How driven Amanda Holden’s lucrative Netflix ‘dream job’ is a final triumph over showbiz enemies who branded her a ‘bimbo’

She’s been a fixture on British TV for over 25 years but it’s only now Amanda Holden finally feels she’s made it.

MailOnline exclusively revealed the Britain’s Got Talent judge, 53, has signed a lucrative deal with Netflix to front a new dating show called Cheaters: Unfinished Business, which she’s dubbed her ‘dream job.’

Her success is an ‘up yours’ to her naysayers who’ve written her off as a ‘bimbo’ or just the ‘bubbly blonde’ involved in a love triangle between eighties comedian Les Dennis and nineties sitcom star Neil Morrissey, whose careers she’s gone onto eclipse in some style, much to the dismay of her enemies including Phillip Schofield and Sharon Osbourne.

Securing the sought-after gig is the latest life goal to fall into place for Amanda, who recently moved into her forever home, a mansion in the Cotswolds she has transformed into her own ‘Beverly Hills hotel’, which makes the struggle, pain and sacrifices she made throughout her three decades in showbiz all worth it.

But Amanda’s success has been no fluke, she’s not become one of the biggest stars on TV just because of her model looks, dirty laugh and wicked sense of humour.

Indeed, she’s managed to rebuild her career after a cheating scandal which threatened to derail her showbiz dreams nine years after making her TV breakthrough as a contestant on Blind Date, the iconic ITV dating show in which she is now its most famous export.

She also battled back from personal tragedy, when she and husband Chris lost their stillborn son Theo in February 2011.

A showbiz insider said: ‘Amanda is one tough cookie and she knows exactly what she’s doing.

‘She’s worked incredibly hard to be where she is today and made plenty of tough decisions along the way.

‘Amanda may give off impressions she’s a bit of a bimbo but that’s just a persona she dips into now and again, mostly for laughs.

‘In reality she’s very driven and dedicated to her craft and is now reaping the rewards.’ 

Amanda and Chris tied the knot in 2008 and appear blissfully happy, unlike her previous marriage to comedian Les Dennis, 17 years her senior, which ended acrimoniously in 2000.

She hit the headlines for having an affair with her pantomime co-star Neil Morrissey, the Men Behaving Badly actor, which sparked her divorce from Les.

Amanda managed to salvage her career, throwing herself into acting, her first love, before Simon Cowell gave her a judging role on Britain’s Got Talent in 2007, the moment her brand really took off.

She’s the only judge to appear in every series of the ITV1 hit and it’s a job Amanda seemingly has for life, given how synonymous she is with the show.

Indeed, in 2009, when Kelly Brook joined the panel, Simon had no qualms in sacking the former Big Breakfast host after deciding within days four judges didn’t work, there was not even a second’s thought Amanda would be the one to leave, as she stayed on with Simon and Piers Morgan.

Getting one of Kelly, now a Heart Radio DJ like Amanda, was further evidence the Winchester-born star could not be rattled.

In 2014 ITV gave her an opportunity to shine on This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield while his regular co-host Holly Willoughby was on maternity leave.

But what looked like a safe partnership quickly turned sour as the pair clashed following Amanda’s exit, when Phillip questioned her hosting skills in a magazine interview, saying: ‘She has a faulty edit button and she forgets she’s on the telly, which is enormously endearing and funny, but occasionally quite scary.’

And when Holly filled in for Ant McPartlin to host the 2015 series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in Australia alongside Declan Donnelly, Amanda was expected to once again stand in for her on the daytime show, but Phillip blocked the move, as he pushed for Rochelle Humes instead, believing the former Saturdays singer was ‘easier to manage.’ 

Several years later in 2019, the feud became public when Amanda took a swipe at Phillip during a radio quiz on Heart Breakfast. When asked what she wouldn’t want to discover in her house, she jested: ‘Spiders, flies and Phillip Schofield.’

In the wake of Phillip’s controversial departure from This Morning due to an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with a male show runner, Amanda didn’t hold back from making pointed remarks about the fallen star, posting cryptic flexed bicep emoji on social media just moments after Phil announced his exit, while also enforcing Dermot O’Leary to replace him.

And she has recently proven not even a takedown from Sharon bothers her, maintaining a dignified silence after the former X Factor judge publicly slated her on platform X. 

During her recent appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, Sharon claimed she wouldn’t work for Simon Cowell again ‘for all the money in the world’ and said the pair were never really friends, with Amanda, who counts the music mogul as ‘family’, quick to jump to his defence. 

Amanda said: ‘I hated seeing certain people in a reality show dissing Simon. He’s the person who’s given them all the chances, given them a lot of money and a lifestyle they probably wouldn’t have had. It’s bitter and pathetic. It was like Cinderella with her two sisters in the background— just stabby, stabby, stabby.’

Sharon, who’s the wife of Ozzy Osbourne, issued a scathing response online, which went viral, claiming Amanda had no idea about her history in the music industry and how she earned her global celebrity status. 

The ups and downs of her career are something Amanda hasn’t taken for granted.

In a recent interview with MailOnline, she said she often cries watching the Britain’s Got Talent auditions because she remembers being stood on stage, yearning for the same big break.

She said: ‘I’m always on the edge of crying, I don’t know what it is. 

‘I think I remember how I started, standing on stand auditioning. I remember those days and the nerves and hope you had in your heart. 

‘As romantic as that sounds, I will never forget it. I am an actress despite the fact I have covered every other genre in this industry, first and foremost I am an actress so that’s the most important thing to remember when I’m in that judging seat.’