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A This Morning presenter hit back at Shirley Ballas' remarks during Tuesday's programme, after the Strictly Come Dancing head judge claimed 99.9% of individuals don't want women to achieve success. On the most recent instalment, Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary discussed the day's top stories with their regular show contributors. Alison, 50, referenced Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley, 65, saying: "In an interview [she said] that 99% of people don't like women to be successful. "Speaking at the Wimbledon Book Festival, Shirley said, 'everybody pretends to be your friend. But I found that 99.9% of people whom I deal with on a daily basis don't like to see women be successful. "I am talking about even girlfriends and people you're close to. They come with their sarcastic remarks and their underhand messages.'", reports Wales Online . "I mean, is that true? I mean, it's quite strong views, isn't it? I mean, I'll come to you first Nick [Ferrari]! Do we hate to see women being successful?" Nick Ferrari, 66, didn't hold back in his response, declaring: "I like Shirley Ballas but she is talking a load of Ballas here! Utter nonsense. "Let's just think back, we've only just finished celebrating the successes of our fantastic Red Roses in the rugby and our Lionesses in the football. "When the two presenters of the show she works on, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, announced that they were standing down, that almost set-off a wave of national mourning. And they are all women. "We've only just said farewell to one of the greatest writers we ever had in this country, Dame Jilly Cooper, who sadly died early this month. "And we are a nation that celebrated not one, not two, but three female Prime Ministers as Japan just gets its first one. "So I like her [Shirley], I respect her, I watch her on the telly, but this one I think she's got totally, totally wrong!". In defence of Shirley, Alison pointed out: "Well, the thing is, Shirley's basically describing high-achieving women, and it's mainly women in show business. "I think that's where she's coming from. And I always think to myself, it's not necessarily show friends, it is show business!" This Morning continues on weekdays at 10am on ITV and ITV X.
