Maxine appeared on the cover of Best magazine
As part of a new series on our blog, we’re interviewing our clients about their experiences with us. Today, its the turn of Maxine Reakes, who appeared in a newspaper, a magazine and on television telling her weight loss story. Here, Maxine talks about the experience of selling her story and how much she earned from it.
How did you hear about Talk to the Press, and why did you decide to contact us?
My husband Justin and I had lost an overwhelming amount of weight together and searched ‘sell your story’ on the internet. We had spoken to other press agencies as well as Talk to the Press, but none of them seem to be that interested and were very slow on the uptake of our story.
What made you want to speak out?
We just thought it would be nice to inspire other people to lose weight. We also thought it would be quite nice to earn some money out of it as well. In the space of 6 months I had lost 11st and my husband had lost 6st.
What was your reaction when you first saw the article?
We were really pleased with the Best magazine article, it was really nice and the photos were great. We were gobsmacked when I saw the headline in The Sun, as it said something like ‘We’ve lost 15 stone and our sex life is better than ever.’ But the story was fine, we were happy with the words. I suppose a headline like that is expected, it is The Sun after all!
What did your friends and family think?
Our friends thought all the articles were really nice and that we looked great in the photographs. They teased us a bit about The Sun headline but we didn’t mind. Soon after I received a few emails from friends who wanted advice about how to lose weight. They would ask what I ate and what exercises I did. It was amazing to be able to share what I’d learned with other people.
How much were you paid ?
We were paid £500 for The Sun article, £500 from Best magazine and £300 for our appearance on GMTV. All in, we made £1300 from selling a happy story about losing weight – and we got to have two photoshoots and to go onto GMTV. We were really pleased.
