A Dover woman and her five bulldogs are revelling in their rise to fame after pictures of her pets in fancy dress went viral.

Karen Chamberlain, 48, of Christchurch Way in Dover, runs a doggy business called Maverick Bulldogs.

Her furry friends don fancy dress costumes for adverts and TV appearances and most recently appeared on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

It all started when Karen and her doggy companions appeared on Sky One documentary Different Breed, and a promo picture for the “dogumentary” went viral. Since then the phone has not stopped ringing.

From Britain’s Got Talent to being a panelist on Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, Karen has gained an insight into the behind-the-scenes world of TV - and she’s loving it.

She said: “Ant and Dec kept laughing at the dogs. They were taking the mickey out of them. We were going to dress them up and they said it looks staged but we said, we do that all the time. It’s barking mad, our life.”

Barking Mad is to be the title of Karen’s book which she is in the process of writing about her life and her pets Lola, Gracie, Angel Star, Lil Belle and King.

She won £500 on the ITV show with her friend Amrick Channa, who she met on Come Dine With Me, when the Channel 4 show came to Dover in September last year. Mr Channa also appeared on BBC talent show The Voice UK.

Despite not being able to cook, Karen won the show with her Kentish ingredients and also made some life-long friends along the way.

Along with her Come Dine With Me friends, she has also become close with 2 Shoes from Britain’s Got Talent, and Rylan Clark from X-Factor and Celebrity Big Brother from her time working on both shows.

Out of everyone that she has met, she said her favourite has to be Simon Cowell.

“It was all a blur. He thought I was really funny. Out of all the people I’ve met, I was absolutely star struck. He was absolutely charming.”

Karen, who lives with her partner Peter Dowling, was also thrilled to meet Barbara Windsor and organised a judges dog look-alike competition. Her bulldog King was the look-alike for David Walliams.

Karen met her partner Peter, 49, who she calls St Peter, online and their relationship blossomed.

During their first phone conversation, Peter who was living in Spain at the time, hung up and left her feeling disheartened.

When he got back in touch with her it was to tell her that he had got on the first flight out to England and needed a lift from the airport.

The pair have now been together for eight years and moved to Dover from Ashford two years ago.

She said: “The dogs are the reason we moved, the beach is lovely for them to walk on and I really love Dover.”

Maverick Bulldogs can also be spotted at film premieres, judging dog shows and starring in TV adverts and Karen’s other TV appearances include The Only Way is Essex, Pound Shop Wars and Undercover Boss to name a few.