Food blogger, Scream Queen, and Playboy Club model Jessica Spice packs more adventure into a week than an Indiana Jones film. She sat down with us to discuss her posh beginnings and creating one of the net’s most tantalizing food blogs.
Playboy: To start us off, where were you born?
Jessica Spice: I was born in a little tiny town called Gravesend, of all places. And maybe I got my love of the macabre and horror from the that. I absolutely love it, anything horror. A little secret: I used to be a B-movie Scream Queen.
Playboy: Wow. Can you touch on that for a second?
Jessica: I got to run around half naked, covered in blood, and died or got killed. So that was good fun. But I grew up in a little town, pretty uneventful, really, I was definitely a little tomboy growing up. I’m pretty sure my parents wanted boys, so I didn’t do any of the girly things.
Instead, I had a motocross bike. I did boxing lessons. I loved science, I loved geeky things, I loved reading. And I wasn’t a child that had many friends, but I just kind of did my own thing. I’m really glad I wasn’t a child in the age of the phone. You know, I’m glad I had dial up, which is definitely giving my age away. But I feel like you were forced to do silly things and enjoy your childhood.
Playboy: Did you enjoy school?
Jessica: I love school. I adore learning. To this day, I still adore learning, and I’ve got a whole cabinet dedicated to qualifications or extra things that I’ve done. So, I loved school. I went to an all girls school. Here in England, we kind of have, I don’t know…there’s a bit of a reputation. If you go to an all girls school, you kind of get this, oh, they’re a bit snooty. They’re a bit posh.
You didn’t mix, you know? And it’s definitely kind of like that. There’s definitely this weird subculture of going to an all girls school. But it meant that I didn’t meet any boys, so I didn’t have those relationships teenagers usually have. I didn’t have my first boyfriend until I was 16. I didn’t really know boys, so I was very, very inexperienced, gullible and naive, I suppose. But yeah, I loved school. It was great. I grew up with Spice Girls. Girl power! It was fantastic.
Playboy: What was the first thing you remember that you dreamed of achieving?
Jessica: I had a thesaurus—like I said, I love learning—and it was the very first of the series of thesauruses. So it obviously starts with the letter A, so I wanted to be an astronaut and to go to the moon one day. As it got a little bit older, I was actually [thinking], “Maybe being an astronaut is not viable.” But that was definitely the first thing I ever wanted to do, was to be an astronaut.
Playboy: Where’s your favorite place that you’ve traveled to?
Jessica: I’ve been very lucky in my life, and I traveled a lot of America. And I think it has to be New Orleans. My favorite place on earth. It’s just so magical. And the food is incredible, the jambalaya, the gumbo…everything about it was fantastic. I know people say it’s very party-centric, but I felt like there was more to it. It has so much heart.
I didn’t know it was so cultured. It also has this magical side of it. And obviously, I had to do all the ghost tours and the haunted tours. It’s the only place I visited, where I felt, “I feel at home here.” I feel like it’s really bizarre, but I loved it.
Playboy: What are you passionate about?
Jessica: For me, I’m someone who loves being underestimated, right? That’s something that I love. People look at me and they assume “Blonde, big boobs: she’s got to be stupid. Doesn’t know x, y, etc.” And actually, my day job—I work in STEM—so you know, I’ve got the the intel to back it up.
I’m really passionate about women going out there and getting as much as they can. You know, I ride motorbikes, I can do anything, and that, for me, is what I’m passionate about. Just being able to do whatever, and not giving into the many constraints being put on us. Being able to go and prove everyone wrong. That’s probably my biggest passion.
Playboy: What would make you ghost a potential love interest?
Jessica: Once ghosted a guy—I probably shouldn’t admit I’ve ghosted several guys, because that makes me sound mean. But well, this one guy, we were out to dinner, and he asked, “Would you like another drink?” And he [snapped fingers at waiter]. And I’m not exaggerating…I got up, I excused myself, went to the bathroom, and actually just walked out. Never saw him again. You cannot be so rude to someone like that. I hate sort of rudeness and entitlement.
But there’s this one instance I went on a date with the guy and got on him really well with him. We’ve been chatting back some forth, been on a handful of dates. He was a professional rugby player. Really interesting. And we went out to dinner, and he made the assumption…and he ordered for me. Now, normally, I don’t mind that. If you know me and you know, “Oh my God, there’s a spicy margarita. Jessica would love that.”
Instead, he was like “And she will have the white wine.” And I was like, “One, I’m not a white wine drinker.” Like, that’s not me. And two, “She?” I was like, “Actually, she will have a beer, please, and thank you.” And made a whole point of drinking a beer at this fancy restaurant from the bottle, just to aggravate this guy. And, yeah, I ghosted him after that.
Playboy: What turns you on?
Jessica: I’ve only found this out recently: men doing manly things. My partner, he was doing some gardening for me. He’s fixed my washing machine. He’s fixed a bunch of stuff around my house. For me, I have no idea what came over me, but all of a sudden I wanted to look pretty and bring him snacks. And I was like, “This is really turning me on.” Instantly, the feminist in me goes right out the window.
And then I also think another thing…I just think you have to kiss right. Like, I think what happened the days of being a teenager where you can’t do anything but kiss? I love that. Kiss me. That’s what I like. That’s such a turn on.
Playboy: Describe your perfect day.
Jessica: I get up and have a long, hot bubble bath to start the day. And then I look at my agenda, because I am a meticulous planner, and I’ll have planned a series of adventures. So, one of the things I did recently was I got up and I booked a flying lesson. I was like, “Today I’m going to learn how to fly a plane.” And that’s what I did. I went and got in a plane and actually ended up falling in love with the pilot, and now we’re moving to Scotland.
It’s not uncommon for my friends or family to be like, “What are you doing today?” And I’ll say”I’m just traveling to a different place” or “I’m doing this by myself.” So, a bath and then just a bunch of adventures, followed by dinner and margaritas.
Playboy: What inspired you to become a food blogger?
Jessica: I am a messy eater. For one, I think we should enjoy food. I will throw myself into food. And one of my favorite foods is seafood: crab, lobster, shrimp…anything you can think of. But I don’t use the utensils because they just hold me up. And nine times out of 10, I’ll have big nails on anyway.
I would just pick up a lobster leg or a crab leg and bite into it and crack it and just fully fight with it. And I actually ended up having people watch me. “This is quite entertaining to watch this woman fight with food.” So during lockdown, I started going, “Well, you know what? I had a bit of an audience for my modeling. Let’s see if they would be interested in me doing food as well.”
I have got more worth than being half naked. I can shove a burger in my face too. I love it. That’s what I did. I literally just got rid of all the modeling stuff. I was like, “Right now you’re going to enjoy me eating, because I enjoy this.”
Playboy: It’s only been four years so far, and you have a huge following, which is amazing.
Jessica: My most viral video…I went viral for eating a sausage. Like, million and something views. And then I got a lot people that were friends of friends asking, “Aren’t you that girl that ate the sausage?” Yes, that was me.
You’ll get people that’ll reach out to you, and they’ll be like, “Hey, we’d love for you to try our food.” That’s what I like most about it, not just the paid side of it. It’s the smaller restaurants, these individual little pop up places.
Playboy: I wish that you were local, because Atlanta has a terrific food scene. If you ever make it back to the U.S., you’ve got to visit.
Jessica: I will. I’m gonna call you up. We’re going out.
Playboy: We’re going to talk about food and horror movies all night, because that would be amazing.
Jessica: And you know what bothers me as well? People confuse horror movies with like being goth or being alternative. Like, don’t get me wrong…I definitely had a dodgy emo phase. I had the haircut and everything. But, no, I can be pink and girly and love the Scream series. I can be girly and just love to watch someone get decapitated.
Playboy: That is probably my quote of the day right there that needs to be on a shirt: “I could be pink and girly and like to watch someone get decapitated.” Do you have any types of dream content you’d like to do with your blog?
Jessica: I would actually love to go to Osaka, because it’s meant to be the food capital of Japan. So it’s meant to be amazing. I would love to do that. I don’t think I have any goals in terms of places or where I would like to go, but more in terms of, I would like to experience a lot more homestyle cooking.
I would prefer someone go to me and say “Hey, have you had this traditional food from years and years ago? This is my great, great, great great great, great grandmother’s recipe. Try it.” That, to me, is more exciting than going to a restaurant somewhere. But then, having said that, of course, I will try anything. I am not a fussy eater by any means, and I will try and eat everything.
Playboy: Do you like to cook too?
Jessica: I love to cook. I would love to one day have a tongue-in-cheek cooking show. A sexy cooking show. That is kind of my ultimate dream. I would love that.
Playboy: Did you have gumbo when you visited New Orleans?
Jessica: Yes.
Playboy: Would you like my grandmother’s gumbo recipe?
Jessica: Yes, yes, yes, oh my god, yes. 1000 times, yes.
Jessica Spice is on The Playboy Club. Talk to her now.
