Gemma Collins

Gemma Clare Collins (born 31 January 1981) is an English media personality and businesswoman. In 2011, she began appearing on the ITVBe reality series ''The Only Way Is Essex'', appearing until 2019. Collins subsequently went on to appear in numerous television shows, including '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' (2014), ''Celebrity Big Brother'' (2016), ''Celebs Go Dating'' (2018), and ''Dancing on Ice'' (2019). In 2018, she began starring in her own reality franchise, '' Gemma Collins: Diva'', and a year later, she began hosting a podcast on BBC Sounds.

Early life

Gemma Clare Collins was born on 31 January 1981 at Oldchurch Hospital in Romford, East London. She is the daughter of Joan (''née'' Williams), who worked as a part-time hairdresser and Alan Collins, the director of Unisystems Freight, an import-export shipping company. She has an older brother named Russell, who is also a director of their father's company. Shortly after her birth, the family moved from a house in Collier Row and Collins was raised in Rise Park where she attended Rise Park Infant School. Collins described her childhood as being "filled with love" and said that although money was "tight", her father still managed to take them on family holidays and said she has "very happy memories" of her early years.

Collins then went on to attend Frances Bardsley Academy for Girls. She enjoyed performing arts from a young age and attended dance lessons and stage school. At the age of 14, she began attending the Sylvia Young Theatre School and successfully auditioned for a part in ''The Sound of Music''. Collins' mother was encouraging and said she knew that her daughter would one day become famous. Collins was bullied at school for being outgoing and confident, and so following the success of her father's business, her parents decided to move her to Raphael Independent School, a private school, for her final year of education. She left school at the age of 16 with a U in GCSE Maths. Reflecting on her time at school, Collins said "I remember sitting in the exam room for my maths GCSE and thinking, "I'm going to be famous, I don't need maths."

After leaving school, Collins got a Saturday job in the clothes shop Warehouse before becoming a waitress at a local pub called The Orange Tree. She signed up to a media studies course at South Essex College but stopped attending after a few weeks as she found it boring. Collins returned to her job at the clothes shop Benetton before spending a few weeks working in a care home, looking after people suffering from mental illnesses. Collins then worked at a recruitment agency in London before becoming a receptionist in a BMW showroom, where she retrained to become a sales executive.

Career

2011–2017: ''The Only Way Is Essex'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother''

Collins' first appearance on television was in the ITV documentary ''Snobs'', which aired on 13 January 2000. The series focused on people who believed they were a different class. Following her appearance on the show, Collins visited an agent who told her that she "had charisma but was too fat to be on TV"; suggesting she should lose two stone.

In 2011, Julie Childs, mother of Collins' friend Amy, suggested to producers of the ITV2 reality series ''The Only Way Is Essex'' that Collins, who was a used car sales woman at the time, would be an appropriate subject. They went to Collins' house and then filmed her and her friends for two weeks. After going back to work selling cars for a week, she was cast in the programme and began appearing in ''The Only Way Is Essex'' from its second series in 2011; her first ever scene was selling a car to Kirk Norcross. Her mother Joan joined in the fifth series in April 2012.

In April 2013, Collins released her debut autobiography ''Basically...: My Life as a Real Essex Girl'', which became a bestseller in its first week of release. In January 2014, Collins took part in the second series of the ITV diving competition '' Splash!''. During training, Collins suffered severe bruising and admitted she had to overcome a fear of water. She became the third celebrity to be eliminated after losing the splash-off to Michaela Strachan in the first heat. In November 2014, she took part in the fourteenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' on ITV. After she refused to parachute into the jungle along with her cast mates, she withdrew after spending 72 hours in the jungle, which she said was due to health issues.

On 5 January 2016, she entered the ''Celebrity Big Brother'' house to participate in the seventeenth series. On 2 February 2016, she became the seventh housemate to be evicted, having received the fewest votes to be saved, spending a total of 29 days in the house. In October 2016, Collins appeared on Sky News where she was interviewed by Kay Burley about the campaign to remove the word "Essex girl" from the ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Collins described the definition, which stereotypes Essex girls as "unintelligent, promiscuous, and materialistic", as derogatory and suggested that the meaning be changed. The expression was removed from the dictionary following the successful campaign in December 2020.

In January 2017, Collins took part in the second series of '' Sugar Free Farm'', alongside five other celebrities as they attempted to live on a sugar-free diet. During the show she attempted fishing and despite the strict detox plan, Collins admitted she actually gained weight during the process. In June 2017, Collins returned to '' Big Brother'', as a special guest for a shopping task, alongside fellow ex-contestants Marnie Simpson and Nicola McLean. In October 2017, Collins presented the BBC Radio 1 Teen Award for Best TV Show to '' Love Island'' and, after announcing the winner, fell through an opening in the stage. The clip later went viral on social media. In an interview with ''Irish News'', Collins said "the seriousness of it is, it could have been really fatal". After the video's widespread attention, further videos of Collins were used as memes, including scenes from her appearances on ''The Only Way Is Essex'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother''.

2018–2021: ''Dancing on Ice'' and ''Diva''

In January 2018, Collins appeared on ''Celebrity 100% Hotter'' in an attempt to change her style. Collins admitted she was "terrified" about having a makeover but said she was keen to try out some different trends. In February 2018, she took part in the fourth series of ''Celebs Go Dating''. During her time on the show, Collins walked out on one of her dates within the first few minutes after he branded her a "diva" due to her being late, whilst she was also reprimanded by the dating experts after she failed to turn up to her date with Laurence, who was planning to take her to Paris.

In June 2018, she released her second book, titled ''The GC: How to Be a Diva'', in which she provides advice and self help for women to gain confidence. In an interview on ''Loose Women'', she admitted to using a ghostwriter. She also guest starred in a promotional advert for Netflix's ''Orange Is the New Black''.

Collins went on to appear in '' Gemma Collins: Diva España'', a one-off reality television special aired on 29 August 2018. In September 2018, Collins took part in the thirteenth series of ''Celebrity MasterChef''. She was eliminated in the second round of the third heat after her sea bass served in greaseproof paper failed to impress the judges.

On 24 December 2018, Collins took part in a one-off celebrity special of '' All Together Now''. Collins first performed "Big Spender" by Shirley Bassey where she received a score of 88 after impressing the judges with her vocal ability, which secured her a place in the top 3. She then sang " This Is Me" by Keala Settle and The Greatest Showman ensemble and subsequently finished in third place with a score of 39.

In 2019, Collins took part in the eleventh series of ''Dancing on Ice'', alongside professional partner Matt Evers. While competing in the series, Collins had an on-screen argument with judge Jason Gardiner, who made comments about her weight and lack of commitment to the series. In week four, Collins suffered a fall during a live performance. She fell on her face, nearly breaking her jaw and neck, and injured her knee significantly. Despite the fall, the couple received their highest scores of the competition and subsequently progressed to the next week. In week six, they became the fifth couple to be eliminated, following a skate-off against Ryan Sidebottom and his professional partner Brandee Malto.

In April 2019, Collins began filming for her own reality series, '' Gemma Collins: Diva Forever''. The series premiered on 7 August 2019 on ITVBe. The pilot episode premiered to a total of 673,038 viewers, and was the most watched episode on ITVBe in that week. ''Diva Forever'' was subsequently renewed by ITV for a second series, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production was suspended. As a result, Collins filmed a new reality series, '' Gemma Collins: Diva on Lockdown'', from her home in Brentwood. In August 2019, Collins began hosting a podcast on BBC Sounds, titled ''The Gemma Collins Podcast''.

In August 2020, Collins began hosting a second podcast on BBC Sounds entitled ''The Gemma Collins Love Lounge''. In October 2020, '' Gemma Collins: Diva Forever & Ever'' premiered on ITVBe.

On 11 December 2020, Collins released a charity single, a cover of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" alongside her ''Celebrity Big Brother'' co-star Darren Day, with proceeds from the single going towards Rethink Mental Illness. The music video was released at the end of '' Gemma Collins: Diva for Xmas'', which aired on 9 December 2020. In February 2021, Collins appeared on ''Piers Morgan's Life Stories'', where she discussed her early life, career, relationships, and miscarriages, as well as her struggles with her weight and online trolling. Collins also appeared as a special guest on the second series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' to judge the Snatch Game segment of the show.

In December 2021, Collins appeared on the Christmas Special episode of ''The Weakest Link''. She was voted off in the second round after incorrectly answering a question about the number of beds in a twin room. Collins also returned to ''Celebrity MasterChef'' to compete in the '' Christmas Cook-Off'' episode, along with other former contestants Joe Swash, Les Dennis, Mica Paris and Rev. Richard Coles. Collins first cooked a sticky figgy pudding in which she mistook cranberries for chillies, but was praised for her second dishes of smoked mackerel pâté and festive gnocchi. She did not win the episode, however judge Gregg Wallace described her mushroom, chestnut and brandy sauce as "magnificent".

2022–present: ''Self-Harm & Me'', ''The GC's Big Night Out'' and ''Chicago''

In February 2022, Collins fronted a documentary on Channel 4 titled '' Gemma Collins: Self-Harm & Me''. The documentary followed Collins as she opened up for the first time about her personal relationship with self-harm and saw her speak to experts as they investigated what was behind the rise in cases of self-harm in the United Kingdom. It received positive reviews and Collins was accredited for raising the subject of self-harm and for showing audiences a different side to her. It was subsequently nominated within the Authored Documentary category at the 27th National Television Awards. Collins said she was "blown away" by the nomination, reflecting that "it was the scariest thing to be so honest with erself however the response hegot from the show was totally overwhelming.

In April 2022, Collins embarked on her first live theatre tour, titled ''The GC's Big Night Out''. Performing in venues across the UK, the seven-date tour was announced on 19 April 2021 and tickets went on sale on 23 April. The tour was originally scheduled to take place between 15–24 October 2021 but was postponed due to logistical issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour began in Manchester on 5 April 2022 and Collins was joined by Stephen Bailey who assumed the role of presenter. The show featured Collins singing, looking back at her life and career and being interviewed by Bailey before taking questions from the audience. She performed in Glasgow, Southampton, London, Birmingham and Cardiff before the tour concluded in Newcastle on 14 April.

In May 2022, Collins was set to take over the role of Matron "Mama" Morton in the UK tour of the musical ''Chicago''. Following the announcement of her casting in March, producer David Ian said "heywere completely stunned by ollins'audition for the role" describing her as "an undeniable force both on and off stage" and that "audiences across the country erein for a treat." Collins received criticism from several actors and theatre fans on social media who described her as a "stunt casting". Responding to critics, Collins said she "auditioned for the role and trained really hard" adding that she "didn't just get it because of er alter egothe GC". She was scheduled to make her debut in the musical at the Sunderland Empire Theatre on 31 May and was due to perform in Cardiff, Blackpool, Sheffield, Norwich and Oxford on selected dates throughout June and July. However a week before, it was announced that Collins had been forced to withdraw from the production due to a flare up of her knee injury that she sustained whilst competing on ''Dancing on Ice''. She was replaced by singer and ''Loose Women'' panellist Brenda Edwards.

In June 2022, Collins appeared in an online segment for the BBC
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