Fans of Loose Women will have to seek a new lunchtime date for the week, following news that the show is cancelled until next Monday. The hit ITV daytime programme will not air for the remainder of this week, to make room for ITV’s coverage of the Cheltenham Festival, an important annual event in the Horse Racing calendar. The familiar faces of Andrea McLean, Coleen Nolan and Denise Welch will return to screens on Monday 16 March, providing their usual laughs, gossip and friendly conversation.
WATCH: Olly Murs chats to the Loose Women about his new romance
MORE: Andrea McLean wears £30 red floral dress on Loose Women
On their last show of the week, aired on Monday, Andrea addressed the scheduling change and bid a temporary goodbye to fans: "Us fine fillies are off air for the week for the Cheltenham Festival, but it’s business as usual next week." Followed by panellist Jane Moore joking: "I’ll be racing the 4:30pm," to the delight of the studio audience. The Loose ladies made sure to provide fans with a jam-packed programme ahead of their absence, with Monday’s show featuring two celebrity interviews and a number of topical debate questions.
Loose Women Stacey Solomon, Andrea McLean, Saira Khan and Linda Robson pose with Katie Price at the ITV Gala
Fresh from his win on Dancing on Ice 2020, Joe Swash appeared first to reflect on his skating journey and new champion title. "It’s the last thing I thought was going to happen when I started this journey," he told the panellists. "I just thought if I can make it to Christmas without breaking anything then I’ll be a happy man," he added. Congratulating Joe, the partner of fellow Loose Women panellist Stacey Solomon, Linda Robson said that he was a worthy winner, making the most improvement during the competition.
Singer and former N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos was the show’s second celebrity guest, who reflected on her experiences with online abuse and revealed her secret health condition. Opening up to the Loose Women panel, Tulisa said that whilst dealing with symptoms of Bell’s palsy the star was subjected to nasty comments about her appearance from online trolls. "It can cause facial paralysis, it can cause swelling, so there have actually been times when people criticised me for the way I look and not known I’m actually going through a Bell’s palsy attack," she said.
Tulisa added: "I saw someone saying online 'oh, she looks like she had a stroke'," which was one example of the abuse the 31-year-old had faced.
MORE: Tulisa reveals her secret health battle and abuse from online trolls on Loose Women
As ever, the Loose Women panel waded in on current issues facing the country including Coronavirus and whether a ban on hugs and handshakes was necessary. Whilst going on to debate if lavish kids' parties were a waste of money, following Brooklyn Beckham’s extravagant 21st birthday bash.
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.