Cat Deeley

Since Duran Duran's fall from grace, Birmingham's contribution to the pop charts has been minimal, with the Midlands' capital city these days rememberer for the laughable comedy rock of Jasper Carott and his tawdry Funky Moped opus as much as for any halfway decent music. But while the musicians of Birmingham - mad metaller Ozzy Osbourne notwithstanding - have been failing to score in the top 40, one Brummie, MTV's Cat Deeley, has been flying her hometown's flag. Although, admittedly, she does present the charts rather than appear in them.

And since the 22-year-old appeared on FHM's cover last July, she has made the leap from MTV to terrestrial TV, where she can now be spotted every Saturday morning alongside professional Geordies Ant and Dec on their SMTV Live show.

"I'm absolutely loving it," Cat says. "We have a great laugh. It's hard work though - I have to get up at 5 o'clock, which wasn't so bad when the show started in the summer, but now it's dark and cold I have to set my central heating so I can roll out of bed without it being too much of a nightmare."

But you do look like you're having a blast on the telly...
Completely! I'm always grinning anyway, but if you see the lads grinning, it's because the girls in the audience behind them are pinching their bottoms. Last week, Ant and Dec really whipped the crowd into a frenzy and then went into the audience where these 14-year-old girls were going completely mad with them. They were smiling away to themselves and I'm like, "Yeah, I know what you're up to."

So they're actually a good laugh, then?
Ha! Yeah, they're smashing lads, and we all get on really well. I've been out on the razz with them a few times now. This week we went back to theirs for a Chinese take-out and a blast on the PlayStation.

They live together?
Yeah! It's really weird. You expect it to be a bit of a persona thing - some sort of a showbiz set-up - but they're actually best mates, and I think they're going to buy houses next door to each other. You can imagine them knocking on each other's front door, "Can you come out and play?". And before you ask, no, they're not lovers! I've met both their girlfriends, and apparently there've been no complaints in the bedroom department.

We're glad to see that SMTV Live is packed with innuendo in the true tradition of Children's TV.
Oh yeah, quite blatantly. I think the whole idea is that we're trying to reach people on all levels. There's the kids, the teenagers, students who're suffering from hangovers. The other week, Ant had to be a robot which had broken down, and Dec was like, "So Cat, can you turn him on?"

What's been your biggest onscreen balls-up?
That was when I filled in for Donna Air on the live MTV show called Select. You can say so many things on MTV; fuck, bugger and so on are all okay, but you can't say Jesus, God, Christ -anything religious-based like that. On Select I was really nervous, and there was an MTV party the night before -everyone had been there- but I had to be in first thing the next morning for this live show. Because I was so nervous, I said, "Jesus" - nobody had warned me before I went on - and suddenly all these noises were going off in my ear. I said it again because they were panicking me, and then everyone started laughing and I said it again, and everyone was pissing themselves. I couldn't stop myself. I've never done the show since.

Have there been any weird job offers since you appeared on the foil-wrapped cover of FHM last summer?
Yes, a few. Before I got the Saturday morning job I went to see several people - basically, old producers who were just interested in churning out the same old shit, and they thought, "Oh, we'll get this bird off FHM." I've had loads of rubbishy TV offers. But I've had some good ones too.

Do you get recognised in the street more these days?
Yes. Most of the time, it's cool, except that when people see you you're usually just walking past them, so they have to jump on you to say hello. So I'll be out shopping, thinking about buying some pants in Marks & Spencer, and someone will suddenly grab hold of me.

Do people treat you differently now you've been voted the highest new entry in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women poll?
No, I don't think so. I'm just some Brummie lass that's done good. And to put it all into perspective, a mate of mine sent me a card after the FHM cover which said, "Congratulations on being the seventh most sexy woman in the world - but they haven't seen the speccy kid in the grubby dressing gown dribbling baked beans on toast down her front on a Sunday morning...". That sums it all up, really!

Nice! What's the most embarrassing snapshot your mum has of you in her family photo album?
There are plenty of cringeworthy pics of me when I was young. In fact, there are some terrible ones where I'm dressing up. In one shot, I've got pink eyeshadow on, a funny hat and a weird scarf - and I'm lying on the grass with one leg up and my head cocked back. It's really bad. And there's another one where I've got no teeth, and I'm grinning. And I've got a really heavy fringe and two pigtails.

Were you a bit of a performer when you were young?
Well, I was always in the school plays. I remember in senior school it was always the fifth and sixth-formers that took the lead roles. We were doing Fiddler On The Roof once, and I was told that if I auditioned for one of the big roles, I'd definitely get it - so I did. I was only in the second year, and I had a massive crush on the guy who played the part of my boyfriend in the play, but he was a sixth-former and it was a really big gap. And then during the run he kept throwing up because he was really ill. He had to wear this big bearskin coat, and it absolutely stank of puke. That was a bit of a put off. Mind you, I had a nightmare perm at the time, so I was probably a turn off as well.

Would you be at all sympathetic if the world's ugliest bloke had a go at chatting you up?
I would listen to him, definitely, and if he was funny I'd absolutely love him. I've got one mate - I'm not saying he's really ugly or anything! - but he only has to look at me and I crack up. I love funny people. If someone came up to me being a weirdo then that's a bit different. I'd tip the wink to one of my mates to come and rescue me. But it takes a lot of guts to go up to someone you fancy and start talking to them. The furthest I got to asking anybody out was sending someone a Valentine's card with a question mark on it.

With the MTV show Hitlist UK and your new-found success on Saturday mornings, you've become a double income earner. What've you been throwing your money at?
I'm throwing it at a bank account, trying to save up for a flat. At the moment I live with two girls in an area of London known for its very straight Jewish community, and I don't think the locals know what to make of us. The first day we arrived there, this bloke comes up to us - very Jewish, black hat, black coat - and he goes, "Welcome. Any noise you make, we can hear..." And then he walks off! I want to have my own place, but my mother's having to stash the money away for me, because I can't physically do it myself - I'm incapable of parting with cash at a bank. Thing is, I find it very hard to save up - I'm always spotting things I want when I'm in town. In fact, I saw a lovely jacket in Nicole Farhi the other day, so it could be quite a while yet before I get the flat...