Category Entertainment News

Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite has quit TV and rejoined adult content site OnlyFans as he claims he now earns more than he did on Strictly Come Dancing

Great British Bake Off star John Whaite has revealed he now has a hefty bank balance, but it has come at a huge cost. The baker won the hit Channel 4 competition and then made history on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 when he joined as the first same sex couple.

Despite his huge success on the small screen, John lost his gig on Steph’s Packed Lunch when it was axed. He regularly appeared on the Channel 4 show before it was dropped.

However, John admitted he was going to take a step back from TV anyway to focus on a very different career. “Honestly, I am completely fine. This is the truth, I was going to leave TV this year anyway,“ he said in a post online.

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“That’s why I’ve been off Packed Lunch for a couple of weeks just to get my head in the gear, and I just came to the conclusion that I think my career in television is now done. I’ve had a great run and loved it.”

John decided to launch himself into the adult content world and re-joined OnlyFans. Explaining his decision, he said: “I’ve had a lot of DMs about why I’ve re-joined OnlyFans, when I regretted it last time.

“Firstly, I think it’s important to remember that who we are, or at least little parts of us, can change. I for one don’t want to live my life stuck in a steadfast template that restricts my next move.

“Secondly, I enjoy performance. I enjoy being a show-off. I enjoy building my body and celebrating the results. That’s not for everyone, and that’s ok – if you don’t like meat, just walk on by the butcher’s shop.”

John also confessed he is raking in the cash and has even earned more than he did on Strictly. The BBC dance competition reportedly has a cap on what they pay its stars so they all get the same wage.

They are said to receive a standard £25,000 payment for signing up, which raises to £40k if they make it until the end of October. It jumps to £60k at the quarter finals, £75k at the semi finals and the winner bags £100,000.

When probed on how big his income is by a fan, John revealed: “A lot. I earned more last month than I got paid for Strictly.” Despite John saying he is making more than ever, it has come at a price.

He has lost out on brand deals, with him allegedly losing his deal with Peugeot. John revealed they had parted ways as he cheekily said: “Are you looking for a man that will last longer than this car?

“Well, that won’t be hard to find. Forgive me Peugeot, for I have sinned.“ In his caption, he wrote: “Pettiness is in for 2025. When @peugeotuk found out about my OnlyFans, they asked me to no longer post about their brand and to give the car back. So I agreed.

“Disclaimer – this is just a laugh and it’s actually a decent car, but so much for being an inclusive brand.“ This year, he also claimed collaborations with Waitrose had been “expunged” due to his work on OnlyFans.

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The Made in Chelsea star opened up about how difficult the early stages of motherhood was and admitted to ‘extreme’ thoughts

Louise Thompson has made a heartbreaking confession about the early stages of motherhood, saying she was “not a good mum” and that there times when she thought about dying after giving birth to her son.

The Made in Chelsea star nearly died when she gave birth to son Leo, now 3. She spent a month in intensive care following the birth with “serious complications” and the following years have seen her in and out of hospital multiple times.

Joining Giovanna Fletcher on a recent episode of the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, Louise tearfully opened up about the “constant state of fear” she was living in.

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“I didn’t feel like a mother,” she said. “I couldn’t even really compare myself to the norm.

“I think what I didn’t realise is that I was triggered by Leo. But it took me a really long time to actually appreciate that.

“The crying – I remember once holding him and he was crying loads and I genuinely didn’t know what was going on.

“I just remember looking up to the skylight in my house and just praying and being like, ‘Please, please, someone like look after me in this moment, can I just get through?'”

She added that she knew these thoughts were “extreme” but they meant she struggled to take care of her son properly sometimes. She recalled a trip to Devon where she would leave the house without the right stuff to keep her son healthy.

“We did go to Devon for Easter, and I would go out and not have packed anything in a baby bag – I didn’t have water.”

She continued to say she was “grateful” to still be alive, but had thought about dying. “I was doing my best to stay alive. All I wanted to do was die.

“I just wanted someone to kill me because I didn’t have the strength or courage to do it myself.

But I knew I had to stay alive because you know, I would have okay moments that would give me hope.

“But year, I was not a good, present mother at the beginning and I will admit that.”

Louise’s fans flocked to clips of the conversation that were posted online to comment words of support. One said Louise “truly embodies the strength of a mother” and that she was “nothing short of inspirational”. Another added that “there is so much bravery, strength and healing in this honesty”.

“You are paving the way for others and opening up so many important conversations about motherhood.”

If you’re struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch.

S Club star, Rachel Stevens, has broken up with her Dancing On Ice boyfriend, Brendyn Hatfield, after three years of dating

Rachel Stevens has broken her silence after splitting up with her Dancing On Ice boyfriend – and she hasn’t held back. The S Club star, 47, was dating pro skater, Brendyn Hatfield, 40, for three years before their split was confirmed this week.

After going public with their romance in 2023 after meeting on the ITV skating show, Rachel told fans the couple were “really good” just three months ago.

However, she’s now taken to Instagram with a slurry of cryptic comments, including one about not letting other people’s energy bring you down.

Captioning a stunning picture of herself in which she poses effortlessly, wearing jeans and black satin blouse, she wrote: “Everything happens for a reason. The highs. The lows. The wins, the losses. The people who come in and the ones who leave. None of it is random. Every moment carries a lesson.

“Every lesson is guiding you closer to your purpose. So when life feels heavy, pause, breathe and remember: There’s meaning to this…

“I’m proud of the process you’re making no matter how small. One of the best boundaries you can have is simply not letting other people’s energy bring down your emotions. Living in your peace even when you come across those who want you to join them in their storm is a sign of deep maturity…”

Insisting that the right people will always listen to you, she continued: “For the right people you won’t need to perform to keep your seat at the table- you speak and you’re heard – it’s really that simple. Grateful for everything that forced me to love myself more… You were never too much. Not once. Not never…

‘”I wish more people understood that someone’s inability to love you is not proof that you are unlovable but often proof of their own limits, their own wounds, their own nervous system story. Your beauty is not a reflection of their unhealed story…

“You get tested the most when it’s time for you to elevate. Do not break. To everyone who set fire to their old life to start over… “

Speaking about the mum-of-two’s split with Brendyn, a source told The Sun: ‘It is incredibly sad and a relatively recent thing. Both Rachel and Brendyn felt there was no way forward for them.

“Rachel recently took herself to Marbella with her two daughters to get some much-needed headspace, and Brendyn and his young son have now moved out of the family home into a flat.

“There is still a lot of affection, and no regrets. But it isn’t easy trying to make a blended family run seamlessly and in the end, tensions between Rachel and Brendyn got too much and they never want to row in front of the kids who remain their priority.”

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Kirstie Allsopp, who inherited approximately £1.5 million from her father, has managed to boil my blood many times over the years but her rant at the RMT is her worst yet

When it comes to working class issues and debates about workers’ rights, I do everything I can to avoid learning the opinions of people whose parents’ names are a blue link on Wikipedia in order to keep my blood pressure down.

But somehow, Kirstie Allsopp, daughter of Charles Allsopp, 6th Baron Hindlip, and her out of touch views on society always find a way onto my timeline.

Over the years, Kirstie, who inherited approximately £1.5 million from her father, has managed to boil my blood many times over the years; from claiming young people are unable to purchase a house due to not being willing to make enough sacrifices like cutting out coffee, to claiming people working from home is a problem for economy and society while failing to mention that being married to a property tycoon may skew her view.

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And this week she’s back with a new wild opinion – possibly her worst one yet. This week thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are taking industrial action all week in a dispute over pay and hours – and of course, The Honourable Kirstie Allsopp has some thoughts.

“In a hospital, just listening to a nurse discuss his very difficult journey to work this morning. Perhaps one of the striking tube drivers might want to do a job swap for a day?” Kirstie mused on Twitter (X) as the action began on Monday.

She had more to add later the same day, telling her followers: “Tonight in London packed buses, dodgy looking bikes, mopeds & people just walking. Night workers heading to their shifts, others struggling to get home, knowing it will be the same tomorrow night. Does @RMTunion care at all?”

Kirstie is simply showing compassion for nurses and shift workers, you might argue. But the issue is she is using other public service workers as pawns in a game and trying to stoke division – just like she did in 2011.

In November 2011, thousands of UK nurses joined a nationwide public sector strike over government plans to raise the retirement age and scrap final salary pensions, amongst other things. Surely Kirstie, who this week has appointed herself as a spokesperson for nurses struggling with the tube strike, was quick to support the strikers whose work she values.

Spoiler alert – she did the exact opposite. “Of course my ‘dilemma’ is a #firstworldproblem but who thinks this strike is going to solve anything? #genuinelyinterestedtohear,” Kirstie mused on Twitter when writing in hashtags was weirdly the norm.

Kirstie attended ten schools as a child, but not one of them managed to teach her that life shouldn’t be a raise to the bottom. Thanks to the fact she was born into more wealth than I will ever see in my lifetime, Kirstie doesn’t have to concern herself with class solidarity.

As the RMT says, unity is strength. When one group of workers risks losing their hard-won rights, we all do. Kirstie is not, has never been, and will never be part of the class that has to fight for scraps from billionaires.

Kirstie is part of the group of people who want those on less money than London Underground workers to question why they get paid ‘so much’ rather than why they get paid so little?

I doubt Kirstie intentionally plans her outbursts, she seems the type to just tweet out whatever pops in her head that day without considering the context, but she constituently fuels the establishment dream of the proletariat fighting each other rather than the system.

RMT replied to Kirstie’s ‘concerned’ tweet on Monday, telling her: “We care deeply, Kirsty. Our members assist 5 million passengers every day. They don’t want to inconvenience anybody but sadly TfL walked out of talks that could have averted this action last Wednesday, and have not returned.”

I hope she takes their response on board and even replies to them apologising. However, I won’t know if she does as I’m finally going to practise some long overdue self-care and block her from all my social media feeds.

TOWIE star, Amy Childs, who gave birth to twins in 2023, has taken to social media, reassuring fans she’s ok after admitting to losing ‘a lot of weight’

Amy Childs has revealed she needs to put on a stone after concerning fans with her weight loss. The TOWIE star, 35, shocked followers with her shrinking figure after giving birth to twins – Milly and Billy – in 2023 before being forced to cancel her wedding to their dad, Billy Delbosq, due to “pure stress”.

The reality star, who also has two children from previous relationships, admitted she was hurt by people’s comments about her weight and insisted that she did eat. However, Amy has now taken to Instagram, saying she’s planning on putting on a stone while assuring her followers she is ok.

Posing in a gym, sporting a black hoodie and vest she said she’d been inundated with “so many questions” about her health, announcing: “I’ve come on here as I’ve had so many questions about my weight loss.

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“Yes, I have lost a lot of weight, but I need to put at least a stone back on and also be getting stronger because, like I said, I’ve lost a lot of weight.

“But as you have all seen I have gained weight after having Polly and Ritchie, the babies, which obviously when you have a baby it is meant to happen. You’re meant to put loads of weight on.

“But, for me, I lost it dramatically due to stress with mum and, yeah, I just lost so much weight.”

Amy has joined forces with fitness coaches Jon and Zoe Kirk in a bid to put some weight back on, saying she also wants to get “really fit”.

She added: “Like I said I want to put a stone back on and just be really fit for the kids and these guys results are incredible and are going to help me understand nutrition and keep me accountable because it is so easy to stop.

“I’m going for strong, not skinny and I can’t wait to share my journey.”

She wrote in an Instagram caption: “Weight loss journey finished [tick emoji] I have had loads of messages around my weight loss… but now it’s time for the next part of my journey!!!

“Strong not skinny, let’s do this!

“I’m so excited to have signed up with: @‌jon_jkphysique @‌zoe_jkphysique. Transformation pending.”

Speaking to OK! magazine in May, Amy addressed the speculation about her weight loss and the vicious trolling she’s suffered as a result of it.

Saying she was worried about her mum, who suffered a heart attack earlier this year, she said: “People don’t know what is going on behind closed doors. I’m going through so much at the minute that the weight has fallen off me. I worry about my mum constantly. She’s very emotional – she thinks she’s going to have another heart attack.

“People think I’m not eating, but I do eat. To be honest, I do feel better when I’m a bit heavier than I am at the moment. There’s so much going on at the minute – it’s the result of pure stress. We’re also having renovations done in the midst of parenting four kids.”

“But I’m strong, I’ve been in this industry for 15 years. I’ve had lots of people concerned about me, which I completely understand, but yes, people can be so quick to judge.”

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The soap star tells The Mirror how practising Wicca is part of her every day, with her self-help spells helping fans with all kinds of issues in their lives too

Emmerdale legend Bernice Blackstock has been bewitching men for more than 25 years and is about to magically appear for her daughter’s wedding.

The former barmaid, played by Samantha Giles, is full of surprises and her arrival shocks her girl Gabby Thomas, played by Rosie Bentham.

A happy ever after is already in doubt for Gabby, whose vicar dad Ashley died of vascular dementia. Her intended, Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson), has been questioning his own sexuality.

Four-times wed Bernice, who left in 2023 after a £20,000 fraud against her sister Nicola and brother-in-law Jimmy King, is unlikely to give sensible motherly advice, says Samantha. “I think Gabby’s a little bit like her mother, who hasn’t got a great track record when it comes to men.”

READ MORE: Emmerdale’s cryptic spoilers tease huge stunt week twist as fans ‘rumble’ who dies

Samantha, 54, first stepped behind the Woolpack bar in 1998 and has been in and out of the ITV soap ever since. She says: “It was lovely to go back and revisit the character and see everyone. It was really good fun.” She admits she took her steady job on Emmerdale for granted: “When you’re out there in the world, you realise it’s so hard getting regular work as an actor. There is so much competition. I feel very lucky that I was invited back.”

But Samantha, who is originally from Kent and now lives in Merseyside, has recently enjoyed playing Auntie Val in CBeebies show Football Fantastics, which is available on BBC iPlayer. “That’s such a different character. She’s a bit of a hippy.” Soon she will be seen in The Secret Santa Project, a Christmas film adapted from Tracy Bloom’s bestselling novel. “It’s kind of a cross between Love Actually and Elf.”

Her Emmerdale character’s charms have often been spellbinding for the village men, including Andy Sugden, played by Kelvin Fletcher. In real life, Samantha practises white witchcraft – or Wicca – a modern form of paganism. She even cast a spell to find her husband of 15 years, TV producer Sean Pritchard, and says she conjured up her new film role, too.

“I definitely manifested the film job last December, because leading up to it I felt very positive. Without knowing what it was, I just knew something was coming. I asked for something challenging and it was very challenging.” Samantha offers selfhelp kits on her website for people to cast their own spells to aid with everything from better sleep to selling houses.

“People have had fantastic results. The ‘change your luck’ charm has been very good to people going through IVF. I’ve heard some lovely stories.” As a mum to two teenage girls, she says: “You have to totally, totally believe it’s going to happen. If there’s any shred of doubt, you’re putting a block towards what you want to achieve.”

Samantha follows daily rituals, such as using protective herbs in the house, and she tries to eat seasonal produce. “I like to have a daily walk, because I think it’s very important to get back in touch with nature, to feel that you are in tune with natural cycles. I think it brings you home to yourself.” The next big date for Samantha will be Halloween – known as Samhain in Wicca.

She says: “I really love autumn, it’s a special time of change and transformation. The veil is very thin on Samhain between this world and the next, so if you feel like you need a message from relatives that have passed away, that’s the day. I will maybe have a chat to anybody who has passed on that I felt particularly close to.

“We lost a very close friend a couple of years ago. I do talk to her and, in return, I can feel her presence and imagine what she would say to me.”

Samantha has written two bestselling children’s novels about her passion, Rosemary and the Witches of Pendle Hill, and Rosemary and the Book of the Dead. The final part of the trilogy is out soon.

She has also spent the past year writing a historical fiction, centred on women, for adults. She is considering starting a book reviews podcast. Samantha says she is game for most things but reality TV is out.

“I couldn’t do the jungle because I’m just so terrified of spiders. I’m too sensitive and I’m not a natural extrovert. I might just want to tell people to stop talking and be quiet.”

With fewer prime-time appearances, Samantha is less immediately recognisable except to Emmerdale fans. She says: “Someone came up to me on the plane when we came back from holiday.

“They poked me and asked me if I was in Emmerdale – I don’t mind people coming up to me but I was asleep with my eyes closed.”