Charlotte Carter-Dunn beat 500 people to get the job.
The Mirror reports that the latest incarnation of the fish finger mascot Captain Birds Eye is Charlotte Carter-Dunn.
Carter-Dunn won a competition to find a new face and is the first woman to do so. Birds Eye said it was her “frozen food top tips that she was worthy winner”.
The company was actually founded by a Birdseye. Clarence Birdseye started the company in 1924, pioneering the mechanical quick–freeze method, making it possible to ship foods long distances and still have them fresh when they thawed. Though he sold the company just a few years later, his name and the Birds Eye logo became synonymous with frozen fish.
There have been several incarnations of the old sailor with a white beard, dressed in merchant naval uniform. The original Cap’n, John Hewer, dominated screens from 1967 to 1998.
In 1998, Captain Birdseye became a much younger, rugged, dark-haired man with designer stubble and even a miniature submarine. Just last year the Nomad-owned company had splashed out GBP 8 million on advertising campaign fronted by Italian actor Riccardo Acerbi. He even got his own calendar.
Carter-Dunn, who lives in Gloucestershire where she looks after two foster children, told the publications that she was “delighted to have won the competition and can’t believe I will be replacing the iconic Captain Birds Eye on packs – it’s all very surreal”.
“As a foster carer, meal times can be a little hectic but shopping frozen helps me to cut back on the food we waste and have easy meals on the table in no time. My freezer has been even more of a God send during lockdown as it’s enabled us to reduce our shopping trips. I hope that sharing my frozen hacks will help other families get the most out of their freezer,” she added.
Iglo Group, which owns the Birds Eye and Findus brands, was sold for EUR 2.6 billion in 2015 to US investment vehicle Nomad Holdings.
