Loose Women fans were left speculating Coleen Nolan and Denise Welch may have had an off-air dispute after the pair came to blows during an awkward episode of the ITV daytime show.
During Tuesday's episode of the ITV lunchtime programme, Coleen and Denise were joined by Christine Lampard and Linda Robson as they discussed various topics including menopause and friendships.
Christine was keen to get their thoughts on a claim that women only need one good friend in their life, prompting Denise to mention her attempts to organise a get together for the Loose Women panellists.
However, Coleen told Denise she didn't want to come on the Loose Women meet-up, while Linda said the former singer wasn't even in their WhatsApp group.
The awkward exchange prompted viewers to take to Twitter to insist there was a “bad atmosphere” in the studio, as one tweeted: “There seems to be a bad atmosphere on the panel today, give me a knife to cut it lol.”
Another wrote: “Something definitely happened backstage, you could cut the tension with a knife.”
They added, alongside a picture of two women not speaking to one another as they scrolled through their phones: "I bet it’s like this in the ad breaks."
A third wrote: "You can tell Coleen is very annoyed by Denise today," as another echoed: "The tension between Coleen and Denise is so obvious."
Denise, 64, said: “We've said that we're longing to get together and talk about stuff that we never talk about here, but let's put a pencil on it because you make more of an effort if you've got it in the diary somewhere.”
Coleen, 57, then replied, looking away: "But then I'd forget the diary, so..."
Christine, 43, joked: "You'd forget the diary, forget the invite?" Coleen said back: "Yeah. I don't want to sit and chat."
Denise replied: "She'll just get a rubber and rub it out,” before Coleen said: "I don't want to chat to you, I chat to you here."
Denise then told her: "Well you're not even invited, so..." Coleen said in reply: "I don't want to come. I don't want to come. I'm busy."
There have been repeated rumours circulating this year of an ongoing feud between certain Loose Women co-stars, but they have been constantly denied by the panellists.
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV
