Taste of Spice Life for Mel

SPICE up your life is not only the mantra of pop stars.

Stanley’s Melanie Brown was visited by leopard-print-clad Virgin Media installer Rob Riley, when he dropped by her house in Tanfield Lea in true Hollywood style.

After walking down a leopard print carpet, Melanie was whisked off in a limousine to the cinema to celebrate a new advert featuring her Spice Girls namesake to promote the company.

Melanie, a teacher at St Anthony’s Girls’ School in Sunderland, said: “It was such fun having the Virgin Media engineer turn up dressed as Mel B.

“It’s great sharing my name with a well-known pop star and people are always referring to me as the original Scary Spice, especially as I’m a bit crazy and like my leopard print clothing.”

The 25-year-old added: “I’m looking forward to seeing my namesake back on the big screen and thanks to my spicy surprise I’ll now get to enjoy a little bit of her glitzy lifestyle too.”

The ad sees an animated Mel B, dressed in her iconic leopard print catsuit, paying a visit to a swanky German plastic surgeon, who is Sir Richard Branson in disguise.

Ashley Stockwell, Virgin Media’s acting managing director of brand and marketing, said: “We wanted to have a real laugh with our customers to celebrate the release of this fun and quirky ad and what better way to do it than to give Stanley’s very own Mel B the star treatment?

“We’re really excited by the ad and thrilled to get such a fun- loving and larger-than-life personality, like Mel B, on board. It’s unlike anything on the screen at the moment and we hope people will enjoy it.”

To see the ad, visit www.virginmedia.com/melb

(c) 2008 Evening Chronicle – Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.