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PROJECT Catwalk burst onto our screens this month with enough glamour and intrigue to make it an instant classic.
One of the shows stars is model Kate Mahoney, from Bourne End, who has the unenviable job of facing the wrath of some of fashion's harshest critics when she steps out onto the catwalk each week.
Paul Leat talks to 26-year-old Kate about the show and her life in the fashion fast lane.
KATE Mahoney admits the story of her life reads life a fairytale. As an 18-year-old school leaver, she was plucked from obscurity and signed up by top model agency Select after a chance encounter at the Clothes Show.
"It was December 5, 1998, the day before my 19th birthday, and my friend and I were at the NEC in Birmingham. I was spotted by Select the moment I walked in the door and they came up to me and said they would love to put me on their books. This is my eighth year and I am still with them. I know I have been very lucky," she says with a smile.
Over the coming years her new found career in modelling took her across the world to France, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Bahamas, America and India to name just a few.
It is all a far cry from the days when she left Holmer Green Upper School with her GCSE's and a dream of winning the lottery.
She recalls: "I left school and worked as an office junior. Then I left that to clear out stables, then I did babysitting then I worked in the Sony Centre and then I was a waitress. Everyone used to say to me you could be a model' but I never thought about it."
Kate, who lives in Hellyer Way, Bourne End, recently flew back from Barbados, where she shot the front cover of the British Airways in-flight magazine. But it is not all jet-setting to remote beaches and attending champagne parties.
"You have got to go into London every day to do all sorts of castings auditions for jobs, for which you don't get paid. I have had up to 17 castings in one day. It's very hard work," she admits.
Renowned for being a cut-throat industry, Kate has found modelling to be an increasingly competitive way of making a living, with as many as 50 girls all going for the same job at any one time.
Despite the competition, Kate has managed to consistently land big jobs.
She is a regular in the Ben Sherman and River Island magazines, and featured in the music videos Candy by Ash and Bop, Bop Baby by Westlife.
Kate also narrowly missed out on the leading role in Westlife's remake of Uptown Girl to Claudia Schiffer, someone she has a lot of respect for.
"I was due to do the shoot and the day before they rang to cancel. The next thing I know the video is on the telly and it is Claudia doing the bit I was supposed to. People often say I look like her, which is a massive compliment to me because she is just stunning."
Her latest achievement is a role in the hit Sky One series Project Catwalk, which follows the fortunes of 12 would-be designers all competing to win the chance to break into the fashion world.
Each week the designers are set a challenge by a top fashion figure to design an outfit for a chosen scenario.
Kate is one of 12 models individually assigned to a designer each week to act as their inspiration and impress judges Liz Hurley, world famous designer Julien Macdonald and Elle Magazine's editor Lorraine Candy.
Kate admits she is shocked at how popular the show is after only two episodes.
"I never thought it would be this big. I think it is great and if I wasn't in it I would definitely be watching."
Each week one of the hopeful designers, along with the model wearing their design, is eliminated by the judges until only three remain. They will go head-to-head in a public vote to decide the winner.
The first episode saw contestants asked to create a garden party outfit from materials found at a hardware store.
Kate, who was modelling for Zoe Hamilton-Peters, was asked to wear an outfit made from black membrane, more commonly used as underlay to a patio.
"It was interesting to wear it," she smiles. "I think everyone did really well because it is not easy, especially when you only have a short amount of time to do it and you don't know which materials you will need."
As the competition hots up, so do the judges' comments.
Kate is just one of the girls who has to face up to some scathing remarks in the forthcoming shows.
"Julien Macdonald is the Simon Cowell of fashion," she says. "But he has to be for the show. As a model you just have to take it on the chin and not say anything. At the end of the day it is not your design, you just have to wear it."
With television stardom now under her belt, Kate has big plans for the months ahead.
She will marry fianc Mark in September on the private Monkey Island in Bray, Berkshire, and then hopes to have children.
"I have this job for as long as I want, I could do maternity work," she says. "I am not going to stop yet. I am doing a job I love and everything is perfect."
It looks like this fairytale is to have a happy ending.
Project Catwalk, Sky One, Thursdays, 8pm.
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