Coventry woman in tears on ITV show after 'sad' remark from Spice Girl Mel B

Sandeep Sandhu on M&S: Dress the Nation
-Credit: (Image: ITV)


A Coventry woman broke down in tears on ITV show M&S: Dress the Nation after her design was slammed for being 'sad.' Sandeep Sandhu could not contain her upset as she received the harsh critique from Spice Girl Mel B.

Viewers will see a group of budding designers battling it out over six weeks in the hope of landing a job with M&S. On Tuesday (September 17), they were tasked with creating two clothing items for women, which the judges said they wanted to be 'bold and confident.'

Sandeep, who owns Coventry-based online fabric store Sister Mintaka, had high hopes going into the challenges, which at the time the 33-year-old described as 'perfect.' She said that she wears dresses 'every day' and described creating her own bespoke look as a 'dream project.'

READ MORE: Family pay tribute to 'wonderful and caring soul' found fatally injured in Coventry

While Sandeep was working on her creation in the hope of impressing the judges, they could be heard describing her design as 'simple.' Maddy Evans said: “It feels like something you might see already in the market, and is it really reflecting her personality?”

Garments were judged on their design and the fabric used, with Anna Braithwaite and Maddy Evans joined by Mel B. Sandeep presented her dress in front of the group and was left in tears after the Spice Girl slammed her design for being 'sad.'

Judge Maddy said: “Whilst this is a really commercial summer dress, the brief was very much about being standout.” Anna added: “You are filled with personality when you walk in a room and I think that we just expected the design to be a bit bolder and a bit more confident.”

Spice Girl Mel B described the design as 'sad'
Spice Girl Mel B described the design as 'sad' -Credit:ITV

Mel B went on to say: “I think what you are wearing is really bold and beautiful, this to me just looks a little bit sad.” She then complimented the dress the Coventry woman was wearing and said her design should have 'reflected her own personal style.'

Sandeep then started crying, which prompted Mel B to say: “I do not want you to cry because I love what you are wearing.” Her design landed her in 9th place, with the judges saying that the 33-year-old had 'missed the mark.'

Designers were then told that they had five hours to design a second clothing item as a team with Sandeep joined by Daylan, Julie and Maria. Things went from bad to worse for Sandeep as a last-minute design change meant that her dress 'did not fit in.'

Tearfully, Sandeep said: “My garment does not fit with the team, this is all about teamwork, it is all about making a collection, and mine just is not in the collection essentially. It just does not work.”

It meant that Sandeep was at risk of elimination, but the 33-year-old was saved by the judges, who instead chose to send Julie packing, with the 54-year-old saying that she had 'enjoyed every little minute of it.'

Sandeep said she hopes to win the coveted job at M&S and opened up about why she applied to be on Dress the Nation. She said: “I started buying fabric for myself, and I just found that I had too much, so I decided to list some of them online, and they sold and it has grown into a whole shop.

“I provide fabrics so that other people can sew their own clothes, but it would be amazing if I could be the one designing things for other people and to just literally dedicate my entire life to this.”

Watch M&S: Dress the Nation on ITV1 and ITVX at 8pm on Tuesdays.

Sign up for our FREE daily newsletter here for all the latest news about Coventry.