Zoe's smarter than your average blonde.

Byline: VICTORIA MCMAHON

BLONDE TV presenter Zoe Salmon says she felt "more intelligent" during her recent fivemonth spell as a brunette. Zoe, 30, and from Bangor in Co Down, a qualified solicitor who hosted BBCTV's Blue Peter from 2004 to 2008, has only just returned to her natural colour.

She said: "I feel more fun and girly as a blonde, but as a brunette I felt more demure, sophisticated, classy and more intelligent" she admits. "It got me away from the bimbo image, and in fact within 24 hours of being blonde again I was the butt of a blonde joke at work.

"Definitely, as a blonde, you're automatically labelled a bimbo because of your hair colour. Without people knowing anything about you, it's just one of those labels that comes with having blonde hair.

"It's never bothered me because I'm a qualified lawyer (I was a defence litigator) and don't have anything to prove. I was quite happy for people to think, without knowing me, that I was a bimbo. I thought 'I don't care, I've got seven letters after my name'.

"I worked for five years to qualify as a lawyer, and anyone who knows me knows I have a level of intelligence that counters any image that might be perceived through having blonde hair.

"I think people who get bothered by it are those who maybe aren't so smart or intelligent or witty."

Zoe is single and lives alone in West London and her native Northern Ireland, but she's never lacked interest from men, even when her hair's been brown.

She added: "Being blonde is more head-turning; brunettes have to work harder to grab attention. But being brunette is more subtle. If a guy comes to talk to you, it's because he really thinks you're pretty beyond the blonde hair.

"Whereas, when you've got blonde hair, nine times out of 10, he looked at you in the first place because you're blonde.

Zoe is a regular guest on Sky One's Angela And Friends and, after she stopped being a brunette, a poll of the show's viewers revealed that 53 per cent of viewers preferred her as a blonde."

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Publication:	Sunday Mirror (London, England)
Date:	Apr 18, 2010
Words:	370
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