Vicky Pattison Reveals Intense Career Pressure Following Reality TV Roots
Strictly Come Dancing star Vicky Pattison has candidly discussed the significant pressure she feels to demonstrate she "deserves" her place in the television industry, admitting the relentless pace is "exhausting." The 38-year-old, who first found fame on the reality series Geordie Shore in 2011, opened up about her ongoing need to "keep working hard" and prove her worth.
From Geordie Shore to Strictly Come Dancing
Pattison left Geordie Shore in 2014 and subsequently won I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2015. Since then, she has built a diverse career with presenting roles on Loose Women, This Morning, and various E4 documentaries. Her latest project is the new docuseries Vicky Pattison: Maybe, Baby?, which explores fertility options with her husband Ercan Ramadan.
Speaking to The Independent, Pattison revealed she filmed this documentary while simultaneously competing on Strictly Come Dancing last year. She explained feeling compelled to seize every job opportunity that comes her way. "I don't do anything by halves and you've got to make hay while the sun shines, haven't you?" she said.
"I've come from a reality TV background, a place where probably nobody thought I'd manage to parlay that opportunity into something that I have," Pattison continued. "I'm nearly 15, 20 years in this industry, and I'm still so blessed to be working and relevant. So, there's an element of pressure I feel to continue on this trajectory and keep working hard, keep saying yes and keep proving that I deserve to be here."
The Unsustainable Workload
During her time on Strictly, Pattison realised her demanding schedule was becoming unsustainable. She described leaving home at seven or eight in the morning and returning at nine o'clock at night, "practically in tears because you're so tired."
"Not that I don't appreciate that a lot of people are in that scenario and I'm hardly down the mines – I'm just in a podcast studio or a radio studio, film and TV – but I don't know if that's what I want my forever to look like," she reflected.
Juggling Strictly with her docuseries, podcast, radio show, and social media commitments left the television personality completely drained. Pattison shared her grandmother's wisdom: "'There's no point in being the richest woman in the graveyard.' I kill myself to try and establish myself in my industry and tick all these amazing things off my bucket list and vision board but is anyone going to remember me for that?"
"I'm so grateful but I think I want to be at home a bit more – whether that's with Ercan and the dogs or Ercan, the dogs and some tiny little feet. I want to have more time for what matters this year," she emphasised.
Exploring Fertility Options
Pattison's new series follows her as she investigates various pathways to starting a family as a woman in her late thirties who has previously struggled with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). According to the NHS, PMDD is a hormone-related mood disorder with symptoms typically appearing one to two weeks before menstruation begins.
After publicly discussing freezing her eggs in 2023 and facing some backlash on social media, Pattison believes the television industry has a crucial "responsibility" to raise awareness about fertility issues.
"There's a lot of misinformation and judgement and stigma and shame. We're never going to be able to learn what the right thing is to say or how to comfort our friend and understand it better unless we do have these conversations," she stated.
Pattison recalled the mixed response to her egg-freezing announcement: "I remember when I froze my eggs and I went online and spoke about it. Loads of people were lovely and supportive but some of the discourse around it was just so unbelievably old fashioned, misogynistic and downright cruel."
"We're never going to be more progressive or better informed unless we keep having these conversations. TV has a responsibility to have these difficult and responsible conversations. If you have a platform you have a bit of responsibility to do that as well," she concluded.
Vicky Pattison: Maybe, Baby? airs tonight at 9pm on E4, offering viewers an intimate look at her personal journey while highlighting important discussions about fertility and career pressures in the entertainment industry.
