Saira Khan is so proud of Gemma Collins on ‘Dancing on Ice’ after getting to know "the real GC".
The ‘Loose Women’ panellist and the former ‘The Only Way is Essex’ star will compete on the new series of the ice skating show next week, and while the 47-year-old TV presenter insists her pal is under "the most pressure", she has tipped Gemma to do well on the programme.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz and other media at the show’s launch, she said: "I’m just so proud of Gemma. Genuinely, so proud. I think everybody has got an opinion on The GC.
"We get to know the real person.
"I genuinely am so proud, because I think she’s got the most pressure.
"Everybody is going to be looking at her with opinions and judgements and a lot of us don’t have that.
"I think she’s just going to go out and smash it."
Despite the pressures on the ice, Saira and Gemma have been indulging in some banter on a ‘Dancing on Ice’ WhatsApp group with their fellow contestants, but the ‘TOWIE’ star has been axed from the group twice already.
Saira – who is skating with Mark Hanretty on the show – added: "We’ve all got a secret WhatsApp group where we let off steam."
Gemma said: "They’ve blocked me from the WhatsApp group twice. I’ve been exited from the group twice.
"I’ve just been telling it as it is.
"I did leave twice and then on the third time I left and Brian [McFadden] said, ‘I’m not letting you leave, come back.’ "
This comes after Brian recently revealed Gemma has been removed from the messaging group – in which the show’s contestants discuss the goings on, on and off the ice – for acting like "a diva".
He said: "She gets removed when she’s rude. She can be a diva to all the ITV people, but when she’s a diva to us she gets blocked.
"The group is called Icicles. The picture is us, four or five of us, me, James [Jordan], Gemma, Wes [Nelson], Ryan [Sidebottom] and Melody [Thornton], on the first night we all met."
‘Dancing on Ice’ kicks off on January 6th, 2019, at 6pm on ITV.
Saira Khan ‘so proud’ of Dancing on Ice co-star Gemma Collins
