As she calmly sat by Holly Willoughby ’s side yesterday and offered a much-needed hug, Josie Gibson cemented her position as a safe pair of hands to steady the listing This Morning ship.
From her reality TV beginnings in the Big Brother house to being selected as Holly co-star for the all-important first episode back after the Schofield scandal, Josie’s star has been steadily on the rise.
Insiders believe the 38-year-old mum could be the secret ingredient to saving the show from disaster.
Josie won hearts for her down-to-earth nature when she first bounced into the limelight in 2010. Just 18 minutes after winning Big Brother, she ran back into the House for Ultimate Big Brother, although she quit the reality show to be reunited with her housemate-turned-boyfriend John James Parton.
While she and John James didn’t last the distance, Josie became a darling of women’s magazines, thanks to her relatability and good humour.
She struggled publicly with her weight, turning to yo-yo diets. Josie admitted she’d been struggling with body image since the age of six, but managed to lose a whopping six stone in 2012, going from a size 20 to a size 8, and in 2016 she underwent surgery to remove loose skin. “I am obsessed with food – I love it, have no off button and lick the plate,” she told a Channel 5 documentary. “At times I’ve been so desperate to stop eating that I’ve left the dinner table and gone and put a bikini on for 20 minutes. But it still doesn’t work.”
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In desperation to keep the weight off, she even used diet pills. “They were meant to flush out fat but left me with spag bol in my pants,” she confessed with her trademark candour. Nevertheless, a range of weight loss books and exercise DVDs followed snapped up by fans.
Josie had similar luck with men. In 2017 she was heartbroken when claims emerged her man Sam Player cheated on her with other women.
“It looks like he picks single mothers and vulnerable women,” she raged. “They all told me he’s got a real nasty side and have claimed he’s been threatening.” Branding him “manipulative”, she claimed she could “open a women’s refuge off the back of this f***er”.
She then found love with family friend Terry during their 18-month relationship. But four months after Josie gave birth to their baby son Reggie, they split. “I always thought that we’d get our dream house together. Maybe it’s me, maybe I’m just not good with men,” she revealed.
Josie was prepared to go it alone with Reggie, and now says life as a busy single mum is tricky but rewarding. “It’s an absolute
juggle but I make it work,” she explains.
Josie’s distinctive Bristolian accent has got her into sticky situations, recently baffling Hollywood star Chris Pratt when
she interviewed him about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
And she’s had more than her fair share of gaffes since being invited to contribute to ITV ’s daytime show, first as a guest, then later as a stand-in presenter. She filled in for Schofield in March 2022, later apologising to him when she came back for her calamity-filled compilation of everything that had gone wrong while he was off.
But her warmth and good humour kept viewers hooked, and when Schofield was dramatically axed from the show last month, bosses were convinced Josie was the perfect co-host to settle Holly’s nerves as she addressed This Morning fans for the first time since the scandal unfolded.
