CAROL Smilie claims she’s been forced out of television for being too old.
The presenter, who famously hosted 13 series of Changing Rooms in the 90s and early noughties, was snubbed for the rebooted version of the show which returned on Channel 4 last year.
Carol Smilie believes the TV industry is rife with ageism towards woman
Carol and former co-star Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen
And Carol, 60, says ageism towards women in the industry is the reason she’s turned her back on the small screen.
Speaking on the How To Be 60 with Kaye Adams podcast, she said: “There’ve been moments in my life. I’ve felt a bit sort of, you know, foot stampy and angry about it.
“They’ve just been sort of isolated incidents because I think what we do for a living is quite unusual for, you know, a lot of people. It’s not a normal job and therefore the the whole age thing in television is, that is the only thing.
“I might feel a wee bit sometimes, you think ‘oh, come on how can a man carry on into his seventies or beyond on TV?’, but it’s just unthinkable for a woman to do the same, apart from maybe Gloria [Hunniford], but they put her on daytime and it’s kind of, you know, it’s a sort of token. It feels tokenism but you can get upset about it and you can rant and rave about it.
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“It’s probably not gonna change in my lifetime, unfortunately. That’s just why I don’t do it anymore. I just think it’s better to move on and not get angry about things that you can’t really change.”
Kaye, 59, who is a Loose Women panellist alongside Gloria and recently competed in Strictly Come Dancing, then asks: “So is that why you kind of actively came out of it?”
Carol replies: “Yes, definitely. After 50, it’s very obvious that the opportunities that come up are far less interesting, exciting, well paid, all of these things.
“But that’s okay. Everyone has their day. You can’t always be at the top. There’s always, you’ve always got to let others come through and that’s fine. But if you choose to clinging on and get angry about it, it’s not very healthy. I think.
“I just think it’s someone else’s turn and boy, I had a great run at it, so time to move to something completely different. Something that is not going to matter your age so much, or your weight or… when I was seeing the majority of my television, there was no social media.
“That is just the root of all evil really. It’s brilliant for some things, but it’s vile that some oik in their bedroom can pass comment on what you’re wearing, how old you are, what your weight is, and they didn’t like this or they didn’t like that, and it’s, it’s really nasty and I just don’t want to get into that. So, I came out.”
One Changing Rooms star who has stood the test of time and returned with the reboot is flamboyant designer Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, 57.
He recently took aim at his former co-stars and said they had to be cut from the show to stop it becoming “The Golden Girls of MDF”.
“I’m not really in touch with the people from the original series,” said Laurence. “Carol and Linda [Barker] left the original series so there were points where I was doing it more or less on my own anyway.
“The idea of them coming back for the reboot… you’re going to have everybody in their late 50s.”
He added that the show needed “new” and “young people” such as his new colleagues – interior designers Micaela Sharp and Whinnie Williams.
Carole was one of the biggest stars on telly
The Changing Rooms team in the early noughties
