No.1 for Interviews - Carol Smillie
Carol Smillie

The Scottish television personality talks to No.1 magazine about life on and off screen and reveals why her latest job has turned into a bit of a family affair.

She’s been credited with dispelling the mystery of the world of interior design – and for introducing us to MDF and paint splatter techniques for that matter – but for television presenter, model, author and actress Carol Smillie, life is about far more than Changing Rooms. Having first shot to fame in 1989 on the smash hit game show Wheel of Fortune, hers is a career that has spanned two decades and seen her become one of the best known, and best loved, famous Scottish faces of all time. But despite having so many strings to her bow, it’s probably her role as a wife and mum of three – Christie, 15, Robbie, 13 and Jodie, 11 – that keeps her most busy.

Here Carol brings No.1 up to speed on what’s going on in her life at the moment and just how difficult she has found working in television these days.

Christie and I were asked by Ortak, who are one of the UK’s biggest designers and manufacturers of silver and gold jewellery, to be the faces of their new advertising campaign. It really came out of the blue and when they approached us, I just thought, ‘Gosh, would she really want to do that with me?’ But she did! It’s such a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially having Christie model with me, and I just felt I should grab this time as it’s so nice to do something together – I should appreciate it as it will be short lived I’m sure, she’s 15 after all!

It’s so interesting because when you’re 15 you know it all. I remember that feeling and I understand it so I’m quite cool about it. We went to New York together to model in Dressed to Kilt, which is how us modelling together came about really, and there was a moment that I’ll never forget. About 30 seconds before we were about to walk on stage she grabbed my hand in a panic and suddenly she was five years old again! She had that look on her face that said, ‘Okay I admit it, I don’t know what I’m doing, you do, so what do I do?!’

She’s doing really well with her modelling at the moment but I’ve never forced it on her. It’s her decision and her choice but she’s been asking to do it since she was about 12. She kept saying, ‘You and dad did it.’ And I’d say, ‘Yes, but not when we were 12!’ Recently, I said to her, “I don’t mind you doing this and I will support you all the way but you do not take a day off school for this.” That’s the only proviso I’ve put on it. She’s very bright academically and she does well at school and I don’t want her to get her head filled with other things if she’s got capabilities in that department that I never had. I did okay at school but I wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box by a long shot, which is fine because it’s not for everybody, but Christie’s a lot sharper and a lot brighter than me and I just feel that her schooling is too important.

My other daughter, Jodie, is 11 and desperate to model like Christie. In fact she would kill to do what Christie does! She’s very different looking to Christie but she’s already taller than Christie was at that age so it’s going to be very interesting when she’s older. She just idolises her big sister – not that her big sister would notice!

I am glad that I also have a boy; he adds the balance, he sees the humour in it all!

As far as teenagers go we’ve been very lucky. Christie is a good girl, she’s not a hell raiser. I always say to her, ‘This is all new for me too, so just keep me in the loop. I don’t want to know everything but equally I need to know what’s going on so as long as you keep me informed, to a degree, I’m quite happy to let you go to most things.’ I think if you restrict them too much they just want to go mad so you’ve got to find the happy balance.

As parents I think we’re quite fair – I don’t think the kids think we’re too embarrassing yet. Sometimes I hear the way other kids talk to their parents and I’m horrified. They say things along the lines of, ‘Oh God you’re so embarrassing, what are you doing here?’

In life, home and children always come first, they always have, but the kids also understand that I have to work, and sometimes I have to go away and they need to help. They are very good around the house, they help cook dinner, help empty dishwashers – well to a degree anyway! It’s a team and I’m not really interested in them slobbing around on the couch whilst I get their dinner ready. There are no fairies in our house! I really do think it’s so important that they know how to do things around the house. There are grown lads out there who can’t do a thing for themselves but I don’t think it’s their fault – it’s their mums!

As my career has gone on I’ve found that the television industry has changed massively. I do get quite saddened now as kids seem to think that all they have to do is go on a reality TV show and they’ll be sorted for life! They’ve seen it happen for the few who actually had humongous talent and they don’t seem to understand that they actually have to have that talent and put the graft in as well. There is so much reality TV now and I do get a lot of offers, but I have to say that I turn down about 80% of them because they’re awful! I never know whether to be flattered or gutted to have been asked! I’m not really into being humiliated in public and I do think that most of these shows are about that.

It did get to the point where I thought, ‘Do I really want to do this anymore?’ But I’ve been having a lot of meetings in London recently and I’m feeling much more optimistic about work. I’ve actually just missed out on a couple of things that would have been great. The producers said to me, ‘It was between you and so and so…’ and guess what, it wasn’t me! Sometimes you think, I can’t be bothered anymore and sometimes you think, ‘Fair enough, if I was the producer I would have picked so and so too!’

It is important for me to have my own life and a career is part of that. We go away as a family for the whole summer every year and for the first couple of years I really struggled with it. People would say, “How can you struggle with it, you’re so lucky to be able to go away for the whole summer?” And I am very lucky but I realised it was because I wasn’t used to just being somebody’s mother or somebody’s wife and when I was away that’s what I became, and I thought, ‘This is hellish!’ You need something for you too.

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