Entertainment

Sue Perkins: My tips for coping with not going out

The former Great British Bake Off host was in the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2002.
The former Great British Bake Off host was in the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2002. The former Great British Bake Off host was in the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2002.

Sue Perkins has shared her tips for self-isolation after going “loco” in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

The former Great British Bake Off host, 50, signed up for Celebrity Big Brother in 2002, when she joked that Les Dennis was “the dark lord of the song” and called Melinda Messenger a “Vulcan”.

“I went slightly loco,” Perkins told The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2.

She advised: “Routine is pretty good. I normally don’t have routine or structure but I suppose work provides it and you have to suddenly provide your own.

Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins
Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins (PA)

“Don’t punish yourself. Don’t go: ‘At 9am I’m doing Latin and I’m learning Spanish, then I’m trampolining for six hours.’

“It’s a gentler routine of self-care.”

Perkins admitted: “I’m not very good at that and I find myself very dull, so this is a kind of living hell.

“But just give yourself a break if you’re struggling. Humans are very sociable and this is a very unnatural time.

“Get a breather as and when you can, bearing in mind the guidelines, and just try to be decent to yourself and everyone around you as we’re all in this together.”

Meanwhile, comedy partner Mel Giedroyc had some advice of her own: watch a David Essex sitcom.

“It’s a little-known sitcom from 1988 called The River, starring David Essex,” she said. “I’ve watched the whole thing back-to-back.”