S1 Episode 7 - Succeeding Against the Odds with Jude Downing

In this engaging conversation, Jude shares her journey from a teenage pregnancy to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the media industry. She discusses the challenges she faced, including societal expectations and personal struggles, and how she overcame them through determination and hard work. Jude's experiences highlight the importance of resilience, education, and the support of family and friends. The conversation also touches on her humorous yet disastrous experience on 'Come Dine With Me', showcasing her ability to find humour in adversity and her passion for life.

Jude Downing, twice divorced and a proud mother of three, became pregnant with her eldest son at just sixteen while attending a private all-girls convent school. The news was met with harsh judgment and low expectations—she was told her life was over, destined for benefits and disappointment. But Jude refused to let that be her story. She worked hard, raised three wonderful sons, and built a life on her own terms. Now 55, she’s living a full, fabulous life, filled with pride, strength, and resilience—and hopes her sons are living just as boldly and beautifully as she always dreamed.

Takeaways

Teenage pregnancy can be a catalyst for personal growth and determination.

Education is a powerful tool for overcoming societal expectations.

Support from family and friends is crucial in challenging times.

Starting a business requires confidence and a willingness to take risks.

Adapting to change is essential for business success, especially during crises.

Networking and building relationships can lead to new opportunities.

Humour can be a coping mechanism in difficult situations.

Success is defined by personal fulfilment rather than societal standards.

Embracing one's unique journey can inspire others. 

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Transcript

Hear Me Roar (00:32)

Hello! Well, we've just been talking about... Marie, tell us about your fanny. Tell us about the disappearing fanny. Yes. Well, I came across a video this week explaining that in the menopause or after the menopause, you are quite likely to lose your labia minora. Now, there are two types of labia. There's the labia majora.

which is out there hanging out proudly, hanging onto any pubes you've got left. And the labia minora nestles underneath them. ⁓ They're inside ones. And apparently they can shrink and disappear during the menopause. And do know what I did yesterday? Checked them. Stuck me hand down my knickers and checked. They're still there, yes! To be fair, I did lay on the bed with a mirror just to do a...

a head count, so to speak, they're both all present and correct. But then I wrote a post about this and all the ladies were frantically going off to do a bit of checking. And the question is, where do they go? Do they just drop off and you trip over them and pick them up and lob them in the bin? Where do they go? I don't know. And then what made it worse? I shouldn't have Googled this, actually. I need to know how to clear me Google history.

Apparently, your clitoris can also disappear up somewhere and lose sensitivity. Oh, no. As if we don't have to put up with enough. Now we're going to lose that as well. So, Ann Summers will never be aiming at the older demographic. No, clearly not because we've got no need for Ann Summers. But do not despair, ladies, because apparently if you keep using these bits of your anatomy...

They will hang around, not literally, they won't hang out. They will hang around and stay. ⁓ that's a relief. And your husband has bravely, bravely offered to keep an eye on them. To keep an eye on them and make sure that there's no disappearing on his watch. Right, OK, well, on to something, ⁓ yeah, something completely boring, know, the actual podcast.

We could talk about labia minora all day, couldn't Yeah, could. yeah. Sadly. probably got something to do with the fact we're a right couple of fannies, really, isn't it?

We are going to be talking to Jude Downing today. Now Jude is fantastic. Honestly, you will laugh so much. We nearly wet ourselves during this one. And so we're recording this just after we've talked to her. Jude is twice divorced, proud mom of three, became pregnant with her eldest when she was just 16.

And she was attending a convent school. So obviously the news was met with harsh judgment in her words and low expectations. She was told her life was over. She was destined for benefits and disappointment. But Jude's not the kind of girl to roll over when someone says you can't. So she refused to let that be her story.

and she worked really hard. She raised three brilliant sons and built a life on her own terms. So now she's 55. She's living a full and fabulous life filled with pride, strength and resilience. And she hopes her sons are living just as boldly and as beautifully as she always dreamed. Let's go and meet her.

Hear Me Roar (04:10)

Hello Jude! We're fine thank you, it's lovely to meet you.

Jude (04:12)

Good morning ladies, how are you?

Well, you too. I know, obviously, I've known Marie a long time, but nice to meet yourself.

Hear Me Roar (04:22)

⁓ So this is the first time we've met, so I'm happily reading off a sheet of paper here. But I believe that you had your or you were pregnant with your eldest son when you were 16.

Jude (04:38)

Yes, yes, can you imagine that as a parent now? I look at my, I've got three boys now and I look at them when they were 16, well even, well my eldest is 37 now, and look at him and think, bloody hell, can you imagine him? You know, he couldn't pick up his own socks, it would be like, mum where's this, mum where's this, all the time, so I couldn't imagine him at 16. But yes, yes, I did fall pregnant at 16, didn't tell anybody, and then when I was five months pregnant, my mum said to me, can I have

Hear Me Roar (04:41)

I do?

I'm

Jude (05:05)

Come here, I want you. And she went, are you pregnant? I said, went, mam, no. And then I thought this is as good a time to tell her as any. literally I can remember going, mam, no. Yes. And then there was multiple amounts of the brown stuff hit every fan in the local Gateshead area.

Hear Me Roar (05:25)

I bet it did, but as is the title of this episode, you've succeeded against the odds. ⁓

Jude (05:32)

Do know what,

in some ways I think where I am now is because of that, because at 16 I was not a wild child, but and I was at a convent girls school

and on a scholarship. as my mom said, I pissed that up against the wall. And I don't think she used those words, though. I think she said, peed it up against the wall. ⁓ And I was promptly marched out of the school when they discovered this. and then then I was with I was with the dad and then. Basically,

He said at the time, well after a little while, that he'd done it deliberately because he thought he was losing me.

And then when Joseph was, he wasn't quite three year old and Robert said, do you know what, this is not the life for me. And left.

Hear Me Roar (06:19)

And he left! my goodness. Was he the same age as you?

Jude (06:21)

And he's never seen Joseph since.

So at this point so by this point I was now was that 20 I think I was 20 when he left and he was He was a little bit older 22 or something And the thing was he was a when we were together. He was a great dad if I'm honest I was a bit of an arsehole woman. I was like I Don't know he made me really angry So I was just constantly angry with him and he wasn't a bad guy at the time and then he just yeah He just decided that actually it just seemed like a bit too much trouble and walked out

Hear Me Roar (06:54)

Nice, well I guess

as the man he had that option, I mean he shouldn't have had that option but I guess he did whereas you as the mum, different option completely isn't it?

Jude (07:04)

I mean, I think there are men that would never leave their children but then there are women that walk out and there are women that I think if it was the other way around that they would just they would walk away. Yes, so he went but I decided once I was pregnant I thought well I need to get my shit together and prove everybody wrong because everybody said right that's it that's your life over you're finished now.

Hear Me Roar (07:07)

absolutely, yeah.

Yeah.

Jude (07:33)

You'll live on benefits. my dad said to me, took me out in the car and he begged me to have an abortion. He said, you know, this could be sorted. And he can, can, with hindsight at the age I am now, you've got this daughter and he was like, Jude my mom was big Catholic and like, it wasn't, never entered my mind as an option. And, but I don't know what I would say to it if I had a 16 year old daughter who was pregnant because it is hard.

So at that age I didn't really know anybody who had children Actually, there was one other girl that I'd gone to primary school with that had a daughter a little bit after me and we kind of knocked about together we got on fine, but It was because all of your other friends. You've got nothing in common with them anymore I was in the middle of my a levels And so I couldn't do those anymore

Hear Me Roar (08:15)

Yeah.

Jude (08:21)

But then once he was born, I said, right, I'm going back. I just like to say I proved my dad wrong because I never, ever was on benefits. I worked up until the day Joe was born. I was at work in the morning because I had all three boys early. I worked in the morning. Sorry, I worked on the evening. And then I gave birth to him overnight. And I went back to work a week later because I didn't qualify for anything.

Hear Me Roar (08:47)

Wow.

Jude (08:50)

So I went, well, I'm going to go to work. And I had, I sorry.

Hear Me Roar (08:53)

So do you think it was the fact that

you were told that's it, you're not going to succeed at anything now, did that give you the motivation and the drive to prove everybody wrong?

Jude (09:03)

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And I've had a great time. I work really hard. I do work, you know, even now I work really hard. But now I work for myself

Hear Me Roar (09:13)

So Jude you had this very difficult situation going on at home and it really affected your education but you went back and you did your A levels and you went on to uni. So how did your A levels go?

Jude (09:25)

Well, do you know what? when the first father vanished into the distance, I actually got married very quickly to somebody else. he,

helped support me to go to do my A levels. So I worked, but I also did, I did evening school. so I could pick Joe up from school. And then I went and did A levels. I did, I was doing A level media studies and also psychology. well, psychology, I didn't really like, I didn't like the statistics of it. was like, this is dull. I don't like this bit.

⁓ and I got an unconditional offer to go to Sunderland uni because I had to be local so that I could get back and forward for Joe and I thought I'm not going to bother with the

even sitting the psychology A level because I don't need to and Tony, my husband at the time, said you know it's silly you've done so much you may as well do it but I was like I'm never going to pass this because I just my heart hasn't been in it but you know when you get the perfect essays handed out

when I went in for the first exam, one of the questions was on forgetting and one of the essays I'd learnt was on memory. So I just switched it all around, rewrote it and I probably got pretty much 100 % for that. And then the next one I went in and I was like, ⁓ God, where am going to drag this from? But I got a C, so I passed both the A levels.

Hear Me Roar (10:49)

That's good. And you went on to university and you did, am I right in thinking you did media and? That's it. Yeah.

Jude (10:55)

Cultural studies, yeah, media and cultural studies. So I did photography,

video, radio, ⁓ film studies, and as my eldest son calls it, a total Mickey Mouse degree. Cheeky bugger. It's rude. Yeah.

Hear Me Roar (11:06)

Rude. Did you have a lot of family support then while

you were doing all of that? Because that's really tough. Yeah, to do all of that and then come home to a young child. I really have no idea how you did that. You're young yourself. Yeah.

Jude (11:22)

Yeah, yeah,

well, no, I my mum used to be like, you can't go and live somewhere else, because I think she wanted us to stay there. My dad was great. He was, you know, very supportive once Joe was here. They bought everything that I needed for him. And we had nothing.

As they say around these parts we didn't have a pot to piss in. But I always wanted to give him whatever I could. We had a great life. And then I got married to Tony, but his parents were greatly supportive. They really helped look after Joe. And my Auntie Connie. So

yes, absolutely had loads of support.

Hear Me Roar (11:59)

And that support in being able to get your education, that must have been the foundation for everything that you then went on to do.

Jude (12:12)

It really was. When I left university in 96, yeah I think it was 96 wasn't it? Because I went back as a mature student because I didn't do anything for a couple, two or three years. And then when Joe was a little bit older, that's when I did my A levels. And when I'd finished at university, because you can't get a job without experience and you can't get an experience without a job. So I was in this situation. So I walked into Metro Radio and said to them,

Hear Me Roar (12:35)

Yeah.

Jude (12:40)

I'll work for nothing. And they said, send us a letter in. And then I walked into Century Radio. Maybe you don't remember Century But I walked in there and said that to this very attractive blonde that was sitting on reception.

And she said, hang on, I'll get somebody for you to talk to. So I started writing ads. So I went into what they called Comprod at the time. And when I was writing ads, just going in and helping out. But I got my face known around the place. then somebody, a position came available upstairs on the sales floor. the sales director came downstairs and he said, Jude I want you to...

apply for this job. I didn't have a clue what it was. It was sponsorship and promotions.

Well, they called it S &P at the time. didn't even know what S &P is. But I remember I went upstairs, he said, right, sell me yourself into this job. I said, and I was honest with him. said, Clive, I said, I haven't got a clue what this job is, but whatever it is, I'm pretty bloody sure I can do it. And he went, yeah, go on, we'll give you a go And then, and then I went on to do it for 22 years and not there. I was there for, I was at Century for 11.

And then I was actually was headhunted by Metro, ironically. And I went over there, but I was there for 10 months. I hated every day, every single day. You know, when you're really unhappy in a job. And then I was approached by Galaxy Radio. I don't know if you remember Galaxy. So then I went to Galaxy and I was there for the next 11 years. And then I you know what, actually, I'm gonna start up on my own.

Hear Me Roar (13:57)

⁓

Yes.

yes, I remember Galaxy.

Jude (14:14)

I'm not going to do this for you anymore, I'm going to do it for me now.

Hear Me Roar (14:16)

What spurred that decision?

Jude (14:18)

⁓ It was just the business changed. Radio used to be so much fun. Everybody worked hard, but you played hard. There was great personalities in it and everybody worked together. It was one big team and then it wasn't anymore. And all that they seemed to be interested in was get the money off the client. Get the client to sign on that dotted line and then yeah, whatever.

That's when your job starts, when you're doing promotions for them. You know, might be organising a road show or an event at their location, or you might be doing competitions on air or writing things to go on the website. So your hard work starts once the signature's on the page, but they didn't want that. They just wanted you to go on, get more money, get more money. Well, I've got a lot of work to do here. But yes, yes, yes, but get the money, get the money, get the money. ⁓ And they were doing more and more video content, which as we know is...

you know, king now. And they would do more more video content. So we'd come up with an idea for a video and they would get an external company to produce the video. So that we would say to a client, yes, that's what you want. We get a price for an external company that they could go straight to and buy for maybe £2000. But we'd take, we'd go, yeah, you do all the work, but yes, client, can we have £5000? That's how much that's going to cost you. And it didn't sit right with me. And then...

Hear Me Roar (15:15)

Yeah.

No.

Jude (15:41)

And then at one point there was a video that the external company couldn't do and they said, could you do this? Yeah, absolutely. Which wasn't part of my job, you normally would pass it over. And I did the first video and when I saw that it took me two days and they charged the client £5,000, I thought, one, I felt like it was ripping off somebody. Doesn't matter whose money it is, it just didn't sit right. And two, I thought, I could do this.

Hear Me Roar (15:59)

vlog.

Jude (16:07)

I've got...it's all my equipment we're using so I'll do this. I remember phoning home, I was walking around Saltwell Park in Gateshead, you know when you do your best thinking, walking the dogs. And it came, you know, like if it was a film, there'd be all these thoughts, you know, like on Gone With The Wind when she thinks about all these, know, Tara, Tara, I was like, video, video, they want video, I could do this. And I rang my partner up and said, I've decided.

Hear Me Roar (16:15)

you

You

Jude (16:33)

I'm going to set up on my own." And he was like, what? Because I was the major breadwinner. And he said, do you think you can do this? And I went, I think I can give it a bloody good try. And here we are eight years down the line, and it seems to be going quite canny, really.

Hear Me Roar (16:45)

Yeah, sometimes you just need to have that confidence in yourself to give it a go and just go for it. Really. What were the risks?

Jude (16:50)

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But it was friends. It was friends confident.

You know, people say, absolutely you can do this. Absolutely. And because of where I'd been working anyway with all the contacts with agencies and even I ended up doing work for radio stations. So I would go in and do some video for them and it's been great. It's been bloody champion.

Hear Me Roar (16:58)

Yeah.

What were the risks?

What were the risks, of striking out on your own?

Jude (17:19)

financial because I knew I thought if it doesn't work out I could get another job. I'm not totally unemployable and so I thought I'll give this a go and my partner had had a big promotion at work and we worked out he'd been in this promoted role for about a year at this point and we worked out that with his extra money I only needed to bring in a thousand pound a month to be where we were before his promotion.

Hear Me Roar (17:47)

Yeah.

Jude (17:47)

So

said, I thought this is a good time to do it. I handed my notice in, I started up on my own on the 1st of September and I thought I'll never, like September I've got wages, I've got salary from my job coming in at the end. as long as I can, this month,

I'll not really worry about bringing in revenue. I'll just really start pedal, pedal, pedaling. And on the morning of the first day, because people knew what I was doing, I was walking Ben to school and thinking, this is great. I can walk my baby to school instead of sending him to breakfast club. And then he's having to walk to after school club. And he was shattered when I would pick him up. He was only a six year old. And when I was...

Hear Me Roar (18:23)

Mm-hmm.

Jude (18:30)

walking back from school, my phone went and I got my first job for Disney on Ice. And I was like, mm-hmm. And I cried. Genuinely, I walked in, I was going, I can do this, I can do this. But then at the end of September, my partner was made redundant.

Hear Me Roar (18:34)

⁓ my god, wow!

⁓ no.

Jude (18:45)

At that point I thought,

Hear Me Roar (18:48)

I bet you did! no water! And then it's just so much responsibility that's just falling on you. Yeah, huge pressure on a new business.

Jude (18:56)

Pressure, yeah. ⁓ horrendous.

But as I say, I'd thought I need to bring in a thousand pound a month. But I always remember across those three months, I brought in eight grand. ⁓ But I'd worked nonstop,

Hear Me Roar (19:08)

Wow. ⁓

Jude (19:11)

But yes, so it was marvelous and I recommend it to anybody. Just love it. Do it for yourself. Don't do it for other people.

Hear Me Roar (19:15)

Yeah. So,

how on earth did Disney on Ice find out about you to just ring you up?

Jude (19:23)

because they're managed by an agency up here and ⁓ women supporting women. Mind you, I've had as much support from men as well. They'll ring up and go oh yeah, Jude, I know you're doing this now. I've got a client that wants this. it was, a lot of it was contacts, but even contacts of contacts. A girl that I'd never actually worked with, Rachel, who she'd always, she'd done my job at different radio stations

Hear Me Roar (19:29)

Yeah.

Hmm.

Jude (19:49)

she'd set up on her own and then a friend of a friend said, you guys should get together. Cause she didn't really like working on her own. I bloody loved it. ⁓ But we worked together and she took me into one of clients she was seeing. ⁓

Hear Me Roar (19:58)

Yeah.

Jude (20:03)

I'm sure I've mentioned them to you before. Animal Feeds, massive, well, they do raw feeding, placed down in South Durham, and she took me in to see them to do one promotional video, and that was eight years ago, and I'm there all the time now, do loads of stuff with them.

Hear Me Roar (20:07)

and.

Yeah.

So what happens to your videos then? You make the videos for these clients but what are they doing with the videos?

Jude (20:27)

Well

now, so my business model had been to make promotional videos. But then the first couple of clients I went into, well Durham Animal Feeds and then a garden center up here in Gateshead, they got me to do one video and then I ended up staying on with them and doing their social media content. So I'll go in every week, talk to them about what's happening with their business, get some, it might just be photos, it might be videos, it might be writing posts and things.

And I, so it's not all video now, but then I do things with Metro Centre, which Marie and I worked on together. So sometimes that will be on their website and their social media. Sometimes it's business to business. they'll set that was, which is what Marie and I did. And they'll send those off to show to clients to say, you should take a ⁓ unit in Metro Centre or something like that. And they'll send them off. So it's all sorts of things. During COVID.

Hear Me Roar (21:02)

Yes.

Jude (21:21)

Bloody Covid, I think I made about a thousand videos of how to wash your bloody hands. ⁓

One day I cried with boredom, genuinely. Because when Covid hit, I had seven clients, but five of them were pubs ⁓ and restaurants. So straight away, five of them closed overnight. So was like, what am going to do? And because I didn't have business premises, I didn't qualify for any assistance whatsoever. Not a penny. But the garden centre could stay open and Durham Animal Feeds, because they were essential businesses.

Hear Me Roar (21:41)

⁓

⁓ no.

Jude (21:56)

You know, they didn't want them closing down and just all this, well, they couldn't, they had to stay open. So I worked with them. And at one point I was saying to the restaurants, you need to stay open and do collection and delivery. It's going to be massive because people still want to do these things. So I started, I was driving and delivering pizzas for one of the businesses just to help, just to try and keep everything afloat. I quite liked it really.

Hear Me Roar (22:20)

Yeah.

Jude (22:22)

was quite good.

Listened to a bit of Radio 4, chatted to my mates and I was the world's leading authority on what was going on with Covid. No, I heard on Radio 4, so it's got to be fact.

Hear Me Roar (22:35)

We need to ask you about Come Dine With Me Yeah, we do need to ask you about Come Dine With Me. How did that come about?

Jude (22:41)

Well, so I am a really shit cook. I like the idea of it. I say I'm really creative because what I like to do is I can't follow a recipe. I'm like, I know better than this recipe. You know what would be better? Double of that, a bit more of that. And then suddenly you've got an oven full of crap or a slow cooker. I think slow cookers, you should just be able to throw everything in and a meal comes out. I can ruin things in a slow cooker. Soup, you need to slice it. It's never good. So.

Hear Me Roar (23:09)

You

Jude (23:10)

For

years, for all my adult life, it's been a standing joke how terrible my cooking is. So about... Well, was the first year I went into business. Before that, whenever they were filming in this area, people would send me the email and go, you've got to apply, you've got to apply. And I was like, absolutely not. I'm not going on national TV to make a tit of myself. then, so I was like, no, no, no, absolutely not, absolutely not. And then...

I'd set up a business and one day my friend Paula, who I've been friends with since I was born, she tagged me in a post saying looking for people in the North East and I replied to her and said, not a chance. Anyway, I didn't think any more about it and then in the afternoon I was sitting in a reception waiting to go into a meeting and I was scrolling through Facebook again and it came up again and somebody else had tagged me in it.

And I kind of went, you you go, and then I scrolled back up to it and I thought.

never done that before have I? I've never been on Come Dine With Me. So I got the email address and I sent it said send an email to get the application form so I sent an email and I said I think I could do this everybody says I'm a really crap cook I think I'm just experimental think of something between Hestan Blumenthal and Greggs I've come up with marvelous creations like corned beef lasagna

Instead of mince, use corned beef. Family love that. I don't ruin that. And I just sent off this. I said, I'd like to prove them wrong because I think it's give a dog a bad name. I think I'm actually really good. And I genuinely thought I could win. Genuinely. I thought that'll show everybody. I'll show them. ⁓ And then I sent the email off and didn't think any more of it. And then it was only, was maybe a

couple of days later. Now I do a Dutch lesson, I'm learning to speak Dutch and for whatever reason and I was doing my Dutch lesson when my phone went and because you're in business for yourself I never ignore a call. If it's an unknown number I still have to answer it because it could be business or it could be somebody about an event that you just haven't got the number and it's quicker to do that than have to re-listen to an answer phone so I thought what's that? So said hang on to Philip my Dutchman.

So hang on a second. So answered the phone and this girl said, Hi, it's Paris from Come Dine With Me. We'd really like to meet up to give you an audition for the show. We are in ⁓ the area next week. Can you do Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday? But I was actually flying to Orlando on the Sunday. It was Easter weekend. I said,

I told her I was away and she said, hang on a minute. She went off the phone. She came back and she said, right, I've had special permission to do a Skype recording audition with you. She says, can you do it in the morning? And I said, yeah, okay. Yeah, can. We were all packing.

So we were all, everybody's moving around the landing. And I thought, I'm not telling them because I know what they'll see. Everybody's packing, getting all this stuff ready. And I said, I've got to do a Skype meeting. So I had, but I'd put on, they said wear something that you would wear for like a night out. So I had this, nice top and dangly earrings and my red lippy on. But then from the waist down, I had joggers and crocs on. the kids were like.

rushing up, mam where's this mam where's this? I said, look, I've got to do this this meeting and everybody was on the landing at this point. And I said, and they said, what's your meeting that you've got to be dressed like a tart? And I said, yeah, yeah. And then and then some sort of what I don't really know what's going on down there. And I said, oh, I said, I wasn't going to say anything, but I've got an audition to be on Come Dine With Me. And literally they all stopped mid step. And my eldest went, oh, mom, please no it's going to be.

Hear Me Roar (26:45)

the waist upwards.

Jude (27:02)

Absolute car crash telly don't do it and I went I went I'm gonna win just shut the door so anyway, we're in Orlando and It was the middle of the night for us got a phone call that said we'd like to let you know we'd love you to be on the show And you're not allowed to tell anybody Because because it can't because you can tell you close your close family But you're not allowed to tell people because if it gets from one to another

Hear Me Roar (27:20)

⁓

Jude (27:28)

it could quite easily go, actually I know somebody else that's doing it and then you could start talking and trying to make sure, make it so that you won. ⁓ So, yeah, so I created my menu at which point Tom (middle son) said to me, when are you doing a trial run? And I went, trial run, it'll be alright I could do it, it'll be fine. And he said, mom, please do a trial run. Please, please do a trial run. And I did a trial run and it was terrible.

Hear Me Roar (27:33)

Thank you.

Jude (27:57)

⁓ And I said, well, I've got that out the way. It'll be much better on the night. long story short, it wasn't. I made these Well, I got filo pastry, ready-made filo pastry and put it into muffin cases and put brie in it and cranberry and then put that on a plate. then it all just crumbled. know what filo pastry is like? It just...

Hear Me Roar (28:05)

you

Jude (28:24)

just split. I managed to put my finger through the filo pastry when I was trying to put it into the the cases and when I when I served it they did say so did you make the cranberry yourself? I was like nope well you clearly you didn't make the brie yourself nope did you make the filo pastry yourself? Not likely. Then my main course was macaroni cheese and in my infinite wisdom I can make macaroni cheese but I thought I'll bake it and I said it's baked with a breadcrumb and gruyere

crust. And then on the day I realized, so the director said, have you got your breadcrumbs? I said, well, don't I just use, I'll just use the bread. And he said, do you know how to make breadcrumbs? I went, nope. Nope, not a clue. So, and apparently you need old bread to make breadcrumbs. So I had this bread and I tried to grate it and it was just, it was, that was crap. And then it all just solidified. So when I served it out, it was just came out like one big lump out of these little ramekins that I've got.

Hear Me Roar (28:53)

roasted.

Jude (29:18)

but the dessert was the pièce de résistance. I made a, what did I call it again? Banana, well anyway, was a cake with banana in. So as I'm making it, they said, aren't you using baking powder? And I went, no, why would I? It'd be fine. Baking powder? I don't remember anybody using baking powder, just flour. And then I looked up a recipe, decided to look up a recipe at this point, and it did say baking powder. And I said, well, I haven't got any, so we'll have to do it without it.

But the bananas in the middle, they wouldn't solidify. It just kept getting, as they were getting hotter, there was too much banana in. It was in and out of the oven, in and out of the oven, to the point that the film crew and everybody were just sitting around scrolling on our phone and chatting. And I'm going to have another look at this bloody cake. And I kneeled down, opened the door, and I'd put parchment paper in, because I wasn't going to fall for it sticking to the tin. So it was parchment paper. But I hadn't trimmed it, apparently, which you should do. And the parchment paper had caught fire.

Hear Me Roar (30:05)

you

Jude (30:11)

from the gas oven in the back. So I went, ⁓ shit, it's on fire. And the director shouted, get the camera on. But by this point I'd pulled it forward, obviously to stop the fire, pulled it forward, but a bit of the burning parchment paper fell on my jumper, which then went up in flames. So they're going, don't blow it out, don't blow it out. I went, I'm bloody on fire. So they actually only caught a little bit of the burning.

Hear Me Roar (30:30)

God!

Jude (30:39)

paper falling onto the floor but when I served it up the cake you've got to watch the episode you've got to watch it because it was just the tears I was I thought I was gonna wet myself the tears run down my face when I got this cake out because I got the cake out and it had cracked along the top and the bananas were oozing out and it was going like this bleurgh bleurgh bleurgh with all this banana squishing out and so I cut it

I thought I'd go for fantastic, what do they say, not display, do call it, presentation. So I decided to try and jam said ooze and cake into champagne flutes.

Hear Me Roar (31:12)

presentation.

Jude (31:19)

So that I genuinely thought this would look nice. I thought it looked fancy. So I put the cake in, but the ooze was coming down the side. And then I over whisked the cream. That went like chalk. I didn't even know it could do that. It was just carnage But one of the guests said, looked, he was like, Jude this is like really terrible. And I went, I know, but I've done my best, but we're laughing about it. And he said, ⁓ and I said, can I show them the rest of the cake? Because sometimes you weren't allowed, they would say, no, you can't say that. And they would over record it.

So I said, can I show them the rest of the cake? And they said, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, show the rest of the cake. So I carried it in on the...

parchment paper and one of the guys was like, he said, why are you serving it on a treasure map?

I couldn't speak I went it's not a Treasure map I just set fire to the cake but you can imagine where it was all around the outside yeah so but but I genuinely thought at the beginning of the week I was gonna win I said to my sister I'm gonna win and she said I think you should just lower your expectations a bit I was like I am gonna win I'm gonna show you also when I got the second I got seven

Hear Me Roar (32:21)

expectations.

7 points out of 40.

Jude (32:28)

Mm-hmm. no, it's actually

was at 11 because and the boys scored me like one or two But the two girls were like, no, we can't we've had they said it was the best night of the week because we just laughed all night But the food was utterly dreadful. We ordered pizzas afterwards. We got pizzas

Hear Me Roar (32:40)

you

So you lost.

Jude (32:47)

Do you know what was funny though? So, ⁓ you're not allowed to tell people what the results were until it's been on TV but not one person asked me if I'd won! Not one person! Which apparently, because we're still in touch all of us that were on here together and they were all getting asked, did you win? you win? Did you win? Did you win? I went, nobody. Not one person has asked me if I won the bloody thing.

Hear Me Roar (32:58)

You

So just in case our listeners would like to go and have a look at this episode because I know I think we certainly will. Which year was it?

Jude (33:19)

Well, do know

what? This is what I always have to do. If I look it up on Tinterweb, I have to look up because they billed it as... Oh, what was it? Oh, it something videographer... They gave me a great description. Videographer Jude Come Dine I'm just typing it in here for those without watching me.

There you go, it's day four and videographer Jude is hoping to win over her carnivorous guests with a decidedly experimental vegetarian menu. However, there's a distinct lack of vegetables. I didn't actually have any vegetables. So it was Thursday the 2nd of August 2018.

Hear Me Roar (33:57)

2nd of August 2009. I'm writing this down because I'm going straight from here to watch it. So let's just come back to the more serious side now because that was absolutely hilarious. I've got tears, smushed my mascara now, crying and laughing. Your business going from strength to strength?

Jude (33:59)

2018.

Yes, it's ridiculous.

Yeah, absolutely to the point. I don't, can't take on any more clients like long-term ones because I have clients on a retainer that I work with week in, week out. And then I'll take in other jobs that's like a one-off or, you know, a series of videos and things like that. But, and especially over the summer, because I do a lot of events as well. So absolutely love it. I didn't know if I could do it, whether I would be driven enough.

Hear Me Roar (34:38)

⁓

Jude (34:43)

to sit at home on my own and do it without somebody doing it. But I tell you what drives you when you know that that money's going in your pocket, not somebody else's. It's quite the motivator.

Hear Me Roar (34:51)

Yeah,

Yes, it is. And your business is called Jude Downing Content Marketing. Just want to get that out there because we haven't actually said the name of the business.

Jude (34:58)

It is, yes, yes it is. Yeah. Yeah. It

is. Yes, it is. So, ⁓ yeah. And I absolutely love it.

Hear Me Roar (35:06)

Yeah. Good. Good. So I think we can definitely say you have indeed succeeded against the odds. Without of shadow of a doubt. I mean, I think it takes a special kind of person to overcome so much opposition at the beginning, such an enormous life change at the beginning to then get back into education. That could not have been easy to do.

Jude (35:32)

it's swings and roundabouts because I've got fantastic memories with the boys and I'm going to be in their life longer than a lot of my friends who've had children at 40. I know that because I've got the three boys at different ages. I mean, I don't know whether Joe thinks this is a good thing, but we might end up in the same care home because there's so little time between us. ⁓

Hear Me Roar (35:37)

Mm.

Yes.

I bet

he's overjoyed at the thought of that.

Jude (35:56)

⁓

Joe and I bicker all the time because my god that kid he just always thinks he's right and I know I am.

I know it exactly

Hear Me Roar (36:08)

He thinks it but you know it. Sounds like he's got a good dose of your determination in there.

Jude (36:14)

Yes,

he has, he has.

Hear Me Roar (36:18)

So your cake, because we discussed before we ⁓ pressed the record button on this that you generally only drink water. So you were struggling for a cocktail or a mocktail. ⁓ we asked you, what about a cake?

Jude (36:29)

Yes.

cake all day all day I would happily live on cake if that was acceptable for grown adults sometimes I do when there's no adults no no hell no god I have got a cake mix in the in the pantry though and I am thinking I might have a go when I get some copious free time so yeah so we thought about a cake rather than that and I think I would go for you know these rainbow cakes when they're cut in the middle not made by me absolutely not made by me in fact nobody make this cake

Hear Me Roar (36:40)

Just don't make it yourself.

No.

Jude (37:01)

find somebody who is really good at this that's made a marvelous one that's got like red and yellow and blue and green all the way through and they're massive you know I like a good eight inches and and then I want I want absolutely tons of butter icing and I want it between every layer I want all that sweetness around the outside and loads of sprinkles you know hundreds and thousands so there's loads of color on it there's loads of sugar in it there's loads of deliciousness and then do you know I might put squirty cream on it as well

Hear Me Roar (37:08)

Yeah.

up.

Well, why not? Because there isn't enough sugar in it already.

Jude (37:32)

No

there isn't! T-Total Vegetarian, Most Boring Woman on the Planet, that's me!

Hear Me Roar (37:36)

Well, you're definitely not boring. Definitely not. No, you've been brilliant to chat We've loved talking to you. I am going to have so much trouble editing this. It's like, which bits do you edit? It might end up being the longest ever episode. You've been an absolute star. Yeah, you've made us laugh and I'm sure you'll make the listeners laugh as well. Thank you so much.

Jude (37:51)

haha

Well, I hope so. It's

been great fun. Thank you very much. And I love the ones you've done so far. I shall carry on listening.

Hear Me Roar (38:05)

That was good.

Right, well, thanks again, Jude. Take care.