Beauty school cop outs: jamilla paul's diary

Rochdale salon owner Jamilla Paul is fast becoming a familiar face to the nation, mentoring the cast of new reality MTV show Beauty School Cop Outs. In an HJi exclusive, Jamilla is sharing the secrets from the set – read the latest installment of her show diary below…

I’m so gutted; last night was the final episode of MTV’s Beauty School Cop Outs - Tuesday is never going to be the same again without all the crazy tweets and Facebook activity going back and forth. It’s attracted an immense fan base from around the world, and they are all devastated the show is finished. But while the programme may have finished in the UK, it isn’t really over. It is being rolled out internationally to 29 countries and has only just started in some of them - they will continue through until January. MTV is also loading heaps of content onto the website and much of it includes my favourite scenes that didn’t make it to final cut, but where you really get an insight into our fabulous industry. I personally thought one of the best, most exciting opportunities the cast had was taking part in a Wella shoot with Adam Reed - there is now a clip on the website. Adam was fabulous with the cast and they learned first-hand what it takes to make beautiful images on camera. Calvin was so involved. He loved it. I loved it! Another hairdressing task that didn’t make it to final edit had Calvin, Sacha and Tara colouring in my salon – great opportunity for lots of Jamilla Paul branding – and the scene has now made it on to the bonus materials online. The guys did really well and you can see the effort they made. I’m also pleased (and relieved) with the way my appearances have been edited throughout the show. I was there filming 14 hours a day for eight weeks so you could have seen a whole lot more of me than you did, but what was shown has reinforced what I’d said from the start – that professionalism is key. I definitely appear more in the bonus materials and the same tone is retained, which is good, as this is where you see more of the industry. Feedback about these extra clips is really positive, and I’ve had so many people contact me for advice I can’t possible answer them all, which makes me think that a little bit more of the industry on the show would have been welcomed. But hey, I’m a 38-year-old businesswoman with an obsession for hairdressing. I’m not the target demographic, so I accept that just because I thought watching Adam work his magic was fascinating, it might not be the sort of TV that interests self-obsessed teens. The PR has been amazing for my business (and I admit I couldn’t have done it without my own PR, who was my rock through the whole amazing experience), but the show has also reminded me of how brilliantly supportive this industry is. Wella, Denman, Easydry, ghd and Cloud 9 were all incredible with their time and their products, helping the team really build up their kit. As Adam explained to them, it usually takes years to build up a good kit bag. These kids maybe didn’t get a £75 brush in their kit (yes, Adam has a brush that cost £75), but they did very well. Being part of such a huge show is intense and I have learned so much about TV. I have also had the most amazing time and made new friends for life. I totally love the cast, even bad-boy Jeremy. At the end of the day, though, the most important reason for participating was for the exposure, and it’s been incredible. My salon is mega-busy and I’ve had a lot of coverage locally and nationally. And it’s been good for Rochdale. It’s a pretty challenged area, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country so it’s rare for a success story to make it into the national press. So it’s goodbye for now, but thanks for reading my blog. And thanks, of course, to fabulous HJ for being so supportive. I love you guys.