WHEN Jennifer Metcalfe’s boyfriend posted a picture of her scrubbing the loo in a skimpy thong, he revealed more than just the Hollyoaks bombshell’s pert bottom.
Greg Lake’s cheeky Instagram snap, which went viral, showed the actress on all fours wearing just a pair of tiny Calvin Klein pants with the caption: “When you’re in isolation and she’s OCD.”
And Jen says it is not the first time she has got her hands dirty, as she used to work as a cleaner before getting her big break in telly.
The Bradford-born soap star, who has played Mercedes McQueen since 2006, revealed: “When I was in college I did a part-time cleaning job for some offices and really enjoyed it.
“It’s so therapeutic, good for the mind. Clean home, clean mind. And I’m really good at it, I just love scrubbing.”
Asked if she was ever tempted to wear just a pair of knickers in her old job, the 36-year-old joked: “They wouldn’t allow me to, I had to wear clothes. That’s why I only lasted a year, I got bored.”
Jen has even considered returning to cleaning when her acting days are over, swapping the world of soaps for, er, soap.
She said: “I swear if I wasn’t on Hollyoaks I’d set up my own cleaning company.
“I think everybody’s got a little OCD about different things. I need it to be tidy, but not necessarily clean.
“But once I start cleaning, everything needs to be scrubbed down so you can eat your dinner off it. Once I start I can’t really stop.
“The other day I started with the bathroom, then I had a shower, put on my clean thong and clean socks and went back for round two.”
Jen says she wasn’t angry at former Geordie Shore star Greg, her boyfiend since 2013 and dad of her two-year-old son Daye, for posting the snap. She said: “He told me, but I didn’t realise he got my a*** in it.
“He wouldn’t have put it out if it had looked bad. If he had got another angle, it could have been bad news.”
Jen’s curves also hit the headlines in 2010 after she underwent liposuction on her bottom and thighs. She said afterwards: “I had the smallest area on my body that I didn’t like so I thought, ‘I want to get rid of it’.”
Since joining Hollyoaks Jen’s man-eating character has dabbled in prostitution, stalking, murder plots and seven weddings to five husbands.
The role has seen her nominated for Sexiest Female soap star 14 times and she took home the gong in 2015.
While Mercedes is all stilettos and glamour, Jen reveals the minute she is through the front door of her Manchester home it is a very different story.
She said: “Mercedes takes up too much energy. It’s good going in every day, putting on the killer heels and giving it some of her, but when I go home I couldn’t be further from it. I never ever wear make-up.
“I have hardly any clothes around the house just because I can’t be bothered washing them after.
“All day, every day, it’s jogging bottoms and baggy T-shirts, and not like the cute kind. They’re pure baggy, horrible and grotty.”
In a previous interview, Jen admitted that “nine times of ten” she and Greg won’t bother showering before they go out for a fancy dinner. She now jokes that social distancing would make this behaviour more acceptable as: “No one’s sat that close to smell you.”
Many Hollyoaks stars have had ambitions to crack Hollywood, though only a handful have made it in Tinseltown.
But Jen says she doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of former co-stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Ricky Whittle and Rachel Shenton across the pond. She said: “I’ve never been to America. It’s fine, because on Hollyoaks you don’t really get that many days holiday, so to go there you’d need to use most of your holiday. I’ve always been happy with my European trips and little weekends away.
“Before Daye we used to fly to a different city once a month. But that’s gone out of the window now.
“It’s really important to enjoy what you’re doing and love what you’re doing.
“If it felt like I needed to move on then I’d deal with that then, but I’ve never really aspired for Hollywood. And I don’t know whether they would get my Northern accent.
“But never say never. If I was out of work, I’d check it out, just not at the minute.”
Hollyoaks, like all of the other major soaps, hasn’t escaped the Covid-19 pandemic, with bosses pulling the plug on filming and reducing the number of episodes a week to keep it on air as long as possible. To fill the gap, Channel 4 is showing classic episodes including one of Mercedes’ weddings, her 2013 nuptials to Dr Browning.
Asked if she would like a career to rival Coronation Street legend Bill Roache, who is still playing Ken Barlow after 59 years, Jen said: “I don’t know. At the minute I’m fine until next September.
“I just signed a new contract and I’ve got so many exciting things coming up. I just take each contract as it comes and I feel very happy to be there until next September.
“With the way things are going, I think there’s going to be lots of weekend shoots and 14-hour days.
“I’m looking forward to raising morale. Cracking on, getting the show back on then enjoying the remainder of this contract. We’ll see what’s next.”
- Hollyoaks, Monday and Tuesday, Channel 4, 6.30pm and Hollyoaks Favourites, Wednesday to Friday, E4, 7pm.
