Housewife is Queen of Clean as rivals bite dust

Houseproud Helen Simpson, who devotes her annual fortnight's holiday to scrubbing and dusting her Yorkshire home, has made a clean sweep in a national competition.

The 39-year-old from Hipswell, near Catterick Garrison, brushed aside fierce competition from thousands of other hopefuls to be crowned the Queen of Clean after spending 9,880 hours (28 per cent of her life) in rubber gloves over the past 19 years.

Yesterday, after celebrating her win with an afternoon swapping tips with TV dirt detective Aggie MacKenzie, she was looking forward to an all expenses paid trip to Switzerland.

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She said: "Nothing makes me happier than when I'm cleaning and Aggie is my cleaning idol. People think I'm mad, but I'm always asking for cleaning products for my birthday and Christmas."

Judge Aggie MacKenzie, star of TV's How Clean is Your House?, said Mrs Simpson was head and shoulders above everyone else on the shortlist, adding: "When I met her it couldn't have been clearer that she was the perfect winner."

Anita Bubb, of competition organisers Spontex, the cleaning products company, said: "Her cleaning anecdotes were savvy, smart and very creative."