Celebrity Trash Monsters: What's Your Waste Size? - KERRY KATONA Q&A

Category: Press Pack Article

Why did you sign up to Trash Monsters?

My children are always constantly going on at me about waste and learning about it in school and things like that. I'm one of these people, I'll put plastics on the side, rather than putting it in the bin, thinking "right, I'll sort it out later." I'll go to work and come home, the kitchen's a sh*t-tip because my kids are scruffy little gits. I'll come home and get so frustrated I'll get a bin bag and I'll just put it all in one bag. I think any kind of mother does that, don't they? It's just pure easiness to do it because we haven't got the time to do anything else. The other reason is I simply didn't know what a carbon footprint was. I didn't know what it was and what it meant. I'm probably going to come across so uneducated, but I think I'm the one that's on the show that's the voice of people that aren't educated. I’d read these articles about Prince Harry and Megan and their carbon footprint, "Oh, what the f*ck they talking about? Carbon footprint. I don't even know what it means."

Were you embarrassed about how little you knew?

I was embarrassed because, honest to God, it seems like a subject that almost feels like it’s for a certain kind of class. I might have a nice big house, my kids might go to private school, they're all well-spoken, but I'm not from that upbringing. I came from a council estate. The first thing I remember about recycling was when we got a bottle bin, you know where you'd leave your empties? And that was all I knew. So there was a bit of embarrassment, and I thought, ‘well, if I don't ask these questions, how am I ever going to learn?’ And I think as a society, a lot of us, we are scared of asking questions because we don't want to feel stupid. I want to learn; I want to be educated.

Why do you think you haven’t been aware of climate change before now?

The thing is, out of sight, out of mind. I wasn't going to bed at night thinking, "Oh, I wonder where that plastic milk bottle went today." I think we've become a nation of lazy people. Everything's at the push of a button for us, isn't it? And I think as well, I use the excuse of I'm always away, so I come home late, "Oh, lordy, food, I can’t be bothered to cook.” A push of a button we can go on a takeaway app and all the food just turns up. We're not even cooking in the kitchen as a family anymore. It is very difficult with the lifestyle we lead. I said to Jon, "I can't 100% change my ways because it's impossible.” I can’t because of the lifestyle that I live. But I was really embarrassed about how little I knew.

What would you say your worst habit is?

Oh definitely takeaways. We order so much food in. I was in our new house for six months and never cooked a single meal. We actually ended up having to get a skip in the garden, that wasn’t just for the takeaways, it was for the house too. I'll tell you what's another problem with us in the family is online deliveries. My son ordered some mints online and it came in a box that you could've fit a bleeding house in. It's a vicious circle that's very hard to get out of. Extremely hard. And it's also very time consuming as well. When I go shopping, I have tried to keep up but it's like, “where's this come from? What's the carbon footprint on it?" I think it's almost a full-time job to be on top of things like that.

What do you think needs to happen to help you make bigger changes?

I think the supermarkets are a huge part of this. They need to make it clear where things are from so we can make better choices and I guess almost force us to change. At one point we were all using plastic bags, now we're bringing our own. So if they can force that kind of change on everyone, why can’t they do more? I don't understand why it can't just be done. And then we're all saving the planet together. But there's too much money to be made by all these companies. If we stop buying from these companies, their sales go down but I'm just one person, it feels too big a struggle on my own.

Do you worry about climate change?

I’m starting to, if I’m honest. You actually think, "Oh, it's not going to happen in my lifetime or my great grandkids' lifetime’. But it's like, “sh*t, it's on our doorstep, it’s there in front of us and none of us are doing anything about it”. I'll have a read about it on the news and it scares me, so I'll ignore it. You put it back of your mind, don't you? It just feels so scary sometimes, and overwhelming. I think a lot of us choose to ignore it because we don't want to deal with it, we think, "Oh, let me just crack on doing what I've got to do today."

What shocked you the most from everything you learnt during filming?

What shocked me the most? I'll tell you what really shocked me, I was gobsmacked. Do you know that if you throw a pizza box in recycling it needs to be cleaned first? I didn’t. If there's a bit of grease on the box, you have to rip around that piece of grease otherwise if that piece of grease goes in the recycle bin it contaminates all of it. That shocked me. I buy all this stuff for convenience just to throw in the bin. But, no, I have to clean it all and put in a separate bin. It takes so much time.

What was it like doing the show with Jodie and John?

I've met John before previously. I've never met Jodie. Jodie's absolutely lovely, lovely lady. I was really surprised by her. I know what it's like to be judged in the papers, you almost have an image of somebody. Jodie's a catwalk model, she goes to Ascot, talks very nice and very posh. And she was so lovely and so welcoming and so kind. And John's John.

What was it like seeing all your rubbish laid out in the field?

Oh, I was mortified. I was embarrassed, not only as a human, but as a mum. I felt ashamed, like my kids were all on takeaways, it feels wrong but they're alive. I kept them all alive. It's not like they're eating scraps out of the f*cking skip. You know what I mean? They're having pizzas. Do you know how much takeaways pizzas bleeding costs? You get mum shamed, don't you? In a way. You know, if you don't cook a five-course meal for your children or you don't bake... I don't do any of that, do you know what I mean? I actually want my kids alive and don!t want to poison them so I get somebody else cooking for them!

Have you got any idea how much you spend on take outs?

I don't know. It’s really bad and really embarrassing. But that's the thing, because I am so busy, and we are a busy family. My fiancé's my business partner, my daughter works for me, and we all work at home and we don't have a set dinner time because we're always so busy. I think you become so lazy, because you've got so much you want to do, that everything is at the touch of a button now. My son came in the other day and said, "Mum, can I have some sushi?" Sushi! Why can't he have f*cking cod and chips like normal kids?! But that’s the thing, it’s all so easy now, it’s become a way of life.

What was it like wearing the trash suit?

I wanted to be sick, I'm not going to lie. I hated every minute. Get me back on SAS Who Dares Wins or back in the Jungle, than one more day wearing that suit. I’d rather have a witchetty grub in my mouth any day than wear that trash suit again. If it was scratch and sniff TV, you would all be barfing up your dinners at home. I'm not even bullsh**ting you. It actually ruined my whole experience of my new house. The house was so disgusting and smelly. My son had lobster one night so of course that ended up in the suit. It gave me a migraine. The suit was that heavy. It was cutting into the top of my shoulders.

What was the reaction like from people on the street when you went out in it?

They thought it was an improvement, to be honest! I’m used to people staring at me so it wasn’t a big deal. But do you know what was? They made me go dumpster diving where you basically root around in people’s bins looking for food they’ve wasted by throwing out.

That must have been awkward in Alderley Edge?!

Yeah! I’ve moved to the poshest, richest areas in Cheshire and there's me going through people's bins outside of a gated house. And they just say, "Oh, there goes the neighbourhood”. We had to go to a restaurant as well, on the high street. I'm not joking. You've seen how rich it is around here, and there's me thinking, “I've not even made any friends. I've just moved here. And I've got a camera crew and paparazzi following me”. I'm walking down the high street just thinking, "I look like a right tw*t." I said to a lot of people, "It comes in different colours, you know, if you want one." Just trying to style it out as I'm walking past them in their pearls and Chanel handbags.

Did Ryan keep his distance while you were in the suit?

Yeah, Ryan wasn’t coming anywhere near me. Honest to God, Ryan is the most clean, wellmanicured man. I mean, it takes me like five minutes to get ready in the morning. Ryan will be two hours up there getting ready. So cleanliness is a big thing for him, and he wouldn't even kiss me. He was disgusted. I can't... it gave me a migraine. It made me so sick I had to stop one day because it gave me such a headache. I actually threw up. It stunk that much. Imagine just getting in a rotten skip. That's basically what you're carrying around all day.

How has it made you change your ways?

It's made me more aware of what I am buying. I said to Jon (Richardson), "Look, I can't change 100%. There are little things I can do, but those little things are big things as far as I’m concerned”. What we have done, the one thing that we had was bottles and bottles and bottles and bottles of water. We've now got a filtered jug so we don’t have any more plastic water bottles in our house.

How many were you getting through?

We were probably getting through a crate of 24 every two days. There are a lot of people in my house and then we have tradesmen in too and I’d give them water. Just little things like that, that make a massive, massive difference. I’ve not bought any water bottles since. I guess it’s made me realise if everyone made just one small change like that, then the world would be a better place. I know it’s not enough, but at least it’s a start. I think we all realised that we can't 100% become vegans and separate all the plastic, because we haven't got the time. Me not buying those water bottles has made a huge difference, I think. We could fill a bin bag full of plastic bottles a day. Honestly, I'll tell you what, it's bloody brilliant that filter jug. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.

Celebrity Trash Monsters: What!s Your Waste Size? airs on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4.