Jason Gardiner makes shocking confession about ITV's 'toxic culture'

Jason Gardiner is making a shocking confession about the 'toxic culture' of ITV, claiming Dancing On Ice bosses threatened to kick him off the show just hours before it was due to air.

The star, 51, who was an on-off judge on the skating show from 2006 until 2019, claims he was employed to be the programme's 'Mr Nasty' but was told off by chiefs when he made nice comments to the celebrity competitors and their professional partners.

He said he was confronted in his dressing room by executives following his fiery interaction with Gemma Collins during the 2019 series when she accused him of selling stories on him.

And he has also lashed out at ITV following the axing of Phillip Schofield after he admitted to an affair with a much younger This Morning colleague, telling The Sun: 'The fish rots from the head . . . there’s a lot of toxic people still in control.'

He added: 'I believe this toxic culture will destroy itself. This is opening Pandora’s box, and rightly so.'

Jason quit Dancing On Ice in 2019 after his altercation with Diva Forever star Gemma, with the Australian choreographer claiming he was 'hung out to dry'.

He said the culture became 'gradually worse' while he was working for ITV, adding: 'I was getting a lot of mixed signals. And that’s the thing, they played with me.