Meet the Author
Georgia Toffolo Meet Me In London, Mills & Boon, £7.99
She stole the nation’s hearts when she was crowned Queen Of The Jungle Queen of after winning I’m A Celebrity in 2017. Now Georgia Toffolo, 26, is hoping to make hearts pound again with her debut romance novel, Meet Me In London.
But she reveals she told her “jungle bestie”, Stanley Johnson, 80 – the PM’S dad – to skip the raunchy parts.
The reality TV star, who rose to fame in Made In Chelsea tells P.S:“I didn’t give Stanley the book before it was published because he has written so many books, he’d come back and say, ‘Toff, you’ve got to change this,’ and it had already gone to print.
“I sent him a copy afterwards, but I told him to skip past the naughty bits. He said he loved it and couldn’t believe he had read it in one sitting.
“When we did Celebrity Gogglebox last year, the producers seemed to have this fascination with showing us raunchy themes. It’s like being sat next to your grandfather, it was really uncomfortable for everyone involved. In the end, we put our foot down and said this is not fun for us. Maybe I am too rigid and uptight,” she grins.
Toff, as she’s known, loosened up for the novel in which we meet aspiring clothes designer Victoria Scott who works a day job at a Chelsea bar while dreaming of opening her own boutique. But she’s up against Oliver Russell’s new department store, whose launch is behind schedule. To add to his stress his mum is demanding to meet his girlfriend – who doesn’t exist. When he offers Olivia a chance to showcase her designs if she’ll pretend to be his amour at the shop’s launch, the fake romance becomes real - until past secrets emerge.
Newspaper columnist Toff says:“i hounded Mills & Boon because I knew I always wanted to write fiction. Romance is my escape. London had to be the first place the book was set. It was very easy for me to imagine Chelsea,the Kings Road, Notting Hill; places I know well.”
Meet Me In London is the first in a series of four. The next, Meet Me In Hawaii, is out in March. “I can’t say anything about the others,” says Georgia – who is a regular visitor to Scotland where she helped kick off Edinburgh’s charity trek Kiltwalk, and is a fan of horse racing at Hamilton Park.
And although publication of the debut was timed for the festive market, she says it is timeless.“i want many more people to enjoy the magic of the first book. It is about female friendship and love and although it has a festive feel, it can be enjoyed any time because that isn’t seasonal.
“There are four girlies in my books and they are very close. They all grew up together – very similar to me – it would have been a tragedy to start fiction without nodding towards my gorgeous girlfriends. They are my inspiration,” says Toff, who grew up in Devon.
“When I won the jungle,it was great to see my mum and my grandparents, but as soon as I got my phone back I called my best friend. We were just dying to speak to each other.”
And age is no barrier to friendship. She says:“some of my friends are in their 50s and 60s. I don’t know if I’m an old soul or they are young souls but I have really valued their advice.
“I would feel foolish to put people out of my life because of their age.
“Stanley and I have the same sense of humour and we like having a bit of a jolly.”
Is it likely he skipped the novel’s saucy sections? She grins: “He hasn’t told me, but he has read Mills & Boon before. He is old enough and big enough...”