TRIUMPH OF MISS MOFFATT
Gogglebox star Scarlett’s win in I’m A Celebrity will transform the life of the former bullying victim who says she’s just ‘a normal lass who watches the telly’
DURING her teens Scarlett Moffatt was the victim of playground bullies. Her buck teeth and thick mono-brow made her a target and that cruelty knocked her confidence. However, Scarlett eventually developed an acid tongue, allowing her to give as good she got and silence her detractors.
Now the 26-year-old Geordie is enjoying the last laugh as she celebrates being crowned Queen of the Jungle. The firm favourite from the start, she sealed victory in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! by shining in her final bushtucker trial.
The question on everyone’s lips is: what’s next for Scarlett Moffatt? She burst on to the scene on Channel 4’s Gogglebox with her parents Betty, pictured, and Mark, from County Durham. Dad, 50, is a welder, while mum, 46, is a shop assistant and they’re due to return to the show next year. Scarlett, who previously worked as a disability adviser for students, said after winning I’m A Celebrity: “I’m just this girl who watches the telly.”
But she’s now able to set her sights higher. It is claimed her triumph could eventually be worth £1million, with ITV and Channel 4 reportedly already in a bidding war. Last year’s winner Vicky Pattison used the show as a springboard and was on the panel of Loose Women. She now co-hosts I’m A Celebrity spin-off show Extra Camp. Scarlett, who has already shown herself to be a canny businesswoman, is predicted to do even better.
Earlier this year she released her autobiography, Scarlett Says, while she also has a fitness DVD revealing how she shed two stone in just a few months.
SHE decided drastic action was needed after being told she was obese – just 5ft tall but weighing 11st – and at risk of developing diabetes. Scarlett quit junk food and began a rigorous exercise regime, also swapping sugary cocktails for gin and tonic. It is thought she received about £70,000 to go into the celebrity jungle, while she will now be in demand for endorsements.
Away from the cameras she’s happily settled with her hairdresser boyfriend Luke Crodden, whom she’s been dating since February. The couple share a house in Newcastle and she has admitted he is her first real love. Her parents have described him as “a good influence”.
Scarlett set her heart on a career in showbusiness after competing in ballroom dancing competitions but then came the bullying and her mother says: “It was all about the way she looked. You know what teenage girls are like. If you’re not part of the incrowd that’s the end of your world. As a parent it’s awful.”
Her obsession with aliens didn’t help her fit in and she earned a reputation as a bit of a geek. It got so bad that she had to change schools but did well in her A-levels and went to York University, where she studied PE and Sports Coaching.
Her first venture into reality TV, on MTV’s Beauty School Cop Outs, was a flop. Contestants had to learn beauty skills but the show was axed after just one series. However she stuck to her guns and joined the cast of Bafta-winning Gogglebox in 2014. Viewers loved her outspoken opinions, a legacy of her teenage strategy for coping with the bullies.
“I think that’s now why I say what I think, because I was dead quiet for so long,” Scarlett once said, explaining her difficult schooldays. She also became known on Gogglebox for her one-liners. Watching a programme about psychics, Scarlett remarked witheringly: “She can talk to all these dead people but none of them told her that she’s got a terrible hairstyle.”
As her popularity grew to the extent that she was described as the show’s “biggest asset”, she became used to being recognised in the street and took it all in her stride. “It’s nice because it means I get to chat to loads of people. It’s never boring on a night out,” she said.
Scarlett, who has her own radio show in the North-east, has said her favourite I’m A Celebrity contestant from the past is Stacey Solomon, “because she’s funny and doesn’t have any airs and graces”. Scarlett, who plans to celebrate by buying her parents a caravan, could easily be describing herself. After her victory in the jungle PR guru Mark Borkowski believes we’ve just seen the making of a new young star.
“Scarlett is smart and witty and people like her,” he says. “Everyone who wins I’m A Celebrity gets an instant career boost but it’s often only temporary.
“With Scarlett, I think it’s going to be more than that. If she’s managed properly I can see her becoming very successful. It’s her ordinariness that gives her star quality.”
Fellow contestant Danny Baker is a fan saying she’s “sharp as a whip” and that he would be pleased to work with her.
Comedian Alan Carr is another admirer but Scarlett’s mum insists all the success won’t go to her head. Betty says: “She’s very grounded and I hope she will stay like that. She’s not a celebrity. She’s just our Scarlett.”