Gogglebox producers confirmed five of the show’s fan favourite stars have left the popular Channel 4 series ahead of the upcoming series.
It’s now been confirmed Carolyne, Alex, Louis, Marina and Linda have all decided not to return to Gogglebox.
These departures comes after three of the show’s stars sadly passed away in recent months.
At the beginning of summer, in June, Pete McGarry, who appeared on the show with his wife Linda, died at the age of 71.
Last month, Mary Cook, who appeared alongside her best friend Marina, passed away at the age of 91.
The Twitter account for Gogglebox shared a heart warming tribute from Marina about her best pal Mary, which had fans welling up.
One fan replied: "Bless Marina and bless Mary as that was lovely. And I hope Marina is able to continue with #Gogglebox when she’s ready - although it won’t be the same without Mary."
Another said: "Such lovely words Marina. Your friendship knew no bounds, you both entertained us from your very 1st #GOGGLEBOX & we will always appreciate that friendship, we will never forget The Lovely Mary."
A third wrote: "Will miss the cheekiness, warmth and sass. And Mary’s singing. One of my absolute favourites and a great double act. How nice it was that we all saw you on our TV’s regularly and got fond of you and that bond and humour. Love to Mary’s family and Marina."
Soon after the news of Mary’s death, it was announced that Andy Michael had also died at the age of 61.
Andy appeared on the show since the first series, alongside wife Carolyne and their children Alex and Louis while their two other children Katy and Pascal also making occasional appearances over the years.
Executive producer Victoria Ray told The Sun: “We have had people from the show pass away recently.
“We lost Mary and Andy, and a little while ago we lost Pete. Their loved ones won’t be taking part in the show for the moment. Understandably, they want their privacy.”
She added to Daily Star that all five of the stars have the option to return to Gogglebox in the future if they would like to.
Gogglebox dominated at the National Television Awards in the Factual category as the show won the award for the fifth time.
The Malone and Sandiford families, collected the award on behalf of the show as they have been presenting their commentary on Gogglebox for the past seven and four years, respectively.
In the Malones’ acceptance speech, Julie took a moment to pay her respects to members of the Gogglebox family who had recently died.
“On a sad note, I’d like to dedicate this award to all the people we’ve lost in the past 18 months,” she said.
The new series of Gogglebox kicks off on Channel 4 at 9pm on Friday 17 September.
