Model Citizen: Capital FM’s breakfast host Lisa Snowdon drops by for a chat

Lisa Snowdon lives in Greater London. You can listen to Lisa present 95.8 Capital FM's breakfast show with Johnny Vaughan every weekday from 6-10 am.

Since being signed as a model at the age of 19, Lisa Snowdon has remained firmly in the limelight. Currently presenting the Capital FM breakfast show and TV’s Britain’s Next Top Model, she’s still very much in demand, and she likes it that way…

D&G: WE HEARD YOU SINGING AS YOU WERE WALKING IN… ARE YOU A GOOD SINGER?

LISA: Not really… you just heard me, it was awful! I like singing, but I can’t really sing very well. In my head I can, but when I listen to it back, it’s a dreadful noise.

D&G: HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR LONDON RADIO CAREER?

LISA: I’m just having a blast doing Capital FM, I’m up every day and interviewing lots of people so it’s really fun. I’ve been doing lots of junkets, so I was very lucky to interview the lovely Johnny Depp and Sandra Bullock.

D&G: WHAT WAS JOHNNY DEPP LIKE?

LISA: On a scale of 1-10, he is a 10. He totally, absolutely has been a heart-throb of mine for years.

D&G: HOW COME?

LISA: I love his film choices and I just think he is a very interesting actor. And he looks damn good!

D&G: WHAT ELSE ARE YOU UP TO RIGHT NOW?

LISA: I don’t know, every day is different! I’ve got some shoots coming up and I have some other bits and pieces, but it’s quite hard to get everything into the day really, I need a few more hours.

D&G: YOU’RE STILL PRESENTING BRITAIN’S NEXT TOP MODEL – DO YOU THINK THERE WAS A LOT OF FIGHTING ON THIS YEAR’S SHOW?

LISA: Yes, definitely - there are always fights. The thing is, you have got all those girls living together, the pressure is building and they are in a competition, so there’s fights. There were two feisty characters in there in Ashley and Sophie. I love it though, because they show their spirit, you know? They’re not just bland and boring.

D&G: DO YOU THINK THE RIGHT GIRLS MADE IT TO THE FINALS?

LISA: Definitely, yes I do.

D&G: DOES IT AFFECT YOUR JUDGMENT IF YOU GET TOO CLOSE TO THE GIRLS?

LISA: No, no, it doesn’t, it really doesn’t. I do spend more time with the girls as the series goes on, obviously, because they are in the competition longer, but it definitely doesn’t affect my judgment. I really take into account what the girls are learning from week to week: if they are listening, if they are working on what we have asked them to work on. If they are taking the constructive criticism well, if they are acting professionally on set… so yes, I am watching those girls.

D&G: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE SIZE ZERO DEBATE?

LISA: It’s not about what size you are, how much you weigh or what size jeans you wear: it’s about being healthy and having a healthy attitude to food. As a model, you do have to be aware of what you eat and you can’t sit there and eat McDonald’s Big Macs every day. We do have a slightly more curvaceous girl which is amazing, because that’s the sort of figure I’ve got and the sort of career I have had - lingerie and swimwear and things where people have embraced my curves. So I personally don’t like to see stick thin girls.

D&G: WHAT’S THE MOST GLAMOROUS SHOOT YOU’VE DONE?

LISA: I’ve been very fortunate, I have done some gorgeous, gorgeous jobs. In Paris I worked for a magazine called ‘Madame Figaro’ and I did some beautiful covers with a photographer called Pascal Chevalier. Beautiful vintage Gaultier dresses, wind machines and bodyguards with jewelry...I remember I had all these bracelets all the way up my wrist! They had bodyguards standing there and I thought: I’m going to run for it. I’ll shout, ‘Look, over there, there’s a flying pig!’ and I’ll run off. But I couldn’t, because it was so heavy. There have been lots of glamorous moments in my career, but then again, also lots of unglamorous moments…

D&G: SUCH AS?

LISA: I remember I was on Brighton beach in February, many years ago. I was doing a video and I had to lie on the pebbles and let the sea wash over me and it was freezing! I had to lie there and pretend to be… I think I was supposed to be dead, it was quite weird. But I had to lie there and not move or breathe, and the sea just kept washing over me and it was absolutely freezing. So that was probably one of my least glamorous moments,but it’s all character building at the end of the day and it’s quite fun, because I always remember the awful ones.

D&G: IT’S EASIER IF YOU’RE QUITE DOWN TO EARTH, BUT THERE’S PLENTY OF PEOPLE IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY WHO AREN’T, RIGHT?

LISA: Oh yeah. But you just take it all with a pinch of salt and you feel sorry for them actually, because you know their bubble will burst one day and it’s really ridiculous to have airs and graces. I think that if they’re fortunate enough to be in the industry, they should be a bit nicer to people and get on with it and enjoy it. Drag them down to earth!