Gogglebox’s Sandra Martin lands ‘dream’ judging role on Amazon show after family’s devastating coronavirus deaths
GOGGLEBOX favourite Sandra Martin had a horrid 2020, but now her fortunes are looking up.
From surviving homelessness to losing six family members to coronavirus, Sandra has had a tough time recently.
But now she’s landed her “dream” gig on Amazon’s answer to Britain’s Got Talent.
Sandra will be a judge on the show called, Now That’s Entertainment alongside, previous BGT winners Richard Jones and George Sampson.
They will join X Factor champ Sam Bailey to host the talent show on Amazon’s Prime Video.
Sandra, who is 59 next week said: “Since I last spoke to The Sun, a lot has changed. I was homeless and living out of a suitcase – and then had made the decision to move into an old people’s home.’
“It was like I’d become old before my time, like I’d written myself off in life. Things are very different today.”
Sandra added: “Things started to change for me last March when lockdown started. I was sitting in the lounge in the old people’s home when we were all told to get to our rooms and stay there – the pandemic had struck.
“Nobody knew what to do, but I knew I couldn’t stay there away from my family in London. I felt like I was going crazy in there with just the four walls of my bedroom to stare at.”
Sandra said she could see “grim sights coming in and out of the entrance into private ambulances” from her bedroom window.
“But like everyone, I stayed inside to protect the NHS. Especially as my daughter Camelia is a nurse. I felt like I wanted everyone to abide by the rules to protect her too,” Sandra explained.
“But in June, I got phone call saying that my sister in law Shirley was gravely ill with COVID. My brother Lee and I had always been close and I desperately wanted to be by his side.
“Sadly, Shirley passed away. In our grief, I made the decision to get a two-bedroom flat in London where Lee could stay too and us form a bubble. He needed someone to be with.”
She praised her brother for being strong and soon plans to move to be closer to her kids.
“Lee and I have been living together ever since and he’s being really strong. In June this year, I’ll be moving again to a new flat nearer my other children,” she said.
After a horror 2020, things are looking up for Sandra as she joins the illustrious line-up on Now That’s Entertainment.
“I feel like I’m really coming up in the world again. I’ve just landed a role in the talent show Now That’s Entertainment as the comedy judge. I’ll be judging alongside X Factor’s Sam Bailey, and BGT winners Richard Jones and George Sampson,” she said.
“It’s the kind of opportunity I’ve been dreaming off and it’s a far cry from the kind of world that the homeless me was living in.”
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Sandra then revealed she has been spending her spare time volunteering with the charities that helped her through her dark times.
“In the meantime, I volunteer in the shop Blind Sense in Streatham, hanging clothes and dressing up little dollies. I also worked in the soup kitchen in Brixton and the kind of other charities that helped me when I was so low that I had nothing,” she said.
“It’s important to me that in some way, I’m sort of giving back by finding time to do things for others when so much was done to help me.”