Kaye Adams has opened up about a painful moment early in her career that left her completely gutted — being axed from what she thought was her big break on TV, all because she couldn’t crack a smile.
The Loose Women star was just 24 when she landed a coveted role as a newsreader. It felt like everything was finally coming together — until it wasn’t. Speaking candidly on the Walking the Dog podcast with Emily Dean, Kaye revealed how nerves and inexperience ended up costing her the gig, reported Belfast Live.
“I couldn’t relax into it, and I was too uptight, and it showed,” she admitted. It was a high-pressure role, and Kaye said she just couldn’t loosen up in front of the camera, often going poker-faced.
Her boss at the time, whom she remembers fondly but describes as a “classic gruff Scotsman”, didn’t sugar-coat anything. “I remember him calling me, I’d done the six o’clock news, and he said, ‘Oh, Kaye, I don’t know, can you smile a bit more or something? Or put some blusher on.’ Then he said, ‘No, you’re not doing it anymore.’” Just like that, she was off the presenting team. “I was devastated, I was absolutely devastated because this had been my big opportunity,” she said.
Despite the harsh delivery, Kaye now looks back and says he was “right”. She realises now that she probably took it all a bit too seriously — a combination of pressure, nerves, and wanting to be taken seriously. “I do miss the directness of that world. Sometimes it could be too cruel or harsh, but it worked for me.”
And although she’s come a long way since then, Kaye still admits that being warm and smiley on screen doesn’t come naturally. “For quite a while, I did have to fake the smiles, and I still have to fake it a little bit,” she said. “I am very Scottish and, no disrespect to lovely English people, but they’re lighter and smilier a lot of the time.”
Kaye’s career, of course, didn’t end there. She went on to make a name for herself in current affairs before moving into daytime TV. Since 1999, she’s been a much-loved fixture on Loose Women — minus a brief hiatus — and now shares the panel with the likes of Ruth Langsford, Christine Lampard, and Charlene White.
Reflecting on her shift from news to chat, she said: “In a news and political environment, it is serious and you do want to be taken seriously… Whereas there was a completely different environment with Loose Women and you’re allowed to take that pressure off.”
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