Vicky Pattison knows how to laugh at herself. “The definition of insanity,” she says, “is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different outcome.” The author, podcaster and reality star invited a camera crew to film her wedding to Ercan Ramadan, even though the last time she tried it ended in disaster.
“I was devastated,” she admits. “This time it’s very different.”
The deal was signed, the cameras were rolling in 2018, and the wedding was just months away when she found out that her then-fiancé John Noble had been kissing other women. ‘I felt inadequate somehow, unlovable. I threw myself into my work and tried to portray an image of strength, but inside I was crumbling.’
Friends and family gathered, but there was nowhere to hide, she says. “I remember the TV crew being with us and I didn’t know what to do. I just broke down.”
Vicky Pattison knows how to laugh at herself. “The definition of insanity,” she says, “is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different outcome.” Photos: ELISABETH HOFF
Vicky had become famous on Geordie Shore, a reality show about the wild lives of a bunch of boys and girls on the banks of the Tyne. Vicky was the loudest, the smartest and the funniest. She then won I’m A Celebrity, showing a warm, empathetic side that viewers loved.
Her memoir Nothing But The Truth was a No. 1 bestseller, followed by another hit, The Secret To Happy. So even when she faced the public humiliation of an engagement broken off on camera six years ago, she found a way forward.
“We turned the marriage documentary into a breakup show. It showed young women that you don’t have to stay with the wrong person. I got a lot of sweet messages from women saying, ‘Thank you for showing me that I could walk away.'”
And now she’s all happy again, having married her new husband in a civil ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall in August. A lavish formal celebration will follow in a medieval castle in Italy, and it will all be captured on camera for the two-part E4 series Vicky Pattison: My Big Fat Geordie Wedding.
When I ask how they met, she says it was three or four months after her breakup with John. Vicky was on Instagram, where she has 5.5 million followers. “Ercan showed up on my Explore page with his top off,” she says, describing the screen that appears when you’re aimlessly scrolling through the social site, based on what you’ve previously liked. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh God, he’s a gorgeous thing.’ So I followed him.”
The wedding was just months away when Vicky Pattison discovered that her then fiancé John Noble had been kissing other women
Ercan Ramadan is a handsome lad from Essex, five years her junior, who described himself on Insta as working on a building site. ‘We liked each other’s photos for a while, both cool. Then Ercan slid into my DMs, as the kids say.’ He sent her a direct message, in other words. What did it say? ‘It gives me goosebumps. I think it was flame emojis. He’s not William Wordsworth is he? But there’s no flowery language in dating these days. It’s all emojis and shitty photos.’
She laughs at the idea of him sending her an intimate photo, but then insists, “He didn’t do that at all!”
Vicky was nearly put off when a mutual friend told her that Ercan had briefly appeared on reality show The Only Way Is Essex. ‘I had built up this idea that I was someone who was normal and nice, so I hesitated.’ She was going to cancel the date until another friend challenged her to go out and get on with her life.
‘Ercan handled the evening so graciously. He brought up the subject of how my last relationship had ended and I got a little teary. He just reached across the table and grabbed my hand,’ she says, emotional again. ‘It was such a simple gesture, but I’ll never forget it. He was so kind. I texted my mates in a group chat and said, “This is it, ladies, buy a hat. I’m going to marry this man.”‘
Five years later, they’ve bought a house together in Essex and are living with rescued Labradors Max and Milo. The plan was to sort out the legal side of things quietly in London before the big civil celebration in Italy, but their mates, her Geordie crew and his large Turkish Cypriot family, had other plans. ‘It got a bit out of hand, everyone got invited and it became a real event in itself, but I loved that.’
When Vicky married Ercan Ramadan, the plan was to quietly sort out the legal side of the nuptials in London before the big civil celebration in Italy – but her partners, her Geordie crew and his large Turkish Cypriot family had other plans
Their dogs were ring bearers. ‘They wore little tuxedos. I’m not good at discipline, so as soon as they were loose, they just ran in. They’re very cute, but hopeless, kind of like their dad. Ha!’
That night, there was a party at their house with a DJ and a vintage Greggs van serving steak bakes and sausage rolls. But why do it all so publicly when it has gone so wrong before? ‘It wasn’t a decision that I or Ercan took lightly,’ says Vicky. ‘Weddings are really expensive. If a TV channel wants to help pay, I’d be a fool to say no.’ The broadcaster is paying almost half the cost of the two events.
She adds: ‘Secondly, I’ve pretty much lived my whole life in front of the cameras.’ Vicky was working as a nightclub hostess in her hometown of Newcastle after college when producers came to cast her for a new reality show about young Geordies. ‘Being on TV has given me security, pride and things that me and my family would never have had without it.’
The third reason Vicky is excited to try this again is that she loves and trusts her husband. “Ercan is different from anyone I’ve ever dated. That’s why we work.” She’s boisterous, he’s calm. “I think our relationship is pretty progressive. Ercan is like a stay-at-home-dog dad right now. He takes care of the house. He does some work here and there. He’s happy to support me and let me shine. I’ve never had that before.”
She leans forward and says in a conspiratorial whisper, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to say to our children in ten or twenty years, “Come and see the wedding. Look how fit your mother used to be!”‘
Vicky won I’m A Celebrity and revealed a warm, empathetic side that viewers loved
Vicky is enjoying the sound of her new name. ‘Mrs Pattison-Ramadan. We call ourselves the Patty-Rams.’ The wedding planner suggested Puglia for the grander event. ‘We fell in love with the region and the location makes me feel like a princess.’
Weekend has seen footage of the pair enjoying a silverware tasting menu at the medieval Castello Monaci. ‘I feel like Posh and Becks,’ Vicky says in the clip, before arguing with Ercan about when they will have their first dance. He wants to relax after the five-course wedding banquet, but she doesn’t. ‘This isn’t like a Sunday lunch at a Toby Carvery, this is our f****** wedding. Straight after your meal you get up and dance.’
Guests can also look forward to a pool party the next day. Is there any pressure to go big when there’s an announcer involved? ‘Luckily, we’ve always done it big. I’m turning 37 this year. I’ve been engaged three times and I’m totally obsessed with romance and the idea of a happy ending.
“I didn’t think I was going to get it,” she says. “Then I found Ercan. I realized that figuring out who you want to be and getting married a little later are wonderful things. And if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right!”
She’s even managed to book the wedding band of her teenage dream: hip-hop veterans Blazin’ Squad, who scored a No. 1 hit with “Crossroads” in 2002. “They were part of my sexual awakening when I was 15 or 16. My girls all bring extra pairs of underwear to throw!”
Vicky’s mother Caroll will be there, and her father John will hold her arm as he did in London. Father and daughter made a moving documentary two years ago called Alcohol, Dad And Me, which explored the impact of his addiction on her. She admits that she drank heavily in her early 20s when it was hard to cope with her first rush of fame, largely because of the vicious personal attacks on social media. ‘My coping mechanism was always alcohol. That’s what I grew up with. You drank and then you screamed. That was my home life. So it was toxic.’
What is her relationship with booze like now? ‘I drink a little bit, but I have an addictive nature. I’ll allow myself three drinks because that’s when I become that fun, relaxed version of myself. Any more and I can go too far. People saw that on Geordie Shore. But I don’t miss partying with random people or waking up in places I don’t know what I’ve done. Life is much better now.’
If fame is a pressure, has she ever considered walking away? “No. Fame is a byproduct of what I really want – and that’s money,” she says. “I want to be rich. I’m not ashamed to say that. I want to be able to provide for myself and my family and this is the route I chose. I just had to find the right person who would accept that.”
People ask if she plans to have children, but Vicky froze her eggs and fertilized embryos last year and is clear that she wants to focus on her career now. ‘I’m not ready to take a year off. If I’m going to be a presenter, I want to do everything I can. If I’m going to be a mother, I want to be the best mother I can be. But I have to achieve certain things first.’
There is a twinkle in her eye, however, as her fairytale wedding day approaches. ‘Ercan wasn’t ready yet in terms of adulthood and I wasn’t where I wanted to be career-wise, but this step of getting married really helped. I feel like we’re a little family now: me, Ercan and the two dogs. Are “skin puppies” next? I’d like to think so…’
- Vicky Pattison: My Big Fat Geordie Wedding, next month, E4.
