Shy cleaner Sharon Pallister swapped feather dusters for feather boas after an appearance on TV changed her life forever. Kerryanne Clancy talks to burlesque dancer Sharon, aka Scarlet Fever, about body confidence and performing in the Potteries.

LOOKING at pictures of Sharon Pallister before and after her transformation, it's hard to believe they show the same woman.

Hiding behind baggy clothes and long hair, Sharon was so self-conscious she rarely went out, and her job as a house cleaner allowed her to avoid almost all human contact.

"You don't realise how not having confidence starts to govern your life," says the woman who would go on to change her name by deed poll and become the exotic Scarlet Fever.

"I'd go out for a meal with my husband, and if we needed some salt or pepper, I wouldn't even stand up to get it from another table because I didn't want to draw attention to myself."

But the after pictures tell a very different story, which began on Boxing Day 2006. It was then that the 37-year-old starred in transformational TV series Faking It on Channel4. In it, a faker is plucked from their natural habitat and given four weeks to master a new skill well enough to fool a group of expert judges.

"I'd just existed for three years doing that cleaning job," says Scarlet, whose family are from the Potteries. "I was all right, but it got to the stage where I felt I was never going to do anything else. My day consisted of cleaning toilets.

"My lack of confidence was due to several things. I've got a lot of scars because of health problems I've had since I was eight and that knocks you back a bit.

"I had an abscess on my brain, ended up in a coma and my kidneys packed up. I've got a scar on my stomach and I had internal adhesions, which has prevented me having children as an adult. Not surprisingly, I kept covered up. I certainly never owned a bikini. I wouldn't be seen dead in one.

"Later, I was also attacked and after that I wouldn't leave the house for more than five months. It got to the stage where I'd hide if people came up the path. I knew then I needed to do something drastic. I said to my husband Tony that if this carried on I was heading for a nervous breakdown. I was making myself a prisoner."

It turned out that an appeal in a television magazine for people to take part in Faking It proved the catalyst Scarlet needed.

"I laughingly said, 'I could do that' and ended up filling in an application form. I basically said I was 5ft 4in, I wouldn't stand out in a crowd, I was in a crap job, and I didn't go out or see anyone," she recalls.

"After I was called to interview, they realised I wasn't pretending.

"I had no idea what they were going to make me do. I tend to talk before I think, and having spoken a lot to the producer over the weeks, I'd said I didn't want to do anything which involved me getting into a bikini. I naively assumed they wouldn't make me do anything I didn't want to do."

Whisked away from her home in Wales and husband Tony for the first time in their 12-year marriage, it wasn't until filming began and Scarlet went to a London burlesque show featuring a reverse strip tease, that she began to panic about what lay ahead.

"I was angry and upset. I told the producers I felt things I'd told them about me had been thrown back in my face.

"When my husband called that night I was determined not to tell him, because I knew he'd just tell me to come home and I didn't want to go back to being the loser I was. But when I hung up, I was really emotional."

With training from British burlesque dancer Immodesty Blaize, dancer Wayne Sleep and Hollywood burlesque star Dita Von Teese, pictured below, eventually it was time for Scarlet to come to terms with her body hang-ups and try to fool a panel of judges with her floor show.

"They said I'd be discovered as a faker because I still came across as having too many body hang ups, but initially every time they tried to push me to reveal more I burst into tears. In the end, I did take off my waist cincher and top in the final performance."

But the story didn't end there. Not only has she recently appeared on television again – in Beat The Stylist on ITV's This Morning – the hundreds of emails and calls of support which flooded in following Faking It, meant she quit her day job.

"When our third attempt at IVF failed in June this year, I sat down with Tony and he said that if I wanted to do this full time he would support me 100 per cent. Since then, I've performed at various clubs, including a regular night at a burlesque club in Manchester.

"Tony comes round all the clubs with me and helps reply to letters and emails, as I have a website, and MySpace and Facebook pages now. Last night he was helping me stick sequins on the nipple tassles I sell on my website."

With both her parents, Phyllis Bailey and Michael Ashley, being originally from the Potteries, and family and friends living in Newcastle, Scarlet has now decided to bring her talents to Burslem, with a series of performances at The Leopard. Her family have already booked their front row seats, including her aunt, Jackie Ashley, from Bradwell.

"Scarlet's a star," she says proudly.

"It's hard to describe how much all this has changed her. She was timid before and didn't have any self- worth.

"I think she's brilliant. It's all about confidence and I'm all for people giving something a go and proving themselves."

The Leopard will be transformed into a set from a Bugsy Malone film, complete with waitresses, cocktails and a special menu. Scarlet also plans to host a burlesque workshop for women this Saturday at the venue, to give others the confidence this special form of dance gave her.

"I changed my name because I love being Scarlet Fever – she's vibrant and exciting.

"The workshops are all about helping people to feel good about themselves," she adds."

Scarlet will be bringing a burlesque workshop for women to The Leopard in Burslem this Saturday and a burlesque show there on Saturday, December 13. To find out more, visit ww.thisisthesentinel.co.uk/scarlet