TV favourite Scarlett Moffatt has dished the dirt on the alleged income she earned as one of the stars of Gogglebox.
Scarlett claimed that, when she signed up, the show paid stars just £50 and a takeaway. She made the claims during a chat with Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe on their Parenting Hell podcast.
A friend of hers, who worked for Channel 4 at the time, suggested she should try out for a new show – that would become Gogglebox – with her parents Betty and Mark.
The TV personality, 33, said: “My dad, the man who says nothing on Gogglebox, said: ‘It’s £50 and a free takeaway innit?’ That’s honestly how it started. £50 each we used to get and a takeaway.”
Scarlett Moffatt have ‘fond memories’ of Gogglebox
But Rob, who has appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox, went on to speculate that the strict contracts meant stars couldn’t do much outside of the show.
He alleged: “I think it’s a [bleep]take because you weren’t allowed to do anything else. You probably wouldn’t be able to do this [podcast] when you were on Gogglebox. They’ve got quite strict contracts.”
We didn’t get paid for any of that.
At first Scarlett, from Bishop Auckland, was pretty happy with the set-up.
She explained: “Because I didn’t live at home I thought, this is the perfect way of actually being able to go home and watch telly with my family, have a takeaway and stuff. So actually it was quite nice. When I look back it’s fond memories.”
Rob pushed the point, though, and said: “Yeah, but you were getting paid £50. Do you know how much Channel 4 are getting paid in adverts?”
‘It was a bit exploitative’
Scarlett then appeared to have a bit of a change of heart about her time on the show.
She replied: “Do you know what I always think about – I’ve never actually said this before – but it was a bit exploitative. My face was on T-shirts, Easter eggs, books. We didn’t get paid for any of that.
“Now I think about that, I should have been getting at least a penny for each Easter egg sold or something with my face on!”
Since Gogglebox, Scarlett has become a firm fan favourite, appearing on Celebs Go Dating and I’m A Celebrity.
The star gave birth to baby boy Jude in June and recently got engaged to partner Scott Dobinson.
ED! contacted Channel 4 for a comment.
Read more: Scarlett Moffatt ‘heals any bad blood with her mum as baby Jude brings them closer than ever’.
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