Inside Jose Gibson's call centre days: Why her first job processing insurance ... trends now

The arrival of a beautiful new colleague has all the potential to leave even the most secure of women feeling discombobulated.

So one might imagine that This Morning's Josie Gibson has been rather jittery since Cat Deeley arrived to replace Holly Willoughby as the show's main presenter last month.

But while the long-limbed Brummie glamazon has certainly won over both viewers and her new bosses at ITV, I can reveal that down-to-earth Josie - who helped keep the ship steady after the torturous Phillip Schofield debacle left the show's bigwigs agonising over which presenters to hire to replace him and Willoughby - is now the new darling of ITV.

I've been told they are searching for a big new additional role for her.

So captivated are they by the bubbly blonde, who now is the holiday cover presenter for the flagship show, ITV's director of television Kevin Lygo's daughter is one of her agents. I'm told: 'Kevin wants to look after Josie, he's a huge fan.'

The secret to Josie's star power, however, was refined not during years of grind in backroom TV jobs or studying broadcast media - but, endearingly, in her first job in a Bristol call centre.

Those who know her tell me that Josie's down-to-earth demeanour, which makes the network's millions of viewers so comfortable with her, was honed during her first job as a call centre operative at insurance firm AXA's headquarters in her home city.

It was a role which required Josie - who was born and bred in Bristol and attended Brimsham Green School in nearby Yate, a town where she still lives - to process health insurance claims, with shifts beginning at 7am and finishing as late as 11pm.

It is an unlikely place to start out, but those who knew her at the time say Josie was 'a right hoot' when she began working there aged 19.

As giggly then as she is today, one former colleague recalls how she was always the one who was leading the charge to socialise.

'Josie was a right laugh, she was fun and really lovely,' says a former colleague.

'She was at the centre of everything and would always be up for socialising. There would be work nights out where things would get boozy.

'She was hard-working but she knew how to enjoy herself. But we never saw her achieving what she has today. It is amazing.

'She didn't even seem like she wanted to be particularly famous back then.'

And, perhaps ironically given how her life mapped out, Josie, now 39, would while her lunch hour away by clicking on MailOnline where she would read the latest celebrity gossip in depth – and then spend the afternoon discussing it with colleagues.

'We would all sit there reading the sidebar,' says Josie's friend. 'Then we would all have a right gossip, she loved it.'

All that bouncy fun was well on show when Josie arrived at the Big Brother house back in 2010, much to the surprise of her call centre colleagues. Crowned series winner with an unprecedented 77 per cent of the public vote, the public instantly took to her.

But while many BB winners have tried to make it after their spot in the limelight, few have managed to carve out a solid career.

After working as a roving reporter and competition announcer on This Morning, she got her big break covering Holly Willoughby some two and a half years ago.

Despite her riches – including a £100,000 pay check from ITV when she starred on I'm A Celeb last winter – she has vowed never to leave Bristol.