Channel 4's Make Me Prime Minister will feature 22-year-old woman from Sussex

Starting tonight at 9.15pm (Tuesday, September 27), hosts Alastair Campbell and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi will put 12 ambitious Brits through their political paces, as they compete to be crowned Channel 4's alternative Prime Minister.

The six-part series will follow the candidates on their campaign trial and will be given a series of prime ministerial style tasks designed to test their leadership skills, resilience and integrity.

Among the contestants is 22-year-old Verity Pitts, from Rustington.

The Worthing restaurant supervisor, who also owns her own local business, spoke to SussexWorld about her experience on the show.

"It was pretty intense like most TV shows probably are,” she said. “It was quite surreal.”

Verity revealed that her friend signed her up to the programme.

She added: “I said I wasn’t really sure but it spiralled from there. I went along to an audition day, thinking I had no chance as I had no political experience whatsoever.

"But then I got a phone call two weeks later and they said pack your bags, you’re going away for four weeks.

“It was all a bit chaotic but definitely worth it.”

Some of the tasks the candidates will be facing are; avoiding an international crisis by negotiating with an enemy of the country; explaining their new education policy to a group of five-year-olds and coping with being scrutinised by the country’s top journalists, with just minutes to prepare.

"You’re split into two teams, in two different cabinet rooms, as you would if you were in Westminster,” Verity revealed.

“You have to create a policy, prove you understand it and create a media law for the press.

"On the end of the final day, in front of a live audience, you face off against each other.

"The two Prime Ministers will go against each other and will battle it out on who has got the better policy.”

Verity said she has ‘always wanted to make a change in the world’.

She said: “I was probably born a feminist. Not a radical feminist, just a genuinely nice person, who just wants equality for everyone.

"Going to an all girls school meant that was instilled into me a bit. Our family dynamic is I am the perfect mix of both my parents, who are both incredibly opinionated, argumentative and determined.

"I just want to live life and have some fun.”

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Former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron will feature on the programme to give advice to the contestants. Filming took place outside North London earlier this year.

"It was all done and dusted within a few months and then you’re back to reality,” Verity said. “It’s all a bit weird trying to keep it a secret.

"You come out of the routine of getting up at at 6.30am and filming until 9.30 at night.

“You don’t think it’s going to come to much then all of a sudden you see a little advert of you on Loose Women and other mainstream TV shows.

"I didn’t do it for the fame. I did it to show you can do what you put your mind to.

"Politics is an open forum and we deserve more equality in the world.”

Verity said she was also trying to show that young people can get into politics, adding: “You should be allowed to.”

Verity said she enjoyed starring in the show alongside Alastair Campbell – a journalist best known for his role as Tony Blair’s spokesman – and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a lawyer and politician, who is a member of the House of Lords.

She said the hosts were not as ‘scary’ as they might across on TV, adding: “Alastair is one big joker.

“You will be filming a scene and we’ll have to do it again as he has made one of us laugh.”

As a newly diagnosed Type One diabetic, Verity did face some challenges whilst on set but praised the show, and her co-contestants, for they way they supported her.

Verity was described on the Channel 4 website as someone who is ‘infuriated by the lack of female voices in politics’ and feels there ‘still isn’t a platform for women to be heard’.

The contestant profile added: “She is passionate about voting and encourages other women to vote in her local town.

“Describing herself as adventurous, spontaneous and independent, Verity has previously campaigned at Black Lives Matter, equality and climate change protests.

"Verity would like the series to show that ‘women are exactly the same and equal to men’ and if she were leader, she wants to change the world, ‘but not in a power-hungry way’.”

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