Dinner lady causes a real stir on the TV

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 08:35

A DINNER lady has become an overnight television star – by hula-hooping in front of millions of viewers.

Lynda Hogg, 40, answered an appeal to appear as part of a new 1m sponsorship of popular soap Emmerdale by an online bingo operator.

And while the shots of her with the hula-hoop next to a tombola machine may last only a few seconds, the dinner lady said that pupils at her school had already congratulated her on the adverts.

Lynda, who lives in Whitecraig, Musselburgh and is a school cook at Pinkie St Peter's School, will be seen at regular intervals in the ads, known as "bumpers" – which bookend segments of Emmerdale – for the next 14 months, across all of the ITV channels.

She signed up for the adverts after reading about them on the bingo website where she plays up to seven nights a week.

After her application was accepted, she joined around 100 other players at a special filming day in London, where she said they were treated like stars.

"I was quite nervous before the shoot, but everyone down on set was really helpful and friendly," she said.

"They really looked after us all. It was an unforgettable experience, and we were treated like royalty.

"We had people to massage us and people running around asking if we were OK and if we needed anything and we were fed constantly. It was a great day out.

"I've never done anything like this before. I saw their appeal and just thought, 'Why not? It'll be a great laugh.' All my friends and family think it's great and they cannot wait to see me on TV. Some of them thought it was a wind-up so I think they'll be quite shocked to see me."

The tombola.co.uk sponsorship deal will run until the end of January 2011 and includes broadcasts on ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3, online sponsorship at itv.com/emmerdale, interactive sponsorship, mobile interactive bumpers and licensing.

The "break bumpers", also sometimes known as "idents", are shown before and after commercial breaks in the show.

Lynda said that she had already seen herself on TV around 20 times.

"It is amazing how often I've been on, and I was really nervous at first because I hadn't seen it, but in the end I don't think I looked that bad," she said.

"I warned the teachers that I would be on TV, and already a few of the kids have told me that they've seen the clip, and really liked it."

She added: "They've all been very supportive."