In January 2007 Jo entered the Celebrity Big Brother house. The reason Jo took part in the show was to pay off her £34,000 debt. There were accusations of racistic bullying towards Indian Shilpa Shetty by Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed and Jo O'Meara. After Jo left the house and found out about the situation she felt devastated. She even tried to kill herself but luckily her best friend found her in time.

"I felt angry and destroyed. It was mad. It was this international fury. I was being deluged with hate-mail and threats. I was forced into hiding. It was scary and I just wanted to disappear. When I got out of the house, everything was thrown at me and I really didn't understand it. I mean how do you get your head round that? Well not very well, obviously. I thought I had lost everything."

"I knew what had gone on inside the house. I didn't know what people had seen outside or how it had been edited. The comment about Indians being skinny was out of context."

"I should never have gone into the house. I was psychologically too fragile. I went in because I was afraid I would lose my home – I needed money."

"It just wasn't right. I had a ten-minute assessment with the psychologist before going in, but I don't think any of us were properly briefed or knew what to expect. After I came out, I just fell apart."

"Last year was probably the worst one of my life, but in another way I'm grateful for it because it made me look at my life differently. I didn't realise how special certain things were, and now I appreciate everything that happens to me because it couldn't get much worse."

"I hit rock-bottom but I survived. When that happens, you realise you are not the weak person you thought you were. I just had to go back to something real."