By Bryony Gordon,Editor

Copyright dailymail

I have a confession to make: until a few days ago, I had absolutely no idea who Thomas Skinner was. Not a single scooby.

I was completely – some might say blissfully – unaware of his existence, as I am of about three-quarters of the people considered famous nowadays.

Is this to do with my advancing age, or the strange nature of social media which makes celebrities out of random people we would otherwise never have heard of?

I once saw a man get mobbed in a Devon branch of Morrisons, and when I asked the check-out girl who he was, she told me he had been on Too Hot To Handle.

‘On what?’ I asked, and she silently weighed my carrots with a look that suggested I was a lost cause. Maybe I am. Thank God, then, for Strictly, which dutifully skims off the creme de la creme of reality television and social media every year and makes them proper stars by getting them to do the pasodoble for Craig Revel Horwood.

Because of Strictly I’ve heard of Tasha Ghouri (Love Island), Pete Wicks (TOWIE), Fleur East (The X Factor), and now Thomas Skinner (The Apprentice, apparently).

Where has this man been all of my life? Perhaps it’s best if nobody answers that.

Anyway, having spent 45 and a bit years knowing nothing at all about Thomas Skinner, I now know far more than is normal, or, indeed, healthy.

I know that he was fired by Lord Sugar in week nine of series 15 of The Apprentice; that his catchphrase is ‘Bosh!’; that he has an unlikely friendship with US Vice President JD Vance; that he stormed out of a Strictly press conference earlier this month; that he started an affair with a beauty clinic owner mere moments after he married the mother of his three children; that he was captured begging his mistress to let him in to her home on some Ring doorbell footage; that he was briefly the voice of the Elizabeth Line and has designed a range of memory foam pillows.

This might surprise you given his somewhat pitiful behaviour, but the more I learn about Thomas Skinner, the more I find myself liking him.

Indeed, I might even go as far as to nail my Strictly colours to the mast right now, before the first episode has actually aired (always risky): I think I am Team Thomas all the way. I will be voting for him, regardless of whether or not he dances like a dad after one too many pints of lager (which, let’s face it, is exactly how he’s going to dance, right?).

It’s not that I condone his behaviour. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in any sort of relationship with him. It’s just that I can’t help but admire the way he’s dealt with the very public airing of his (mis)conduct, quickly holding his hands up and admitting that he’s been a total pillock.

M aybe it’s because I’ve also been badly behaved in the past, and now get up to nothing wilder than fantasising about the song I might dance to if I was ever lucky enough to make it to Musicals Week of Strictly (Burn from Hamilton, since you’re asking), but I have a soft spot for reformed characters who are simply trying to do their best.

‘My life ain’t perfect,’ Skinner wrote in a post on social media earlier this week. ‘I’ve made big mistakes, I’ve let people down, and done things I’ll always regret in my past. The worst was what I did to my wife three and a half years ago… one stupid moment I’ll carry for ever.’

‘I told her straight away,’ he continued, referring to Sinead, the woman he cheated on. ‘She had every right to leave me back then, but she forgave me… and that forgiveness changed my life.’

A couple of days later he wrote another post, which he quickly deleted. ‘When you make a mistake, no matter how long ago or how big or small, there are only three things you should do about it: admit it, learn from it, and definitely don’t repeat it,’ he wrote. I wish he hadn’t deleted this post, because there’s more wisdom in it than I’ve seen on the whole of X since Elon Musk turned it into a sort of modern-day, digital lunatic asylum. If only more people reflected on their actions like Skinner and made an attempt to ‘do better’, as the young folk like to say on social media.

Bafflingly, there have been calls for Strictly to axe Skinner, as if he’s some tax-dodging politician or Epstein-enabling US ambassador. What are we wanting to punish the 34-year-old for, exactly? Being a human and making some errors of judgment? Actually owning up to them and trying to change?

We live in an age of cancellation and condemnation, and while I’m all for holding people accountable for their ghastly behaviour, I can’t see how Skinner’s actions years ago are any worse than those of the average social media ‘star’ you’ve never heard of.

Maybe he’ll prove me wrong, and disgrace himself on Strictly before we’ve even managed to get to Movie Week. But until then, I’m giving Thomas Skinner a chance because, as he himself would no doubt agree, I should be allowed to make my own mistakes and learn from them.

My girl crush on fun loving Margot Robbie

Is anyone else completely in love with Margot Robbie? My girl crush only gets wilder every time I see her promoting her new movie, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. I think it has something to do with knowing the Australian used to live in a flatshare in Clapham, where she loved to boogie in a sticky South London nightclub nearby. You can take the girl out of Infernos, but you can’t take the Infernos out of the girl!

The new M&S range? I want it all

I’ve said it before and I will no doubt say it again: M&S deserves some sort of national honour. Not just for managing to get through the nightmare hacking ordeal which took down its online operations for months earlier this year, but for consistently managing to design clothes that have achieved the impossible – completely eradicating the dowdy legacy of the St Michael label. I want every single item of the new winter collection.

According to experts at Harvard, ‘man flu’ might not be a figment of the opposite sex’s imagination, with data showing blokes are hospitalised more often for influenza. I might have more sympathy if my husband was kinder when I get ill. He retires to bed for a week with a cold, while I have to clean up after myself when I’m incapacitated by norovirus.

Make mine a Special Brew!

Did anyone else find themselves stifling a snigger when they heard that the infamous Tramp nightclub in Mayfair is opening a wellness centre called Tramp Health? What will the wealthy clientele be paying for then? Cans of Special Brew and a lie down on a park bench? Honestly, the super rich will swallow anything if you shove a ridiculous enough price tag on it.

Want to feel better: Leave the house

I was saddened to read that two-thirds of Gen Z adults regularly refuse to leave the house, preferring instead to engage in ‘bed rot’. According to research, only a quarter of people from all generations make an effort to venture outside daily. If there’s one positive thing we can do for our mental health, it’s connecting with nature to remind ourselves the world is still spinning.