ALTHOUGH she crashed out of Strictly at the weekend, it’s been a bittersweet experience for Vicky Pattison.
She may have found herself exiting the BBC One dance show after a tense dance off with EastEnders’ Balvinder Sopal but she also celebrated her 38th birthday.
Plus she leaves the contest knowing that she might have finally shaken off the tag of being known for her wild youth, all played out on reality telly.
Vicky said: “I have been Geordie Shore’s Vicky Pattison for 20 years now. It didn’t matter what documentaries I made, what daytime TV I did, how many jungles I won. I was still just ‘Geordie Shore’s Vicky Pattison’.
“And, listen, I’m really grateful to that show. Sometimes people think I’m being really disparaging about it and ungrateful for me start. I’m not. I can absolutely say I wouldn’t be where I am now without that platform.
“But I saw someone mention the other day about being fed up with being called ‘Strictly’s so and so’ and I thought, ‘I’ll give my right leg to be ‘Strictly’s Vicky Pattison’ for the rest of my life.
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“There’s no shame in wanting to change and grow and be something different. So, I would be over the moon if I became ‘Strictly’s Vicky Pattison’.”
Vicky dazzled the judges and viewers during the two months she was on Strictly and blew them away with her grace and elegance with partner Kai Widdrington.
It was a stark contrast to her earlier years.
Vicky said: “I’ve done the work myself. I’ve been to therapy, I’ve had counselling, I’ve had a life coach, I’ve distanced myself from situations and people that no longer serve us.
“I know I’m different and I just need everyone else to.
“I don’t know why I need everyone else to know, but I do. It’s such a desperate trait of mine that I’m not proud of, but I do. I need everyone to know.”
Strictly was a chance to challenge herself like she hadn’t been tested since the time she was on I’m a Celebrity a decade ago – and she emerged as Queen of the Jungle.
Vicky said: “I’ve done loads of things over the years, falling backwards out of helicopters, had kangaroo balls in my mouth, skied through arctics, trekked through jungles.
“There’s nothing I haven’t done, and I’ve always approach them with a real determination and grit. But there’s something really exposing about this experience.
“The viewership is huge, the fans are quite rightly so incredibly invested. And I myself am a fan. And I think all of that just amalgamates to huge pressure.”
She added: “I feel like this is the last piece of the puzzle for me that will take me away from an image that has haunted us and is one that I was never quite proud of.”
STORYLINE UP IN SMOKE
SMOKING has been banned from a BBC One children’s cartoon on Christmas Day.
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s book The Scarecrows’ Wedding has been animated for a festive afternoon slot.
The original story features a caddish character called Reginald Rake who smokes a cigar and drops it – setting fire to bales of hay in a field and putting bride-to-be Betty O’Hay in danger.
However, in the new Beeb version, the baddie scarecrow, voiced by Rob Brydon, does not smoke but instead lights a fire with a match to roast some marshmallows and the flames spread causing havoc.
Author Julia was not happy about the change ordered by producers at Magic Light Pictures and said: “In the original book Betty says ‘Smoking is bad for you’ and Reginald gets a terrible cough so it really shows how bad smoking is but apparently in the world of children’s films you’re not allowed to show anyone smoking.
“I personally think it would be better for children to come across smoking in the context of a film or a book and then their parents can talk about it and say ‘That’s not a great thing’. I’m sorry, in a way, to lose the smoking.”
Illustrator Axel joked: “I’m now waiting on Boxing Day for thousands and thousands of children in the UK starting fires to roast marshmallows. A new danger is there. “
MULHERN REELS IN MULDER
THE truth is out there . . . David Duchovny is a huge Catchphrase fan.
US star David, who rose to fame as FBI special agent Fox Mulder in The X Files, is hooked on to the ITV quiz show, hosted by Stephen Mulhern.
Jack Whitehall, who stars in Prime Video’s glossy dark thriller Malice with the star, spilled: “He was genuinely obsessed with Catchphrase and would race home every day to watch it, he’d say ‘oh it’s amazing with Mr Chips giving the clues and that guy Stephen Mulhern, he’s so talented’. He’d talk at great length about how much he loved Catchphrase.”
But Jack told Sunday Brunch Picky Bits podcast that Channel 4’s Naked Attraction was a step too far for David, who called it “the strangest thing he’d seen.”
Say what you see, David.
