SHE is This Morning’s glamorous new face of gardening, eschewing muddy boots and dungarees in favor of blow-dried blonde locks and floral dresses.
And Daisy Payne has revealed that she can follow in the footsteps of Charlie Dimmock – “only with very small breasts.”
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Fans of BBC makeover show ground troopswhich ended in 2005, will remember how co-host Charlie ditched her bra.
And when The Sun asked Daisy in an exclusive chat if she always wears one, the 25-year-old beauty confided: “You know what? I don’t really.
“That was the thing in lockdown – we didn’t have to wear a bra and it was lovely.
“But now I have to get back into society and I’m like, ‘Oh God, I have to wear a bra now.’
“I love a crop top though — that’s my vibe. Nothing with underwire, thank you — not interested.”
And Daisy bills herself as “Charlie 2.0” by challenging the male-dominated world of TV gardeners.
She added: “Charlie is amazing and she still does so many brilliant things.
“I think gardening is becoming more and more diverse. Charlie Dimmock 2.0 – I’ll take that.’
Daisy started her Instagram in January 2019 after growing a few lettuce leaves and causing her to turn a “square brown soil” in her new-build home in Cirencester, Gloucs, into a blooming patch of color.
She said: “I got a vegetable garden and built it in the garden and started growing my own vegetable garden.
Her grandfather, who inspired her to spend more time outdoors, died of Covid in 2020 – and she was given an allotment garden a short time later.
‘Challenging the stereotype is important to me’
She told OK! magazine, it helped her cope with the grief during “a very difficult period.”
In March 2021, while in her pajamas watching Netflix, Daisy received an email from This morning bosses who spotted her talent online.
She said: “My Instagram really started in lockdown as we all struggled with things to do and keep busy.
“And with any luck, the producers of This Morning saw what I was doing on Instagram and YouTube – and here we are.”
A month later, Daisy made her live debut to a million viewers on the ITV daytime show.
She said: “I love This Morning. It’s that feeling of going live and thinking, ‘What’s going to happen next?’”
The rising TV star has quit her communications job to shrug off her new colleagues Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield.
Daisy added: “One minute you’re foraging in your garden and the next you’re doing live television on This Morning. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
And after learning her rose rhododendrons from a stack of horticultural books, the self-taught gardener is determined to make her newfound passion more accessible to others who want to try it.
She said: “I don’t come from horticulture. I actually found it really hard to get into at first because there was so much jargon and it felt quite inaccessible.
“But that felt like the chance to go, ‘You know what? People like me can garden and it’s that easy.
“It’s interesting to learn why plants are called certain things, but you don’t necessarily have to use Latin words. Just go in for the pleasure of gardening.
“I’m just a normal girl and I think that’s very important because we have to see real life. We don’t need to complicate things.”
Daisy wants to break the stereotypes associated with her job and has no plans to ditch her manicures and designer handbags anytime soon.
She said: “I think there’s a perception that if you have long blond hair and beautiful nails, you can’t be a gardener – you’re just a beautiful girl.
“I just don’t think it is. You can be intelligent and have more arrows to your bow.
“Challenging that stereotype is very important to me.”
But despite appearing regularly on TV, Daisy says she still has to “squeeze” herself when she meets television legends, such as her garden hero. Alan Titchmarshwhom she met at the Royal Windsor Flower Show last month.
She recalled: “It was really cool because I was like, ‘Oh my God – it’s Alan. What a legend!’”
“It’s really wonderful when you meet your heroes and they are lush. He was very sweet and warm and just like he is on television.”
And Daisy began to realize that she was slowly becoming a household name when she was first approached by a fan last month as she got on a London tube.
She revealed: “This lady came by and I could see it on her face. I thought, ‘Do I know her from work or from somewhere?’
‘She looked at me and when we got on the train she said, ‘Are you Daisy from This Morning?’
“I just thought ‘Oh God’. It was just a moment for me. I came home and I thought, ‘It’s happening!’ That was funny.”
Daisy thinks it would be a “dream” to follow in the footsteps of Alison Hammond and Josie Gibson who rose through the ranks on This Morning to sit on the couch next to Philip.
‘Maybe my Mr Right is at the garden center’
She said, ‘Well, I guess it’s everyone’s dream job, isn’t it?
‘Who knows where all this will take me? I will take any opportunity that comes my way if it feels right and just be myself.
“If I can continue to do what I do, I will be very happy. Maybe the future will present more stuff – and that would be great, because I love it.
“It’s really encouraging to have people like Alison and Josie around because it makes you feel like you can be yourself and not have to pretend.
“I love that because it just makes you feel so much more confident.”
Meanwhile, Daisy has yet to find her Mr Right among the flowerbeds in her allotment.
When asked if gardening is the way to find love, Daisy replied, “I don’t think so. I haven’t found it yet.
“However, I don’t have time. Maybe my Mr Right hangs in the garden center.
“You never know – I could bump into him with my cart.”
Daisy revealed that she is inundated with messages for gardening tips.
She said: “It feels like such a beautiful chapter in my life right now.
“Being part of the This Morning family is just amazing – and it really is a family.
“And also to make gardening really accessible and a bit glamorous, shall we say. A bit trendy and cool and to take it to the next generation.”
“I’m just a girl who likes dresses and digs – you can do it all.”
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