Alex Sim-Wise took time out to chat to me about her move from modelling into writing and presenting and spilled the beans about some of the challenges she has faced on her way up the ladder.
Q1, Please introduce yourself to those who don't know you?
Hello, I am Alex and I am a girl and I like all kinds of shit and I am a nerd.
By Alex Sim-Wise, age 8.
Q2, Please give us a brief history on Alex Sim-Wise?
Well I was born, and then I grew up, and lived in some city that was a bit of a shithole and tried to be a chav but it didn’t really work out. Then I moved to London and had no friends because I didn’t have a mobile phone and wasn’t posh or Jewish, so I played a lot of video games and didn’t leave my room, only to be co-erced out of it to go to university, where I became a cheerleader, and turned into a tosser. Thankfully I had nice friends and they turned me back nice again so I left university with a degree in nerd, started modeling, made a Myspace, it got big, and I got a job writing for FRONT. People saw my writing and thought I might be good on the telly and the radio, so I went on the telly and the radio, and that is all there is to tell so far.
Q3, What has been your worst job so far in your working career?
My worst job ever was my first job that I got from the Job Centre when I was 16, where they sent me to work as a breakfast waitress at the Royal Air Force Club in Piccadilly. I had to get up at 5am in the morning every Saturday and Sunday only to be shouted at and called ‘Maid’ by senile posh people who smelled like farts. It was fully grim.
Q4, How did you get in to your former career of modelling?
I entered a student competition in FHM when I was in my final year of University and won it, and kind of got into it from there. It was a completely different industry then to what it is now, and the fake tanned/fake tit look was huge so I never really fitted in but I grew to like being different and now it’s one of my strengths.
Modeling was fun, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It can be a bit shallow and there are sides of the industry that I really disliked, but overall I had a really positive experience and worked with some amazing people, like the shoots I did for Rankin - they were so rad! Definitely the highlight of my career.
I’m semi-retired now, so I still do the odd shoot but it has to be something really special or exciting. I’m getting psyched about my next shoot for FRONT right now though as we’re gonna get a bit gory. Yeah!
Q5, Why have you decided to move from that and into presenting and writing?
I didn’t really decide, it just happened. I studied to be a writer at University and had a placement at a film magazine after I graduated. Then modeling came along and I got caught up in that, but I continued to write blogs on my Myspace which was what got me my initial column with FRONT. Then their games guy left and they offered me the job as their Games Editor which was sick as I love games, it’s pretty much all I do.
Presenting I got into via James Brown from Loaded. He’d seen and liked my column in FRONT and contacted Joe (my editor) to see if I could present. I did a screen test that went well and I got my own show on Sumo TV called ‘In Bed With Sim-Wise’ which should have been known as ‘What happens if you stick two mental people in a room with a camera and shittonnes of Red Bull’. It was completely insane, but off the back of it I got a showreel and a TV agent which was nice. Since then I’ve worked for Current TV, Channel 5, and I’m now the official London correspondent for G4TV, a TV show/network in the States. There’s loads of other stuff in the pipeline too, but I probably can’t talk about any of it just yet which sucks!
Q6, How do you have your bacon sandwich?
Not badly packed.
Q7, Getting serious, would you say that older games systems like the NES, Mega Drive etc have games that are better than more recently released ones? If so, give an example if you can?
Oh for sure, I guess the best example would be Sonic the Hedgehog as it is a sick game but it’s never really worked on next generation consoles as they always try to make it all fancy and 3D. Even if you play the old games now it’s addictive as hell and the 2D graphics don’t seem to matter. I mean, I’m a massive graphics hound - I’m all into amazing looking games like Heavenly Sword and Final Fantasy XIII - but sometimes gameplay can override graphics, as is the case with Sonic. When I heard that Sonic 4 was going back to basics I got sooooo psyched!
Q8, Which game do you think could be a great contender for the worst game ever?
Most movie tie-in games are terrible, but the worst game I’ve played recently was the new Prince of Persia. I got so pissed off with it I just threw it down and walked out.
Q9, What Game, Comic and / or Graphic novel would you say were completely essential purchases?
Game: Silent Hill for the PS1 - the ultimate game as far as I am concerned! It’s scary, atmospheric, has an ace story, and is truly truly addictive. Plus the nurses! They are pretty much straight up amazing.
Comic: Kick-Ass - they actually didn't finish writing the comics until after the film rights had been bought, but they are so so good, and really gory which is always a plus!
Graphic Novel: Alan Moore’s From Hell - I used to read it a lot when I was younger as I was obsessed with Jack the Ripper. It’s such an epic story, I love the attention to detail it has and all the sub stories it litters throughout about the royal family and Masonic architecture.
Q10, Have you ever met someone who you respected and they were really rude to you? Name and shame if you like.
Fearne Cotton. When I went to work for Radio 1 I was really looking forward to meeting her, but she wouldn’t give me the time of day. I totally got the cold-shoulder, which was a shame as I always thought she came across as really nice on TV. I was well disappointed.
Q11, In your free time (if you have any), what web sites would you recommend to waste your time on?
World of Warcraft is the best waste of time known to man, and is sort of a website in that it’s online and you have to go onto a website to access it ;) Other than that I go to Kotaku for games news, UK Resistance for retro gamer stuff, Theboobs which is like a trendy blog thing that makes me laugh, and Vice.com or Platform for like articles and shiz.
Q12, So, Twilight or Blade and why?
Blade, Twilight is for fannies. Even Blade Trinity is good, but that’s mainly because I love Ryan Reynolds and his silly Chevy Chase face.
Q13, With your TV presenting and writing work, how do you juggle the pair?
Well... I freelance at both so it’s not too difficult, they don’t really clash as I can write whenever (usually during the middle of the night as I’m a bit of a night hawk.)
Q14, Do prefer one over the other? Do you find one easier?
I prefer writing as I get to express myself more, but presenting is really fun so I guess they are both good!
Q15, where do you want to take your presenting and writing? Do you want to take it into any other fields?
It’s hard to say as I was never one of those kids who wanted to be famous so I’m just happy to work hard and see where things take me. I don’t have a master plan although my own flat would be nice, so whatever it takes to make enough money to get one of those would be grand.
Q16, Where can we see you on TV?
On G4! Although they don’t broadcast in the UK, you can normally see short clips of what I do for them over at http://g4tv.com
Also, I’m working on some other secret projects so I may be on other stuff soon too, watch this space!
Thanks Alex, I most certainly will be!
Till the next time....
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