Dancing on Ice judge Jason Gardiner criticised for body-shaming Gemma Collins

‘Being body-shamed live on TV for the world to witness is disgusting!’

Dancing on Ice viewers have called out judge Jason Gardiner for making derogatory comments about celebrity contestant Gemma Collins’ appearance following Sunday night’s show.

Gardiner, who first appeared as a judge on the show in 2006, made several body-shaming remarks towards Collins after watching her pay homage to the 1953 Marilyn Monroe film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with her professional skating partner Matt Evers.

"Gemma, I know you were channelling Marilyn, but we ended up with Anna Nicole Smith, and that was because there wasn't any elegance," he said, in reference to the late model.

He continued, seemingly alluding to the reality star's weight in his critique of her performance.

"There's not enough skating content still, and this is your second skate now. You need to up the ante because, you know, we're not going to see big lifts from you, we're not going to get any impressive moves," he stated.

Several people have condemned Gardiner over his remarks and expressed their support for Collins.

"I'm not a fan of Gemma Collins at all but to be body-shamed on live TV is disgusting and everything that is wrong with Jason Gardiner," one person tweeted.

"The fact that Jason thinks it's acceptable to publicly body-shame Gemma Collins in the name of 'criticism' is horrendous," another person wrote.

"She does not deserve to be treated ANY differently and she was right in calling him out."

Piers Morgan has also backed the The Only Way Is Essex castmember, describing her treatment on the show as "very mean".

"They put her on the show knowing she’s probably not going to be that great, and now they’ve been sort of taunting her and ridiculing her," he said on Good Morning Britain.

"I think she’s giving it a damn good go. I didn’t think that I’d be the Gemma Collins' defender in all this."

However, one Twitter user labelled Morgan a "hypocrite" due to his previous comments about people's appearances, such as when he criticised model Tess Holliday over her weight.

After receiving the controversial feedback from Gardiner, Collins responded by accusing the choreographer of selling stories about her to the media.

"Maybe if you didn't sell stories on me I wouldn't have been so upset this week," she said.

Gardiner retorted by calling the reality a star a "brat", before co-hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield interjected in an effort to defuse the situation.