The Loose Women panel addressed the culture of women being pit against each other in their workplace, as Carol McGiffin admitted the panellists were not ‘best friends’ but ‘all get on’

The Loose Women panellists discussed being “pitted against each other” in the public eye on Tuesday’s instalment of the daytime ITV show.

ITV presenters Katie Piper, Carol McGiffin and Kelle Bryan joined host Ruth Langford for the discussion which kicked off with the news that Countdown’s Anne Robinson has confirmed her departure from the Channel 4 show.

As the 77-year-old presenter stepped down from the popular game show, she has been forced to deny rumours of a rift with co-star Rachel Riley.

Addressing the speculation over her departure, Anne said: “I’m not saying I would go on holiday with Rachel Riley, but she is brilliant.

“Absolutely honestly, I do admire her – she is really, really good at what she does, as is [co-star] Susie Dent.”

The chat kicked off with the news that Countdown’s Anne Robinson has confirmed her departure ( 
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ITV)
Ruth kicked off the conversation on the Countdown rumours by saying: “It always appears to me to be women pitted against women.

“The media particularly like to pit women against women and assume there’s something going on.”

Fellow panellist Katie described it as “almost an obsession” to “find out who is the horrible woman”, noting it didn’t seem to be a phenomenon for men working together.

In January this year, Loose Women bosses strongly denied claims that the hosts were refusing to work with Coleen Nolan after her agent called Nadia Sawalha a ‘nasty witch’ on Twitter.

Katie described it as “almost an obsession” to “find out who is the horrible woman” ( 
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ITV)
But Loose Women stars Jane Moore and Katie subsequently told the Mirror they are “past” the endless “rift” rumours associated with the ITV panel.

On Tuesday’s show, Carol then went on to touch on the rumours which swirled around the show earlier this year, saying: “I think there’s a lot of pressure on women to deny there isn’t a rift going on between other women that they work with.”

Ruth then joked: “What are you looking at me for?” and the panel burst into laughter. She added: “We’re best friends Carol.”

Carol said: “Look, we all get on, we all like each other,” but she then said: “We’re not best friends” ( 
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ITV)Straight-talking Carol continued, saying: “Look, we all get on, we all like each other,” but she then said: “We’re not best friends obviously, because we all live in different parts of the world, so it’s that geographical thing.

But I do think that this whole thing is about the people who put pressure on to be nice and be kind.

“I’m always told that I’m not nice and not kind. But the people who try and force that narrative are the people who are genuinely not nice.”