Becoming the “New Face of Iceland”!

Writing a blog is new for me and the last time I did something like this was when I wrote a diary as a teenager (which I still have!) and most of the entries were concerned with new leg warmers, Duran Duran records, going roller booting and when the next school disco was!

I will begin by telling you a little bit about myself.

My name is Ellie Taylor and I am 39 years old and I have two sons called Sam and Luke who are 10 and 6. I say Sam is 10 but he isn’t actually quite there till 12:05 midday next Friday 14th May but when you are nearly 10 you don’t like people saying you are 9!!

I have a partner called Rob who doesn’t live with us but spends a lot of time here and who has 3 children called Charlotte James and Jodie and they are 15, 11 and 7. When we spend time together I describe us the Von Trapp family without the singing talent!

As some of you may know I entered a competition to become “The New Face of Iceland”. Iceland had stated that instead of finding a new celebrity to front their next advertising campaign, this time they wanted a “real Iceland shopper”, someone who could be their face as a normal ordinary mum and as a regular shopper there… I thought that’s me!!! The night I submitted my online application was a Thursday, which for us is the night Rob brings his children round for tea and we all eat together. It was the normal crazy night with the kids all running around and shouting things like “Sam’s being mean and won’t let me go on his scooter!”….. “Jodie stop it!” …. “Can I go on the computer mum!” but this particular night I said “No I’m doing something!” To cut a long story short somehow I managed to write coherent answers to the online questions such as... “what is a typical day for you?”… “If you won the lottery how would you spend the money?”…. “what does family mean to you?” etc…etc.. and the end result was being invited to audition in front of Iceland bosses AND Coleen Nolan and then getting into the final 7 and winning the online vote for the winner!!!!!

We had been told that we would receive a phone call between 11.00 and 11.30 on Friday to tell us who had won. I was at work at Specsavers and all my colleagues including my boss Ali were buzzing with anticipation. Our Director Nic Johns was also there which I thought was strange as he has other Specsavers stores too and had been with us the day before as well but I didn’t realise why until later! I did not expect to win and was all prepared for my phone call giving me the bad news but had not prepared at all for what happened next………

At approximately 11.20 I was standing at the work bench which faces the shop doors fixing a ladies glasses and I looked up to see the whole Iceland team including sound men and camera men (and ladies!) walking through the door with champagne and the biggest bunch of flowers you have ever seen in your life!!!! They were saying “Congratulations Ellie Taylor you are the new face of Iceland” as they walked in. I just stood there frozen like a rabbit caught in the headlights and the first thing I could think of to say was “I’m just putting a screw in these glasses hang on a minute the ladies coming back in a sec”. It was so completely surreal I felt like I was in a very strange but amazing dream! I looked over to my boss and other colleagues at the reception desk and they were all crying! Luckily my mum arrived at that point as she said she would pop in to see what the phone call had said and then she saw everyone and started crying too!

I was whisked off from work (Thanks to my lovely bosses at Specsavers!) and taken off to my local Iceland store around the corner where we all opened champagne and my mum cried again! (I was still the startled rabbit!).

The Iceland team wanted to take me for lunch and “treat me like a celeb” but before doing that I insisted we went round to ALL the shops in Nailsea that had helped me win votes by putting up my “vote for Ellie” posters in their windows! Then I still really wanted to tell the boys and Rob’s children more than anything else in the world so I persuaded the team to drive me up to school in the chauffeur driven Bentley (they had planned to go after lunch but I just couldn‘t wait!). It was as I saw the 4 of them Sam, Luke, James and Jodie waiting for me at the entrance of the school that the tears came! As I rushed out to meet them it suddenly became real and I realised I had won and started blubbing!!

I was then brought back to reality when they were allowed to sit in the Bentley with its WHITE leather seats and I started having palpitations about them destroying something HA HA ! As it turns out they were very good and even all took their shoes off before they got in (PHEW!).

We then went for a delicious lunch at the New Inn in Backwell, just down the road where I found my next door neighbour also having her lunch and rushed over to tell her the fantastic news too!

It was soon 3.00pm and I had to get back to school to pick up the boys . The good bit was they let me use the chauffeur and Bentley again to collect them! We then rode home in style with the boys searching for Chucklevision with the remote controls of the TV’s in the back!

I can honestly say I have never ever experienced anything like this before in my life and after befriending many of the other 6 finalists on facebook I realise just what a lucky privileged position I am in as they were all so good too. This is going to be a fantastic, exciting year and I intend to cherish every moment of it and look forward to sharing my next experiences with you.

Back to work tomorrow and hoping the lady is happy with her glasses repair that I was doing when the Iceland team walked in!!!!!

Ellie
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