Allsopp: I can’t get advert work, women prefer to buy from men
WHETHER property-hunting on Location, Location, Location or teaching craft skills in her many home improvement shows, Kirstie Allsopp is a television regular.
But there is one place you are unlikely to hear her: voicing an advert.
Allsopp has claimed that she struggles to get voice-over work because women prefer to buy products sold by men.
Her on-screen partner, Phil Spencer, is inundated with offers – despite the fact they share the same agent. Spencer has narrated adverts for price comparison websites, kitchen companies and insulation firms, among many others.
Appearing at a Telegraph Bespoke event in London, Allsopp, whose latest project is a cookery book, Kirstie’s Real Kitchen, featuring recipes loved by her family, said: “I said to my agent, ‘I’m slightly miffed because Phil is getting all this voice-over work … it’s the Sloaney voice, isn’t it?’
“And she said not, that research shows women make something like 90 per cent of purchasing decisions and women don’t want to be told what to buy by women. So most ads have male voice-overs.” Discussing the gender pay gap in television and the BBC’S recent publication of its stars’ salaries, Allsopp disclosed that she and Spencer are paid the same fee for Location, Location, Location, because they negotiate their deals together.
“Whether I’m as well paid as I am because my pay is pegged to a man’s, we will never know,” she said.
However, there is inequality elsewhere. “What I do know is there are occasions where Phil will get paid for an event and he will be paid more than me for something comparable … So Phil has the capacity to earn more than me for various reasons. Whether he utilises that or not, I don’t know.”
The pair came up with the idea for Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location but do not own the format, which Allsopp described “as a rookie error”. She revealed that the presenters do not do the house-hunting themselves, instead delegating to their team.
Asked if women can have it all, Allsopp replied: “I do. I can’t lie. I have a partner who I adore, who is very metrosexual but at the same time handy with a drill.
“I have two stepchildren with whom I have an incredibly happy relationship, two sons who I adore … I live between London and Devon in two homes that I absolutely love. I have a wonderful job which means I can have time off during the summer holidays. I’m incredibly lucky.”
She did confess to one less than perfect moment: taking drugs. “I did once have a magic mushroom,” she told the audience. “I was saying, ‘Drugs have no impact on me.’ And my friend said, ‘Are you aware you’re lying flat on your back and flapping?’”