THE SCHOOLGIRL WHO RAN OFF TO THE

A jaw-dropping new series tells how a 15-year-old girl ended up leaving home for life in the big top

Most chi ldren dream of running away to join the circus, but Imogene Reynolds, who’s 15, has actually done it. Her ‘hobby’ of going to a circus school to learn acrobatics had developed into something rather more, and she’d been offered a contract with Russells International Circus, one of the UK’s 35 surviving travelling circuses. So earlier this year she dropped out of school, packed her sequinned leotards and headed off to the big top.

Last month she made her debut as a circus acrobat, performing a death-defying act that culminates in performing the splits 30ft in the air, held up only by two pieces of material. While her parents, watching below, must have felt queasy, she was in her element. ‘I did it! I’m living my dream,’ she says today. ‘I ran away to the circus. It’s the sort of thing people just talk about, but I’m proof that it’s possible.’

In truth she didn’t run away to join the circus, she was driven there by her rather terrified dad. ‘He took me and spent the first night with me in my caravan to make sure I settled in OK. He and Mum were worried about how I’d cope.’ With good reason, it turns out. Since Imogene’s never cooked for herself, her parents left her with a mountain of food, and it’s fair to say she struggled. ‘ The first night on my own I made myself some pasta with hotdogs and tomato soup, but I didn’t actually cook the pasta. One of the other performers came into my caravan and said, “But that’s raw!” I had a lot to learn.’

Imogene is one of the subjects of Circus Kids: Our Secret World, a jawdropping Channel 5 series that follows the fortunes of Britain’s circus children. One set of toddler twins typify this sort when she told them. Her dad Wayne of performer – and will capture viewworks in a hotel and her mum Donna is a ers’ hearts. Although Esmerelda and nursery school teacher. ‘They knew it Scarlett, the youngest members of the was the thing I was passionate about,’ Planet Circus troupe, are only two years says Imogene. ‘I started going to circus old they’re already being prepared school when I was ten, and every sumfor circus life. We Two-year-old twins mer we’d do a show and meet them when Esmerelda and Scarlett circus professionals they’re learning would come along. I to be clowns, got the chance to perclumping about form with them in the in comedy shoes big top, then they with red noses. asked if I’d like to join.’

Mostly the circus She assumed her parworld is a closed one, ents would say no, but to occupied by families her surprise they agreed. who’ve never known On camera Donna explains any other life. It’s why. ‘How many 15-yearrare to come across olds know exactly what a performer who they want to do?’ she wasn’t destined to argues. So how does Imobe a par t of this gene’s schooling work? By world. Imogene is the law anyone under the age first to admit her parof 16 must be getting an ents were horrified education. ‘At first we thought I’d have to get a tutor, but home schooling doesn’t insist on that as long as you’re doing the work,’ she says. This means Imogene is effectively teaching herself for GCSEs in English and maths, which seems something of a hitand-miss affair. ‘I’ve made a point of getting books with the answers in the back, so I’m just working through them. It’s just so I have them to fall back on. You don’t know what can happen in this business. I could fall and break a leg.’

For now, though, home is a two-berth caravan she lives in alone, the rent for which comes out of her earnings. ‘The goal is to save up to get my own caravan,’ she says. ‘The first few nights I was afraid. What would I do if someone tried to get in? The shower wasn’t working either, but now that’s fixed and I’m used to the life. I love it. It’s not glamorous but it’s what I’ve always wanted.’

Imogene performing her deathdefying act