Karen Dunbar revealed she earned more from hosting karaoke than starring in first series of Chewin’ the Fat
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Speaking at an International Women’s Day debate, Dunbar, 51, also recalled feeling ‘ashamed’ after getting paid more when BBC Scotland’s sketch show took off.
The Ayrshire-born actress said there was still an unwillingness to discuss fair pay in the entertainment industry and blamed the “class system” for deep-rooted inequalities.
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Hide AdDunbar broke into the industry after attending open auditions hosted by The Comedy Unit, the production company behind Only An Excuse and Rab C Nesbitt.
Following the success of Chewin’ the Fat, which was created by Still Game stars Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, Dunbar was given her own comedy show.
Dunbar was speaking at a Women in Entertainment event.
She said: “I’m feart about what I’m going to say.
“The reason we don’t want to talk about money is because we’re aware, at a very deep level, that it’s just dead unfair.
“There’s a bit of my brain going ‘don’t tell folk this’.
“I was a karaoke host and DJing from the age of 19 until I started in Chewin’ the Fat when I was 27, running my own businesses.
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Hide Ad“I made more money doing that than I got from the first series of Chewin’ the Fat.
“The point is I wasn’t able to ask. I didn’t know what my worth would be coming into television.
“I just thought whatever they were offering was what I had to accept.
“I didn’t know I could say ‘could I get another £10 on that please?’ “That money went up as the show progressed and it got popular.
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Hide Ad“There were times when I was thinking ‘I feel ashamed about the money I’m getting’.
“I wasn’t getting a squillion pounds either.
“Ultimately, if we all got paid the same the world would be a different place.
“We know that.
“The problem at the root of it all is the class system.
“I don’t know how we start to disassemble it.”
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