Lorraine Kelly's fury when GMTV boss' wife gets free on-air makeover

Mary Crouch, the wife of GMTV's sales director Clive Crouch, won an image overhaul normally awarded to viewers on the basis of pleading letters written to the production team.

Mrs Crouch was driven to London from Hornchurch, Essex, accompanied by her best friend Sharon Hoare, in a car provided by Mrs Crouch's then-husband.

The pair were kitted out with clothes chosen by leading stylist Liz Savage during a West End shopping spree.

A session with celebrity make-up artist Arianne Poole and hairdresser Charles Worthington - who charges £90 a cut and numbers Jamie Oliver and Joely Richardson among his clients - completed the transformation.

At no stage during the film in November 1998 were viewers told about Mrs Crouch's connection to the station.

According to the latest accounts of ITV, which has a majority stake in GMTV, Mr Crouch earns more than £370,000.

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Kelly is said to be furious that Mrs Crouch got the free makeover

The makeovers are promoted by GMTV as a chance for viewers to get a celebrity-style transformation.

In order to qualify for the show, viewers write letters explaining why they feel they deserve the special treatment. In many cases, those chosen have suffered a family trauma.

Insiders say that when Ms Kelly was told about Mrs Crouch's link to the programme, after the sequence went out, she "went ballistic" and described it as a betrayal of viewers.

"She realised it was deceitful for the producers to have sent out letters to the makeover hopefuls, saying they were 'crossing their fingers for them', when the gig had already gone to a board member's wife," an insider said.

Mrs Crouch, who has since separated from her husband, said the makeover was for her friend Sharon, and her attendance was incidental.

"It was really for my friend whose son is now dead but at the time was a profoundly disabled boy, and really it was for her but it turned out that they did it for me as well," she said.

Mrs Crouch lives in the large detached house she used to share with her husband. A Mercedes estate car was parked in the drive. Houses in the quiet tree-lined road sell for more than £500,000.

She added: "It was justified because my daughter is disabled. People are entitled to have things done for different reasons. It was for my friend, and in the actual footage it says 'this is a double whammy for you as well.' And I didn't even know it."

She would not say whether she had written a letter in the normal way, adding: "I don't have to explain myself."

GMTV said: "It was not a competition. Viewers wrote in saying why they wanted a makeover. Mary went through the normal procedure, nominating her friend who had a son with cerebral palsy.

"The producers decided to award it to Sharon, and also wanted to reward Mary who is carer to her own disabled child. There were good reasons to have them both on."

GMTV said the makeovers were "High Street" based, and therefore not particularly expensive. It did not comment on Ms Kelly's reaction at the time.

Ms Kelly was not available for comment.

Tory MP John Whittingdale, who led an inquiry into phone quizzes, said: "Broadcasters have been increasingly lax in terms of the rigour with which competitions are conducted.

"Having spoken to Ofcom [the broadcasting watchdog], it is clear that they will be telling broadcasters that they need to be a lot more scrupulous."