USUALLY the National Lottery is quite happy to bandy figures, but yesterday its spokeswoman almost collapsed when asked how much of a fee Olympic gold medallist Michelle Smith had been paid for an appearance.
"I couldn't possibly tell you that," she said, and recovering slightly, she added, "It's a business arrangement between Michelle and the National Lottery and will remain confidential."
Michelle herself was keeping quiet about appearance fees and refused to be drawn on rumours of large amounts of money changing hands. "We never discuss our fees," said her manager, Kathy Stapleton. "There has been speculation but we don't want to go into it," she said, adding she had no knowledge of a £20,000 fee supposed to have been requested by Michelle for an engagement in the North.
She did reveal plans are under way to write Michelle's life story. ,A deal has been signed with a Scottish publishing house and the book will be on the shelves before Christmas. She would not say who would write the book.
No deal, she said, had been made for a film about Michelle. They had been approached by a man from Los Angeles when she was in the US, however, he had no "business card or CV" to present. "We asked for information on his background and it was not forthcoming. We asked again when we got back to Dublin but there was still no answers."
However, there is a US agent coming to Ireland in September to discuss film rights to Michelle's story and they will wait to see what he has to offer.
Michelle, accompanied by her husband, Erik, said the whole project was still too far away and she "wouldn't even think about it at the moment". She said there had been "crazy" stories in the Dutch press that she had "turned down Tom Cruise" to play Erik because he was not "good looking enough".
"I think that's going a bit too far," she said, and hoped anything featuring her would be accurate.
At the moment she is content to concentrate on the book and other smaller projects. "There is no point in running before you can walk. I'm quite happy about the book."
Michelle was at a hotel in Dublin for the launch of the National Lottery's Winning Streak game show and scratch card. For the first time, it will include a £500,000 prize on the wheel.