Matt Evers has explained the reason why he and his Dancing On Ice partner Gemma Collins appeared to go missing during last night’s show shortly after their performance.
Eagle-eyed viewers spotted that the pair didn’t appear on screen for a group interview with other contestants, minutes after Gemma clashed with judge Jason Gardiner over his criticism of their routine.
Matt revealed he and Gemma, 37, were backstage getting changed into their second outfits, therefore, couldn’t join the other skaters.
Read more: Jason Gardiner throws shade at Dancing On Ice pro Matt Evers
Speaking on Heart Radio on Monday, Matt explained: “We were fine. What happens after we skated – and it happened with Melody Thornton as well – we had a quick change.
“We have to get set in to our second costume for the skate off, so we were basically running around naked backstage.
“We got a lot of backlash again on social media, ‘how come they weren’t in that shot, how come they weren’t getting interviewed?’ We had a quick change.”
Moments before, Gemma had lashed out at Jason, 47, and accused him of “selling stories” on her.
Jason was giving his critique on Gemma’s performance saying: “I know you were channelling Marilyn Monroe… There wasn’t any elegance like you were saying in the VT. She has to be elegant.
“She is a woman in control of her femininity. You were all over the place hun.”
Gemma hit back: “Can I just say one thing? Maybe if you didn’t sell stories on me, I wouldn’t have been so upset this week. So take that! Boring, boring! Don’t sell stories on me.”
Jason fought back too, branding the TOWIE star a “brat”.
The clash sparked more than 80 Ofcom complaints and a spokeswoman for the regulator said that it would look at the complaints.
During his chat, Matt defended Gemma and revealed he warned her to be “careful” about how she responded to the judges’ comments before the row.
He said: “We had actually discussed right before we went out to skate what we were going to do with the judges’ comments and reactions.
“I had to reiterate to her that you’ve got to be careful when you’re stood up there. You don’t want to disrespect people who have been rightfully put in that place.”
He added that he was “shocked” by her outburst.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Jason denied “selling stories” about Gemma and said he hopes people will “wake up” and “stop believing the BS that comes out of Gemma’s gob”.
Thank you Simon. I really appreciate this. Being wrongly accused of “selling stories” was a blatant attempt to defame my character. I know you didn’t have to make this statement but hopefully now people will wake up & stop believing the BS that come out of @missgemcollins gob.
— Jason Gardiner (@officialJasonG) 21 January 2019
Read more: Matt Evers warned Gemma Collins about Dancing On Ice outburst
Following Gemma’s allegation about Jason, the journalist at the centre of the “selling stories” storm cleared things up on Twitter.
He wrote: “For the avoidance of any doubt, @officialJasonG gave me an interview to promote #DancingOnIce in which I asked him about (among many other things) the incident involving Gemma. He simply gave his honest opinion.”
Jason replied: “I really appreciate this. Being wrongly accused of ‘selling stories’ was a blatant attempt to defame my character.
“I know you didn’t have to make this statement but hopefully now people will wake up & stop believing the BS that come out of @missgemcollins gob (sic).”
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