Partying until the wee small hours with ample cleavage on display and up-staging their daughters with their wild behaviour - it must be season two of 'Hotter Than My Daughter' on BBC Three. The first series caused quiet a stir so it was inevitable that Liz McClarnon would take some time out of her hectic schedule (ah sorry?!) to bring us more daughters who are embarrassed by their ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ mums, and some mothers who are unimpressed by their offspring’s conservative wardrobe (I kid you not).
Joycelyn is a 47-year-old successful music manager from North London. She is single and lives with her two kids eight-year-old Zachery and 16-year-old Amaliah, who is embarrassed by her mum’s eagerness to flaunt her breasts at any given opportunity. Joycelin was a teen model, but failed to make the big time due to the rise of Naomi Campbell (or so she says). Now, she is semi-content knowing she was Grace Jones’s body double in ‘The Beautiful Kill’ as she had better legs (Oh please).
This mum considers herself to be “a confident plus size model”, while her timid daughter who dresses in baggy jumpers and oversized leather jackets says that “cringe is a word that comes to mind when asked about my mother.” Although art student Amaliah doesn’t share her mum’s passion for the limelight, her eccentric mother insists that she dresses more girly and embraces her youthful figure.
Not surprisingly, the jury from a local hair salon stated that Joycelyn "should be more sophisticated and put her breasts away", while they believed that Amaliah should "clean her dirty Coverse trainers, and not let the baggy leather jacket swamp her tiny frame." Joycelyn’s worst fear was that the stylists wouldn’t put something tight on her, while Amaliah hoped that her double Ds that were imprisoned in a double denim dress would be brought to justice.
To be honest I wasn’t completely blown away by either of their transformations (perhaps I am just so used to seeing the magic of Gok Wan). The electric blue dress celebrated Joycelyn’s hourglass figure, but I think saying she looked sophisticated was a bit of an overstatement (still very revealing). Amaliah’s attempt at achieving the boho hippie look went drastically wrong, and the maxi-dress meshed with the denim jacket and topped off with a cropped brown leather jacket would give Sonya and Brendan Courtney a heart-attack. Her mum however disagreed saying “she is princess Amaliah a younger version of me” (well that says it all really).
Moving swiftly on to the heart of Essex we were introduced to Susie a 40-year-old mother, who is also in the running for ‘the world’s most tattooed grandma’, who doesn’t understand why her daughter Ellysha won’t copy her rebellious biker look. Susie is loud and proud, loves to party, and is ten times more rebellious than her 23-year-old daughter. She tied the knot, not once, but twice to her childhood sweetheart, but they are now divorced and remain good friends.
Ellysha is a care-worker and has a three year old child. She thinks that her look is girly and feminine - the opposites of her mum’s tomboy dress sense. On the other hand delusional Susie thinks she is “better looking, trendier and funkier” than her daughter (and they wonder how teens get complexes these days). Although Susie admitted that she doesn’t have the confidence to dress like a lady, the jury were brutally honest about her appearance.
One salon stylist said “you try too hard to look like your daughter, and dress like you are twenty years younger”, while Ellysha was told that she looks “fashionable, young and funky” (was there really a need for a make-over then?). Thankfully the make-over team didn’t make Ellysha blonde, but they did put a ridiculous pink streak in her hair that made her look immature. Susie on the other hand suited her playful hairstyle, and the splash of red matched her bubbly personality.
Susie did look older after the make-over, her lipstick was too severe, she needed to smack on some bronzer, and her outfit looked dated and took from her coolness. To be honest it was a given that she was going to hate it (no surprises there then). Ellysha fared slightly better with some chunky accessories and a bold black dress, but the not so sleek haircut and flat hair really lost some brownie points.
Next up on the show we will meet ex-Playboy bunny mum Freya, and her daughter Claudia who is top rated by Mensa and is the stereotypical plain superbrain. Also, an unusual case for the Hotter files, as glamour model Zowie helps her mum Beverley rediscover her lost hotness.
Laura Delaney
