Rita Simons is best known for her role as Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders, but long before she made her debut in Walford, the star was showcasing her singing talents in girl band Girls@Play. The group consisted of five girls, with each of them having a different character to play in their music videos. Rita was a mechanic, while other characters included a cowgirl, pilot and traffic cop. The band released two singles – Airhead and Respectable – back in 2001, and even toured with Hear'Say and Steps. Rita was quizzed about her time in the group during an interview on The Paul O'Grady show in 2009, telling Paul that she missed her days touring with the girls. "I really, really enjoyed singing with the girls and travelling, doing all the singing and dancing." After watching a clip of herself in a music video, she then joked: "My costumes now are worse than that," referring to her outfits in EastEnders.
Rita Simons in girl band Girls@Play
The mum-of-two has been a popular camp mate on this year's I'm A Celebrity, and earlier in the week successfully completed a major Bushtucker trial with John Barrowman and James McVey, where they undertook the Australian Outback challenge. Rita has formed close friendships in the jungle, although hunger got the better of her on Wednesday night when she snapped at John after they disagreed over the amount of rice that should be cooked. Rita's hair has also been a topic of much discussion during her time in the jungle, as viewers have been wondering how she has managed to maintain her newly-dyed pink shade. Taking to Twitter during the show, one fan wrote: "How is Rita's hair still pink?! Whenever I've dyed mine pink it lasted about 8 seconds!" Another said: "Very intrigued to see what Rita Simons' hair will look like in a few weeks."
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Rita went on to play Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders
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The former soap star has her friends and family behind her as she participates in I'm A Celebrity, not least her former co-star, Samantha Womack, who played her on-screen sister Ronnie Mitchell. Samantha has been regularly tweeting her support for Rita, most recently writing: "Just caught up with my little belter @OfficialRita in @imacelebrity at the challenges and couldn’t be prouder. My favourite however was watching her scoff her face with a buffet dinner! Erm......What happened to kangaroo balls???"
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