"Listen, if Penny Mordaunt can do it so can the GC", says Gemma Collins, offering her views on her reality TV co-star's chances in the Conservative leadership race.
But despite going head-to-head against the potential new Prime Minister in 2014 during season two of Tom Daley’s ITV diving show Splash!, Gemma admits she has no recollection of the trade minister.
Chatting to us from her gloriously sunny garden with elephant statues behind her, and dressed in a bright pink swimsuit, Gemma offers her apologises: "I can’t remember her, sorry Penny.
“I didn’t see her at training, she must have been at another day. I wonder if she remembers me, more importantly.”
Instead, former TOWIE star Gemma is rooting for Kemi Badenoch - the Saffron Walden MP and former levelling up minister - who she believes has a good aura.
“I want Kemi to win,” Gemma declares, as she begins to chant her name.
“I’m a good judge of character and I can just look at someone - it’s all about the eyes.
“She’s got humble roots, I can see she has warmth in her and at the end of the day, love conquers all - it’s all about treating people right; mother nature.”
Gemma is speaking to the Mirror ahead of her campaign with Bingo Blitz - with bingo a pastime she absolutely loves.
“There is nothing negative about bingo, it’s a laugh,” she adds.
She’s done it since she was a young girl at holiday parks with her family and as she now plays it with her friends, argues it’s a fun night out for anyone.
While she found fame by being filmed on nights out in The Sugar Hut on The Only Way Is Essex a decade ago, she has put those days firmly behind her and views herself as no longer just a reality star.
“I’m like an international superstar,” she claims. “I’m not being funny, my life has moved on.
“I love them all and wish them all well [the cast], but I’m in a different league now, hun.
“I’ve worked really hard and I’m in a different category now.
“I don’t mean it flash or stuck up, what I mean is you can’t let your past define your future. I’ve come a long way and we should celebrate success.”
So much so, that her fans won’t know where they can expect to see her next.
Last week, she was working with football legend Gary Lineker for Walkers, and before that, rubbing shoulders with supermodel Naomi Campbell on The Jonathan Ross Show.
And last year, we saw her open up to presenter Piers Morgan for a Life Stories episode.
Here, we saw her talk about how she has had to deal with trolls and death threats that can come part and parcel of being in the limelight.
But there is no denying the Big Brother icon has a cult following - with countless fan accounts and memes dedicated to Gemma’s words and reactions.
“It is humbling,” she says.
“There’s so much love for me. I’m always going to get haters, but it’s my authenticity, I’ve always had gumption, always been brave enough to speak up.
“At the end of the day, I was a product from a reality show that has absolutely smashed it.
“I will always be grateful for TOWIE as without it I wouldn’t be here.”
She adds: “The sky is the limit for anyone who has an opportunity, but it comes with a lot of hard work.”
Whilst in the spotlight, over the years Gemma has countlessly been criticised for her size.
On Life Stories, she admitted she turned to food for comfort following complications with a pregnancy in her early twenties, which resulted in a termination - a period in which she also battled with self-harm.
She was a yo-yo dieter and was often compared to her former TOWIE co-stars.
Now at the age of 41, she believes she has a healthy relationship with food and fitness and is often motivating her 2.2million followers on Instagram with morning workouts.
It is something she has found easier since moving to the countryside and will spend more time being active outdoors, pottering about in her garden and swimming in her pool.
“I do really love myself and if that offends people, then they need to look at themselves,” she continues.
“I’ve got a very healthy relationship now with food and health and fitness generally.
“Does it consume my life? No. If I want a bit of cake, I will have a bit of cake but I will know to cut back the next day.
“Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes - there is so much pressure in thinking being stick thin is gorgeous, well yeah, that’s one avenue but also people can look gorgeous medium-sized, a bigger size.”
She adds: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it’s what it’s your heart.
“At the end of the day, I’ve never had an ugly boyfriend, hunny.”
Despite oozing with confidence and always looking as glam as possible, Gemma has at times felt the need to conform to certain beauty standards.
She had filler that left her unrecognisable, she says, but now prefers non-surgical treatments such as cryotherapy, which helps with her water retention - a symptom of her Polycystic ovary syndrome.
“It’s really sad all these young girls today absolutely cloning themselves - you can't tell them apart now,” Gemma says.
“I’ve had filler before, I’ve been sucked in like a vacuum and tried it but the turning point was when my mum said to me ‘I don't recognise what my daughter looks like anymore.’
“‘Gemma, you look so weird’. I thought ‘yeah I do.’
“If you’re looking at social media all the time then you get a perception of that’s what beauty is.
“But beauty is what you see in the mirror every day; just stay true to what you are.”
Active online, she will film herself having cryotherapy - the freezing of abnormal tissue - and lymphatic draining procedures, which she says as changed her life.
“I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat and whatever works for some people, but I like to show people you don’t have to go under the knife,” she adds.
Although there are no solid plans in place, Gemma thinks she will tie the knot with beau Rami Hawash at Claridge’s - a 5-star hotel in London.
The pair first started dating in 2011 and got engaged for the first time in 2013.
But after they split a year later, she moved on with Argent James, only to have her heart broken again and again.
It was during the lockdown that Gemma and Rami rekindled their romance and have been loved up ever since.
“At some point, I will get married... I’m just going to do it at Claridge's as a small affair… it will be a winter wedding,” Gemma reveals.
“Or maybe I will get married in the woods. I’m a very country girl now,” she laughs.
“I will have an extravagant party, don't get me wrong.
“But what I’ve learnt is that it is your friends and family who love you the most, and spend your time with.”
Fans of Bingo Blitz, the freemium online board and card game, can join Gemma on social media for the chance to win a £1000 night out from Monday.
