By Carly Hacon,Tom Bryant

Copyright dailystar

Thomas Skinner boasted of “cleaning up” during Covid – but one of his firms has yet to repay a £50,000 government loan. The Fluffy Pillow Company, which lists Strictly contestant Tom as its only director, applied for the government scheme in 2020. But five years later, there is no record of it having paid any of the money back. Mr Skinner claimed the pandemic was good for business. The Fluffy Pillow Company’s Instagram page shows Mr Skinner delivering mattresses, beds and pillows throughout 2020. And he said of a second company, Bosh Beds: “We was cleaning up. Everyone’s got loads of money. It was so easy… I put a [social media] post up, it would take £30,000 worth of orders.” He added: “I was riding a wave on the back of Covid… million-pound deals were the norm every couple of months. It was insane.” Mr Skinner first came to public attention on The Apprentice in 2019, which aired months before the pandemic. He said of The Fluffy Pillow Company: “I’d just moved to this lovely house. I’d bought a big car. “It was going so well, and all of a sudden it stopped dead, I thought – I’ve got a baby on the way, what am I going to do?” During lockdown, the business shifted to selling mattresses, with Mr Skinner claiming that he could deliver them across the UK as they were deemed “essential”. By the time the Covid loan scheme opened for applications in May 2020, business was booming, reports The Mirror . Mr Skinner, who is partnered on Strictly with pro dancer Amy Dowden, below, on Strictly, said: “Through the whole first lockdown, we worked seven days a week and non-stop, and because there were no cars around, we were getting sort of 20 to 30 deliveries on the day, going all over the country. “And I thought, ‘wow, we have seriously got a business here’. And we started really cracking on and getting in front. We had no competition. And that is when I’m really starting to earn my money.” Still, The Fluffy Pillow Company applied for the maximum loan of £50,000. The terms of the government loan scheme meant any business which had suffered because of Covid could apply. Mr Skinner had to self-certify his business had previously been turning over £200,000 a year. The loan rules state the firm should have started paying back in 12 months but there is no record of any payment having been made. The £50,000 is listed as being owed in accounts from both 2021 and 2022. Companies House has issued four notices to liquidate the firm with the outstanding debt. Two strike-offs were discontinued, possibly for administrative reasons, and two have been suspended because of an objection. Mr Skinner declined to comment on the reason. Mr Skinner, who formally registered Bosh Beds in October 2020, has said conflicting things as to when The Fluffy Pillow Company stopped trading. Despite its social media showing he and his workers – in The Fluffy Pillow uniforms – delivering goods until December 2020, in one interview he said the business failed when lockdown hit in March 2020. Asked if he had “literally lost your pillow business overnight,” he replied: “Yes… I had been taking a lot of money. I was in a state.” In another interview, he said: “I kept all the guys on and kept trying to keep everything going.” A spokesman for Mr Skinner has not answered questions as to when the firm stopped trading, according to The Mirror. Nor is it clear why Mr Skinner refers to Fluffy Pillows having employees while accounts state it had an average of one employee. In Mr Skinner’s 2023 autobiography, he suggested he had not taken out any form of loan. He wrote: “Some people enjoyed sitting at home getting their furlough money but that wasn’t for me. I could have taken a business loan and stayed at home baking and doing Joe Wicks workouts. “But Covid was another blind-pour moment in my life. After lockdown, the business continued to do well. I took on staff, opened retail units and grew.” Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee previously estimated up to 60% of Covid loans – worth £27billion – might never be repaid. Since joining Strictly Come Dancing , the TV star has been embroiled in a whirlwind of controversy. He publicly admitted to cheating on his wife Sinead weeks after their 2022 wedding, calling it a “brief moment of madness,” which sparked backlash on social media. Tensions escalated when he walked out of a press event after spotting journalists discussing his private life. He also faced legal trouble over his homeware brand using the word “Bosh,” forcing a rebrand. Despite the scandals, Skinner continues on Strictly with professional partner Amy Dowden, determined to focus on dancing and restoring his public image. Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter.