Coleen Nolan has waded into the This Morning presenting team row as she branded Ruth Langsford's axe from her regular Friday slot 'horrendous.
The outspoken TV star spoke out to defend her Loose Woman colleague after Ruth and her husband Eamonn were replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary last year.
"It was horrendous," fumed colleague, when asked for the couple's demotion.
"There’s loads I could say about the politics that goes on in our industry.
"But you can’t fight it, you’ve just got to accept it. And that’s hard because she’s a friend who I think is brilliant," Coleen told OK! magazine.
"I just want to say, 'That decision doesn’t make sense!' I think we’re in an industry where age and looks come into play."
Mirror Online has contacted This Morning for comment.
After being replaced by new presenting duo Alison and Dermot, Ruth and Eamonn now host the award-winning ITV show in the school holidays.
The move caused much upset with long-term viewers, with the presenters regarded as firm fan favourites.
Reacting to the shock news at the time, Ruth said: "We hope you make Alison and Dermot as welcome as you've made us over the years."
However, many fans thought Ruth made a sly dig at her replacement in an interview weeks later.
Discussing her and Eamonn's length careers in the entertainment industry, Ruth said: "We've put the work in. We didn't do a reality show and get an overnight job on the telly,"
"We've come up through the ranks.
"Eamonn was only 19 when he started out. And he was doing the teatime news in Belfast during The Troubles.
"It was heavy stuff. And he's now got an OBE for services to broadcasting."
A spokesperson for Ruth later insisted that the comments were not directed at anyone after fans assumed she was talking about Hammond, who got her start in TV after appearing on the third series of Big Brother in 2002.
Alison has since described her appearance on the Channel 4 reality series as her 'Sliding Doors moment'.
She was asked to appear on dating show Blind Date around the same time but picked Big Brother as she wanted the chance to win the £70,000 winner's prize.
She told Heat magazine: “I wanted to do Blind Date, because I wanted to meet Cilla Black and I wanted to meet a bloke, so I though, ‘This is a great thing to do.’ But I was also in a bit of debt, and someone said you could win £70K on Big Brother, so I though, ‘Oh that’s a good idea.’
“It was so weird, because I got both the offers at the same time, and I had to pick and choose. I was so shallow, I didn’t choose love, I chose money!”
Alison said she wouldn't have had the career she's enjoyed if she hadn't proved a hit with Big Brother viewers in her two weeks in the house.
"I always think, ‘What would’ve happened if I’d won Big Brother? Would my career have gone in this direction?’ And I don’t believe it would have, because the This Morning producer who watched my best bits never watched Big Brother, but had just happened to turn on."
