Suzi Walker, 46, (pictured in November 2011) claimed she and other women were treated like ‘garbage’ and alleged that some were paid for sexual favours
A former Page 3 girl who worked as a hostess at the Presidents Club dinner for six years says it was always a ‘meat market’ where being groped ‘came with the job’.
Suzi Walker, 46, claimed she and other women were treated like ‘garbage’ and alleged that some workers were paid for sexual favours.
The former waitress, who was 19 when she first started working at the event, told The Sun: ‘The men thought us girls were garbage, just something to entertain them.
‘They thought they had a right to you and your body. We just had to accept it. I know that a lot of the girls would do sexual favours if they were paid extra.’
Walker, who was married to former England and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Ian Walker for 12 years, also claimed she had seen sex workers at the event.
She added: ‘There were a few agencies who would provide girls and some were definitely escorts or prostitutes.’
Her comments comes as a ‘full-time model’ contacted MailOnline to reveal she had been offered £170 to work at the gala, but turned the job down because she thought it sounded ‘seedy’.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she received an email from Carol Dandridge, the founder of Artista, an agency that supplied hostesses for the event.
Offering the woman employment, Ms Dandridge wrote: ‘It’s a lovely charity dinner at the Dorchester on Thursday 19 January 2017. It’s a 4pm start through to 2am, but the first 3 hours or so, is just getting ready.
‘We feed and water you, pay you £150 plus £20 travel, but rather than just go on this email as it’s quite an interesting job, I’m casting this week as you know and if you can come and meet me for 15/20 minutes, it would be good anyway and then if you like the sound of the job, you can work.
‘Also I have spaces so if you want to work it with some of your girlfriends, that makes it more fun.
‘Sorry, but it’s much easier to speak in person don’t you think. I book models, dancers, actresses and just regular pretty girls for this, ideally over 5’6, slim and reliable!’
The former waitress, (pic left in an undated image and with ex-husband Ian Walker, right) was 19 when she first started working at the event
Allegations of sexual harassment at the event were first reported by the Financial Times.
Reporter Madison Marriage, who went undercover at the dinner, said she was groped several times and that other hostesses had suffered similar treatment.
Following the disclosures about the event in the Financial Times, charities and businesses have sought to dissociate themselves from the Presidents Club.
A number of charities that have benefited from the £20 million raised by the Presidents Club over more than 30 years said they will now refund previous donations.
Businessman David Meller quit his roles at the Department for Education and the Mayor’s Fund for London over his involvement in organising the event.
After it emerged that the auction included lunch with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and tea with Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, the Bank and the Foreign Office made clear that neither man had known about it and would not be honouring the engagements.
The Charity Commission said it was looking into the allegations ‘as a matter of urgency’.
The Dorchester Hotel said it was not aware of any claims following the event and an investigation had been launched.
Caroline Dandridge of Arista, which provided hostesses for the Presidents Club galas
A spokesman for the Artista agency, which recruited the hostesses, said they were not aware of any claims of sexual harassment but that any complaints would be dealt with promptly and fairly.
The video Ms Marriage recorded shows her entering the hall where the auction is held as hostesses pour drinks and chat to suited guests.
Above the hubbub, an auctioneer can be heard selling off a package for plastic surgery at a Harley Street clinic.
He says: ‘Ladies and gentleman, this is what your missus could look like. Who’ll give me ten thousand pounds?’
Ms Marriage later returned to another hotel and told how, although the evening started with decorum, it very quickly ‘turned for the worse’.
She said: ‘Some of the behaviour was pretty shocking and depressing if I’m honest.’
She later told BBC Newsnight: ‘I was groped several times and I know that there are numerous other hostesses who said the same thing had happened to them.
‘It’s hands up skirts, hands on bums but also hands on hips, hands on stomachs, arms going round your waist unexpectedly.’
She added: ‘I can’t believe that it still goes on in 2018, I think it’s quite shocking.’
One hostess, aged in her 20s, who waitressed at the event told ITV News: ‘We were play things. We were objects for them to gawp at, touch.’
Another, who asked not to be named, told Good Morning Britain today: ‘I experienced a rather bizarre event, not a normal hostessing event that I’m used to.
‘Initially it started quite normally and then as the night went on I started to notice that this isn’t normal.
‘There was a lot of groping, a lot of girls sitting on laps, men beckoning girls over to their table and talking to them. It just didn’t seem right.’
The Presidents Club, which said it was ‘appalled’ by the allegations surrounding the event last week, has announced it will distribute remaining funds to children’s charities
She added: ‘I felt harassed. I removed myself from the situation and found a group of girls in a similar situation, feeling the same as me, weirded out. I stuck with them so I didn’t have to engage so much with the men. But some girls were engaging and flirting.
‘The thing for me was towards the after-party when everyone was a lot more drunk and girls were drunk. I think men were perhaps taking advantage of that. I saw a lot of hands up skirts. I saw a lot of grabbing.’
The Presidents Club, which said it was ‘appalled’ by the allegations surrounding the event last week, has announced it will distribute remaining funds to children’s charities before shutting down in the wake of the scandal.