'It was quite intrusive really...' Reverend Kate Bottley brands her Gogglebox experience as 'consensual exploitation'
Reverend Kate Bottley has admitted she and her husband Graham found Gogglebox's filming process "overwhelming", and she revealed they got paid "very little" money.
Reverend Kate Bottley has branded her Gogglebox experience as "consensual exploitation" because of how much it took over her and her husband Graham's life.
The pair were chosen to react to TV shows, as well as films, on the Channel 4 watchalong show in 2014, but they left in 2016 because of how "overwhelming" the filming process was and how little money they received.
Chatting on the latest episode of the Walking the Dog with Emily Dean podcast, Kate - who appeared on Gogglebox from 2014 until 2016 - told the author: "I wish I'd known how much it took over our life for two-and-a-half years. I mean, reality TV, it's by its nature, it's consensual exploitation.
"So they're coming to your homes as reality TV, they're capturing, filming in your home.
"It was quite intrusive really. But we consented to that intrusion, but I didn't fully know just how."
Kate - who has a daughter called Ruby and a son named Arthur with Graham - said her kids were forced to stay in their bedrooms for two nights of the week as the Gogglebox crew filmed their parents.
She said: "My kids spent two-and-a-half years sat in their bedrooms every Tuesday and Thursday night, or whatever nights they came to film.
"My kids didn't have friends around for a lot, they didn't have help with their homework."
Kate claims the couple saw "very little" money that they earned doing the show because she had to spend it on "electricity, internet" and "food" for the crew.
She explained: "We got paid very little.
"They paid, but I cooked two nights a week for the crew.
"So I spent all the money we got from it. It went on the electricity, the internet connection that they were using, and the food."
And Kate, 50, and Graham left the show in 2016 because they found the filming process "overwhelming".
She admitted: "It was a good two and a half years, but we couldn't have done any more with it, I don't think.
"It got to the point where we were just a bit overwhelmed."
