Ex-EastEnders actor Joe Swash gets up close and personal with his teenage pin-up, Pamela Anderson It’s said that you should never meet your idols, but this week I’m a Celebrity winner Joe Swash throws caution to the wind as he gets up close and personal with his teenage pin-up, Pamela Anderson, in Living’s Pamela Anderson: At Home with Joe. The fly-on-the-wall show sees the former EastEnders actor introduce the Baywatch icon to his family in London and follow her on a modelling assignment in Paris. Next week, in When Joe Came to Stay, he visits her at the LA trailer park where she is living while her house is being renovated. We asked Swash to tell us more… Pamela was a very important part of my growing up… She was at her peak when I was about 13 and I had all her posters on my wall. It was surreal meeting her. When I got to the airport, the nerves suddenly kicked in and I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ She is unpredictable. You never know which Pamela is going to turn up… There’s the wild Pamela and then the maternal one where she just wants to be with her kids. When she is in work mode you can’t be around her. In Paris I spent my time trying to find her because she kept escaping. We had our ups and downs... She got narky sometimes, but I was like her little brother by the end. I think she saw me as a cheeky Londoner like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. My mates were jealous when I went to the Playboy mansion with Pamela... I’ve always wanted to go. Hugh Hefner was a lovely fella. He had the dressing gown and suede slippers on and took me on a tour of the mansion. I felt honoured. I’m still in touch with George Takei from when we were on I’m A Celebrity… I love him. He’s over here at Christmas doing panto so I will catch up with him then. It’s so much fun being a team captain on Hole in the Wall… I took one of the silver costumes home with me. They’re not flattering – you have to be a good sport to wear one. I’m going back on I’m a Celebrity… I’ll be a roving reporter on ITV2 and it’s going to be an absolute pleasure. I can’t wait to experience the jungle again. My first TV experience was an Andrex commercial… I must have been six or seven. The puppies were there and a woman playing my nan had to kiss me. I’d love to work with Ray Winstone… If I could spend a week with Ray that would be even better than Pammy. Maybe we could do When Joe Met Ray.
