Selflessly diving into the decadent world of five-star-plus luxury for her latest TV show, Josie Gibson was so blown away by the job offer, she thought it was a practical joke. With the luxury travel sector exploding, the well-loved presenter was asked to host Channel 5’s Around The World In First Class, trying out top airlines and six and seven star hotels, all vying to be the most Instagrammable and opulent. Whether it’s assessing bottomless brunches, mile-high dining, reclining airline seats, infinity pools, the best hotel slippers or never-ending buffets, it’s certainly the smuggest gig on telly.
The 40-year-old This Morning star says: “When I got the call, I thought this cannot be real. I thought it was a wind-up. I think it took me less than a second to say yes. If somebody had told the younger me that one day this would be my life, I would never have been able to believe it in a million years. It is better than I ever could have dreamed of. I don’t even want to sugar coat it - I’m jealous of me.”.
Holidays for Josie as a kid, growing up as the eldest of six siblings with her mum Mandy Gibson in South Gloucestershire, were really quite different. Mandy, a horse trainer, has spoken before about how they held onto their Traveller roots, with her taking the kids travelling in a caravan during the school summer holidays, with no electricity, gas or running water. Josie says: “When we were younger, we didn’t really go on holidays. I’m one of six so our holidays would have been in Brean or Butlin’s. I still go to those places now, mind. I’m still a fan. What my mum would do is put us in the back of the car and drive around for ages on the estate, so it felt like we were going somewhere really far but we were just being dropped off at this little field up the road by the quarry in Rangeworthy. We would camp there but when you’re a kid it doesn’t matter, does it? But this show is like travel on steroids.”.
In the three-part series, which starts on Friday, Josie stays in six and seven star hotels, is a guest on a private island in Sweden, takes a private helicopter, jumps on a fast RIB speedboat, rides a camel in the Arabian desert (with champagne and strawberries), dives to an underwater sculpture park in Grenada, tries first-class flying with Virgin Atlantic and Qatar Airways, eats a floating breakfast in a private pool and even has a sauna at an airport. She says: “I have never been to places like that. These people are living a life, I’ll tell you that for nothing.”.
Josie’s first ever posh travel experience was after she won Big Brother back in 2010. She recalls: “I had always said to my best friend, ‘If you come into any money you take me away and if I come into any money, I’ll always take you away.’ That was our deal we’d had since we were 17 years old. When I won Big Brother I said, ‘Pack your bags! We’re going!’ I took her to Mexico on an all-inclusive. It was like a five-star retreat but that was my first ever encounter of real luxury. In fact, it might have been four-star but for me that was incredible.”.
Single mum Josie, who co-parents her six-year-old son Reggie James with his dad Terry Bond, couldn’t take little Reggie on her travels but has picked up some holiday ideas. Josie says: “He couldn’t go on any of the trips as the filming schedule was back to back, but I think he would quite like Dubai because it’s geared up for kids. We stayed at the Anantara on the Pearl, which is a villa on the water with a glass floor so you can look down at the sea while you’re having your breakfast.”.
The series sees down-to-earth Josie completely bewildered as she steps into glamorous hotel suites and lobbies, often bursting into giggles at the sheer grandeur of it all. Whether she’s being handed another glass of champagne, introduced to yet another butler or even on one occasion being greeted by a falcon, Josie is blown away, constantly checking with staff if the treats on offer really are for her - “It’s unlimited?” “Can I really keep this?” And of course, like any respectable guest, she steals all the toiletries she possibly can.
Gushing about the first class air travel, Josie says: “When I was on the Virgin flight it was like a party in the air. We were on our way to Grenada. I knew everybody in my First-Class lounge by the time we landed. We were at the bar. We were having a whale of a time. I also experienced First Class with Qatar and they won the award for best airline in the world. I don’t care what anybody says when you are rich, and you are in these first-class places you get treated like Taylor Swift. My biggest worry though is how am I ever going to go back to turning right now I’ve experienced all these things?”.
It’s a far cry from a frightening flight experience she once had. She says: “I was on a flight once and the plane dropped. I was with Chris Hughes from ITV Racing. I was screaming more than he was, but we were holding hands and shaking. That was really scary.” There were some scary moments on her first class travels, too. Josie says: “In Dubai we took to the desert in a safari jeep and I have never been so terrified in all my life. We went up and down these sand dunes and I am not a good passenger. In Grenada, I went riding on a horse that maybe I didn’t connect with so well. It was full-on that one. The horse just wanted to do what he wanted to do. When I dived down to the underwater sculpture park, I did ask about sharks first, but they said they never had any. And at the Swedish island lodge there were cobwebs everywhere and I’ve always been frightened to death of spiders. You’ve got your own luxury island, but when you’ve got all that nature, there are still all the lovely bugs that come with it.”.
