Giovanna Fletcher and her husband McFly frontman Tom are said to have claimed up to £30,000 from the government’s furlough scheme just weeks after the author was crowned the winner of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! last year.
An HMRC register of claims shows the pair received support shortly after Giovanna won the ITV reality show, although it’s not clear if the Fletchers were claiming the money for themselves or for an employee.
Companies House records state Giovanna Fletcher Ltd in 2019 had one employee and £300,000-plus in the bank.
According to government documents, Giovanna, 36, and Tom, 35, who are said to be worth £8million, received the financial aid just weeks after the children’s author stole the nation’s heart and won the ITV reality show, which was filmed in Wales due to the pandemic.
The author and podcaster was crowned Queen of the Castle after she beat Radio 1 DJ Jordan North and TV presenter Vernon Kay.
Giovanna was gobsmacked over her win, and could barely talk to hosts Ant and Dec.
She confessed at the time: “I can’t believe it, people have actually picked up their phones and voted.”
Her runner-up Jordan called her a worthy winner.
Following her win Giovanna had been tipped to land a chat show or similar series on ITV after taking the reality show by storm.
TV host Emma Willis, who is married to McBusted’s Matt, also predicted her friend would be become a big TV star following her success.
The mum-of-three has published a string of fiction books since she burst onto the literary scene in 2013. But becoming a parent prompted her to pen My Adventures in Motherhood in 2017, and has even seen her interview the Duchess of Cambridge about parenting.
The author, who has successfully co-written books with her husband Tom, was recently overcome with emotion after the unpublished book she thought she lost was recovered.
Giovanna thought she lost the file which contained her unpublished work but, thanks to a little help, she got it back.
The picture, which her husband Tom Fletcher uploaded to his Instagram, came a few days after the star took to social media to tell fans she’d lost 12,000 words of her book.
“After going through any authors worst nightmare – the computer with your half-written, NOT BACKED UP novel on totally dies – this was the moment @mrsgifletcher got her book back thanks to the brilliant efforts of two wizards, Alex and James,” her hubby wrote.
The successful couple share three children – sons Buzz, seven, Buddy, five, and Max, two – and recently took a staycation with Tom’s bandmate Matt Willis and his wife Emma.
They pair are also set to make a £1.1 million profit when they sell their five-bed family home.
The couple originally paid £1.4m in 2006 for the plush pad and have now put it on the market for £2.5m, according to The Sun.
Giovanna said it was actually having children that forced them to look differently at their west London home, which they bought together when they were just 21.
The Mirror has contacted Giovanna’s representatives for comment.