Carol’s countdown to curves
Carol Vorderman stepped out last week in a red dress that revealed a figure to die for! So, what’s her secret?
She may be 57, but there’s no denying it – Carol Vorderman has the body of a woman half her age. So just how did the presenter achieve those killer curves?
She shot to fame in 1982, as the face of quiz show Countdown, and went on to host the much-loved programme for a lengthy 26 years. Yet Carol Vorderman, aka ‘ Vorders’, has come a long way from those early days. Today, she’s almost unrecognisable as the frumpily dressed twenty-something we grew up watching on afternoon telly. While she may have wowed audiences with her brain, she’d have won no style awards for her mullet hairdo and oversized 80s jackets and ties.
It’s a far cry from the hot cougar who wowed audiences as a jungle seductress in I’m A Celebrity… in 2016. So marked is Carol’s transformation that her figure has become a bit of a national obsession, with her being crowned Rear Of The Year in 2011, and again in 2014. But forget surgery – workouts are to thank for it! Taking to her Instagram in April, she posted shots of herself doing some serious exercise, captioned, ‘Bit of squatting this morning,’ along with, ‘And the old one-legged squats #BigBum #JungleGym.’
Carol also has walking to credit for her famous derrière, and prides herself on covering six miles a day in her home city of Bristol. ‘All stretched out now ready for my walking #AddictedToWalking #6MilesEveryDay… by hell I love Bristol,’ she wrote.
She’s considered a sex symbol, but Carol laughed off the claims when best caught up with the TV host, also a qualified pilot, last week, at the premiere of WWII documentary Spitfire.
‘Sex symbol? Goodness no!’ she laughed. And thanking none other than US reality TV star Kim Kardashian West for the furore surrounding her behind, the maths whizz told us, ‘It’s just huge. My whole family have big bottoms – it’s in the genes. Then, suddenly, they came into fashion Kardashian-style… so thank you, Kim!’
What’s more, Carol’s style has improved with age. In her 30s, she began straightening her hair and wearing more make-up and, since then, she’s been getting more and more glam. By 2000, she was regularly spotted in low-cut tops and with sexier hairdos. When she took to the floor as a Strictly contestant in 2004, the mum-of-two was confident enough to strut her stuff in sequins.
Nowadays, she refuses to limit her wardrobe choices just because she’s in her 50s, claiming, ‘Fashion is about feeling good and having fun; should there really be an age limit to that?’
She added, ‘There are no hard or fast rules for how to dress when you reach 50 – it’s about dressing for your shape to feel both confident and comfortable. It’s heartbreaking to hear that so many women of my age are afraid to wear trend-led clothes because of a feeling that society tells them they
should “dress their age”.’
She may have her style mojo back now, but comments about her looks haven’t always been so favourable. After a TV appearance last year, one viewer commented, ‘Carol Vorderman, what on earth have you done to your beautiful face?’ A spokesman later revealed that the segment was filmed two months previously – just a fortnight after her mother’s funeral, perhaps explaining why the grieving star’s face appeared puffy and swollen.
Tragically, Carol’s mother, Jean – to whom she was very close – passed away in June 2017, aged 88, after her third battle with cancer. Carol took to social media to exclaim, ‘On medication at the time, no sleep, heartbroken. Face puffy, eyes red and generally looking a mess. But that was months ago.’ Thankfully, the TV star is no longer taking medication and feels much stronger.
Moreover, it’s not just her figure that she’s transformed. Carol shocked fans in 2015 when she ditched her signature brunette locks and went blonde. And, if that wasn’t enough of a makeover, the presenter now regularly sports specs, to fans’ delight.
We reckon that, like a fine wine, Vorders is simply getting better with age. Here’s looking forward to her next decade!