Who’s that lady?

10:11am Thursday 17th January 2008

Eggleston Hall in County Durham begins its third TV series of the seemingly hopeless quest, Ladette To Lady. Viv Hardwick reports

THE latest TV attempt to turn some of the UK's most obnoxious young women into sophisticated socialites begins on Tuesday when Eggleston Hall, near Barnard Castle, hosts a new series of ITV1's Ladette To Lady with reports that one less-than-hopeful contestant fails to survive the first two days.

Charlotte Donoghue, a 17-year-old trainee beautician, from Liverpool, is shown clashing immediately with the finishing school staff after arriving four hours late. "I had to go get conditioner from the Asda and it was quite busy," she explains having interrupted the opening address by principal Gill Harbord.

Faced with a 1950s test of selecting the correct dress for a Fruits de Mer' luncheon at Manderston House, described as Scotland's greatest Edwardian country home, Charlotte opts out of a dress recommended by etiquette teacher Liz Brewer and refuses to change a revealing dress of her own.

With just five days to prepare for this challenge, the teacher tells her: "I'm sorry you look like an absolute slut. You cannot go to lunch showing your breasts."

Charlotte responds: "I look like a slut? You look like a slut." A swift departure is arranged from Eggleston and she leaves telling the principal: "I don't wanna be a lady no more."

How differently it had all started with Charlotte apparently keen to change her ways, having reached her last warning at college and been banned from most of Liverpool's karaoke bars because of her bad singing.

But even her mother is embarrassed, saying: "She could do with toning down - she hasn't got a clue really."

Quite a curtain-raiser for the fivepart series which aims to transform some of Britain's most extreme binge drinking, sexually shameless, anti social rebels into respectable ladies.

The seven remaining contestants are: Holly Clements, unemployed, 21, from Basildon, who says: "I like the old one night stands, you can't go wrong." At just four foot ten inches, she was most recently sacked as dental nurse for replacing the mouthwash for disinfectant while drunk on the job.

Kelly Simpson, bouncer/model, 26, from Cardiff, says: "I have got a high sex drive, the girls have called me a nymphomaniac in the past."

She's a breast enhanced bisexual bouncer from Cardiff who got her job after impressing doormen with her fighting skills.

Laura Waude, student, 18, from Doncaster, says: "I'm a lot of rough round the edges, bit of a wild party girl." Laura wants to become a lawyer, but is attracted to bad boys and has been given an ASBO for littering.

Amber Jaques, barmaid, 18, from Blackpool, says: "As long as I have got my beer I am okay."

Her parents have thrown her out, she won't spend any money on her appearance and takes her mum's clothes rather than pay for her own.

Amber has a disdain for girls who are "fake and tanned". She doesn't think Eggleston Hall has a hope in hell of changing her.

Nicole Hart, secretary, 18, from Essex, says: "I've got two things on my shoulders, an angel and a devil and as soon as there's a bit of alcohol in my lips that devil's out in my earhole mate." An avid Tottenham Hotspur fan, Nicole is out drinking five nights a week and once jumped out of a second floor window to continue partying when her mum said she couldn't go out.

Neema Mattaka, hairdresser, 26, from London, says: "I'm loud and in your face... for some people I am too much." The crimper has been through the firm's disciplinary procedure for fighting with a colleague.

Simone Webber, 27, Territorial Army member, from Swansea, says: "I once accidentally handcuffed myself to a pick and mix stall in my local grocery shop and the Fire Brigade had to rescue me." She lost her best friend's flowers on her wedding day because she was too drunk to remember them. Her longest relationship so far is two weeks.

In addition to acid-tongued Liz Brewer, the other teaching staff includes elocution expert Caroline Sherwood-Roberts and no-nonsense cookery teacher Rosemary Shrager.

The worst ladette is eliminated each week. And Charlotte's early departure doesn't lift the tone at Eggleston. Dinner with the teachers becomes a wild food fight and bouncer Kelly is caught sliding down the bannisters. The first week's dinner task with a group of eligible bachelors ends with Holly Clement announcing she's "going for a gang bang" as she sneaks off with the guys to a nearby lake.

The men go skinny-dipping with Nicole Hart found to be clutching a pair of pinched pants by Gill Harboard.

"You were waving, a young man's undergarments," groans the disappointed head of Eggleston.

Rosemary Shrager calls the eight "the worst of the worst", so heaven knows who will join Charlotte Donoghue at the exit door on Tuesday.

■ Ladette To Lady, ITV1, Tuesday, 9pm

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