Karen Dunbar revealed she earned more from hosting karaoke than starring in first series of Chewin’ the Fat

Speaking at an International Women’s Day debate, Dunbar, 51, also recalled feeling ‘ashamed’ after getting paid more when BBC Scotland’s sketch show took off.

The Ayrshire-born actress said there was still an unwillingness to discuss fair pay in the entertainment industry and blamed the “class system” for deep-rooted inequalities.

Dunbar broke into the industry after attending open auditions hosted by The Comedy Unit, the production company behind Only An Excuse and Rab C Nesbitt.

Following the success of Chewin’ the Fat, which was created by Still Game stars Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, Dunbar was given her own comedy show.

Dunbar was speaking at a Women in Entertainment event.

She said: “I’m feart about what I’m going to say.

“The reason we don’t want to talk about money is because we’re aware, at a very deep level, that it’s just dead unfair.

“There’s a bit of my brain going ‘don’t tell folk this’.

“I was a karaoke host and DJing from the age of 19 until I started in Chewin’ the Fat when I was 27, running my own businesses.

“I made more money doing that than I got from the first series of Chewin’ the Fat.

“The point is I wasn’t able to ask. I didn’t know what my worth would be coming into television.

“I just thought whatever they were offering was what I had to accept.

“I didn’t know I could say ‘could I get another £10 on that please?’ “That money went up as the show progressed and it got popular.

“There were times when I was thinking ‘I feel ashamed about the money I’m getting’.

“I wasn’t getting a squillion pounds either.

“Ultimately, if we all got paid the same the world would be a different place.

“We know that.

“The problem at the root of it all is the class system.

“I don’t know how we start to disassemble it.”