A quick chat with Jason Gardiner

A quick chat with Jason Gardiner
A quick chat with Jason Gardiner

Jason Gardiner talks about his life-long passion for fashion, his phobia of tracksuits and how he really feels about being booed every Sunday night... You got your TV break on Living TV’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. What was that like? "I didn’t set out to become a stylist, it’s just something that I’ve always been constantly immersed in." As This Morning’s fashion guru what are the must-haves this spring and summer? "For the girls, sophisticated sportswear is going to be huge, and invest in some khakis, but the trend will be more toned down, feminine and utility. If you’re a girly girl then florals and prints are going to be fabulous this season! Blush, biscuits, nudes, sandstones, khakis and I hate the word beige, but we’ll throw it in for good measure are what to look out for. Also muted metallics and sherbets." Are you as honest with your friends as you are on TV? "Hmm, yes I am. I’m straight-forward." What else do you help with? "Organising wardrobes. It’s not necessarily colour co-ordinating it, as that’s naff. It needs to be compartmentalised into smart, casual, work and going-out looks, which makes mixing and matching easier." Are you well organised yourself? "It’s unbelievable! I’m so anal! But then you have to be. In my line of work, you’ve got to look good for TV, you can’t rock up looking like a slob or just whack on comfy clothes and head out the door. I think I’m the only person who still starches their shirts so they’re crisp!" What are your pet clothing hates? "Tracksuits! It’s not me! It’s funny, Holly and Phil get changed back into what they call their comfy gear as soon as they finish Dancing on Ice, and they said to me, surely you must get home and relax, but I was like I don’t wear anything I don’t feel good in! I like dressing up – I could sleep in a suit and tie!" As the harshest critic on the Ice panel does all the booing get to you? "It can. Some of it is serious, let me tell you, some really don’t like me. But for the most part, I’m there to do a job and I know it is part of the pantomime experience of Dancing on Ice – be the villain that talks the most sense. As much as everybody’s booing, they all agree with what I’m saying." How are you enjoying having Emma Bunton on the panel? "We have been friends a long time as I choreographed some of her solo work. Our panel really needed an injection of youth and glamour – I mean I couldn’t do it all. It’s too much responsibility!"

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.