Josie Gibson, the host of her new luxury travel series, now declares, “I don’t want to see another glass of champagne for as long as I live.”
The glitzy This Morning host, who flew on first class airlines and spent time at posh hotels in Scandinavia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean for The First Class Travel Show, ultimately preferred simpler things. She says, “I know this is going to sound awful, but there was so much luxury that I just wanted a glass of water.” “There was champagne everywhere. I’m one of these people because I didn’t grow up with it, I’ve got to have it. You make the most out of everything. If there are any freebies to take, I am taking them. I’m trying to try everything, whether it’s food or drinks. First World problems, but I am totally champagned out”!
Before her Big Brother win in 2010, Gloucestershire gal Josie’s holiday experiences were more Butlins than Bahamas, so she initially “thought it was a wind up” when asked to present the luxury travel show. “When we were younger, we didn’t really go on holidays. Since I’m the sixth child, Wen’s and Brean’s would have been our hosts. I still go to those places now, mind. I’m still a fan”, she says.
“My mother would put us in the backseat and drive the estate for ages, making it seem like we were going really far, but we were just being dropped off at this little field up the road by the quarry in Rangeworthy.” We would camp there but when you’re a kid it doesn’t matter, does it”?
The locations Josie chose to visit in the new series are a long way from camping in an English field. In Dubai, she spent the night at the opulent Mondrian hotel in Doha, which is renowned for having an Arabian wonderland-themed design, and in Qatar, she checked out a private island.
Reggie, age 6, was unachievable due to the demanding filming schedule, but she intends to take him on a trip in the future. She says, “I think he would enjoy Dubai because it’s designed for kids,” noting that he would be particularly impressed with the hotel she chose to stay. You can look down at the sea while you’re having breakfast in a villa on the water with a glass floor.
Josie, 40, also tried out some luxury experiences for the series, including a RIB speedboat ride in Sweden. “I am not joking, I have never been so fast in all my life. At around 90 miles per hour, I believe we reached the water. It felt faster. I thought I was going to take off”, she laughs. At sunset, she was able to travel across the desert on a camel. What a view, and how well behaved my camel was. I had the impression that I had been thrown into a movie or a different universe. She claims that the sunset ride is followed by a camel’s champagne with strawberries in it that is served in the middle of the Arabian desert.
Along with her mode of transportation, she also developed a unique relationship. “Me and my camel really connected. When do you make the right connection with an animal? We seemed to have a lasting connection from the moment I first met her.
However, she didn’t get on so well with a horse in Grenada in the Caribbean. I rode a horse that I didn’t feel as comfortable with. It was full-on that one. The horse simply wanted to do what he wanted to do, despite the wonderful experience. Although Grenada’s white beaches were glamorous, I’m not sure if I made them look that glamorous.
There were plenty of funny moments in the movie, as you would expect from the upbeat actress, not just when she was trying to stay cool on a horse. The bathroom suite at the Hotel St. George in Helsinki had a fantastic bottom washer. I don’t know why they haven’t got them over here”, she laughs, before revealing one of the more embarrassing moments on the show.
“When I was in Dubai, they gave you so many freebies in your room. I said, ‘ Ooh, this is brilliant, a Protector kit. You even get your own bug spray! ‘ And the producers went to me, ‘ It’s not that sort of protection, Josie! ‘”
“It was a raunchy kit for people”, she explains. “I didn’t check what was in it. I just left that to my imagination. When it comes to things like that, I am not a woman of the world.
For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
Source: Mirror
Leave a Reply