I became a household name on Gogglebox – now I’m unemployed and live off loans but I don’t bother paying them back
A GOGGLEBOX legend has candidly revealed she's unemployed and lives off "celebrity" loans - which she doesn't pay back.
Former Channel 4 star Sandra Martin spoke exclusively to The Sun about her life arrangements after finding fame on the show with best mate Sandi Bogle.
Sandra, 61, joined Gogglebox in 2013.
Sandra - who’d “been on benefits for years” - and pub owner Sandi Bogle, 58, suddenly found themselves attending red carpet events and regularly getting stopped for selfies by fans after they were scouted for the series.
Sandra previously claimed that, due to being “the star of the show”, she was paid more than anyone else to appear.
Yet she wound up back on benefits four years after her TV fame ended.
read more gogglebox
Speaking exclusively to us at the press night for London drag panto, Jack And His Giant Bigstalk, Sandra told how she does lots of special guest appearances at events - but only gets "paid expenses".
She confessed how she wouldn't like to get paid and added: "Because I am not working at the moment.
"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."
Sandra added how her finances had been bolstered and are now "very well" because her agent had given her "crisis loans" and "celebrity loans".
When asked if she paid them back, she continued: "I get celebrity loans.
"No, they don't get paid back, I don't give it back."
Sandra then told how she is renting a private property in Hastings - yet "that's free as well".
In the chat, she continued: "I get free money - everyone knows."
Sandra has previously talked of her luxury lifestyle funded by her Gogglebox fame.
“I got more than everybody else, because everybody else was working, but I was on benefits, and I was the best one that was making the show,” she said to 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.
“I was living a luxury lifestyle.”
In 2016, Sandi left to pursue other career opportunities, including a stint on Celebrity Big Brother, sparking rumours of a feud between the pair.
Read more on The Sun
Sandra left two years after Sandi and previously admitted she regrets the exit.
However, she says the show gave her a platform, which she now uses to raise money for the homeless and other causes close to her heart.
