Take Me Out contestant Wen-Jing Mo has come clean about her past life as a £200-per-hour prostitute.
The 28-year-old, who won a date with former escort Aaron Withers on the show last Saturday (January 7), explained that she was "desperate" for money when the salon she had an apprenticeship at went bust.
"Looking back now of course I regret doing it - but at the time it was a lifeline for me," she told The Mirror. "I think a lot of other people in my position would do the same if it meant they could eat properly - I saw it as a matter of survival."
Mo was signed to a London escort agency for six months at the age of 18 after falling into massive debt. She claimed to have a CCJ out after failing to pay council tax for almost a year.
"Looking back at that period of my life is incredibly difficult for me - and some of the memories are seriously unpleasant," she said. "I've worked hard to block a lot of them out and start again, but some of the clients were very rude and obnoxious - very scary sometimes.
"On at least one occasion I threw the guy's cash back in his face and ran off. Often I was just grateful just to get away safely."
Mo said she hoped that Take Me Out would mark the beginning of a new chapter in her life.
"When I applied to go on Take Me Out I was genuinely looking for love," she claimed. "I've moved on with my life and the show seemed like a good fun way of perhaps meeting someone new. I didn't want my past to get in the way of that, or for anyone to prejudge me."
Mo, a victim of domestic assault, yesterday blasted Withers for covering up an assault conviction stemming from a fight with a man and his girlfriend.
A TV source said of the latest Take Me Out revelation: "The fact that both the stars of its first show have worked as escorts is incredible to say the least. It's hardly the sort of image that ITV would want to be associated with."
