Amy Willerton (born 18 August 1992) is an English television presenter, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She is best known for her work with

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and winning the title of Miss Universe Great Britain and representing Great Britain at the

Miss Universe 2013 Miss Universe 2013 was the 62nd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Moscow, Russia on November 9, 2013. At the end of the event, Olivia Culpo of the United States crowned Gabriela Isler of Venezuela as Miss Uni ...

pageant. She got her big modelling break when she was discovered by

Katie Price Katrina Amy Alexandra Alexis Price (''née'' Infield; born 22 May 1978) is an English media personality and model. She gained recognition in the late 1990s for her Glamour photography, glamour modelling work and had regular appearances on Pag ...

as a teenager. She appeared on the reality TV competition series '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'' in 2013 and finished in fifth place. In 2015, she was placed fourteenth in

FHM's 100 Sexiest Women ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

. In 2017, she placed fourth in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's '' The Jump''.

Early life and education

Willerton was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England to parents Bruce and Sarah. She has two siblings, Erin Willerton and Ross Willerton who is severely disabled. The family communicates with Ross using

Makaton Makaton is a communication tool together with speech and symbols, to enable people with disabilities or learning disabilities to communicate. It is not a British Sign Language (BSL) or any form of Sign Language in its own right. Makaton supports ...

sign language. She is a direct descendant of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cardinal

Thomas Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...

. She attended

Cotham School Cotham School is a secondary school with academy status in Cotham, a suburb of Bristol, England. The catchment area for this school is Cotham, Clifton, Kingsdown ,southern Redland, Bishopston, St Paul’s and Easton The school shares a sixth fo ...

before completing her A levels at

North Bristol Post 16 Centre North Bristol Post 16 Centre is a Sixth Form centre in Bristol, England. It is made up of two 'learning communities' at Cotham School and at Redland Green School. It opened in September 2007, one year after Redland Green School opened for Year ...

. She was due to study Media at University in Cardiff before deferring to pursue her modelling career.

Modelling career

Willerton began her modelling career at the age of 15 after being scouted whilst out shopping with her sister. She has since appeared on catwalks around the world for brands such as

Karen Millen Karen Millen is a British online women's clothing retailer specialising in tailoring, coats and evening wear. Formerly a high street chain with stores throughout the United Kingdom, United States, Indonesia, Austria, Denmark, Russia, the Republ ...

and

Guess (clothing) Guess (styled as GUESS or Guess?) is an American clothing brand and retailer, notable for its black-and-white advertisements. Guess licenses its brand on other fashion accessories, such as watches, jewelry, perfumes, bags and shoes. History Gues ...

in advertising campaigns such as being the face of

Sure SuRe (The Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure) is a global voluntary standard which integrates key criteria of sustainability and resilience into infrastructure development and upgrade. It has been developed by the Swiss Global In ...

Pageants

Miss Bristol 2010, Miss Bath 2011, Miss London 2012

At age 17, Willerton won Miss Bristol. She went on to win Miss Bath in 2011 and

Miss London Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants ...

in 2012. At the

Miss England Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants ar ...

contest in 2012, Willerton reached the top five.

Miss Asia Pacific World 2011

The events were filmed by Willerton and other contestants (which were later uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

under the title ''Confessions of a Beauty Queen'' and spread throughout the pageant industry). Subsequently, she and the representatives from

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

fled their hotel to the airport, where the pageant organisers had tried to keep them there against their will and had followed them to the airport to stop them escaping. Organisers denied the accusations. Amy Willerton

Miss Universe 2013

On 8 June 2013, Willerton was crowned Miss Universe Great Britain in Birmingham and was quickly tipped as a potential winner of

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

by international media and pageant forums. On 9 November 2013, Willerton participated at the

contest in Moscow, Russia, where she became the first woman competing as Miss Great Britain to place in the semifinals, eventually finishing in the Top 10. Previous British contestants have placed as 1st Runner-up at

, competing as

Miss Scotland Miss Scotland is a national beauty pageant in Scotland. Entrants must hold a British passport to enter. The contest, whose title is owned by the Miss World organisation, is organised each year by Janis Sue Smith Director of The Catwalk Acade ...

and

Miss Wales Miss Wales is a national beauty pageant in Wales. Rules Miss Wales is open to unmarried women from age 16 to age 24, and is organized by Vibe Models. Contestants must not have had children, must be British citizens and must reside in Wales. ...

respectively. Willerton is the first British contestant in thirty years to reach the top ten at Miss Universe, the previous woman to achieve this being Karen Moore, who as Miss England, reached the top five in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Television career

Less than 24 hours after landing into London from filming the Miss Universe pageant in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Willerton flew to Australia to compete on

ITV's ITV is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the ol ...

'' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' and placed fifth. She appeared on '' This Morning'', '' Good Morning Britain'', ''

Big Brother's Bit on the Side This is a complete list of shows about and relating to ''Big Brother UK'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother''. The civilian edition ran from 2000 to 2018 and the celebrity edition ran from 2001 to 2018. ''Big Brother'' ''Big Brother'' was a daily sho ...

'', '' The Chase'', ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of the ...

'' and ''

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

''. In 2015, she appeared on ''

Get Your Act Together ''Get Your Act Together'' was a British talent show that began airing on ITV on 18 January 2015, hosted by Stephen Mulhern. The show features celebrities learning various different acts, such as juggling, singing, impressions and escapology, and p ...

'', which involved her joining and performing with the

Moscow State Circus The title Moscow State Circus is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the " Circus Nikulin" (the old circus, featuring animal acts) and the "Bolshoi Circus" (the new circus, feat ...

. Willerton based herself in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 2016, and began hosting for

Fuse Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protect ...

TV Network alongside

DJ Skee Scott Keeney (born 15 November 1983), better known by his stage name DJ Skee, is an American artist, television host, radio personality, and entrepreneur. Skee rose to fame as the first DJ to discover and play superstar artists on the radio incl ...

. She then was selected to host the Dance on Network show ''Every Single Step'' working with industry legends

Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949), also known as Nasty Nigel, is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the ...

and

Brian Friedman Brian L. Friedman (born May 28, 1977) is an American dancer and choreographer. Friedman has created the choreography for many popular music artists – such as Britney Spears, Cher, Beyoncé Knowles, and Mariah Carey – as well as for m ...

. The show's close similarity to ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'' caused many comparisons between Amy and fellow British presenter

Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter and actress. From 1998 to 2002, she hosted the ITV children's show ''SMTV Live,'' for which she won a BAFTA Children's Award, and its spin-off chart show '' C ...

. She was a contestant on '' The Jump'' in February 2017 and finished in third place.

Philanthropy and other ventures

Willerton's charitable work has focused on helping the disabled. She organised her first event, Bristol Rockstyle for the

Variety Club Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

children's charity as a teenager. In 2014 she ran the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

to raise money for The

Chickenshed Chickenshed (also known as Chicken Shed or the Chicken Shed Theatre Company) is a British theatre company based in Southgate, London. Chickenshed's membership programme comprises four Children's theatre groups and two Youth theatre groups for you ...

Theatre School. In 2015, Willerton began writing for the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. She was a speaker at the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

debating society at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In the summer of 2016, Willerton sailed across the Atlantic from New York to London as part of the

Clipper Round the World Yacht Race The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a biennial race that takes paying amateur crews on one or more legs of a circumnavigation of the globe in 11 specially-designed identical yachts owned by Clipper Ventures. Professional skippers and addi ...

Personal life

In March 2019, Willerton became engaged to her partner, Daniel Day, and in January 2020, they had their first child together.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willerton, Amy Living people Miss Universe 2013 contestants Models from Bristol 1992 births Television personalities from Bristol English female models English beauty pageant winners I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants 21st-century English women