Handmade: How it all began
How did I find myself here?
In June 2020, Ben, an old friend, sent me a casting call flyer through Facebook for a televised woodworking competition, and suggested it was time I became a reality TV star. Within minutes, I had typed the words, “Ho Ho Ho, no f***ing way!” - a comment that generated much laughter amongst my friends.
On the other hand…
Some years ago, I was asked to get involved in another reality TV show that was set to follow the trials of creative individuals who were starting up new businesses – a profile I happened to fit at the time. All went well in the interview stage, and I even got as far as a screen test, during which I was asked what I thought of a certain celebrity. Without hesitation, I launched into a lengthy and bombastic rant about how much this particular individual grated on my nerves, only to find out at the end of it that they had lined him up as presenter of the show!
A few years later, a well known model and TV presenter asked if I’d like to be part of her own reality TV vehicle, but I was sadly too busy at the time to be able to take up the offer, and I remember thinking that the idea of my appearing on the small screen wasn’t destined to be…
But something about this particular opportunity resonated with me, and it seemed like the right thing at the right time, and so, about a millisecond after typing my somewhat brusque reply to my friend Ben’s suggestion, I had applied to take part and deleted all reference of my reply to his post.
Three months later, after a whirlwind of form-filling, interviews, psych evaluations and auditions, and, as the country went into its second lockdown, I found myself sitting in a Covid bubble in a field in Wales, wondering what on earth I had got myself into, and waiting for filming to start.
Join me here after each episode has aired, when I will be uploading a blog of sorts, charting my progress through the show.
Images courtesy of Channel 4