But there was one final blog left to come.
Unknown to Jodie on the 13th of October, the day of
the TASTS final, the Scottish Sun had printed a short article, in which the
"nutty glamour girl" was accused of stalking "TV dance hunk" Ben. Dawn being
a Glasgow girl the story fell under the heading of local interest. The piece
relied heavily on quotes from Marsh's own blogs, a fact that seemed to
escape her.
Exactly when she was made aware of its existence is impossible
to say but it would seem that she had a few weeks to consider her words
carefully before penning her blog of November the 9th.
Now that I have seen the story in the Sun
I am forced to tell the truth. I will not have people thinking that I'm a
bitch who goes after other girl's men and that I am an unstoppable man-eater
who doesn't care about anyone's feelings but my own (which is what the story
made me out to be). In fact, the truth is the complete opposite. I did
everything in my power to SAVE their stupid relationship and I even lied for
Ben to pretend that he did nothing wrong. You see, it IS true that I fancied
him and it is true that I made it clear I would have been with him but also
it is true that HE came onto me, sent me dirty pictures of himself and led
me to believe that he would leave Dawn (not for me but just because things
weren't right with her anyway).
As far as the people who read my blog
knew; I was in the wrong, I had held my hands up to that, I looked like a
weirdo bunny boiler and it was finished. I was quite prepared to let
everybody believe that was what had happened and to take all blame for the
sake of saving their embarrassment and relationship.
I know that I shouldn't have sent him
pictures and that I shouldn't have even flirted with him but on our first
day together [when Dawn was present] he told me that things weren't working
out with her anyway. He told me that she had wanted him to pull out of the
show from the minute she heard he would be working with me and when he
refused, she made him sleep on the sofa. You see, he led me to believe that
their relationship was completely on the rocks before I even came into the
equation. Plus, of course, nobody can help the way they feel about someone
and it was obvious I fancied him.
I'm sure any girls out there reading this
can understand what it is like to fall for a man, to desperately want to be
with him and to have to walk away and do the right thing. This is all I did.
I fell for the wrong person but I walked away and did the right thing in the
end... but even when I did the right thing I had it thrown back in my face.
It hurt me to do the right thing cos at that moment the LAST thing I wanted
to do was to walk away. Deep down I wanted to beg him to be with me. I
wanted him to leave a relationship that clearly wasn't that great to begin
with and to be with me for a lifetime of happiness. (09/11/06)
Once again, Jodie failed to grasp that she resembled a "weirdo
bunny boiler" long before she made her apology to Dawn. One only has to
refer to her blog entries of late August and early September to see that she
was behaving in a totally inappropriate and unprofessional manner while
working on TASTS . What to Jodie was a form of flirting was to many readers
a mortifying, disrespectful, insensitive, hurtful and wholly unacceptable
way in which to treat a younger colleague.
Where she admitted any wrongdoing it was only in reference to
the fact that Ben was involved in a long-term relationship at the time of
her pursuit. It did not seem to occur to the prolific blogger that detailing
your most intimate thoughts about someone - especially someone you work with
- on a public platform was in any way improper or imprudent to begin with.
Of course, to Jodie keeping the kind of diary that would shame a savvy
sixteen year old is "keeping it real." So filled with self-importance is she
that she cannot understand that her relentless confessional blogging amounts
to little more than an unpaid kiss and tell.
Furthermore, the blog's admission of guilt was negated by her
many excuses - he flirted with her; he led her to believe the relationship
was over; she couldn't help how she felt; Dawn was a cow anyway... We, as
women, should understand, and feel pity for her, as if hers was somehow a
standard female experience. Four times Marsh protests that she did the
"right thing" - seemingly not for its own sake but in anticipation that Ben
would be grateful. And what was the "right thing"? An apology she did not
mean and a promise she did not keep.
Her own words damn her more than any journalist's ever could.
Sadly, Jodie is unable to verify her claim that Ben sent nude
pictures of himself to her as between her discovery of the Scottish Sun
article and her blog of the 9th
of November her mobile phone was, apparently, stolen while she holidayed in
Valencia. Remarkably, her phone was taken while she was in the act of
writing up her blog; and what is even more surprising, she went on to finish
the entry, recording the theft, after the crime had been committed.
Right hang on................... my phone has just been
stolen. Can you f*cking believe it???? By two motherf*cking peasant kids.
C*NTS!!!!!!!!! C*nts, c*nts, c*nts. I hope they die of some hideous disease.
I´m sitting here typing away when two little brats (can´t have been any
older than 10 years old) come in and start waving newspapers in my face.
They were literally hitting my face with the papers and I waved them away
saying "English!" - of course the peasants don´t speak a word of English.
They ran out of the shop taking my phone with them, which was lying next to
the keyboard. I have now cancelled it and am stuck in this sh*tty town til
tomorrow. Wanna come home NOW!!!!!!!!!!! I´m not gonna write anymore now as
I am too pissed off at the thieving c*nts. I chased them out of the shop 30
seconds after I realised what they had done but they had long gone! (and I
also realised that I would have had absolutely no problem in pinning them
against a brick wall and doing them some damage (who gives a f*ck if they´re
only ten - they knew full well what they were doing and they have just
caused me the biggest load of grief). I am going to be keeping the same
number but it probably won´t be on again for another week so any mates
reading this will need to get in touch in a week or so. Write again when I´m
back in England... ...The whole world is sh*t. In England I get grief and
jealousy and weirdos and in a foreigh country I get robbed. You can´t win. I
need to buy my own island where only nice people are allowed to live there.
A whole island full of intelligent, fun, successful, nice, genuine people.
This is sooooooo wrong! God I hate Valencia. No one even speaks English to
be able to help me find the kids and beat them over the head. These kids
must work this area all the time. They knew exactly what they were doing.
(31/10/06)
It should also be noted that this is not the first time Marsh
has claimed to possess saucy snaps that she has been unable to produce when
called to. In 2005 footballer Frank Lampard complained to the Press
Complaints Commission that an article which appeared in the News of the
World on the 3rd of October 2004 alleging that he had enjoyed a "secret
fling" with Marsh, who had taken and retained explicit pictures as evidence,
was inaccurate. Ms Marsh was subsequently force to admit that sexual
intercourse had not taken place nor did she possess any explicit photographs
of the Chelsea FC player.
http://www.pcc.org.uk/cases/adjudicated.html?article=MjE0OQ==
http://www.pcc.org.uk/cases/adjudicated.html?article=MjE0OQ==
And, like Frank Lampard before him, Ben Harrold strenuously
denies any romantic or sexual involvement with Marsh.
I never did lead Jodie on at all. Nor did
I have any intention of leaving Dawn for her. I am in love with Dawn and
no-one will be able to change that or make me leave our relationship for any
reason. Our relationship was never on the rocks.
Dawn did not request that I leave the
show as she is very professional - it was work that we both agreed to do and
we would not even think about pulling out because of a small thing like
this.
With regards to the photos... I would
like to see Jodie PROVE that I sent pictures to her.
As for saying that I came on to her and
that I would leave Dawn because things weren't right anyway, it is just some
little girl's imagination. In my opinion, she just wanted something that she
couldn't have and now that she looks a little silly she's trying to stir up
trouble between Dawn and myself. We didn't do anything wrong; all we did was
do a job at the end of the day and we remained professional.
http://jodiemush.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=605.0 (09/11/06)
http://jodiemush.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=605.0 (09/11/06)
An overwhelmingly apologetic e-mail sent by Jodie to Ben on
the 15th of October, two days after the TASTS final, lends
credence to his claim.
In the three months since TASTS ended, despite a
resolution to stay single, Marsh has been involved in a "threesome
relationship" with two men she affectionately nicknamed her "two hubbies"
which ended when it transpired both men had girlfriends; and in December
2006 she announced her engagement to DJ Dave Doyle who was due to marry his
girlfriend of four years in Thailand the following February. Eschewing the
traditional engagement ring, Marsh instead opted to have Doyle's full name
tattooed about her hand and the couple appeared together in OK!
magazine announcing their plan to marry in a fetish ceremony. The
relationship lasted a matter of weeks and Marsh has since had her tattoo
transformed into a tribal band with rosary beads.
Ben and Dawn are together still and say that their experience
with Jodie Marsh has made their relationship stronger than ever.
L. D. Currie, February 2007