Gloria Hunniford criticised for Mark Labbett 'belly' comment
Watch: Gloria Hunniford asks Mark Labbett about his weight on Loose Women
Gloria Hunniford has been criticised by some Loose Women viewers for her comments regarding the weight of The Chase star Mark Labbett.
The 57-year-old quizzer was appearing on the daytime show to promote his new quiz challenge book Can You Beat The Beast? and appeared noticeably slimmer.
Hunniford, who is one of the panelists on the show turned the focus towards Labbett's weight when she touched his stomach and said: “You look much thinner, you had a bit of a belly the last time you came.”
Read more: Gloria Hunniford finds out she's related to comedian Tom Allen in 'DNA Journey'
Labbett appeared slightly taken aback by the question and at first didn't answer which prompted Hunniford to follow up with: “You have to admit that?”
The Chase star responded with: “Hey, you know the rule, your good friends can be as rude as they like!”
He then went on to reveal he had lost over eight stone and was down to around 21 stone and explained how he had lost the weight: “I think diabetes may have helped because I eat so much less and I drink fluids a lot more than I ever used to."
But Loose Women viewers did not like Hunniford's approach to Labbett with one saying: “Imagine the uproar if a guy said to a woman “you had a bit of a belly last time you were on” #loosewomen.”
Another added on Twitter: “And touching too, shouldn’t be patting someone’s tummy like that. Can you imagine if Mark had patted one of them on their stomach in that way?”
One viewer expressed shock that Hunniford had made the comment to The Chase star: "Did Gloria really just say that to Mark Labbett?"
Loose Women continues weekdays on ITV from 12:30pm. The Chase airs every weekday on ITV from 5pm.
Watch below: The Chase's Mark Labbett beaten in quiz on This Morning.
