TIME TO CHOOSE FRIENDS WISELY

I’m not a huge fan of reality TV, I find so much of it is the exact opposite of reality – with people still not being themselves, but rather playing a character for the cameras and trying to manipulate viewers. Except, that is, I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! I think due to the nature of the show, even if some contestants are not their real selves at the beginning, as it progesses they can’t help but reveal their true colours. The absence of the trappings of glamour, the reliance on each other to do something as basic as eat, the need for encouragement and support to get through the tasks, the endless hours spent in absolute isolation – it all adds up to peel back the layers of pretence. I think it’s why most of the winners are generally not the most famous person in there and tend to be genuinely nice people – the voting viewers always weed them out in the end. People like Carl Fogarty, Charlie Brooks, Scarlett Moffatt, Jacqueline Jossa and our own Kian Egan. Today’s cover star Emily Atack narrowly lost out to football manager Harry Redknapp in series 18, but both of them were surprise finalists. Since her turn on the show, Emily reveals it’s helped her be herself in her career too. She’s gone from being the girl with, as she says, ‘the pouty face and a pair of boobs’ from The Inbetweeners to presenting, writing her own shows, guest-hosting on This Morning, and even writing and performing stand-up. She’s discovered that just being herself has landed her far more work than trying to be what everyone else wanted her to be. This is so true in life too – and I think our recent isolation has made a lot of us realise that. Very few people I’ve spoken to want to go back to exactly how their lives were before lockdown. Most want to spend far more time with their families and friends, and far less time with peripheral people, who can take up an inordinate amount of your time, with no return on your investment. Emily also reveals how she was constantly told by people to dye her hair, lose weight, do theatre work – none of which was helpful advice. We’re all at a crossroads, from which we can choose a path to take. One of the most important things to do on this path is to surround yourself with those who support you. If you had to crunch down on a cockroach, who would you want beside you cheering you on? That’s the person who will get you through major life decisions too!

Enjoy the issue.