Rustie Lee (born 22 May 1949) is a Jamaican television personality, television chef, actress and singer. She participated on the Channel 5 reality-television show ''

Celebrity Super Spa ''Celebrity Super Spa'' is a British reality television show. It is broadcast on Channel 5, making its debut on 13 September 2013. The show is produced by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group and centres on six celebrities working in a real-life ...

'' in 2013;

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 ...

's ''

Who's Doing the Dishes? ''Who's Doing the Dishes?'' is a cooking game show that aired on ITV from 1 September 2014 to 14 October 2016. It is hosted by Brian McFadden Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April 1980) is an Irish pop singer and television presenter w ...

'', hosted by

Brian McFadden Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April 1980) is an Irish pop singer and television presenter who rose to fame in 1998 as a member of the Irish boy band Westlife. Following his departure from the group in 2004, McFadden released his debut solo ...

, in 2016; and ''

Celebrity Coach Trip ''Coach Trip'' is a British reality game show originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 7 March 2005 to 30 June 2006. The programme returned after a three-year break, from 25 May 2009 to 9 March 2012. In early 2013, the show went into hiatus agai ...

'' in 2020.

Early life

She attended the girls'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

King Edward VI Handsworth School.

Broadcasting career

Lee first came to public attention for her appearances during the 1980s on the morning television station

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

. Following her initial successful period as a chef on TV-am in 1983, Lee took over from

Sarah Kennedy Sarah Mary Kennedy MBE (born 8 July 1950) is a British retired TV and radio broadcaster. She presented her daily early morning radio show, ''The Dawn Patrol'', on BBC Radio 2 from 1993 to 2010. In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kennedy ...

on the second incarnation of the

gameshow ''

Game for a Laugh ''Game for a Laugh'' was a British light entertainment programme which ran for 56 editions and four specials between 26 September 1981 and 23 November 1985, made by LWT for the ITV network. Description The show revolved around a variety o ...

''. In 2004, Lee appeared on Livings ''

I'm Famous and Frightened! ''I'm Famous and Frightened!'' is a Living TV reality TV show in which eight celebrities stayed for three nights in a "haunted" castle. They had to then do terrifying challenges to raise money for charity; each one was evicted until only the wi ...

2'', a

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

featuring a number of celebrities staying in a castle over a weekend, taking part in various challenges and looking for

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

activity, guided by a

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

. Viewers voted for their favourite star, and the celebrities were voted off one by one. Lee won the series showing a keen interest in the tasks and occasional emotional involvement, giving detailed and varied accounts of how she felt at certain points. In recent years, she has made occasional appearances on '' This Morning,

The Alan Titchmarsh Show ''The Alan Titchmarsh Show'' is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 until 14 November 2014 and aired on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" the ...

'' and '' Daily Cooks/Saturday Cooks''. She has also made appearances on ''

That Antony Cotton Show ''That Antony Cotton Show'' is a British comedy chat show that was broadcast on ITV1 and STV for one series in 2007. It was presented by '' Coronation Street'' actor Antony Cotton and aired on weekdays at 5pm. The show was filmed in front of a ...

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'', ''

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'', and Channel 5's ''

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 ...

'', a spin-off chat show for '' Big Brother''. She also appeared on the Channel 5 reality show ''

''.

Politics

In 2004, Lee joined the

United Kingdom Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

(UKIP), and was adopted as their candidate for the

Wyre Forest __NOTOC__ Wyre Forest is a large, semi-natural (partially unmanaged) woodland and forest measuring which straddles the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire, England. Knowles Mill, a former corn mill owned by the National Trust, lies wi ...

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

in the 2005 general election. She also appeared in the party's election broadcast that year. On polling day, she came fifth, with 1,074 votes (2.3% of the total). Lee stood for UKIP for the 2009 European Elections in the West Midlands constituency in June 2009, but was not elected.

General election contested

Other activities

Lee claimed in August 2018, on British breakfast television, that she "started Caribbean food". Lee has written several cookbooks, including ''Rustie Lee's Caribbean Cookbook'' (1985) and ''A Taste of the Caribbean'' (2007). In 2008, Lee briefly joined the cast of ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' as

Gus Smith Gus Smith is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Mohammed George. He made his first appearance on 28 May 2002. It was announced in January 2008 that Gus would leave the show later in 2008, and he made his ...

's aunt Opal Smith. She also appeared briefly in '' Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice''. She appeared in the last episode of

Benidorm Benidorm is a town and municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when its port was extended and the first hotels were built, though ...

Series 6 as ''Queenie''. She also narrated children's stories for BBC Radio in Birmingham. Lee has recorded as a singer. In 1985, she released the album ''Invitation to Party'', including her cover versions of "

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

" and "

My Toot Toot "My Toot Toot" also popularly known as "Don't Mess with My Toot Toot" or "(Don't Mess with) My Toot Toot" is a song written by Sidney Simien and performed by him under his stage name Rockin' Sidney. Simien wrote the song and released it on the M ...

". In 1994, she released a further single, "You'd Better Phone", paired with a B side cover of Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle) by The Outhere Brothers She also sang on a number of her appearances on ''

''. Lee has appeared in several pantomime productions including ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', ''Aladdin'', ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' and ''Peter Pan'' among others.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Rustie Black British actresses Black British women politicians Black British television personalities British soap opera actresses British television actresses English people of Jamaican descent Living people People educated at King Edward VI Handsworth People from Handsworth, West Midlands Reality show winners UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates 1949 births