New Body Shockers TV series reveals the nation’s obsession with tattoos and piercings

Britain tops the table as the most tattooed nation on Earth.

David Beckham and Cheryl Cole’s every new design is front-page news and even “Sam Cam” has a dolphin on her ankle.

But it’s not just ink we’re obsessed with, it’s piercings, plumped-up lips, implants and every body modification under the sun.

Body Shockers is a new C4 show that uncovers the shocking and sometimes-hilarious stories of people who’ve come to bitterly regret their bad beauty decisions. They range from drunken tattoos to hair wrecked by extensions.

It’s presented by Katie Piper, who says: “This is a show for people who’ve had surgery, tattoos, body modification, scarification or whatever, were happy with it but then years later, changed their mind.

“This is happening more and more, people have had things done and then for whatever reason, life’s changed direction and that kind of permanent invasive choice is now holding them back and they want to change that.”

So we’re not just talking about an ill-advised fringe, then?

“No! We’re talking about things like people stretching their ears to huge lengths but these people aren’t seen as extreme any more,” adds Katie.

“Years ago, that was alternative but now it’s become mainstream, and many people do it to shock and stand out from the crowd but actually in five years’ time, they’re not going to do that.

“We also met loads of people who were doing things for fashion, and we all know fashion is a frivolous, throwaway thing but once you’ve done something permanent to your body, you can’t change it when the fashion changes.”

In that vein, Katie has an admission to make, as she reveals: “I have my own tattoo regret as well! I have an awful one I had done when I was 19 to rebel.

“I did it purposely because I knew my parents would hate it, they were really strict.

“So it’s some rubbish Celtic pattern that kind of looks like a hibernating, smudged green snail now but luckily it’s on my hipbone, so you can’t really see it!

“When I was younger, to get attention and show off, I’d dye my hair with wash-out dye but now people are doing things like stretching their ears and piercing their septums. Someone even tattooed their eyeball. It’s insane.

“Things are accessible, things are cheap, and there are more role models doing it who have successful lives who are rich and famous, who look like it’s worked out for them so you assume it’ll work out for you but we’re not all David Beckham.

“Obviously people look up to stars but at the end of the day, it’s your life and you don’t have that person’s money, career and lifestyle!”

Katie was a model who was building a career in the media when, in 2008, an ex arranged for industrial-strength sulphuric acid to be thrown in her face. The acid blinded her in one eye and left her with terrible burns, as well as slipping into her nose and throat.

“Any body modifications might not fit in with your life in five years’ time, and I know better than anyone else that you can’t be confident in saying: ‘I know where my life’s going to be in five years,’” says Katie, who’s 30.

“One of the things in the programme is we take someone who wants something undoing to meet someone who’s about to make the same mistake. They’re not there to talk them out of it but to talk to them into thinking about the connotations that may come with that.

“Tattoos and the like can hold back your whole career and the thing is nowadays we’re seeing them almost as make-up, no big thing, but it’s permanent. People are doing it on a whim.

“We had one girl, Emily, who stretched her ears 30mm, she could put Coke cans through her earlobes, and she was walking home from the pub when someone yanked her earlobe and it split.

“She had her ears stitched up and the lobes cut off, and her tattoos removed because she was starting a new chapter of her life, she was going to uni and she’d just grown up and grown out of it.”

Away from the screen, Katie’s expecting her first baby and the hope is that her ordeal won’t affect the pregnancy.

“It’s kind of weird, it doesn’t feel real,” she says. “I’m in a nice place now and I’m looking forward to the future.

“I don’t think there should be any problems. The only problem I have is I’ve got restricted breathing because my nose has got quite a lot of scar tissue in it, and I have to see someone about that.”

Body Shockers: My Tattoo Hell Channel 4, Thursday, 10pm.