Kim Woodburn
Patricia Mary "Kim" Woodburn was an English television personality, writer, and expert cleaner. Known as the "Queen of Clean", she came to prominence by co-presenting the Channel 4 series How Clean Is Your House? and its Canadian version Kim's Rude Awakenings. Woodburn maintained a media career that spanned over two decades and went on to appear on various reality television shows, most notably I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Big Brother (British TV series)|Celebrity Big Brother].
Early life
Patricia Mary McKenzie was born in Eastney, Hampshire, on 25 March 1942 to Mary Patricia and Ronald McKenzie, a Royal Marine who was largely absent from her upbringing. Woodburn was physically abused by her parents throughout her childhood, and sexually abused by her father. Woodburn's mother resented the fact she resembled her father and would beat her with carpet brushes and other household objects. She had an older sister Gloria, and several half siblings from her mother's second marriage to James McGinley.She left home at the age of 16 and moved to Liverpool where she worked as a live-in cleaner for a family. As well as being a professional cleaner, Woodburn held other jobs including as a beautician working at the make-up counter in a department store and as a model after taking modelling classes. She also worked on the assembly line at the Meccano factory and had a job at Woolworths. In February 1966, when she was 23 years old, Woodburn prematurely gave birth to a stillborn son and buried him in a park. This revelation, which she made in her 2006 autobiography, Unbeaten, led to a police inquiry, but no action was taken and Woodburn readily assisted with the investigation. After the death of her baby, she changed her name from Patricia to Kim, after the American actress and painter Kim Novak after watching a film she was in. Woodburn spent a year at sea with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, working in ship gift shops, and then became a residential social worker in a girls' remand centre.
Career
''How Clean Is Your House?''
In 2002, Channel 4 contacted a cleaning company looking for "a really good cleaner with quite a funny temperament for a new series." The company recommended Woodburn, aged 60 at the time, who was working as a live-in cleaner for a family in Kent. After a screen test, programme makers paired her with Aggie MacKenzie and filming began three weeks later. How Clean Is Your House? aired for seven series between 2003 and 2009, with the duo producing books, board games and DVDs due to the popularity of the series. Woodburn was significantly taller than McKenzie, and her usual dress on the programme would be suit jackets, high heels and pearl necklaces, with her hair slicked back in a tight braided bun, the latter of which was described as her "trademark". Woodburn's "salty slang" and no-nonsense attitude gained her popularity with the show's viewers, and she was known for her use of natural household solutions such as baking soda, mayonnaise and white vinegar.Woodburn appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the US, where How Clean Is Your House? aired on BBC America. From 2007 to 2009, Woodburn starred in a Canadian version, titled Kim's Rude Awakenings, alongside Mike Chalut. Woodburn and MacKenzie's relationship became strained during later series, with MacKenzie saying that the pair "did not speak" off-camera during the last two series of the show, claiming that Woodburn had "pushed her" during a pantomime they were starring in. Woodburn however said that she had "never said anything derogatory about MacKenzie", further stating that she was "not going to start now", expressing her confusion about the alleged fall out with MacKenzie, stating that she was "unclear where these false allegations have come from but I wish her all the luck in the world". In August 2009, Woodburn announced to Now magazine that she would not be making any further series of How Clean Is Your House? and Channel 4 announced soon afterwards that the series had been cancelled.
Television appearances
In November 2009, Woodburn was announced as a contestant for the ninth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She finished as runner-up to Gino D'Acampo. In March 2010, she appeared on Celebrity Come Dine with Me on Channel 4 alongside Claire Sweeney, Darren Day and Tom O'Connor. In 2011, Woodburn became a regular panellist on the Big Brother spin-off series, Big Brother's Bit on the Side. In November 2011, she entered the house to set a shopping task which she also judged, while berating the housemates for their hygiene.In February 2013, Woodburn teamed up with chef Rosemary Shrager, and the pair appeared on the fifth series of Let's Dance for Comic Relief as contestants. They danced to "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" by Marilyn Monroe. They were eliminated by the panel of judges. In 2014, Woodburn appeared as a contestant on an episode of The Chase Celebrity Specials.
In March 2016, Woodburn took part in the second series of Famous, Rich and Homeless for BBC One. Her controversial comments on the lives of rough sleepers and some of them that she met led to a dispute between her, the public and the other volunteers on the show. In April 2016, Woodburn and her husband, Pete, appeared on Channel 4's A [Place in the Sun (British TV series)|A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun] in order to find a holiday home in Costa del Sol, which was to be their home during the winter months. Their budget was £320,000 and they were shown five two-three bedroom penthouses. They put offers forward of £285,000 and £295,000 on an apartment but both were turned down by the owner.
In January 2017, Woodburn entered the Celebrity Big Brother house to participate as a housemate in its nineteenth series, entering on Day 11. During her time in the house, Woodburn was involved in conflicts with several of her fellow housemates, one incident of which she referred to Jamie O'Hara as an "adulterer", ultimately requiring security to enter the house and intervene. She gained notoriety for her outbursts, several of which featured Woodburn referring to her housemates as "ganghanded" and "chicken-livered". She finished in third place on Day 32.
In August 2018, Woodburn made a controversial appearance on ITV's Loose Women. She was asked if she would make amends with Coleen Nolan, but left after a reception by the panel that was widely described as "bullying". The incident resulted in almost 8,000 people complaining to Ofcom. In 2021, Woodburn featured in a Christmas advert for Grainger Market Delivery, an online shopping company. In 2022, Woodburn made various guest appearances on GB News and was a contestant on the E4 cooking competition Celeb Cooking School, where she was eliminated first. Woodburn's final television appearance aired posthumously in September 2025, on an episode of the Channel 5 programme Supermarket Own Brands: The Big Taste Test. Filmed a year prior, it featured Woodburn and other consumers testing supermarkets' own brand products against more expensive branded products, and giving their opinions.
Other ventures
In 2006, Woodburn wrote an autobiography, Unbeaten, which detailed her early life. She went on to appear in various pantomimes in theatres all over the UK. Her first pantomime performance was in the Cinderella as an Ugly Sister, alongside television co-star Aggie MacKenzie, at the Theatre Royal in Brighton. It ran from 7 December 2007 to 6 January 2008. From 15 December 2010 to 3 January 2011, she made her second appearance in pantomime in Cinderella at the Woodville Halls Theatre in Gravesend, where she played the Fairy Godmother.From 11 to 26 December 2012, Woodburn played the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella at the Grimsby Auditorium. She performed in pantomime for the fourth time at the Southport Theatre in Jack and the Beanstalk as Fairy Starlight. The season ran from 13 December 2013 to 31 December 2013. From 2014 to 2015, she played Fairy Liquid in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at The Brindley in Runcorn, followed by a 2018 appearance at the Epstein Theatre in Liverpool as the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 2022, Woodburn released a range of cleaning products at Poundland. In February 2025, in what transpired to be her final public appearance, Woodburn was interviewed by drag queen Belinda Scandal for a one-off "In Conversation With: Kim Woodburn" show at The Lowry, in which she spoke about her life and career.
Personal life
Woodburn's first marriage to police officer Kenneth Davies in 1971 later ended in divorce in 1975 due to his violent tendencies and infidelity. In April 1975, whilst Woodburn was managing a fashion store that was burgled, she met Peter Woodburn, the police officer attending the burglary. They married in 1979 and in 1984 moved to the United States, where they worked as housekeeper and houseman. They returned to the United Kingdom in 1995 and signed on with domestic-worker employment agencies. They lived together in Nantwich, Cheshire.Death
Woodburn died on 16 June 2025 at the age of 83, following a short illness. Her death was announced the following day by her management, who described her as an "incredibly kind, caring, charismatic and strong person", adding that her husband was "heartbroken at the loss of his soulmate", with a further statement reading: "We kindly ask that Kim's husband and close friends are given the time and privacy they need to grieve. We will not be releasing any further details."Tributes to Woodburn were paid by her How Clean Is Your House? co-star Aggie MacKenzie, who described her as an "unforgettable woman", adding that "behind the fierce persona was deep pain and incredible strength. She survived because she had to." MacKenzie also said she "hoped was resting now." Others paying tribute included Jedward, who appeared alongside Woodburn on Celebrity Big Brother and noted that she would be "truly missed for the television gold created for all generations", as well as Baga Chipz who said Woodburn was "one of a kind" and a "national treasure". Woodburn was privately cremated and had no funeral service, as per her wishes. A further tribute to her was aired at the end of Supermarket Own Brands: The Big Taste Test, Woodburn's final television appearance which was broadcast three months after her death.