How Josie Gibson got big break on This Morning after being rejected from TV 72 TIMES – & key advice from Phil Schofield
SHE’S become a stalwart of the This Morning sofa and Josie Gibson was by Holly Willoughby’s side as she delivered her emotional statement on the departure of Phillip Schofield.
Holly admitted yesterday that she felt “shaken, troubled, let down” by the scandal over her former co-host’s affair with a younger runner, before turning to his stand-in for comfort and a “Josie hug”.
The on-screen affection reveals how Josie has become a valued part of the This Morning operation and risen above the reportedly ‘toxic’ atmosphere to triumph as a rising star.
It’s a stark contrast to the days after her 2010 Big Brother win, when she struggled to get TV work and was rejected from presenting jobs 72 times.
“I think because of the Big Brother thing, it held me back a bit and nobody wanted to know – and I mean nobody,” she told HuffPost.
“Over two years, I tried and I literally put myself out there. Nobody knows this, but I got into [TV presenting] because I did not stop trying. More than 72 people I tried – I had a list of people who I’d asked for a job.”
Here we look at how the former sales rep overcame rejection, weight battles and heartbreak to become a trusted star on ITV’s flagship daytime show.
Left home at 14
Growing up as the oldest of six kids in Bristol, Josie was a spirited kid who, according to her Big Brother profile, was expelled from two schools.
She grew up around animals, with mum Mandy breaking in horses for a living and at 14, she left home to live on her aunt’s farm, moving into a “wooden cabin” where she had her own horse and cart.
She forged a lucrative career as a financial sales rep, driving a company car and raking in a hefty wage.
But by the time she entered the Big Brother house in 2010, she was MCing at weekend parties and driving a “s***-mobile”, adding: “I’ve lost my game and turned into a loser.”
At 25, Josie entered the 11th series of Big Brother, stealing viewers’ hearts with her down to earth nature.
She also found romance with Australian housemate John James Parton before winning the series with a 77.5 per cent of the viewers’ votes – the highest on record.
The kind-hearted star donated £20,000 of her £100,000 to the charity Clic Sargent.
Reality show and split
After her stunning victory, Josie was out of the TV house for just 18 minutes before re-entering to take part in the one-off Ultimate Big Brother, with series legends including Ulrika Jonsson, Vanessa Feltz, ‘Nasty’ Nick Bateman and Nikki Grahame.
But walked off the show after three days, later saying she was going “potty” in the house.
“You’re trapped. I didn’t know what was going on or being said and all the paranoia starts setting in then,” she told the Daily Mail.
“I felt claustrophobic. I was missing all my old housemates, I felt paranoid… I just had to get out of there.”
She continued: “I was laying in bed last night and I was looking at the walls and they were coming closer and closer to my face and at one point the wall was touching my nose… so at that point I realised that I was going a bit potty and I had to go.
“I think the problem was I’d left. I’d seen all my friends and family and I’d seen everyone I love the most and then I had to go back in.”
But savvy Josie still capitalised on her Big Brother fame, releasing her own perfume, Simply Josie, and a range of merchandise that included hoodies and tops.
She also landed a reality show based on her Big Brother romance, John James and Josie: What Happened Next, before revealing in a spin-off, There’s Something About Josie, that the couple had split after 18 months.
John-James later claimed in an interview that the relationship had turned sour over constant rows and added: “We could both get quite nasty. I didn’t really see that side of her until I left the (Big Brother) house. This other side came out I had no idea existed.”
Josie hit back, saying: “I never changed, but he got nastier. I think he thought I should put up with it because I was the fat, ugly one and he was the good-looking one. But sorry, mate. I could look like the back end of a bus and I still wouldn’t put up with your rubbish.”
Big break
Josie got her first taste of presenting, working on the short-lived OK!TV as a reporter in early 2011, before it was cancelled the same year.
Despite appearances on Big Brother’s Bit On The Side as well as a 2017 stint in ski reality show The Jump, she struggled to get her big break as a presenter.
That changed when Josie was on This Morning as an interviewee.
“Eamonn [Holmes] was on there,” she later recalled. “He said: ‘I like you, you’re different. Go and send some ideas to the bosses at This Morning.’ And then they gave me a chance, and even though I wasn’t great to begin with, my This Morning lot stuck with me.”
In 2019, she joined the team as competition announcer but soon progressed to roving reporter and even fronting a special series, Josie’s Extreme Adventures, which saw her taking on hair-raising challenges such as a skydive, a canyoneering exploration, a mountain side assault course and white water rafting.
“They’ve helped me grow,” she said. “They’d only give me a minute of TV first of all, then they’d give me a couple more, and then four minutes, five, and now I’ve been presenting the show!”
She credits Phillip Schofield – who she is replacing this week following his abrupt departure over his fling with a young runner – with issuing precious advice.
She says he told her: “You don’t want to talk over your partner, otherwise it would be a mess. So, if you want to keep going with a question because you think you’re on a roll, or you want to say something, you’ve got to listen and you take little breaths.
“They are listening all the time. They make it look so streamlined, but you won’t notice it.”
Her career was also nurtured by best pal and fellow host Alison Hammond, who she shares holidays and Christmases with.
“Even before I’d presented the main show on This Morning, if we would go into the main show she’d say to put me on open talkback – where you can hear the whole gallery talking – to practise,” she told New! Magazine.
Since stepping in as a main stand-in presenter, Josie has become a fan favourite and won the hearts of a few A-list stars.
She flew to Paris after landing coveted interviews with Hollywood stars Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, before attending the premiere of their new film, Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3. In February, she charmed Paul Rudd and fed him a biscuit, which had been on the floor.
The Hollywood star said “This is the greatest day of my life.”
It’s not all been plain sailing, however. After she filled in for Phillip Schofield in March 2022, she was forced to apologise to him after the show aired a compilation of everything that had gone wrong while he was off.
Heartbreak
Despite her winning ways with movie stars, Josie has struggled to find love since her split from John James.
A brief 2012 engagement to plumber Luke Sanwo ended in 2015 and she later claimed he had been messaging her behind his new girlfriend’s back and still owed her £700.
In 2018, she revealed she had given birth to her son, Reggie, with her new partner Terry but she was “devastated” when he dumped her on New Year’s Eve, four months after the birth.
“He’s got OCD and just after Christmas, he went mad about too many of my shoes being in the hallway. So I kicked off and said, ‘Well, we’ll go then!’ And he went, ‘Alright’, and bagged up our stuff,” she explained.
“So Reggie and I headed to a hotel. [It was] Two days before New Year’s Eve.
“We watched the fireworks out of the window while we unpacked. It was the worst New Year’s Eve ever.”
The pair rekindle the romance briefly in lockdown, but she is now raising Reggie as a single mum. She told Loose Women: “I was panicked over the thought of doing it all on my own, but you get this inner strength and you’ve just gotta get on with it, you’ve got no choice.”
She has since said that Terry is a “great dad”, adding: “He idolises Reg and Reg idolises him. It’s a shame it didn’t work out with us but actually, he dedicates his time to Reg, so Reg gets the best of both of us.
“I was brought up without a dad and I wouldn’t want that for my little boy.”
More recently she was linked to ITV cameraman Sam Morten after they were pictured holding hands next to the Eiffel Tower but she later admitted the pic was a wind up.
“This has got out of hand,” she wrote. “I’m still single…I couldn’t pull a cracker.”
She also told Loose Women she is “funny” about who she brings into Reggie’s life and says her TV success leaves her with little time for romance.
“Where would I fit them in because I’m either at work or I’m looking after my little boy?” she said.
“If I date somebody, that’s time I’m taking away from my little boy and I want to spend as much time as humanly possible with him.”
Weight loss and surgery
Alongside her burgeoning TV career Josie has become best known for her weight loss journey, after dropping six stone in 2013 and going from a size 18 to size 12.
Her success led to her own DVD, Josie Gibson’s 30 Second Slim, and a healthy living book in 2014, The Josie Gibson Diet: Love Food, Get Slim, Stay Slim, which detailed more of her weight loss secrets.
In 2016, Josie went under the knife to remove excess skin following her weight loss.
Josie told New! magazine at the time: “I woke up and I looked down and could just see flatness. I was like, ‘Whoa! I can see my vagina in full vision!’”
She added: “I’ve had 6lbs of skin cut away! But I’m probably several pounds heavier than I was because I’ve not done any exercise.
“I was 10st 10lbs before the operation and now I’m 11st 5lb. And I reckon I am a big size 12.”
When pregnant with Reggie, she put on “around four-and-a-half stone,” but she managed to shed a whopping two stone in just 12 weeks in 2019.
In January 2021, Josie revealed she had dropped another 10lbs in just under a month, going from just under 17 stone, after changing her lifestyle completely
Josie, who was an ambassador for weight loss brand WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, told The Sun: “I’m down ten pounds already. I’m quite big so obviously it comes off quicker.
“I was eating a lot of stodge before, but I can’t tell you the difference it’s made to my energy. I can get up and go. I’m actually waking up in the morning with a spring in my step – it’s been great, and I’m faster.”
She continued: “I’m about a size 16 at the moment. I’d like to get down to a size 12.”
With weight loss battles, broken relationships and struggles to land that dream job, Josie has overcome more obstacles than most.
But that may the key to her success – and why This Morning viewers have tipped her as the relatable face to save the brand.