Carol McGiffin appeared to have one last joke about Loose Women after her former co-star Denise Welch announced her departure from the ITV show after nearly 25 years. Welch said she left to pursue acting opportunities, while McGiffin’s pointed reaction recalled the very different circumstances surrounding her own exit in 2023.
The longtime friends had spent years sharing the Loose Women panel, including some famously fiery debates. Welch described her former colleagues warmly in her farewell message, but McGiffin’s latest comment carried a little more bite.
Denise Welch called her Loose Women co-stars a “happy band of campers”
After Welch announced her exit, McGiffin responded to her Instagram post with a playful but pointed message. “Baaaabes, can’t believe you stuck it out for so long!” she wrote. “Upwards and upwards it is then. I won’t see you up there but hope to see you down here sometime!”
McGiffin’s comment came in 2026, shortly after Welch confirmed she would leave Loose Women. It differed from comments McGiffin made about her own departure in 2023, when she explained that a contract dispute with ITV had pushed her to step away.
At the time, McGiffin said ITV wanted her to sign a contract she considered “totally unjust and unworkable for me.” She added, “I had to say no thanks,” and said the situation had caused too much stress and affected her health.
Welch’s exit followed a very different path. She said acting had always remained her first love and that new opportunities convinced her to pursue another chapter.
“I have the most wonderful, wonderful memories and it’s just that acting has always been my first love and I think the thing I’m best at,” Welch said in her farewell video. She also thanked fans for sharing her life through the “good, the bad and the ugly.”
Despite speculation about backstage tensions, Welch insisted she would remain friends with her former colleagues. “I’ll miss everybody but I will remain friends with the whole gang because… we are a happy band of campers,” she said.
Several former co-stars celebrated her departure, including Nadia Sawalha, Carol Vorderman, and Kaye Adams. However, some current panelists had not publicly commented, which fueled fresh speculation about backstage relationships.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK CAROL MCGIFFIN’S COMMENT WAS A DIG AT LOOSE WOMEN?
Originally reported by Vanshika Vasundhare Singh on Reality Tea
