Amy Willerton
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Amy Willerton (born 18 August 1992) is an English television host, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She is best known for her work with ITV and winning the title of
Miss Universe Great Britain Miss Universe Great Britain is a national beauty pageant that selects the British representative in the Miss Universe contest. History When created as Miss Universe Great Britain in 1952, 30 women around the island of Great Britain and No ...
2013 and representing Great Britain at the
Miss Universe 2013 Miss Universe 2013 was the 62nd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, Krasnogorsk, Moscow, Russia, on 9 November 2013. At the end of the event, Olivia Culpo of the United States crowned Gabriela Isl ...
pageant. She got her big modelling break when she was discovered by
Katie Price Katrina Amy Alexandra Alexis Price (''née'' Infield; born 22 May 1978) is an English media personality and model. She gained recognition in the late 1990s for her glamour modelling work, including on Page 3 of the tabloid newspaper ''The Su ...
as a teenager. She appeared on the reality TV competition series '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'' in 2013 and finished in fifth place. In 2015, she was placed fourteenth in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women. In 2017, she placed fourth in
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
's '' The Jump''.


Early life and education

Willerton was born in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, England to parents Bruce and Sarah. She has two siblings, Erin Willerton and Ross Willerton who is severely disabled. The family communicates with Ross using
Makaton Makaton is an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system which uses signs (hand gestures) and symbols (images) alongside speech & written words to support communication. Despite its use of signs, Makaton is not a sign language. Mak ...
sign language. She is a direct descendant of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
cardinal
Thomas Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( ; – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal (catholic), cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's Lord High Almoner, almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and ...
. She attended
Cotham School Cotham School is a secondary school with academy status in Cotham, a suburb of Bristol, England. The catchment area for this school is Cotham, Clifton, Kingsdown, Southern Redland, Bishopston, St Paul's and Easton. The school shares a sixth fo ...
before completing her A levels at North Bristol Post 16 Centre. She was due to study Media at University in Cardiff before deferring to pursue her modelling career.


Modelling career

Willerton began her modelling career at the age of 15 after being scouted whilst out shopping with her sister. She has since appeared on catwalks around the world for brands such as
Karen Millen Karen Millen is a brand owned by Debenhams Group. The brand specialises in tailoring, Coat (clothing), coats and evening gown, evening wear. It was acquired in 2019 following the collapse of Karen Millen Fashions Ltd, a company that operated a chai ...
and
Guess (clothing) Guess Inc. (styled as GUESS or Guess?) is an American clothing company, notable for its black-and-white advertisements. Guess licenses its brand on other fashion accessories, such as watches, jewelry, perfumes, bags and shoes. History 20th centu ...
in advertising campaigns such as being the face of
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.


Pageants


Miss Bristol 2010, Miss Bath 2011, Miss London 2012

At age 17, Willerton won Miss Bristol. She went on to win Miss Bath in 2011 and
Miss London Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants aro ...
in 2012. At the
Miss England Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants aro ...
contest in 2012, Willerton reached the top five.


Miss Asia Pacific World 2011

The events were filmed by Willerton and other contestants (which were later uploaded to
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under the title ''Confessions of a Beauty Queen'' and spread throughout the pageant industry). Subsequently, she and the representatives from
Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...
and
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
fled their hotel to the airport, where the pageant organisers had tried to keep them there against their will and had followed them to the airport to stop them escaping. Organisers denied the accusations.


Miss Universe 2013

On 8 June 2013, Willerton was crowned
Miss Universe Great Britain Miss Universe Great Britain is a national beauty pageant that selects the British representative in the Miss Universe contest. History When created as Miss Universe Great Britain in 1952, 30 women around the island of Great Britain and No ...
in Birmingham and was quickly tipped as a potential winner of
Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...
by international media and pageant forums. On 9 November 2013, Willerton participated at the
Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...
contest in Moscow, Russia, where she became the first woman competing as Miss Great Britain to place in the semifinals, eventually finishing in the Top 10. Previous British contestants have placed as 1st Runner-up at
Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...
, competing as
Miss England Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants aro ...
,
Miss Scotland Miss Scotland is a national beauty pageant in Scotland. Entrants must hold a British passport to enter. The contest, whose title is owned by the Miss World organisation, is organised each year by Janis Sue Smith Director of The Catwalk Acade ...
and
Miss Wales Miss Wales is a national beauty pageant in Wales. Rules Miss Wales is open to unmarried women from age 16 to age 24, and is organized by Vibe Models. Contestants must not have had children, must be British citizens and must reside in Wales. ...
respectively. Willerton is the first British contestant in thirty years to reach the top ten at Miss Universe, the previous woman to achieve this being Karen Moore, who as Miss England, reached the top five in
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
.


Television career

Less than 24 hours after landing into London from filming the Miss Universe pageant in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, Willerton flew to Australia to compete on ITV's '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' and placed fifth. She appeared on '' This Morning'', '' Good Morning Britain'', ''
Big Brother's Bit on the Side This is a complete list of shows about and relating to ''Big Brother UK'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series), Celebrity Big Brother''. The civilian edition originally ran from 2000 to 2018, and again since 2023. The celebrity editio ...
'', '' The Chase'', ''
Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of the ...
'' and ''
Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...
''. In 2015, she appeared on '' Get Your Act Together'', which involved her joining and performing with the
Moscow State Circus The title Moscow State Circus is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the "Circus Nikulin" (the old circus, featuring animal acts) and the "Bolshoi Circus" (the new circus, featu ...
. Willerton based herself in the
USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
in 2016, and began hosting for
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TV Network alongside
DJ Skee Scott Keeney (born 15 November 1983), better known by his stage name DJ Skee, is an American artist, television host, radio personality, and entrepreneur. Skee rose to fame as the first DJ to discover and play superstar artists on the radio incl ...
. She then was selected to host the Dance on Network show ''Every Single Step'' working with industry legends
Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949) is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the shows ''Pop Idol'' and ''Ame ...
and
Brian Friedman Brian L. Friedman (born May 28, 1977) is an American dancer and choreographer. Friedman has created the choreography for many popular music artists – such as Britney Spears, Cher, Beyoncé Knowles, and Mariah Carey – as well as for music ...
. The show's close similarity to ''
So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...
'' caused many comparisons between Amy and fellow British presenter
Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter. She is currently the main co-presenter for ITV's '' This Morning'', alongside Ben Shephard. Deeley began her career as a co-presenter of the ITV children' ...
. She was a contestant on '' The Jump'' in February 2017 and finished in third place.


Philanthropy and other ventures

Willerton's charitable work has focused on helping the disabled. She organised her first event, Bristol Rockstyle for the Variety Club children's charity as a teenager. In 2014 she ran the
London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...
to raise money for The
Chickenshed Chickenshed (also known as Chicken Shed or the Chicken Shed Theatre Company) is a British theatre company based in Southgate, London. History Chickenshed was founded by teacher Mary Ward and composer Jo Collins in 1974. Mary and Jo hosted their ...
Theatre School. In 2015, Willerton began writing for the ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...
''. She was a speaker at the
Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...
debating society at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. In the summer of 2016, Willerton sailed across the Atlantic from New York to London as part of the
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a biennial sailing race that takes paying amateur crews on one or more legs of a circumnavigation of the globe in 11 specially designed identical yachts owned by Clipper Ventures. Professional skippers ...
.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willerton, Amy Living people Miss Universe 2013 contestants Models from Bristol 1992 births Television personalities from Bristol English female models English beauty pageant winners 21st-century English women