Living Life the Essex Way

by Sam Faiers

  I had been put forward for the role by my mum, and I guess we must have made a bit of cash out of it. But we didn’t really do any more of those kind of things after that – there was too much travelling involved, and while Mum was happy for us to do a bit of modelling and acting and that, she was not like one of those pushy pageant mums or anything. She wanted us girls to take advantage of any opportunities that came our way, but she also wanted us to have a normal, happy childhood.

  We had some professional family shoots done when we were kids, to be put up around the house, of Billie and me dressed up in adults’ clothes. We were just toddlers, and were dressed in blazers that were too big for us, wearing big pearl necklaces and bowler hats. They are funny, and you can see us posing and pouting already! It is great to have them, and they are a definite sign of what was to come.

  Billie is actually more of a poser than me, and has been ever since we were young. Whereas I like doing quite serious poses, she does all sorts of funny and crazy ones. I prefer to look as good as I can, and she wants to make people laugh.

  Billie and I always took photos growing up, and Mum has trunks full of the pictures. I love going through them all – photos are memories, and it is a good thing to have as many of those as possible. I often sit and go through them when I have some time on my own. That is probably why I still take so many photos myself. I hate the idea of forgetting the good times.

  I have always had a camera – even at primary school I was taking photos. I love being behind the camera as well as in front of it. I would save up my money and buy a £2.99 disposable camera, and then when it was full up, I would have to wait to get enough of my pocket money together to be able to pay to develop it.

  In a way, I miss the photos you had to get developed. It was cool to have to wait, whereas now you can see your pictures instantly and there is no sense of excitement. I have a camera now that gets rid of any blemishes, but actually it was funny in the past when you didn’t know what to expect from your photos. You couldn’t escape the bad ones that way!

  Then, a few years ago, when I was 18, the posing for photos that was just fun for me as a kid, turned into a career move.

  I left school at 16 and went straight to work, first for a company called Connexions and then for Lloyds TSB. It wasn’t really what I wanted to do with my life, but I did know that I wanted to make money and gain my independence, so in that way it was great, as I got stuck straight in.

  But when I turned 18, I decided I wanted to have a go at modelling. I liked the idea of fashion modelling, but I am not tall enough – I am 5 ft 6 and generally they like girls to be more like 5 ft 10. But I was told that I had the right figure, as I have boobs and curves in all the right places, so I decided to have a go at glamour modelling.

  Glamour modelling basically covers any kind of modelling where the model is looking sexual or posing in a sexual way. Girls can be fully clothed in a pretty innocent pose, right through to being naked and in quite hardcore poses. I decided before I began that I didn’t want to do anything extreme or that I would regret in later life, so I decided I would do underwear and topless, but nothing more.

  Ironically it was actually Mark Wright who got me into it. He introduced me to a guy called Neil Dobias at Neon Management, and the two of them got me started. Neon Management are a company who look after a lot of models, and they launched Jordan’s career, so at the time it seemed like the perfect place for someone who wanted to do well in that world. Neil and I swapped numbers, my friend took some photos of me in underwear, I sent them to him and we went from there.

  They put me forward for the Nuts Babe 2009 modelling competition, where I had to send in photos which the readers voted on, and I got through to the final. At the party for the finalists my friends had made badges that said ‘Vote for Sam’. JLS were at the party, straight off X Factor, and the boys wore the badges, which was amazing.

  I ended up winning, and got to do a two-page spread in black underwear which went in Nuts magazine about three months later. They were a nerve-wracking few months, and other models were winding me up that it obviously wasn’t a good enough shoot and had been pulled, but I was pleased with it when it was published.

  Everyone at the bank thought I was mad to do it, but at work I wore a plain uniform and glasses, so none of the customers recognised me. I wasn’t really that worried about getting in trouble, as I saw these two parts of my life as being completely separate.

  Soon after, I switched to another modelling agency, Girl Management, and I did five different shoots through them, including Zoo magazine, and three Page Three shoots for the Daily Star. I also went to Majorca for a bikini shoot and did a calendar. I enjoyed it, but if I am honest, I didn’t love it. I was confident about what I was doing, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t overwhelmed by it, and just didn’t think it was for me. The competition was insane as well – there were so many girls wanting to do it. It meant that it got really quite bitchy and competitive, but I never cared or got upset by it, as to me it was a hobby. It wasn’t my whole life – I had other stuff going on – but for some of the girls it was their only income, and everything they had dreamt of, and they did get pretty full-on about it.

  It was good that I had another job with a steady income because I was able to decide what I wanted to do, rather than getting pushed into something more full-on than I was up for, just because I needed the cash. I can see how easily girls could be persuaded to ‘push the boundaries’ for money and the promise of fame. Having said that, there are pictures kicking around of me that I am not that keen on – and you can’t escape the bad ones once they are out there!

  Luckily for me, my parents were supportive of my glamour modelling. They thought the pictures I did were tastefully done and encouraged me to be proud of my body. When I did do topless shoots, Dad didn’t look at them, so that never felt weird, and I don’t think my grandparents even knew I was doing it.

  It is not something I regret – I was quite naïve at the time and it taught me about the way the world works. To be honest, it was something I had wanted to do, so if I hadn’t given it a go, I would have ended up regretting it. And I think it also taught me a bit about the entertainment industry and how people can be, before I was really thrown into it with TOWIE. So I was probably better prepared for the attention when it came than some of the rest of the cast, and it was less of a shock for me.

  One thing that takes some getting used to is how people can change towards you when you become a ‘celebrity’. People who didn’t give you the time of day before you were famous suddenly treat you really well and want to be your friend. A perfect example of this is the difference in the way I was treated on two shoots for the same magazine – once before I was on TOWIE and then on a shoot after the show had really taken off.

  The first time was when I was getting established in the glamour industry, and it wasn’t the nicest experience. I felt kind of ignored and unappreciated on set – as though the magazine staff thought they were doing me a favour by allowing me to do the shoot and I was beneath them. The photographer, stylists and reporter were all a bit off-hand with me, and the other girls on the shoot weren’t particularly friendly.

  Then, after the first series of the show had gone out, I did a Christmas shoot where I was wrapped up in a gift box. Anyway, I was treated very differently that time. Everyone was really friendly and nice, and went out of their way to make me feel at home and more comfortable. Even the editor called in to say hello. It was such a difference, and shows what being on TV can do.

  So although it is a good thing for me at the moment because of where I am at, I do struggle with the fact that it can feel so fake. I always try to be nice to everyone, from runners to producers. I’ll say please and thank you, and I know it is a cliché, but I take the attitude that I want to treat people the way I would like to be treated. I do it for two reason. On the one hand I do it just because that is how everyone should be, but also because I want to be more farsighted than the
people on that first magazine shoot were – who knows whether a runner on TOWIE will be the producer of a future series I may want to be part of? I want them to remember me as someone who was professional and friendly to work with, so they’ll want to hire me again.

  That shoot with me coming out of the box was the last topless shoot I did, as I realised glamour modelling wasn’t really the thing for me, and I just wasn’t getting the buzz out of it that I expected. Although I realised that TOWIE has quite a lot of young fans, and I didn’t want to set a bad example to them, I wouldn’t have continued with the modelling for much longer, even if TOWIE hadn’t come up. As I said, I don’t regret it, and it was a good learning curve, but I wanted to move on from it.

  I also think girls wanting to go down that route should be aware of how badly it pays. There are thousands of girls now who want to get into it, so the pay rates have really dropped, unless you are one of the absolute top models. There is an idea that you get tens of thousands for a shoot, but the reality is that for a two-page spread you might get £250, or maybe between £800 and £1,000 for an eight-page spread. Then your agent’s fees, travel expenses and any hotel bills come out of that, and there is actually a lot of work involved. So before you know it, you are not really earning that much. So anyone reading this and thinking of trying to go down that route, please keep in mind that it won’t make you a millionaire!

  Because of my glamour modelling experience, I now feel quite comfortable and confident when I do promotional shoots for the show or magazine shoots. We are wearing more clothes than I used to before, so I don’t feel I have to be holding my figure in – I just pose! And I love checking out the end product in the newspaper or magazine.

  I think you can tell who on TOWIE has modelled before, as they are the ones who look more relaxed. You can tell Amy wasn’t comfortable posing at first, and tried too hard. She always pouted, but way too much. One day I taught her to smile instead, which was quite funny, but she genuinely looked so much better. It’s like Victoria Beckham – she is beautiful, but she always pouts, whereas she looks so much prettier when she smiles, and Amy is the same.

  I clearly remember the very first time I was papped after I joined TOWIE. As you all know, papping is basically when a photographer takes a picture of you out and about, that you didn’t expect to be taken and didn’t pose up for, like for example, when I am going shopping, or leaving my house, or coming out of a club. It is very different from the organised studio photo shoots.

  So yes, this first time, Amy, Harry and I had been invited to a club in London called Funky Buddha for a party for Playboy Energy Drink. Kelly Brook was launching it, and Nicole Scherzinger was there. We were really excited and had spent ages getting ready. We were papped by photographers as we arrived, which was great – but then the club wouldn’t let Harry in! They said it was club policy, as he wasn’t 18. I was so mad, as the organisers had known his age when they invited him, and we had gone all the way from Essex to west London. I was arguing with the doorman, as it was out of order, but it didn’t work, and I tweeted afterwards, saying how dare they treat us like that. It went in the papers the next day as ‘Back to Essex You Go – Essex Girls Get Turned Away’, which was just rubbish! It was so embarrassing, and didn’t explain at all what had happened. So it is fair to say that my first getting-papped experience wasn’t that great . . .

  Luckily the second time I got pictured for the papers was at my first real experience of a red carpet, where the press are there to see you – and it was a much better experience. Amy and I went to the premiere of Call of Duty with Candy and Michael.

  Call of Duty is an army video game, so as we arrived at the venue we were offered a chance to put on army-type camouflage face paint. Amy and I were like ‘Yeah, defo, go for it!’ So we had these streaks of war paint across our faces when we went down the red carpet and posed for the photographers. I’d probably say no to that now, or at least think twice, as it looked pretty daft.

  But the more you are photographed, the more you become aware of it and the kind of image you are putting across. I guess that is why some real A-list celebrities, who have been doing this for years, avoid getting photographed unless everything is completely managed, so that their image is totally controlled (not that I’m in the same category!). I never want to be like that, but as I say, I am more aware of how it can come across, and now avoid anything that might be taken the wrong way.

  So, this party was at Battersea Power Station in London and was really good fun. Amy and I couldn’t believe we were there, along with all these celebs. We couldn’t stop giggling as we met all these people we had loved when we were growing up, like Example, Lethal Bizzle and Professor Green – and, oh my God, they were recognising us!

  It was great, and pretty overwhelming. Tinie Tempah was singing that night, and he also recognised us. He asked, ‘Can Essex girls sing?’ before handing us the mic. Needless to say, after we’d had a go and had given him the mic back, he said that no, we clearly couldn’t sing!

  All the free drinks and food at the event were a new thing for us, and although I have got used to it now I haven’t forgotten how lucky I am to be in this position. There were people walking around with trays of champagne and cocktails and all these random little canapés. It takes a while to get used to controlling yourself at these things – you would leave all of the showbiz parties very drunk and very full otherwise. You get spoilt really, and that’s not something I ever want to take for granted.

  Same goes for the goody bag that you get given at the end of most events – it is now normal for me to get bags of free gifts and presents everywhere I go, but in the beginning it was a real novelty. Again, I never want to forget how lucky I am, and I make sure I am always really grateful for things like that. I’m always giving stuff to my family and friends, and a lot of it goes to charity.

  One thing that makes me laugh, looking back on that night, is how much our families enjoy our fame. I remember mine and Amy’s mums at our front doors as they saw us off, wishing us loads of luck for the evening and telling us to have fun. They were really excited for us. But now when we head out, they are like ‘Yep, whatever, bye. Don’t wake us up when you get in!’ It’s funny how these kinds of events that are like the best night of your life the first time, soon become almost normal and just part of the job.

  No one has ever actually taught me how to pose for the pictures at these events though – it is just something I have learned myself. I spent a lot of time looking at early pictures to see what looked right and wrong. For example, I used to smile a lot more, as I do think smiling is the best thing in pictures, but I could see that as I have big cheeks, they went up too much when I smiled and I didn’t like how it looked. So now I just give a small smile, or I try to smile more with my eyes than my mouth.

  I don’t like my arms, as I think they are too big. Even when I lose weight, they don’t slim down – I know, as I have tried! I think years of doing gymnastics as a child has kind of bulked them up. So I have learned to always, always have one hand on my hip in pictures, which makes my arms look smaller and draws people’s attention away from them, as my body is creating a different shape.

  Another thing I don’t like are my ears. I think they are too big, so you will hardly ever see them in pictures. Even if I have my hair up, I always pull bits over the tops of my ears to hide them, or at least make them look smaller. I hope you are not laughing at me as you read this, cos I know it sounds crazy! But everyone has things they don’t like about themselves. And like all these things, it is only by trying stuff out that you know what works for you.

  I keep quite close track of what pictures of me appear in the media. My manager, Adam Muddle, watches closely as well, but I still like to get the Daily Star and the Sun most days, and I look at the Daily Mail and the Mirror online. I have a Google alert set up for my name as well, so if a story appears about me somewhere, it gets emailed to me. That may sound extreme, but I like to see what is being written, and
I like to collect the stories for the memories.

  I get most of the weekly celebrity magazines as well, because even when there is no story about me in them, I am still interested in what is being written about people I know. I have got pretty used to being written about, but I still get a bit of a buzz when it is a particularly good article or a picture where I am happy with how I look.

  I have a book at home with all my cuttings since the show began – there are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles in there now.

  Generally I have been pretty lucky – I haven’t taken too much abuse for my appearance in the papers, and I have only once appeared in one of those articles criticising how celebs look – touch wood! It was just a ‘hoop of shame’ in one of the magazines, and it was for being spotted out with rollers in my hair, which I didn’t really mind.

  I like to look glamorous, but I am not going to pretend I always look like that, or refuse to leave the house without being completely made-up. I live on a private road with a field opposite, so I am quite lucky in that way – photographers can’t really sit around waiting to get a picture of me without being noticed. And if they are there, it is normally because I have tweeted that I am going out or something, in which case, if they do get a picture, I am going to be happier with how I look as I will be prepared.

  But if I am just going to the shop, I will put on a trackie and sunglasses and not bother with make-up, and I think that’s OK. The only thing I might do is put something on my skin if it is not looking good that day. Having my skin criticised is probably the thing that would upset me the most. But other than that, I think I am quite tough-minded, and criticism wouldn’t bother me too much. I’d try not to take notice of it.

  The other thing I have done occasionally to make sure the pictures that are printed of me are good is make an agreement with a photographer for paparazzi-type shots. It’s always a bit of a weird one, because I don’t ever want to set up fake photographs. But on the other hand, if there is something that you know the press want a photograph of, it is sometimes better to have the picture taken in a situation where you have some say and earn some of the money as well.