Vicky Pattison has one possible solution to end the relentless online abuse many reality TV stars face across social media platforms and is calling on Instagram to implement it.
The star - who recently moved viewers with her Channel 4 documentary, Alcohol, Dad and Me - reflects on how reality TV has changed over the years, and calls for a more 'elevated duty of care' from all involved in shows like Love Island and Big Brother.
Although grateful to the genre that made her a household name, Vicky, 34, knows all too well about the potential pitfalls young stars can face when they sign up to appear on national TV shows and subject themselves to public scrutiny.
The documentary-maker - who initially rose to fame on MTV's Geordie Shore - blasts cruel trolls who target "strong women" like Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and pals Olivia Atwood and Faye Winter.
Vicky feels that although TV networks should - and already do - step things up when it comes to their duty of care for reality TV stars, social media is "where people are being let down".
"I didn’t watch Love Island this year - I’ve been really busy - but I caught up with some of it online and the comment section made me angry," Vicky recalls during her chat with the Mirror Online last week.
"It made me incredibly upset that we’ve lost so many bright, beautiful and incredibly young individuals through the pressures they face - and the incredible trauma - they received online and people are STILL not learning the gravity of their words."
Over recent years, Love Island has seen a number of names connected to the ITV2 series take their own lives - including presenter Caroline Flack who passed away in February 2020.
Former contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis also lost their lives to suicide shortly after they appeared on the popular dating show.
Reality TV - and Vicky herself - have changed drastically since she first appeared on our screens as an outgoing 22-year-old throughout the original series of MTV's Geordie Shore.
Vicky admits she is a "product of reality TV and I’ll constantly be grateful" to the genre for creating the platform she currently enjoys, but "given the tragedy that we’ve seen within that space, there definitely needs to be a more elevated duty of care".
She praises TV networks for stepping up over recent years - crediting ITV with helping star Chloe Brockett when she was struggling - but thinks it's time for social media companies to do the same.
“What [trolls] say is out there and whether or not these gorgeous young reality TV stars have had a chance to read [the comments], the profound effect of what they’ve said is already done - the damage is done," she muses as we discuss the abuse some stars are subjected to.
“I just think in the same way anyone writes anything about Covid-19 - regardless of whether it’s a joke or misinformation - a post can come with a warning. It can get deleted - why can’t the same happen when people are saying something hateful about someone?
She adds: "I believe Instagram has the tools to do this but they just don’t aren’t and I feel frustrated in that sense."
Thanks to her stint on Geordie Shore throughout her early twenties, the public have grown up alongside Vicky and watched as she went on to win I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2015 and more recently, rebrand as a serious documentary-maker.
Vicky calls the response to her Channel 4 documentary, Alcohol, Dad and Me - an emotional untangling of the part booze played in her childhood - "the best I could have expected" when we discuss new career direction.
Following the amazing reaction to her debut documentary, Vicky is keen to continue on the new path she has forged for herself and explore other issues and topics on-screen.
"Oh babe, I can't believe you've called me a 'documentary filmmaker - that's given me goosebumps," she confesses during our chat about her new career.
Reflecting on still being referred to as a 'Geordie Shore star' - despite not appearing on the show since 2014 - Vicky is keen to point out how much since she has achieved since her early reality TV days.
"I get it and I'm not sensitive about it but I think 'I've won the jungle!' I've been on Loose Women, I was a Celebrity MasterChef finalist, I'm a Sunday Times Bestselling author - I can't believe [Geordie Shore is] still the most relevant thing people use to describe me," she jokingly adds.
"As we discovered during the documentary, I myself have moved on [since Geordie Shore]," Vicky continues. "I've done loads of a person and the changes in me are very evident so you can understand why that's frustrating that [Geordie Shore] is still the description used, but it feels really good to be moving into a new space."
"I'm a huge fan of people like Stacey Dooley - I absolutely love what she's doing and I think the more strong, powerful female voices they are in this space the better. So if there was an opportunity to make more documentaries - whether that be personal stuff to me or other subjects - I'd be so on board with something like that.
"That's pretty much my goal," she adds.
Away from her thriving career, Vicky is also enjoying domestic bliss with fiancé Ercan Ramadan - recently hosting a star-studded engagement party following the former TOWIE star's proposal in Dubai earlier this year.
The happy couple moved into their dream home together last year, but Vicky admits it wasn't plane sailing when it came to packing up and heading to a new house.
Vicky enlisted the help of her pals to "look through my wardrobe and take whatever" they wanted ahead of moving, but things ended in disaster as her friends wound up spending all night trying on her designer clothes rather than assisting her with packing.
To help others avoid the mistakes she made when moving, new homeowner Vicky has since teamed up with app Taskrabbit and shared her tips for a stress-free move.
When we quiz the Channel 4 star if she would call on her famous friends for any future moves, Vicky's adamant she'll be leaving things to the professionals going forward.
"At my engagement party I had loads of my celebrity pals and Ferne McCann turned up late - I think she'd be terrible at helping us move house," she jokes. "She's got her daughter Sunday, she's got her business - she's got her hands full."
"I reckon if Pete [Wickes] came he'd probably bring Sam [Thompson] and they'd both just p*** around so he's not in the running.
"I don't know why anyone just doesn't use Taskrabbit quite frankly - they're the best!"
* Taskrabbit, the app which lets you book skilled workers for home and garden tasks, recently found that 35% of Brits call on those closest them to help them carry the load when moving, despite the fact 87% of the nation believe it would be better to enlist the help of an expert.
Vicky Pattinson has partnered with Taskrabbit to share her tips on what to consider before roping in friends to help you move house. Those looking to get a helping hand can book a Tasker online or on the Taskrabbit app”
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