Holly Hagan was just 19 when she found fame with the OG cast of Geordie Shore alongside Charlotte Crosby, Sophie Kasaei and Vicky Pattison in 2011 – proudly boasting that she was ‘fit, flirty with double Fs’. Over the following years, she endeared herself to the nation with her cheeky sense of fun.
Now 32, Holly – who returned to Geordie Shore for the OGs spin-off in 2019 and, most recently, on the show’s 23rd series in 2022 – is married to footballer Jacob Blyth, with whom she shares 16-month-old son Alpha-Jax. And she’s a fitness instructor with her Team Fitty app.
She talks to Closer about her cosmetic surgery regrets, why I’m A Celeb! would never put her on the show and her struggles with hearing loss.
Are you in touch with your Geordie Shore friends?
I talk to Charlotte [Crosby] and Sophie [Kasaei] pretty much every day. We have a group chat, so we pop things in and out of there every now and again. Everyone's living their own life, so I only tend to speak to the people who I’m super-close with. But yeah, Charlotte, Sophie and I will always be super close.
**You’ve lost an amazing 3st 3lbs in 15 months since your pregnancy. Do you feel happier with your body?
**One hundred per cent! I had three Brazilian butt lifts and I’m trying to shrink that naturally, because I don't want to go through any more surgical procedures unnecessarily. It's really, really dangerous. Now that I’ve got a child, my priorities have changed. I don't want to be doing those dangerous things I used to do when I was 21 and didn't have a care in the world. My aim is to strip the fat from my bum as much as possible.
Do you work out with Jacob?
We used to work out together, and then we had a child, and we were like, ‘No, we can't do it together anymore’. We don't work out together because Jacob tends to do more gym-based stuff. When we are filming for the app, we do that separately as well. But it’s so much fun when we do it together. We filmed one of the fun workouts – a dance aerobics – in fancy dress, which our members love. We're definitely going to do another one of those soon.
How has life changed since you got your hearing aid?
It's changed both of our lives. I hear things relatively clearly now. I hear the birds tweeting again, which is something I haven’t heard since I was 18, and all these little noises that Alpha makes. And now I'm not annoying Jacob by leaving the fridge open, because I can hear the beeper now. But every time Jacob eat his yogurt and nuts, I pop out my hearing aids because hearing him crunch and chew is really annoying.
When did you realise you were losing your hearing?
It was the first time Jacob came to my house. He said, ‘Your oven’s beeping’ and I didn’t believe him until he recorded it on his phone and played it with the volume up. Then it made sense, because when I was in taxis and I would always struggle to hear someone speaking in front of me. When we film in nightclubs, I couldn’t hear what the producers were saying. It took me a long time to get tested. I struggle with clarity and high-frequency sounds.
**In addition to Geordie Shore, you’ve appeared on Celebrity Storage Hunters, Five Star Hotel and Celebs On The Farm. Would you like to do any more reality shows?
**I'm A Celebrity..! would never ask me! I would be TV gold, because I would be a cross between Gillian McKeith and Helen Flanagan. I’d be absolutely pathetic. No-one can convince me to lie in a pool of spiders! Big Brother, on the other hand, would be the easiest show ever because I could sit and lounge about all day. I did have two interviews for Big Brother and they never wanted me. I think I was too normal!
If you’re struggling with a hearing condition, visit your GP or an audiologist for more information. If you are aged over 50, you can book your free hearing test at Boots.