MELINDA MESSENGER ‘WE WERE HIRED TO PUT ON A SKIMPY OUTFIT AND LOOK ATTRACTIVE’
It was 1998, and through modelling and television work, I had recently found fame. Then came the call from the Jordan Grand Prix team: would I be a pit girl for their team? I agreed – primarily because my brother is a Formula 1 fan and this seemed like a good way of getting him along to see some races. I also thought it would be a great experience, and in that I wasn’t wrong: I saw the races, I flew in a helicopter, I went to Monaco and I did have fun.
But the job involved little besides standing there, looking pretty and being photographed to promote the team. We were hired to turn up, put on a skimpy outfit and look attractive. That was it.
I was in my 20s, and at the time this felt like a normal thing to be doing. But I was under few illusions about my role. I recall at one time leaning on a car, posing so the photographers could obtain a good cleavage shot, and thinking to myself: “This is just so cheesy!”
It seemed like harmless fun, and I was careful to keep myself away from the more questionable things that went on around the stadium. But I did of course hear the stories: inappropriate comments from the male spectators, unwanted touching from some of them; everything you can imagine, really, from a maledominated, adrenalinfuelled environment.
Insert a group of girls wearing not an awful lot and the results were what you might expect.
As for me, I was there to serve as a decoration. This is no judgment on any of the girls working in an industry I was part of it myself, but we were a product of a different time. Now norms are changing.