Ulster Beauties To Put Their Specs On –  April 2007

 

Star launches Specsavers contest in Ulster

 

Saturday, March 31, 2007

 

By Linda McKee

 

Stunning actress Jodi Albert has revealed how she and Westlife boyfriend Kian Egan love the chilled-out vibe of the modern Northern Ireland.

 

The former Hollyoaks actress and her other half own a house together in Sligo and regularly travel to Belfast when the boys are in town for a concert.

 

She says she loves the great shops and the warm welcome extended to her.

 

"When the boys are here doing concerts, I am usually off work and I come with them," she says.

 

"We have a house in Sligo. I love Ireland and coming to Northern Ireland - it's a real chilled-out vibe."

 

Jodi, who used to play Debbie Dean in Hollyoaks, described how the pair became friends when she was 15 and performing in Girl Thing, a girl band managed by Simon Cowell.

 

"We met when I was in the girl band and Kian was signed to the same label," Jodi says.

 

"We got together when I was 19. We live together now because we are both so busy."

 

As for Kian's former bandmate Brian McFadden and his troubled divorce from his ex-wife, Kerry Katona, Jodi says she couldn't even begin to get a handle on the situation, although Brian is still a friend.

 

"Kerry was a bit before my time, and Brian left Westlife about a year after we got together," she says.

 

After leaving Hollyoaks, Jodi played a comedy role in the Channel 5 sitcom Respectable and is about to start shooting an episode of Casualty.

 

She was in Belfast last night to launch the search for the best- looking bespectacled beauty in Northern Ireland.

 

Specsavers is looking for gorgeous specs wearers, aged 18 to 30, to enter the 2007 Spectacle Wearer of the Year competition.

 

The Northern Ireland winner could be in with a shot at a year's modelling contract with leading London agency MOT and a two- week holiday for two in Barbados or St Lucia courtesy of Almond Resorts and Virgin Holidays.

 

The Northern Ireland final is on August 8 and the competition will culminate in a star-studded grand final in London in October, attended by Rod Stewart's daughter, Kimberley, and other celebs.

 

Although Jodi doesn't need glasses, she admits to being tempted by the latest in "killer" fashion accessories.

 

"My boyfriend wears them and I find him wearing glasses very sexy. They have much more of a sexy image than they used to," she says.

 

"It makes me want to wear them, even though I don't have anything wrong with my eyes. I think they look really cool with a nice little outfit.

 

"I think wearing a nice white shirt and jeans and then putting on a cool pair of glasses - it's just rocking the outfit a bit."

 

l To enter the competition or nominate someone else, pick up an application form from Specsavers or log on to www.specsavers.co.uk

 

Credit/Source: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk