A Gogglebox star has revealed she lives off ‘celebrity loans’ (Picture: Channel 4)
Former Gogglebox star Sandra Martin has revealed she lives off ‘celebrity loans’ that she doesn’t pay back.
The TV personality, 61, appeared on the reality TV series from its first season in 2013, before leaving the show four years later.
First appearing on Gogglebox alongside friend Sandi Bogle, when she left the show in 2016, Sandra was then paired up with her daughter Chanchez Martin.
But seven years on, Sandra, 61, has explained how she is still able to capitalise on her popularity from the show.
Before signing up to Gogglebox, Sandra had ‘been on benefits for years’, but soon found herself attending red carpet events, being sent freebies, and regularly getting stopped by fans.
She later shared she wound up back on benefits four years after she left the show, but now appears to be enjoying the benefits of life in the public eye.
Sandra Martin, right, appeared on the show from 2013 until 2016 (Picture: Channel 4)
With Sandra not working at the moment, she isn’t allowed to be paid for certain jobs and is instead ‘paid expenses’.
‘I don’t work, so I can’t get paid. But they pay for my expenses, the hotels,’ she told The Sun.
‘Someone took me to Amsterdam and Ibiza – I get a lot of free trips, I’m just not getting paid.’
She went on to add how her finances had been bolstered and are now ‘very well’ because her agent had given her ‘crisis loans’ and ‘celebrity loans’.
When asked if she paid them back, she continued: ‘I get celebrity loans.
‘No, they don’t get paid back, I don’t give it back.’
The star then said she was currently renting a private property in Hastings -which was ‘free as well’.
‘I get free money – everyone knows,’ she added.
In the past Sandra has spoken about how her Gogglebox fame helped fund a new luxurious lifestyle.
‘I got more than everybody else, because everybody else was working, but I was on benefits, and I was the best one that was making the show,’ she told the same publication.
‘I got the contract, and they paid my rent, council tax, TV licence, electricity, gas, all the bills you need.
‘That left me with about £500 a week to do what I wanted – hair, taxis, nails, takeaways. I was living a luxury lifestyle.’
Following her time on Gogglebox Sandi went on to pursue other career opportunities, including a stint on Celebrity Big Brother.
Earlier this year Sandra said she’d also begun working as a cleaner at a funeral parlour in Hastings, Sussex, relocating from Brixton, London to the coast.
The grandmother revealed she had been initially offered the receptionist position but turned it down in favour of being a cleaner over fears it could be ‘too emotional.’
Gogglebox airs Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4.
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‘I don’t work, so I can’t get paid.’