job losses in excess of 220.
According to insiders, once ITV's budget cuts come into effect in January, Loose Women will no longer have A-list guests in the studio, and the broadcast is planned to only consist of the panel debating newsworthy topics from the week.
Now, in an exclusive interview with Daily Mail, GK Barry, real name Grace Keeling, has revealed she has no plans to leave the show.
The 25-year-old explained: 'I think so, I think I'm still on. I'm pretty sure I'm still there. Obviously the cuts are such a shame, but I'm very glad that Loose Women is still able to be on because I think it's so important to have a women-led show on.'
Grace is the youngest ever panellist to appear on Loose Women and was born in the year the ITV daytime show started.
Reflecting on her time on the show since joining in 2024, Grace added: 'I'm not gonna lie, I was terrified on my first episode.
'I was like, "None of these women know me, are they gonna think I'm weird," but hand on heart, they are the loveliest women I have ever met in my life. They are so welcoming, and it's just such a fun show.
'I think it's important to have a show on the telly that is all women-based, and it's one of the few that is. The audience are amazing. They always give it large, and you get to speak your mind and no one judges you for it, which is nice.'
'People believe it's just women arguing, but every time I've had a differing opinion on the panel, they're just like, 'that's cool,' no one's had a problem with it.'
The influencer has seen her career skyrocket since jetting off to Australia last November for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
Grace finished in fifth place and was evicted on day 20 of the competition, while McFly's Danny Jones went on to win the ITV show.
The presenter has now revealed her latest venture away from her TV commitments.
The host of the Saving Grace podcast has collaborated with Echo Wines to create a Limited Edition Summer Berries bottle.
Chatting about her partnership with Echo Falls, Grace explained: 'It is so iconic. It was my go-to drink at uni before going out, and I thought I know my audience are going to love this.'
Elsewhere, Grace is once again taking her popular podcast Saving Grace to venues across the UK as part of a Jungle Fever Tour special.
The show promises a 'night of feral fun' with gossip, special surprises, and celebrity guests.
Grace has also been focusing on charity work nd recently visited C9 the Teenage Cancer Trust ward at Addenbrooke's Hospital.
She was joined by girlfriend and professional footballer Ella Rutherford to meet cancer staff and bring joy to young people on the unit.
Grace went viral after she shared a video showing off what she really looked like behind the glamour of carefully edited Instagram - and it sparked a trend of other influencers doing the same.
The video racked up almost 94,000 likes, and social media users from around the world then began replicating the video and using her voiceover to expose how they actually look when posting online.
She soon gained a huge following and within a year, had amassed a whopping one million followers on the video-sharing platform.
At present, she now has a huge 4.1million followers on TikTok and an impressive 1.8million fans on Instagram.
Cambridge-born Grace went on to create her own podcast, Saving Grace, in April 2022 and has interviewed numerous celebrities including Coleen Nolan, Olivia Bowen and Alan Carr.
In early 2024, GK took the podcast, which is also uploaded as a vodcast on YouTube, on a sold-out tour around the country.