Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
News

I was a Big Issue vendor and now I'm a Gogglebox star

Sandra Martin believes she was able to turn her life around thanks to The Big Issue. She has since found fame on Gogglebox.

Only four years before Sandra Martin found fame on Gogglebox, she was selling The Big Issue. She lost her home after a stint in jail and struggled with alcohol abuse.

“One day, I saw someone with a copy of The Big Issue in the hostel,” she says. “I wanted an opportunity to get out there and do something positive instead of drinking, drinking, drinking.

“That was the start of my luck turning around. Suddenly lots of good things started happening. I think The Big Issue brought me good luck. Because of The Big Issue I was able to change my life around. It really feels like that.”

@sandragogglebox

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

GIVE A GIFT THAT CHANGES A VENDOR'S LIFE THIS CHRISTMAS 🎁

For £36.99, help a vendor stay warm, earn an extra £520, and build a better future.
Grant, vendor

Recommended for you

View all
'A Muslim is someone who strives for peace': How this young imam is challenging Islamophobia on- and offline
Islamophobia

'A Muslim is someone who strives for peace': How this young imam is challenging Islamophobia on- and offline

Gordon Brown: 'This can't go on – 4.3 million people in poverty is unsustainable'
Exclusive

Gordon Brown: 'This can't go on – 4.3 million people in poverty is unsustainable'

Children recruited as soldiers and facing 'brutal' sexual violence in Sudan war
Image captured in July 2025 of a woman and two girls from Sudan who fled to South Sudan.
Sudan war

Children recruited as soldiers and facing 'brutal' sexual violence in Sudan war

New Year's resolutions: What does the world need to get right in 2026?
Your views

New Year's resolutions: What does the world need to get right in 2026?