COLUMN: My name's Hayley O'Keeffe and I'm an astronaut - honest!

But, I do think my chosen profession is one of many, where quite a lot of people feel like it’s okay to jump on the bandwaggon.

Take Jordan (Katie Price) for example, she’s a best selling author, but I’ve actually met the lady that really wrote the Page Three stunner’s books, lovely she was too.

Famous for being famous celebrities vent their spleen in weekly newspaper columns, and all of sudden are journalists, writers, creatives?

And my profession is far from unique in this regard. How many great actors, dancers and singers have been passed over for title roles in West End musicals, in favour of a soap or reality star, how many artists have been shunned by a gallery in favour of the dodgy daubings of an aging rocker?

Which begs the question, why do people do this? And why do we all sem to accept it?

It seems like by consistently rewarding the worst elements of our society - the greedy, the showy, the brash - with the limelight that they crave, we are really missing out on some of the quality real life experiences out 
there.

Does anyone really care anymore about the guy at the open mic with the amazing voice and songwriting skills, the guy that should really make it to the big time, but won’t because his face doesn’t really fit and he’s too shy. I’d rather have his album than anything in the charts right now, but it won’t see the light of day beyond that small group of pubgoers.

There are hundreds of people out there that are really artists, singers, dancers, designers, models, writers, photographers, actors , musicians and journalists. Those people are quietly and not so quietly beavering away, just being good, just working hard. So, the next time you open a newspaper, a magazine, a book, turn on the television or go to a gallery or show make sure to appreciate the unknown as well as those familiar favourites, because there’s a lot of things out there that are better and more honest than what we are spoon-fed.