Loose Women's Janet Street-Porter under fire for 'disgusting' remark to co-star as fans fume 'who does she think she is?'
Fans were shocked at a comment made by veteran journalist Janet Street-Porter on Loose Women on Tuesday 4 June that was directed at fellow talk show panellist Denise Welch. The pair, along with Brenda Edwards and host Christine Lampard, were debating whether parents should pay their children to encourage them to pass exams when Janet boasted that she had earned 11 ‘O’ levels at school.
Ex-Coronation Street star Denise spoke about her own experience of education: “When I was doing my ‘O’ Levels, my mum and dad could have offered me the world and I would have still climbed down the drainpipe to go and be with my boyfriend. I was awful as regards revising and studying and it just wasn’t for me.”
“I managed to get five ‘O’ Levels,” she added, only for Janet to interrupt and say, “Is that all?” Denise then confessed that her exams were done in two sittings because she had to resit Needlework.
Janet, who was not ready to let the conversation go elsewhere, clarified that Denise had five ‘O’ Levels, one of which was in Needlework, and then laughed at Denise. This caused the actress to retort: “And we’re all on the same show, thank you very much!”
While Denise, who clashed with Stacey Solomon on the previous day's show, took Janet’s sharp teasing as a joke, viewers were not so thrilled with Janet’s behaviour towards her co-star.
One viewer wrote in Denise’s defence: “I must say I was cross with JSP boasting about how many O'Levels she achieved and belittling Denise for achieving 5 O' Levels and one being for needlework. How disgusting. Who does she think she is. I was impressed with Denise's responses to the digs JSP made.” Another added: “Janet is so rude.”
The pair also clashed earlier in the show, during a discussion on cheating. Both Denise and Janet admitted they had both cheated on partners in the past, so they couldn’t judge other people who had done the same. Denise said: "Back in the day, I wouldn't, no. If I was in that situation, I wouldn't have judged someone if they had possibly cheated. I always think that there's not excuses for things, but there are reasons for things."
Janet joined the conversation by saying: "Like Denise, I was a compulsive cheater..." but Denise quickly interrupted to set the record straight. “I wasn’t compulsive,” she firmly clarified, as the audience laughed and the discussion amongst the panellists continued without further arguments.
