24 S MAGAZINE ★ 26 MAY 2019
Return of the
I
t’s hard to believe that Caroline Flack has been
a fixture on the small screen for 17 years- and it rapidly becomes clear the presenter,
actress and model can’t quite believe it, either.
“I know, I feel so old,” she quips.
During her time on TV, Caroline, 39, has tried
a bit of everything, from her first appearance in
Leigh Francis’s Channel 4 comedy Bo’ Selecta!
in 2002 to fronting children’s show TMi alongside
Sam and Mark. More recently she has co-hosted
The X Factor with Olly Murs and waltzed her way
to victory in 2014’s Strictly Come Dancing.
But despite her broadcasting history, things
haven’t always been easy for Caroline.
“It sounds weird, but when I first started out
a producer said to me, ‘You need to learn to
self-produce, so if things go wrong you’re on your
own two feet and you know how to handle it.’ And
I did,” she says. “I learnt that through working in
kids’ TV for years. It’s my job, when things go
wrong, to cover them. If I’ve made a mistake
I’ll go, ‘That was me.’ Then you work on how to
change that.”
Although TV may be Caroline’s bread and
butter, she moved well outside of her comfort
zone last year to hit the West End stage in
Chicago The Musical taking the leading female
role of Roxie Hart.
“I didn’t get to be Roxie for long enough. I loved
it. I loved it as much as I loved Strictly,” she
confesses. “It’s like being in Dirty Dancing. I’d put
my legwarmers on in the morning, get a coffee
and go into the studio and be like, ‘I’m a dancer.’
I learnt it in eight days – but I loved it. I got so
nervous every night but that’s part of it. I love
working under pressure.”
And the pressure is bound to be mounting now
as Caroline prepares to host one of the most
popular reality shows around when Love Island
returns for a fifth series in a week’s time. The
matchmaking show has had the nation hooked
since 2015, as viewers have watched the
islanders’ blossoming romances, dramas,
make-ups and break-ups.
But Caroline insists it’s the happily ever after
aspect of the show that really grips the nation.
She says, “The drama comes with the love. The
big bits are when people get together – it’s not
like Big Brother when the arguments were the
best bits. With Love Island we build up to the big
declarations. We want to see them fall in love.”
In previous series we have seen islanders from
a range of professions on our screens, including MATTHEW EADES / KINTZING