SHE first stole the nation’s hearts after appearing on The X Factor as a giggly teenager in 2009, before becoming a well-known household name with millions in the bank.
Indeed, Stacey Solomon, 36, appears to have it all – a beautiful family, a sprawling £1.2million mansion and a flow of telly work, alongside collabs with Primark and ASDA.
But in recent years, the mum, who shares three kids with partner Joe Swash and has two from previous relationships, has suffered several blows to her career and status, with former fans dubbing her “out of touch” and “smug”.
Just recently, Stacey decided to snub this year’s Bafta TV Awards after facing a backlash over her emotional reaction to losing at last year’s ceremony.
Instead of putting on a gown and gracing the red carpet, the presenter is in Miami on a paid Space NK brand trip with her kids, as well as Rochelle Humes and Olivia Attwood who are also soaking up the sun.
The Sort Your Life Out star was criticised online – with some trolls branding her a “sore loser” and a “spoiled brat” – after she admitted on Instagram that she was “devastated” her BBC show failed to win.
Although Sort Your Life Out was nominated in two categories, it missed out on a Bafta, prompting Stacey to defend her hardworking team in the emotional video.
She said: “I know I’m supposed to take it gracefully like a champ, but I’ll be honest, I’m devastated.
“The crew also deserve the Bafta after the effort they put into making the show,” she vented from her garden.
However, this isn’t the first time the former X Factor hopeful and her family have come under fire. So, are we really witnessing the downfall of the once-beloved star?
Brand expert Georgia O’Brien-Perry believes so. She told The Sun: “She was funny, self-deprecating, and ‘imperfect’ in a world full of filler, veneers, facelifts and polished accents, and audiences loved her for it, finally seeing someone more ‘everyday’ and like them on their screens.
“The issue now isn’t that she’s become successful, but that the relatability that built the foundation of her success is no longer the reality, and audiences are noticing a disparity between how she really lives and the humble image she keeps projecting.”
She continued: “The Bafta situation of last year is a perfect example of this, as Solomon’s reaction to her show ‘Sort Your Life Out’ missing out on an award showed a new side to the star.
“While she attempted to frame her reaction as disappointment over how hard her team worked and how much they deserved to win, it instead came across as someone who had come to expect recognition all the time, rather than feel grateful for it.”
According to Georgia, who previously slammed mums for profiting off their kids, Stacey’s problem is that these moments are no longer few and far between – and instead, they “are ramping up in intensity”.
£30k/week holiday during a cost-of-living crisis
The cleanfluencer, who still boasts the title “proud Loose Woman” on her Instagram bio despite not having appeared on the show for some time now, is no stranger to a lavish holiday. However, taking her brood abroad on expensive trips during a time when millions of households are struggling hasn’t gone down well amongst social media users.
Just last August, the I’m A Celebrity winner was cruelly mum-shamed after posting pics from £30k a week Turkey holiday.
The Turkish hotel they usually stay at is the Regnum Carya in Antalya, where rooms start from around £1,000 per person per night.
They have been there so many times, Stacey now refers to it as her “second home”. But while Stacey and her family were all smiles on her Instagram profile, it was a different reaction in the comments where the TV presenter was branded “seriously smug” and “out of touch”.
After landing home, Stacey addressed the backlash, insisting that the claims were not true and it wasn’t a “free holiday.”
Taking to her Instagram stories, she wrote: “Now we’re going home I’ve tagged the hotel for all of you asking & I’ll share my little ‘spend the day with us’ and show you around everywhere.
“This is the third time I’ve come back here. This wasn’t a free holiday. I just love this place so much & think it deserves the BEST reviews & tags ever because it’s just incredible.
“It is very expensive. I do think it is worth every penny & more for what it has to offer,” said Stacey who also hit the slopes in Switzerland the same year, surprised her entire family with a trip to Jamaica and jetted off to Abu Dhabi for a luxury Easter holiday in 2023,
Flogging “a load of c**p”
They might live in a gorgeous £1.2million Essex home and enjoy sun-soaked getaways, with Stacey alone reportedly earning £57,000 every month, according to Wales Online.
But that’s clearly not enough for Stacey and Joe who started dating in 2016 – as earlier this year, in March, the 44-year-old EastEnders actor was seen peddling all sorts of stuff online from hair-growth shampoo to kitchen gadgets, in a desperate attempt to rake in cash.
The video had the label: ‘Commission paid’ on it, showing Joe was earning money from the sales. But it appears that Stacey, who seems to be the main breadwinner of the household, wasn’t too impressed with his antics.
As he opened the box, his wife Stacey interjected: “It looks like a lot of c**pola.” Joe then explained that the product he was promoting was a face mask that blows air on you.
“What for?” asked Stacey. “To help you relax,” grinned Joe.
Stacey shouted: “What do you mean it blows on your eyes? What is the point of that?” As Joe showed off the face mask, Stacey repeated: “What is the point of it?”
“I feel like this is a good bit of kit, it’s massaging my temples,” said Joe as he revealed it might be a keeper. Stacey said: “You look like a k**b.”
But Stacey herself has also come under fire by her fans who last year slammed her for the very same thing, insisting her Instagram has turned into ‘constant selling for Amazon’.
On one occasion, Stacey – who earns a commission from every purchase made from her personalised Amazon link – she shared a video of herself wrapping some Christmas presents.
In the video, she didn’t mention the wrapping paper cutter she was using. However, in the next slide on her Stories, she posted a link to the product, insisting it was “the BEST one” she’s used.
Stacey then said that the “last link sold out”, so said she’d put together a “whole list of the same cutters together on this link that are the same style as mine”.
Disappointed fans took to Mumsnet to share their thoughts, with one writing: “I used to like her and find her relatable but she’s just a savvy saleswoman.”
“I don’t blame her but it doesn’t make her very likeable in my opinion and she comes across quite fake…” another agreed.
Reselling products on Vinted
A celebrity side hustle used to mean a star flogging their new perfume, or an famous singer launching their make-up line. But now it’s all about offloading their tat on sites like Vinted – and Stacey’s sister Jemma has also jumped on this tacky bandwagon.
After closing her once-popular home organisation business at the end of last year, the nurse was seen re-selling TV star Stacey’s brand new products for reduced prices on the marketplace.
According to Mail Online, Jemma’s Vinted page includes items from At Home With Stacey Solomon collection for George at Asda. These include boxes of wine glasses sold for £2 (retail £8) and a three-pack of candlesticks that made Jemma a quick £2 (retail £14). A black tablecloth and matching napkins were also on sale for £4 (worth £23 combined).
As well as this, she’s also managed to sell a wash bag from Stacey’s haircare brand REHAB for just £2 and a limited edition ‘Designed by Stacey’ Abbott Lyon ‘Moon and Back Two Tone Belgravia 30 watch’.
It currently retails for £149, but was reduced to and sold for £10 on Jemma’s Vinted page, which boasts close to 19,000 followers. Launching the news on Facebook earlier this year, Jemma claimed that all the profits will be donated ”to charity”.
The 37-year-old also pointed her social media followers towards her Amazon affiliate link. Amazon influencers can earn a percentage of commission when people click through personalised links and complete a purchase.
Sharing her thoughts on celebs flogging their old clothing – and in many cases, items they’ve blagged for free, freelance fashion editor Clemmie Fieldsend previously said: “While they are free to do what they want with their possessions, there’s something galling about the privileged few selling off unwanted items on resale apps at a time when the rest of us are tightening our belts and grappling with sky-high energy bills.
“It doesn’t sit right that celebrities are tapping into that market just to top up their holiday fund, which they are also likely getting partly for free, in return for a social media plug. And they are not putting much effort into it either.”
Sort Your Life Out fury
Since first airing in 2021, Stacey’s BBC show Sort Your Life Out has become a weekly staple for many households across the nation. But that doesn’t mean that the show hasn’t had its fair share of criticism by eagle-eyed fans, with X users accusing Stacey of being a ‘copycat’ as it had similarities to Nick Knowles’ Big House Clear Out.
One viewer wrote: “Hasn’t Nick Knowles done this warehouse clear out on his show?” Someone else said: “Stacey Solomon appears to be duplicating Nick Knowles and throwing rubbish out. Who copied who?”
However, others lunged to her defence, explaining that Stacey’s trailer had aired way before Nick’s. “A reminder that if people would research a bit more, Stacey’s pilot aired months ago, before Nick Knowles’ on Channel 5 did,” chimed one fan.
But that’s not all – as last year, the programme was blasted for featuring a ‘wasteful’ family on an ‘insane’ episode where it was revealed they had a whopping 6,568 items of clothing, 39 phone chargers and more than 1,000 kitchen utensils.
And it wasn’t long before critics raced to share their thoughts, with one writing: “This #sortyourlifeout is absolutely tone deaf.”
A second agreed and wrote: “This is the worst one ever I’d just leave them all to it.”
Sham wedding
Sort Your Life Out taps into this fantasy of an organised and intentional domestic life. But outside, Stacey’s household “is making headlines for tension behind the cameras and a marriage that hasn’t been legally registered”, Georgia told us – and “the gap between what’s being sold to audiences and what is the reality” only grows.
The couple held a lavish ceremony at their Essex home in 2022 but didn’t follow it up and make it legal. A source previously explained: “They always intended to do the legal part, but with six kids and busy diaries just haven’t got round to it — life has got in the way.”
Georgia said: “Audiences who bought into her story and invested in her family, relationships and success feel particularly sore when that story turns out to be curated rather than candid, because they felt they were getting the ‘real’ version or her, but this seems not to be the case.”
But can she survive the troubles and win her once-loyal fans back? According to Georgia, not all is lost for Stacey – as long as there is a rebrand.
“The key is not trying to hide that she is successful, but reframing this success in a way that feels honest rather than contradictory. Audiences are not asking her to pretend she isn’t wealthy, but they are asking her to stop pretending she isn’t.
“There is a version of Stacey Solomon that could work extremely well right now, one that owns her journey from East London to a £1.2 million Essex home and an eight-figure business empire, and brings her audience along for that ride with transparency rather than a poorly managed, out-of-date brand.
“This version of her, as a once mocked, teenage mum from Dagenham, to a successful businesswoman, is actually far more interesting than the faux-homemaker. This era has run its course, and the sooner she and her team accept that, the sooner they can build something new and far more genuine.”
