My Interview with Caroline Flack for NOIR

Just after six long weeks of filming the X Factor auditions, Caroline Flack meets NOIR in London for a fun chat and cover photo shoot. Discovering her bubbly personality and enchanting charisma, we talk about women in television, the risks and joys of a TV career and her new Xtra Factor adventure with Olly Murs. Giving a great insight on the new judges, the audience and the human side of a TV superwoman, our cover girl shows us why she is a star in the making.

I meet Caroline Flack in a sleek hotel room in Battersea. My heart was racing a little when I arrived in the room, where instead a friendly, buzzing energy made me comfortable very quickly. Even better, when I see her reaching for a hug and kiss instead of the formal hand shake I feel pleasantly surprised and know straight away this is going to be a good chat. While sitting to get her make-up done for her exclusive shoot for NOIR, I see her petite, tanned silhouette and I think she looks great with sun kissed hair that compliments her piercing blue eyes. With a little flowery blue Urban Outfitter’s dress and some Chelsea boots, she pulls off a great summery look and with an open smile she invites me to sit down with her.

Caroline studied drama at college and had her first TV break on the sketch show Bo’ Selecta. I wondered if working on TV has always been her dream? “I think I’ve always wanted to work in the entertainment industry...or become a nurse! Such extreme options! The TV opportunity opened up first. I wanted to be on stage, wanted to do musicals and all kind of shows...it just happened that my pathway guided me to TV.” She hosted various programs on E4 and E4 Music to become in 2006 the host of TMi on BBC2 and CBBC. We have also seen her in Gladiators and the Sunday morning show Something for the Weekend. After that, she became best known for hosting I’m a Celebrity...Get Me out of Here Now! from 2008 to 2010, and she is now the co-host of The Xtra Factor with the pop singer and previous X Factor contestant, Olly Murs. “It’s been a really gradual process but a really good one because you learn everything on the way and you have to adjust and face that it is always, even once you get there, very hard. You just have to be prepared to do any kind of work, and show that you are able to work very hard.”

Her best advice for people who would like to get into this industry is “Make sure it is definitely what you want to do. Make sure that you want to do your very best and it is not just for the wrong reasons. It’s not all glamour, it’s hard work: perfect it, learn your trade, do as much as possible.”

Through hard work and being in the right place at the right time, it is great for a young woman to make her dream come true. And I think that especially in UK TV, women can find an inspiring and empowering role. However, she argues that we are still far from the complete equality of parts: “There aren’t many roles for women in telly not live at least. I think it is still a male dominated industry. But especially now, there is more space for women in TV. I think it’s harder for us; we do sit typically outside the big role, often still acting as supportive characters rather than having our own space in telly. But it will change!”

The most inspiring woman she met in her career is the TV producer Anna Blue, who is also her best friend: “She was the first producer I have ever worked with. And that’s how we met, in fact the first time I went for the job, she turned me down, she said I wasn’t keen enough. So I went for the same job the next year and made sure I was the keenest person you’ve ever met, and she gave me the job and now we are best friends. She’s taught me a lot about TV and how it works, and how hard you have to work.” But what is it that we do not see but is so essential for the filming of a TV programme to work? She calls it the swan effect: “you know when you see a swan on a lake and it looks like it’s going so smoothly. Actually under the water its feet are going crazily fast. That’s exactly how TV is, because especially when you are filming live, you have five people speaking into your ear: your producer is telling you what’s coming up next, the director is telling you what camera to look at and your PA is telling you how long you’ve got for each bit. And you have to try and listen to your interviewee at the same time! So it is very hectic and nerve-wracking, but you have to look fresh and relaxed to the cameras.”

It sounds like a jungle! And it is from the jungle in I’m a Celebrity...Get Me out of Here Now! that she tells her most unexpected anecdote ever: “One day during filming, everyone around me and in the studio was in a really strange mood. I thought that something was wrong or something was going on: no one was really laughing; everyone was a bit on edge. So after the filming we got together and when I asked what was going on, they said that there was a big snake above me during the whole show, but they didn’t want to worry me because it was on one of the lights and they didn’t want to freak me out... I could have died!!”

To read the whole article go and check The Future Issue of NOIR magazine