All hail the new jungle queen
She’s hot and hangs out with Prince Harry – meet Caroline Flack, I’m A Celeb!’s newest recruit...
Watch your back, Davina. Start trembling, Tess. There's a hot new chick on the TV presenting block and she just happens to have landed the jammiest job in television.
You may not know her name right now, but by the end of the week Caroline Flack will be hotter than a flustered celeb in a Bushtucker Trial.
The 28-year-old presenter takes over your TV tonight when she joins Joe Swash to host I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Now!, the uber-popular spin-off show on ITV2.
"I still can't believe I've actually got the job!" Caroline shrieks. "I'm A Celebrity! is my all-time favourite show, so this is my dream presenting role."
Her excitement is so sincere you get the feeling Caroline knows this could be the big break into prime-time TV she's been waiting for. So far, her biggest gig has been Sky1's Gladiators; before that she earned her stripes on kid's TV series TMi, hosted The Games for E4, Fame Academy for CBBC and even played Michael Jackson's girlfriend Bubbles in Channel 4's cult hit Bo'Selecta!
Undeniably, though, her name is best known for being linked to a certain royal. This April, Caroline was pictured at a house party with Prince Harry, then in June, after they went to a gig in Kensington, she reportedly stayed overnight in Harry's apartment. It was shortly after the 25-year-old prince had split from his long-term girlfriend Chelsy Davy, 24, and it didn't take long for the rumour mill to start grinding. Soon after, Caroline went from being known as a TV presenter to being heralded as a future princess. So what's the truth about her brush with royalty?
"Everyone thought there was some hot romance going on," she sighs. "But all we did was talk about how upset we both were because we'd just broken up with our partners."
Hanging out with a royal is strange enough, never mind acting as a shoulder to cry on, but Caroline insists she and Harry are just mates after being introduced by mutual friends at a poker tournament in April.
"He'd just split up with Chelsy and I'd just come out of a three-year relationship with my ex, Dave [Danger, former drummer with band The Holloways]," she explains. "I didn't feel in any way weird that I was talking to a prince because he doesn't put it out there that that's what he is. He's a friend and I regard our friendship highly."
Caroline has never spoken about Harry before, but it's clear she found the attention difficult to deal with.
"It was very upsetting," she explains. "After I split from Dave, I was devastated. I lost about a stone and spent nights crying. I was completely in love but the relationship just didn't work. I still miss him, but we're friends and I'm finally getting used to living on my own. It's taken ages to get to this stage."
Embracing her single life means more time to party, and like Sarah Harding and Amy Winehouse, Caroline's a regular on the social scene in Camden, north London. Yet she insists stories that she's a wild child are wide of the mark. When she rocks up to our early morning shoot, Caroline is more fresh-faced teen than hard-drinking ladette. She's pretty in a girl-next-door way and her biggest vice appears to be eating a Cadbury's Flake for breakfast with a cup of black coffee.
"When it comes to my reputation, people have got completely the wrong end of the stick," she says. "I'm just your average good girl. I do go out, I do drink every now and again and I do hang out at The Hawley Arms [beloved pub haunt of Ms Winehouse], but I don't hang out with Amy. I've been to lots of parties and met lots of stars, but I'm always the first to leave."
Caroline and her twin sister Jody were raised by her dad Ian and mum Christine in Great Hockham near Norwich. She went to the local comprehensive and first realised her showbiz dreams by starring in village plays and pantomimes. At 16 she secured a place at a Cambridge stage school, then moved to London at 21 where she picked up telly commercial work to try to climb the ladder. This week, she moved a rung closer to the top when she left behind her London flat to present the show of her dreams, but there is one downside of going Down Under - spiders.
"I'm totally terrified," she says, shuddering. "I hate any insects with legs so spiders send me screaming my head off. When I got the job I knew I had to deal with my phobia so I'm seeing a hypnotherapist to overcome it. Hypnotherapy has even taken priority over bikini shopping!"
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Now! starts tonight, 10.30pm, ITV2.
PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMON LIPMAN, REX HAIR: ENZO VOLPE AT MODELS 1 MAKE-UP: BETTY LOU AT SOHO MANAGEMENT FASHION ASSISTANT: ELLIE JARVIS
CAROLINE WEARS (TOP): DRESS, ASOS; BRACELET, PANDORA; SHOES, FAITH (SECOND FROM TOP): DRESS, TOM WOLFE; BELT, FASHION UNION; SHOES, BARRATTS
