'Dancing on Ice' professional Matt Evers has bid farewell to the shopping channel 'Ideal World' after almost a decade working for them.
Matt Evers reflects on his time presenting on 'Ideal World'
The 47-year-old figure skater and presenter lost his job on the British TV shopping channel after it went into administration, and hailed its closure as a "very sad end to a beautiful era of television."
In a lengthy Instagram statement, Matt shared: “A very sad goodbye… to all my producers, directors, fellow presenters, guests, models, audio, stage hands, stage managers, buyers and production staff thank you for almost 10 years of pure joy.
“I cannot thank you all enough for making my experience with @idealworld.tv nothing but bliss. We cannot forget our viewers and loyal customers without you we were nothing. To those who hired me 10 years ago as a guest to this past year and believing in me to present my own shows I could not have done it without each and everyone of you."
Matt admitted it was "scary" no longer being employed by the channel, but he's hopeful that "another door will open".
He added: “3 hours of live, non scripted, no ad break off the cuff television is definitely exciting. Things can be scary when something ends but rest assured when one door closes another one opens. A very sad end to a beautiful era of television. (sic)"
Matt will be returning for the next season of ITV's 'Dancing on Ice'.
Recently, the show has been dealing with accusations of a "toxic" workplace culture from Jason Gardiner, who was "p***** off" by Phillip Schofield's response when he quizzed him about his relationship with a 'This Morning' colleague.
The 61-year-old presenter resigned from ITV's flagship daytime show in May, after admitting to an "unwise but not illegal relationship" with the unnamed runner, and his former 'DoI' co-star admitted he asked him about the rumours while also sending a heartfelt message of support via a Twitter direct message when Phillip came out as gay in 2020.
Jason told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: “I went into a bit of a tailspin.
"I said, ‘I know this is a very difficult moment for you and I support you in your decision to come out, but I also feel that I need to ask you about certain rumours that are going around online and are you aware of them?’.”
He claimed Phillip simply replied: "Seriously?"
Jason was infuriated and "uneasy" with the response.
He said: "That was it. It was very dismissive and that made me uneasy because I thought, ‘I’ve reached out to you very authentically’, and it kind of really p***ed me off.”
The 51-year-old choreographer was an original judge on 'Dancing On Ice' from 2006 but left in 2019 after feeling "isolated and hung out to dry" when he claimed ITV failed to support him during his feud with contestant Gemma Collins, and he blasted the entire network.
He fumed: “ITV has its Be Kind campaign and has made this big push for male mental health — but it’s all bulls**t.
“There was no consideration for my mental health, my well-being, what I was going through.
“The thing that is so distasteful to me is that I worked hard for them, I gave them great shows, and I know that I helped make that show a success.
“I believe this toxic culture will destroy itself. This is opening Pandora’s box, and rightly so.”
Jason said he was happy to assist KC Jane Mulcahy with her independent investigation into 'This Morning' following the scandal surrounding its ousted presenter.
An ITV insider responded: "This isn't our recollection of events.
"This was part of a wider conversation outlining the possible ramifications of legal action, and it was felt it would be inappropriate for him as a celebrity judge to be judging an individual contestant against whom he was pursuing a legal case.
"This was no way intended to be seen as unsupportive, more a transparency about the process."
Tagged in Jason Gardiner Phillip Schofield Matt Evers