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Katie Piper praises Loose Women experience after Saira Khan says show is ‘toxic’ due to social media trolling

Katie has spoken positively about her stint on the show (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)

Former Loose Women panelist Saira Khan has spoken in detail about how she found her experience on Loose Women, but her former co-star Katie Piper has given her own account of the show.

Saira, 51, announced she had quit the show at the start of 2021 after being a regular fixture on the lunchtime programme since 2015.

She recently spoke about factors that influenced her decision, explaining how she felt she had outgrown the show.

‘Firstly, I’d outgrown the programme. There were some women that I just thought, “I’ve got to just tolerate you to do the job and in real life you wouldn’t be my friend,” she told The Mirror.

Saira also claimed recently she felt the show was ‘toxic for women’ due to the trolling she received, adding to the publication: ‘It’s a show for women but I don’t feel like it empowered me.’

However, Katie, who recently joined as a panellist, has said she has had a very different experience to the former Apprentice contestant.

Katie told The Daily Star: ‘The women are exactly like you see on TV, they are really honest, warm and genuine a couple of them took me to one side and took me under their wing.

Saira was on Loose Women for nearly six years (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex)

‘They’ve all been really helpful and given me nuggets of wisdom I think I’ve done the most shows with Nadia (Sawalha) and Linda Robson.’

She described Nadia as a ‘mother hen’ and spoke of feeling starstruck by Linda, who starred in Birds of a Feather alongside Pauline Quirke and Lesley Joseph.

Responding to Saira’s recent comments and whether she had experienced any tensions with the cast herself, Katie said: ‘I didn’t even know that was her experience but yeah it hasn’t been my experience at all.’

Recently, Saira has been appearing on SAS: Who Dares Wins celebrity edition on Channel 4, which sees famous faces have to take part in the gruelling challenges based on the special forces.

She has previously spoken about how it was this venture which acted as the catalyst for the decision, similar to another co-star of hers.

More: ITV

‘I did take big drastic steps,’ she said ahead of the show’s first episode. ‘I left Loose Women and, interestingly, Andrea McLean left Loose Women after doing SAS.

‘It changes your life. You realise you’ve got to cut through the s**t and start living.’

Loose Women airs weekdays from 12:30pm on ITV.

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