Erin O'Connor
English model
'Excuse me, madam, you have a thong hanging out of your handbag.'
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
In school, I was 11, and we had to paint a picture of family life. My painting was held up to the class and I was told it looked like a spider with ink on its feet had walked across the page. It was done so viciously – humiliating.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 June 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →I was called the N-word in Romford, by someone stepping off a train as I was getting on.
When I was first acting, in college, a relative came and saw me in Hedda Gabler and she said: “Look in the mirror, you’re not an actor. An actor looks like Mel Gibson.”
Fran Healy
Scottish musician
“Everyone hates you.” (My manager, a long time ago.)
More from Arlene Phillips
View profile →In a Dagenham factory at 6am, picking soldiers’ greatcoats from wars around the world to sell at the market in Chelsea. I smelled like mothballs, and no one would come near me.
Life is never fair.
Being let go from Strictly.
One after the other, thoughts come banging in – and it’s no sleep for you tonight, dearie.
My daughters and granddaughters.
Each time I gave birth.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 219 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 60 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this · A–Z
Adam Clayton, Adam Kay, Adam Lambert, Alex Lawther, Alison Steadman, Ally McCoist
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All failure & regret questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject