Unemployed Gogglebox star admits she doesn’t pay back ‘celebrity loans’ as she lives off her fame

An absolute Gogglebox legend has admitted to not paying back ‘celebrity loans’ as she lives off her fame.

The star confirmed she was leaving hit Channel 4 show back in 2017.

One of the OGs from the cast, the beloved amateur TV critic ended up back on benefits within a couple of years of her departure.

Currently unemployed, she spoke to The Sun about getting ‘free money’.

Sandra Martin is still a Gogglebox icon all these years on and previously expressed regret over leaving the show.

Nowadays she does plenty of special guest appearances at events – but only gets ‘paid expenses’ for showing up.

However, Martin actually explained she wouldn’t like to be paid a fee, and added: “I don't work, so I can't get paid. But they pay for my expenses, the hotels.

"Someone took me to Amsterdam and Ibiza - I get a lot of free trips, I'm just not getting paid."

You might think such a lifestyle would suggest plenty of money in the bank. But for Martin, he finances are boosted by her agent sorting her ‘crisis loans’ and ‘celebrity loans’.

Channel 4

“No, they don’t get paid back, I don’t give it back,” she said.

At the moment, the Londoner is renting a private place in Hastings but ‘that’s free as well’ apparently.

She added: “I get free money – everyone knows.”

Martin previously claimed she was paid more than all the others on Gogglebox.

“Because everybody else was working, but I was on benefits, and I was the best one that was making the show,” she told the Sun.

“I got the contract, and they paid my rent, council tax, TV licence, electricity, gas, all the bills you need. That left me with about £500 a week to do what I wanted - hair, taxis, nails, takeaways.

Channel 4

“I was living a luxury lifestyle.”

When Martin’s best mate Sandi Bogle left her side on the sofa in 2016, she was joined by her daughter Chanchez Martin.

Eventually, despite saying she’d miss the show, she told This Morning she’d ‘decided at the time I wanted to move on to other things’.

“I could’ve stayed, they offered me real money, but s**t happens,” she told The Sun.

Gogglebox celebrated its 10^th anniversary earlier this year, with a Channel 4 special looking back at some of the most iconic moments.

And unsurprisingly, Bogle and Martin obviously featured in the throwback clips.

Topics: Celebrity, Gogglebox, TV and Film, Channel 4

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_