Loose Women's Nadia Sawalha 'absolutely devastated' as co-star axed from show in ITV cuts

ITV Loose Women star Nadia opened up on her YouTube channel about the cuts.
Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha has said she's "devastated" after learning that a co-star and friend had been axed from the ITV show. The move comes as the channel announced it was being forced to cut the budget for the daytime TV schedule, hitting Loose Women, Lorraine and Good Morning Britain particularly hard.
Nadia spoke about the huge cuts on her YouTube channel, about how the changes were affecting her and how one of her close friends no longer had a job, writes The Mirror.
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Speaking with husband Mark Adderley, she said: "From next year there will be no Loose Women audience. I am totally devastated by this fact, I can't get over it at all. Not only because the audience is so important for the show, but also my dear friend Lee who I work with every day.'
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Comedian Lee Peart has been the warm-up act for the last eight years on Loose Women.
ITV's budget cuts were first announced last month, with a number of popular programmes taking a huge hit as the broadcaster battles a mounting financial crisis.
The Lorraine Show will lose its long-standing hour-long slot from January 2026, and will now air for just 30 minutes, from 9:30am until 10am.
The show, presented by Scots TV legend Lorraine, has seen its airtime been slashed in half and the talk show has also been restricted to being broadcast just 30 weeks of the year.
Fears have been circulating that the former journalist may quit her show, which has been running since 2010, as a result of the cuts.
Lorraine received the news after returning to work following a surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes last year.
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The operation was described as "preventative" and performed via keyhole surgery.'
As part of the shake-up, Good Morning Britain will have its current 6am to 9am slot extended until 9:30am.
During the 22 weeks of the year that Lorraine will now be off-air, Good Morning Britain's airtime has been extended until 10am, adding an extra hour to its original schedule.
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ITV competitions are also taking a hit. ITV's Andi Peters and Jeff Brazier will reportedly no longer be sent on lavish holidays abroad.
Over the past year, the duo have been whisked off to a number of sun-soaked locations to front ITV competitions, appearing on programmes such as Good Morning Britain, Loose Women, This Morning and Lorraine.
Andi's enviable locations have included the Maldives, Australia, Cape Town, and Florida while Jeff has been sent to Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malta. However, channel executives believe it's in "bad taste" to continue flying presenters to exotic destinations after announcing hundreds of devastating redundancies across ITV as part of their cost-saving measures.
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