Grainne ditches the glam for a day -- and even fools sister Sile

Caitlin McBride

WE are used to seeing Grainne Seoige immaculately dressed, but the TV star has swapped glamorous gowns for, er, pyjamas.

Seoige (38) may be preened and pressed to perfection every morning on ITV's Daybreak, but she ditched her normal attire in order to become Gillian Cullen, an inner-city woman trying to raise money via a pyjamathon -- by walking from Dublin to Liverpool in her jim jams.

But viewers needn't worry that she is preparing for a career swap -- Grainne is just the latest famous face to make herself under for Anonymous, and was virtually unrecognisable for her stint on the show.

In fact, producers were so confident they change beyond recognition that they lined her up to prank her own sister Sile, and she successfully convinced her she was taking part in a pilot for a show called Dustin's Bogger Boot Camp, which would see inner city kids move to the country.

But sister Sile wasn't the only high-profile personality who fell victim to Grainne's makeunder, Dragons' Den star Bobby Kerr was also an unsuspecting participant.

The chief executive of Insomnia (50) has built his career around being a shrewd businessman, but that didn't stop him from being fooled by the RTE star.

Speaking to the Herald, Bobby said: "I was asked would I do a photo shoot with inner-city kids who were walking to Glasgow in their pyjamas to raise money.

"I got a call from a girl I didn't know.

"I do a lot of stuff for charity and I suppose they were smart enough to use that hook to do it.

"The first thing that struck me as odd was that it was on a Sunday.

"But I was driving from Cork, and I thought, 'it's for the inner city, I'll do it, I'll only be there for 10 minutes.'"

Bobby was accompanied by his daughter Emily (17) and one of her pals, who, he says, enjoyed the experience more than Seoige or host Jason Byrne.

And while he was remaining tight-lipped about the details of the prank, he said he never recognised Grainne in her get-up.

"It went on for a while, then I thought, 'this isn't right', I was probably slow enough to cop it," he said. "I was completely flat-footed.

"It was a good laugh and I enjoyed the craic."

cmcbride@herald.ie