I was on Loose Women for 20 years - there was one body part we were all banned from showing as part of exhausting and loathsome ITV dress code

Daily Mail​

11-06-2025

Carol McGiffin has revealed which body part the panel were banned from showing as part of the exhausting ITV dress code while appearing on Loose Women.
The journalist, 56, appeared on the programme as part of the iconic panel on/off between 2000 and 2023.
According to Carol, during her 23 year stint on the show, the Loose ladies were given some rules on what they could and couldn't wear while live to the nation.
Writing in her recent column for Best magazine, Carol said: '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 which the (male) boss at the time had decided were offensive.
'Another female(!) boss once ordered all the women to wear high heels as well.
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'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.'
She added: '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.'
Carol first appeared on Loose Women in 2000.
Her first stint on the programme was for 13 years.
She rejoined the cast in 2018 and was part of the panel and then left for good two years ago.
The star was last seen on Loose Women back in May 2023.
She previously opened up about the decision to leave in her weekly column for the publication.
Carol said: 'I haven't been on the show for two months now because I've had to step away from it.
'It was causing me too much stress, which was mostly down to a difficult contract issue I'd been challenging since January.
'The problem was, ITV were insisting, for the first time since I went back in 2018, that if I wanted to carry on doing the show, I would have to sign a contract that was totally unjust and unworkable for me, so I had to say no thanks.
'And I know it looks like I've thrown my toys out of the pram, but the whole saga was affecting my health.'
Carol has worked on various other TV shows and radio stations over the years.
She's appeared on the likes of The Wright Stuff, This Morning and taken part in Celebrity Juice, Celebrity Big Brother and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
The star also released her autobiography Oh, Carol! in 2010.
It comes after it was revealed that Loose Women, along with Lorraine, will be axed for half the year.
Loose Women will only air for 30 weeks of the year.
Plus MailOnline recently revealed that ITV will axe a vital part of the show which viewers love in a desperate bid to save money.
The series is scrapping their live studio audience when the programme airs with a reduced schedule of just 30 episodes next year.
Bosses have got rid of the studio audience to save costs, with insiders revealing that it's an expensive feature due to being managed by an external company, who also provides security and a warmup person, but for the presenters, it's going to be a 'disaster.'
A TV source told MailOnline: 'The panelists are really upset over the decision to axe the live studio audience from the show.
'It's what sets the series apart from the rest of ITV daytime and now there are massive fears that viewers will switch off completely.
'The only concern now is to cut costs and having a live studio audience can be expensive, with the added need for security and a warmup artist.
'Presenters already know how it feels to broadcast the show without an audience because that's what happened during the pandemic, and they all know it creates low mood and lack of atmosphere.'