Emily Atack

Microscope, that'll do.

I mean, that sounds terrible.

But I think for girls, it's kind of where that begins a little bit.

So I always kind of thought that that was all I was capable of, just standing there looking nice and beautiful.

being charming and, you know, being flirtatious.

And that was kind of my thing.

And so when I realized as I got older that I had so much more to offer, it took a long time for me to be brave enough to actually say I've got more to offer.

But then at the same time, those things worked for me for a very long time.

But over the years, I have found that when I have pushed myself and done things that people have really rolled their eyes out and gone, you won't be able to do that.

I've always surprised people and I've always surprised myself and gone,

oh, actually, I can do that.

Even when it came to doing I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of It, you know, I was always sort of seen before that as the sort of pin-up of the in-betweeners and, you know, the schoolgirl, the girl next door posing in lads' mags.

And people didn't know who I was as a person.

So I really enjoyed...

taking off that mask on I'm a Celeb because you have to, there's nowhere to hide in there.

And I think, yeah, people got to know me as a person and realised that I did have more interesting things to say.

And I don't know what word to use without saying it, but I wasn't this tart that kind of had this, you know, this kind of optic that had been painted for me.

I mean, I'm still a tart.

I kind of love that word and I kind of want to own it.

But like, I just had more to give as a person, I think, which is what surprised people.