Loose Women has been cancelled on Wednesday in a surprising shake-up to ITV’s usual daytime TV lineup.
News of the change was announced by panelist Ruth Langsford, 65, on Tuesday’s episode of the show as the Loose Women discussed and reacted to the latest news and topical issues.
She said: ‘That is it for today I am afraid. We are not on tomorrow because of the budget.’
While Loose Women has been affected by extensive budget cuts as ITV and now airs for just 30 weeks of the year instead of 52, it is likely that the presenter was referring to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves‘ 2026 budget, which was announced yesterday.
Upcoming changes include increases to the national minimum and living wages as well as taxation changes.
The presenter went on to explain that the show would be back at its usual time of 12:30pm on Thursday.
Loose Women has been cancelled on Wednesday in a surprising shake-up to ITV’s usual daytime TV lineup, with Ruth Langsford telling viewers on Tuesday: ‘That is it for today I am afraid. We are not on tomorrow because of the budget’
The presenter went on to explain that the show would be back at its usual time of 12:30pm on Thursday
Last week on the programme, Ruth appeared to take a subtle swipe at her ex-husband Eammon Holmes.
The former presenting powerhouse couple announced that they were splitting in May 2024 after 27 years together amid infidelity accusations.
Eammon has since publicly moved on with his new partner Katie Alexander.
As the Loose Women discussed former Prime Minister David Cameron’s cancer diagnosis, and the question ‘how involved are you in your partner’s health?’, it was noted that Cameron’s prostate cancer was only discovered because his wife encouraged him to get checked.
Myleene said: ‘It is a known fact that men live longer when they’re married because they have wives, and women live longer when they aren’t married shall we say… you do the maths!’
Newly-single Ruth joked with a laugh: ‘Good to know!’
Ruth recently addressed her current relationship status on Loose Women following claims that she had moved on with a mystery man.
Gesturing to an alleged photograph of herself with her new boyfriend that has been circulating, Ruth said that all was not as it seemed.
Elsewhere on the programme, Ruth appeared to take a subtle swipe at her ex-husband Eammon Holmes
Ruth recently addressed her current relationship status on Loose Women following claims that she had moved on with a mystery man, who turned out to be AI-generated.
Ruth said: ‘Apparently I have a new man. According to this article, that’s all over Facebook and I’ve had friends ringing me up.
‘Apparently I met this man when we were childhood sweethearts when I grew up in Belfast, which I didn’t, and now it’s come full circle after all these years and we are back together. Terrible, isn’t it.’
The Loose Women presenter then admitted that the photograph had been created with AI and that, for now, she remains single.
However, with the knowledge that single women often live longer than their married counterparts, perhaps she will decide to stay on her own.
Unbelievably, this is not the first time that the Loose Women panelists have been subject to AI misinformation.
Janet Street Porter recently shared how she is ‘really angry and outraged’ after falling victim to a ‘disgusting’ AI death hoax.
Janet Street Porter recently shared how she is ‘really angry and outraged’ after falling victim to a ‘disgusting’ AI death hoax
Janet said: ‘I was shocked. I was shocked. First of all, I’m in the middle of a national tour and I’m NOT dead! So I want people to buy tickets for the whole right through until April….’
During another segment they brought up how someone had created fake AI images of Janet in a hospital bed and posted them on Facebook – telling users that she’s facing a ‘health battle’ and ‘dying’.
They showed one of the pictures, which shows a fake picture of Janet smiling in a hospital bed, with the caption: ‘She tried to stay strong… until her body said “no more”‘.
Ruth asked: ‘When you heard about this, what emotions did you feel straight away?’
Janet said: ‘I was shocked. I was shocked. First of all, I’m in the middle of a national tour and I’m NOT dead! So I want people to buy tickets for the whole right through until April….’
Janet added: ‘They should have taken it down! They should have taken it down the minute it appeared.
‘It’s just disgusting.’
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.
