Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I Hobnob with the Chelsea set, but I’m not in millionaire’s Club
‘Mcvitie’s heir’ Jamie: I made my own money
IF enthusiasm alone could get you to the Strictly final, Jamie Laing would have the Glitterball firmly in his sights.
But last week, the Made in Chelsea star found himself languishing in the show’s first dance-off against former MP Jacqui Smith, with 10 million viewers watching.
And now he’s wondering if his posh boy status might be working against him.
It has been reported Jamie is heir to the Mcvitie’s biscuit fortune but he denied the claim. The 32-year old said that while he did grow up in one of London’s most exclusive postcodes and attend Radley College in Oxford, he is not bankrolled by his parents and has no multimillion pound fortune waiting for him.
Ja mi e s a i d : “I ’m not heir to anything. People always talk about this, I don’t know where this has come from.
“I think at the beginning of Made in Chelsea, it was all about affluent people and it was a nice story for them.
“It is true my great-grandfather started Mcvitie’s, so it was a nice ‘in’.”
It is regularly reported that Jamie and his siblings will share an estimated £485million fortune from the biscuit empire started by his ancestor Alexander Grant, who helped invent Digestives.
But the T V star, who started vegetarian sweet business Candy Kittens with his business partner using £3,000 of their own money rejected those claims. He said: “I ’ve just got what I earn. Nothing
else.” Thanks to his
sweet business and appearances on reality shows including Celebrity Bake Off, Jamie is said to be worth around £2million.
He joined Made in Chelsea in 2011 aged 22 and told how he suffered from anxiety and panic attacks.
But he insisted he was not fazed about being on Strictly, the most-watched show on British TV.
Jamie said: “It’s the scariest thing I ’ve ever done. But whatever I’ve suffered before, I’ve learned how to handle it.”
He also said professional dance partner Karen Hauer was a big help. But he is not worried his girlfriend, fellow Made in Chelsea star Sophie Habboo, might b e jealous.
Jamie said: “With Karen, she ’s shouted at me all day because I keep stepping on a two and it’s meant to be on a three. The last thing you want to do is jump into bed with that person.” And he said the feeling was mutual, adding: “Karen would rather vomit on me than get together.”
Jamie and Karen, 38, will dance the Charleston tonight, with him dressed as Hercules. But he’s trying to remain philosophical about ending up in the bottom two last weekend.
He said: “We have to push on and smash it out the park this week.” And he added optimistically : “No one has ever gone out on a Charleston apparently in 20 years.”
Jamie even insisted he could still win and said when the show is over, he will sit back and watch TV “while holding my Glitterball trophy”.
Strictly Come Dancing, BBC1, 7.25pm.
I’m not an heir. I don’t know where that came from. I’ve got what I earn JAMIE REJECTS THE CLAIM HE WILL INHERIT PART OF FORTUNE