Smash hit

Raised in South Africa, Hambleton-Jones, 34, trained as a dietitian before coming to Britain. She worked as a management consultant in the City, but she never fitted in. “I’d arrive every day with a different coat and matching handbag: everyone else just wore a black suit.” So when she was made redundant she opened a styling company, Tramp2Vamp, advising ordinary women how to dress better. She was picked to host 10YY after a researcher spotted her website on the internet.

When I ask her about the show’s disturbing suggestion — that surgery is trivial, easy and a “normal” reaction to ageing — she grows uncomfortable. “I agree that it does make surgery appear a lot more glossy, pain-free and without side-effects,” she says. Is that responsible? She hesitates. “Well, that is not my call. Even if I stand there and say there are risks associated with this, it will be edited out. I have no control. That is a conversation to have with Maverick 10YY’s production company or Channel 4.”

But Channel 4 was not willing to debate surgical ethics or even its own presenter’s misgivings. It stated: “10 Years Younger reflects the fact that increasing numbers of people are turning to cosmetic surgery to improve their looks and confidence. All of the contributors have independently considered surgery prior to taking part in the programme. The decision to have surgery is their own personal choice and they are fully briefed on any possible risks or downfalls connected with the procedures.”

At Tramp2Vamp, Hambleton-Jones claims not to recommend surgery: “What I do on 10 Years Younger, I don’t do in my normal life. I am a holistic person. We look at clothes. I say ‘don’t have a bra-lift, don’t have a facelift; just change your wardrobe’.”

But it appears that her holistic self is no match for her granite-hard ambition. She wants the show to be a success and that requires dramatic transformation scenes. “These women are chosen specifically because they look old for their years,” says Hambleton-Jones. “It doesn’t matter how many times we change their outfits; they are not going to look ten years younger unless they have surgery.”

Hambleton-Jones relies on oily fish, water and exercise to look younger. “I don’t even have Botox,” she says. Looking old is, she says, payback for not following such rules. “The majority of women on 10YY are heavy smokers and drinkers, with stressful lives and sun damage. If they’d taken better care of themselves when they were younger they wouldn’t be in the state they are in.”

Would she consider a facelift in the future? “I don’t know. It’s like ‘would you have an abortion?’ You have no idea until you’re pregnant and don’t know who the father is.”

It must be exhausting being a style guru, living by all those inflexible fashion edicts. As she teeters down the studio’s spiral staircase in 4in stilettos I ask if she always wears heels. “Yes,” she says, patting her skinny-jeaned bottom. “I must add height to narrow my hips.” Her signature designer glasses, however, are not a gimmick: with a severe astigmatism, she can’t wear contact lenses and they are bottle-bottom thick.

Does she not worry that 10YY is promoting the idea that to look old is to be a loser who has lost control? “Every series we make 14 women really happy,” she says, adding that since Heather had already booked surgery, wasn’t it great that 10YY gave it for free “so she didn’t have to go to some backstreet place in South Africa.” But what about the women viewers led to believe that they must change their ugly bodies yet can afford only unregulated foreign clinics? “Well . . . ” she doesn’t finish her reply.

Hambleton-Jones donesn’t have the woman-friendly warmth and humour of Trinnny and Susannah: her girlie bonhomie with the contestant stops when her director calls “cut”. I remark that Ward — who rarely wears make-up and spent the 1970s in dungarees because they were comfy — didn’t seem to care how she looked. “I think that is a function of low self-esteem,” says Hambleton-Jones, adding that Ward is a “more difficult character ” than usual contestants who are more gushing about the results.

“Carole has spent her life looking after her husband who had a brain tumour, or whatever. Now she wants to rediscover who she is, to dig back down through this person who has become quite listless and lost her zest for life.”

As Hambleton-Jones gets changed, I ask Ward if she feels any different now. Has it indeed raised her self-esteem? “No, not really,” she says. Alan, her partner, interjects. “She’s always been a lovely outgoing person anyway,” he says. “She’ll talk to anyone.”

“What I realised doing the show,” Ward reflects, “is that I often don’t leave my own post-code for months. It’s been great to get out. I think what I really wanted was an adventure.”

The third series of 10 Years Younger begins on Channel 4 on January 12 at 8pm

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