Zara McDermott

I think for like a year I couldn't put an Instagram story up of my face without a face filter on. Because you get in the habit and you think, Oh God, I look so much nicer with that filter on. I don't want to take it off.

I'm always analysing people.

I'm intelligent, which means I'm quite good at reading people.

There are two sides to me - I can be quite serious but I'm also spontaneous, fun and energetic.

Strictly' is so nerve-wracking.

I didn't give any thought to wearing a bikini in front of the nation when I was on 'Love Island,' I was 21 and at that age you just do it. I never had those feelings of lack of confidence back then.

I would like to do more documentaries.

I'm bursting with ideas.

The biggest thing I've learnt is that sometimes you have to be vulnerable and hold your hands up and own your mistakes.

Being in 'Made In Chelsea' has given me some incredible opportunities and I will never not be grateful to the show for what it's given me. I was an Essex girl, so to be able to go on a prestigious show like that was great.

I don't think relationships should be put in a box.

I'm an independent career woman.

I think there's this expectation that people need to get married, have kids, this fairy-tale experience. Nowadays, women are so much more than people to marry and child-bearers!

I like doing something fun on a first date - an activity, like go-karting.

I would be lying if I said I didn't cry at least probably three times a week from the nasty comments and stuff like that.

Sometimes you need to have opinions on things and talk about them and open up debate.

You are as beautiful as you believe yourself to be.

There's so much to be said for being open and being unapologetically you.

Beauty to me is having the confidence to be vulnerable.

I've grown up and changed drastically since I was 21-years-old, before I completely lacked confidence.

Through the documentaries I make, my job is to talk to people and make them feel comfortable and listen to really harrowing stories about things that have happened to them.

Being catapulted into the spotlight is an experience you can't really describe.

I really feel like I'm making a difference and I don't see myself on any other path.

The fact that I get to give a platform and a voice to someone who may not have that - or educating people on a really important topic - there's nothing else like it.

Nothing else gives you that amazing feeling of knowing you've done something positive in the world than coming home having learned something and telling a story.

There are lots of eating disorders out there. It's not just anorexia.

I feel like there's just a level of understanding from every side that 'Strictly' is all-encompassing, and it has to be if you want to do well in the competition. You have to put the hours into training. You have to be really dedicated.

I never felt confident in my own skin when doing any kind of movement.

I've always been that uncoordinated, lanky person who doesn't look smooth when they move.

You should never judge a young person for grabbing an opportunity.

My background of reality TV isn't something I'm ashamed of at all - I'm proud of where I've come from.

There is some stigma around reality television, and I've never quite understood it.

Going on 'Strictly' has made me realise how far I've come from those days in 'Love Island.' When I got dumped from the island, I was quite shocked. I thought I would be in there the whole time.

I want to start producing the documentaries and programmes I'm involved with.

I have had therapy but at the end of the day they can only help so much.

I have loved doing reality TV and don't regret any of it. I just hated all the trolling. It is also hard because you have to relive things so many times.

You are put into a certain box when you are on reality TV. People think you are stupid.

I want to inspire any woman who feels like they couldn't do something because they didn't feel good enough, they didn't feel confident enough, they didn't feel empowered enough.

If you know me and the work that I have done previously - I'm not afraid to start those uncomfortable conversations.

I do think that there is still this massive stigma around men vocalising that they're suffering from an eating disorder.

It's plastered in front of us all the time - pictures of other people. It just forces us to compare what we look like with someone else. It's in front of our eyes and on our phone screens all the time.

We don't know everything all the time, and that's OK.

The level of wealth in Ibiza is shocking - and working with the police, it was clear that where there's wealth, there's crime - and it's a crime hotspot.

I'm not one of these people who are partying on a big yacht or splashing cash on a 100,000 villa for a party - if I was, I'd probably scale my social media back to not flaunt it.

There's no denying that social media shows off our best lives, but I don't think it's an Ibiza problem.

The island has a little piece of my heart - if you go down my Instagram feed, you will see plenty of photos of me in Ibiza over the years - I've been there before as an influencer.

When I was younger, I was like, 'I'm going to have babies by the time I'm 25, I'm going to be married.' I genuinely thought that for myself, I always thought I can't wait to be a mum, and now that time has come, my priorities have shifted.

Every parent-child relationship is different.

There's not a one-size-fits all with periods. Everyone's period is totally different.

I was one of the girls who started my period slightly later, so I think that made me more nervous. Thinking, why am I the odd one out?