Butlin’s has been a staple of the British seaside for decades, known for its famous Redcoats, lively entertainment and packed-out holiday parks.
But Holly Wallace, 33, who lives in Felixstowe and is originally from Southend, experienced more than just a summer break at the Minehead Resort, becoming an official Redcoat almost a decade ago.
Speaking to Zingo Bingo, Holly shares her experience of working on the frontline at Butlin’s - from the gruelling audition process to where the Redcoats really stay when they’re not working.
She also explains the different roles within the Redcoat team, why staff always have to be photo-ready while working, and the intense schedule that can even see staff working on Christmas Day.
Speaking in an interview with Zingo Bingo, Holly Wallace reflects on her time as a Butlin’s Redcoat…
What made you want to become a Butlin’s Redcoat?
It actually came from my sister. She was a Pontins Bluecoat in Blackpool back in 2007. I don't know if you've ever been to Blackpool, but it's just brilliant. We used to do the illuminations when they had all the nice lights up and go to Pleasure Beach - everything just felt really magical. I grew up thinking, ‘this looks like so much fun,’ and seeing the banter that they had backstage. Growing up, I knew it was something I would quite like to do.
I actually ended up going into retail and working in places like Marks and Spencer's and JD Sports, and then when I got to 24, which is quite ‘old’ for an entertainer to start, I started to apply for jobs. I actually went on holiday to Butlin’s at Minehead. I watched all the shows, and I came away thinking, I really want to be up there doing that. Butlin’s invest a lot of money into their shows, so they're really impactful. Within two or three weeks, I was at an audition. It was a really intense audition! I then got the job and I started literally on the first of August; it all happened in a matter of weeks. That's where it all began. The memory of being on holiday and being like, ‘I really want this,’ to going on holiday and seeing it again as an adult and saying, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’ And I did!
How long was the whole application process?
I had been in touch with Butlin’s previously about an audition, and for whatever reason, I just didn't go. I didn’t feel ready, I suppose. Later on, I got in touch with the contact I'd spoken to, who I think happened to be the Head of Production - I ended up working with him quite closely at Butlin’s - and he gave me the audition. It was at Bognor Regis, and they put me up in one of their hotels the night before, so I had to travel down. There were a good few people there, about 50 people. It was only for a summer position. They normally do their main auditions around October and November time when they're in the off-season, but this was just for a summer position. I remember making friends with a few people there and supporting each other. We did a singing round, so we'd have to sit in a line and we'd stand with the musical director and we'd sing our song in front of everybody else.
Then, there was a dancing round and honestly, it was mortifying. The choreographer showed us the routine, and while they were teaching it to us, there was this step that we had to do. It was a kick, and they warned us, ‘Don't kick your leg so high that your supporting leg comes out from underneath you and you fall on the floor’, and that's exactly what I did - in front of the entire panel! I was flat on my backside. I ended up being taken out of the room for some first aid and to calm down because I'd really worked myself up. It was nerve wracking. I don't know if you've ever done an audition or anything like that, but it's really intense. Then, if you really want something, it gets even more intense because I can't mess up.
When did you find out you got the job?
The actual story of how I ended up getting the job was interesting, because I got through to the very end, filled out applications, got my measurements checked and everything, and was told, ‘we'll be in touch with you’, and I never ever heard back from them. I never got the call, I never got anything. I was trying to get in touch, but trying to find a human at Butlin's recruitment was ridiculous! My mum ended up writing on their Facebook page, saying, ‘What does a girl have to do to get a little bit of feedback from her audition?’ They then sent my mom a DM, asked for my phone number, called me and said, ‘we've been trying to call you, but your number on the application must be wrong!’ I don't know what happened, but they ended up calling me and I got the job, so that was exciting.
How did your summer role turn into a permanent role?
I got employed as what they called an ‘Activities Red’. When I was there, there were three kinds of Redcoats. You had your activities team, who obviously ran the activities, then you had the animation team, who worked on all of the big costumes. The third team then did all the shows. My goal was to be on the show team, but because it was a summer holiday job, I only got activities. I was quite good at my job, I suppose, and I think I embodied what a Redcoat should be.
I was actually meant to be going off to university in September, but I realised I didn’t want to go. I spoke to management, said, ‘If I can stay, I'll stay.’ He played devil's advocate and was like, ‘What if you regret not going to university?’ I told him, ‘Then I'll regret it, but I don't think I will.’
They then extended my contract until Christmas, and then Christmas came and we had to re-audition for our jobs. I got through for the next year and was there for another year.
Did you stay on the same team or did you move to a different team?
After Christmas, I actually moved into the animation team, where I got to do all the big characters. I was Bonnie Bear and Po in the Teletubbies. We had shows where you'd have the Teletubbies, but you'd have a human host with them, so I did a few shows like that. We also did the puppet castle, and for anybody that went to Butlin's growing up, the puppet castle will be something that everyone remembers. I got to host that, which was really cool, as well as jumping onto activities now and again, and also just swanning around with the guests and being present with the guests.
What did your day-to-day at Butlin’s look like?
It was busy! We used to have a two week rota, and the first day of the week would be Friday, because we'd have new guests come in on the Friday. I always remember I'd have a day off on Friday, and I'd work all the way through till Thursday. Then Friday would be the start of the new week, and my next day off would be Thursday, so I'd work almost two weeks without a day off. It was really intense doing that.
My day-to-day would be, I'd get up early and we always had to walk into work in our uniform if we weren’t in a character show. If you had to go in your uniform, you had to be all made up, “photo ready at every opportunity” is what they’d say; red lipstick, full makeup. You’d then have to greet every single guest that you walked past on your way to work. If I was doing a show where I would be in character, I could just go in my ‘civvies’.
If I was doing a show first thing in the morning, I'd walk through the resort, get in, warm myself up, get my character or get my costume ready, perform the show and then I could be on an activity. This would be something like the drum workshop, where we'd have these massive oil drums.
In the evenings, it would be what I think a lot of people remember as well. You'd go into Red's, you'd do your party dances, there'd be games with prizes, and then you'd settle down and watch the evening show. It was always just a case of being on the dance floor, sitting at the tables and just interacting with everyone and making those memories. Each day would be slammed. Even on Christmas Day, we'd work Christmas Day and it was busy.
What did you do on your days off? How social was it?
The social aspect was really, really fun. We'd have team parties, where we'd be in one of the venues and we'd all hang out. There were little friendship groups, because the Redcoat team was massive. When I was there, there were about 30 or 40 Redcoat. Because we lived in Somerset, we were at Minehead, which is a beautiful, beautiful part of the country, we'd take little trips out to different areas by the beach or trips out shopping.
The most embarrassing thing was, because I was used to walking around resorts and greeting people as I walked around, I would walk around Taunton, doing my shopping, going, ‘Hi, you alright, you having a good day?’ I didn’t really think about the fact I was in public and not at work. People would look at me like I was a complete weirdo!
How did you look after yourself in the job?
For me it was having close friends. It was having a group of friends that I could rely on, and also staying in touch with family. I thought it was really important to kind of keep a base with family and talk to someone if I wasn’t having a good day. Chocolate was always good as well! There'd be days where I would finish work at 11, 11:30 at night and have to be in for like 8 o'clock the next morning.
Back in the day, there used to be on ITV a program called Redcoats, and it was like a fly on the wall documentary, but we're going back to the early 2000s and it was so different. By the time I was there, it was a little bit more corporate, we didn't get to be as wild and crazy.
You worked with Diversity during your time at Butlin’s - what were they like?
They were so nice. I was gutted because they used to do a workshop during the day, and there were always Redcoats that would get picked to go and be on, but I was never picked, so I was gutted. But having interactions with them when I was in the venue, especially at that moment, was weird, but they're really nice lads. I've met them outside of working at Butlin’s a few times, and they're lovely.
One of my favorite memories was Sam [Nixon] and Mark [Rhodes] - I loved working with them.
Every Saturday, in the summer holidays, they had a show, a game show type thing. I remember being backstage before their show, and I went to the toilet. I remember coming out of the women's, and they came out of the men's. They were giggling like schoolgirls. They came out and they looked at me and they just froze and then walked off. I don't know what they'd been talking about, but that was really funny. Every show, there would just be little quips between them and the Redcoat on the floor, and then at the end of the show, they would do photoshoots, and I would often be the one in the booth with them and getting the guests to look at the camera. They were just really nice guys.
Were there any other celebrity guests?
Stephen Mulhern was there. I never really got much interaction with him. I wasn't in his show, and I wasn't often scheduled into his shows, like as a Redcoat on the floor. I had friends that were in his show. He would do his illusion magic and illusion show, and I'd have a few friends that would be like in his illusions. He always had a few Redcoat on stage with him. They loved it, and doing the Stephen Mulhern show was always good fun for them.
Were your accommodation and food paid for?
I think our accommodation actually came out of our pay. I could be wrong, as I can't really remember that side of things. The accommodation, we called it sheds. It was the same as when my sister was at Pontins. Going back to that memory of going there when I was younger, I was like, ‘oh my God, I've got my own shed just like my sister did’. They really weren't amazing. They hadn't been updated for quite a long time, so it felt like something from the 70s. From what I know at Minehead, they're in new accommodation now.
We did get a staff discount. My kryptonite was Burger King, chicken nuggets, and chilli cheese bites. Having a staff discount there was an absolute nightmare - it was so good. I would spend a lot of my wages putting it back into the business, essentially, because going out for dinner, I could either go off-site or I could just go up to one of the places on-site and have something there. There wasn't really much in terms of things being covered for us. You would get a little bit of special treatment if you were friends with whoever was in the restaurants, but nothing exciting, which is a shame.
What did your accommodation look like?
You'd have two different types of accommodation, but where we were as Redcoat, they were in blocks. I think there were five sets of accommodation, but they were doubled, so there'd be one on top and one on the bottom. You'd go in and you'd have a living room, and then there'd be two bedrooms. Then you'd have a kitchen and your bathroom. We didn't have showers in our sheds, we had baths, and I absolutely hated it. Also, the water pressure, if all the Redcoat finish work around the same time, everyone's getting up at the same time, everyone's getting ready, the water pressure sucked, so you had a bath.
Sometimes people's ovens would catch fire because they were so old and useless. If you cooked a steak, or you burnt a bit of toast, the fire alarm would go off and you end up all having to leave and wait for someone to come.
You were far enough away from the guests that you could just relax, you could just do what you wanted to do and you could hang out with people from other departments. I had a boyfriend that worked in the bar, and their accommodation, because they kind of tried to keep everyone in their departments close together. You might have had a friend that worked in the shops, you could go over to their accommodation and hang out with a different group of people. It was nice because everyone would just hang out with each other.
Those sheds were not very soundproofed. You would often hear like the extracurricular activities that might be happening in the shed upstairs, and you'd kind of be like, right, I just need to turn the telly up a little bit because that's my friend. It was things like that were a bit like, ‘oh, I can't cope with this anymore’. Overall, it was just a laugh.
Could you decorate the accommodation?
Some people had obviously been there quite a while. I remember, there was a person who had been there for years, and they had completely decked out their shed with new carpets. They'd painted the walls, wallpapered them, bought new furniture, because you just had standard Butlin’s furniture. I got a picture of my room when I moved into it, and it was just a bed and a wardrobe in my room, and I just, oh, and they gave us a little welcome pack, a little Butlin’s tote bag with tea bags and milk, and little things like that. It was really sweet.
What made you decide to leave your role?
There was a need for me to come home, to be with family, but that wasn't what made me actually leave. When I was at my very first audition, my goal was to be on the show team. I went through singing academies, we'd have dance classes, they were providing for us at that time while I was at Butlin’s. I worked on myself really, really hard, and did some singing. I was told to go for the show team. I remember doing the audition, alongside a load of my Redcoat friends. We went all the way up to Birmingham. You did a dancing round, a singing round, and then if you were lucky, you'd get onto the acting round.
Me and a bunch of friends got cut after the dancing round. A few weeks before that, I actually had an injury. Whilst on stage performing, I'd completely torn my ligament in my ankle. We had a big competition running at that time, the rising star, and it was where anybody from the entertainment team. It was basically a competition between all three resorts. I was doing a tap dance in that, but in another show, I had this accident, so I couldn't do this show anymore. We were weeks away from the final, it was devastating. I did this audition on my poorly ankle, did the singing, did the dancing, and then a load of us got cut, and we were like, ‘Why have we been cut here?’ We all took it really personally, and we were like, we're not leaving until we get feedback now, this is not fair. Looking back, I cringe at it, because that's so unprofessional!
That said, I took it really personally and was like, I've worked so hard on myself and you still don't think I'm good enough. I went on to be a vocalist at another holiday park after that, but yeah, it really got me down. I'd also had a bit of a summer fling with one of the circus acrobats, and was just like, sod it, I'm gonna go off and do something else. The way I left Butlin’s was not great. I do think that if I had actually just kind of got out of my head a little bit, I probably could have been there a few more years and grown. But I feel like at that time they had a specific look or a specific kind of person they wanted, and it wasn't it. I just went on and went on and ran away to the circus instead, which was a whole different story!
