Remember Chantelle From Bardot? She’s Copped To Stealing From Sophie Monk

Cast your minds back to the early 00’s, if you can. If you can’t, thanks for making me feel old you fucker. Go back to your Duplo set now.

One of Australia’s first-ever reality TV shows captivated teens nation-wide – Popstars. The precursor to behemoths Australian Idol, The X Factor and The Voice, Popstars followed the auditions and then – in something absolutely missing from current day reality tv – the share-house living of a new Aussie pop group. The iconic Bardot.

ICYMI on account of being an embryo at the time, Bardot was Sophie Monk’s breakout moment. It launched her into stardom – and had her front and centre in the middle of a huge scandal.

See, in 2001 Chantelle Barry was unceremoniously booted from the house and the group, with rumours flying that is was due to her stealing money from Sophie Monk. It was HUGE news for all 12-18 year olds at the time, ok. HUGE.

The group with Chantelle (far left). Source: wikipedia.org

Chantelle was replaced with Tiffany Wood.

Bardot with new member Tiffany / can we burn all photographic evidence of fashion from the 00’s thanks. Source: Getty Images

Bardot went on to have some strong Aussie success with tracks ‘Poison‘ and the, frankly, highly underrated ‘These Days‘, which will always and forever be my favourite break-up song.

Chantelle has spoken about the drama before – in 2006, on the short-lived show Where Are They NowBut her take on the incident back then was that she ‘borrowed’ the money from Sophie and just forgot to give it back, which led to her being accused of theft. Now, she’s spoken candidly to Woman’s Day and proper admitted to the crime.

“Sophie left her $100 weekly allowance in an envelope in my bedroom and I intended to return it on the weekend – we had plans to go to a gig together,” she told the magazine. “In a moment of stupidity, being a teenager and thinking that a pair of shoes was more important than the friendship I had with Sophie, I decided to keep her money for myself.”

It’s essentially the “borrowing” story with an added footnote of “BTW yeah I did keep it”.

Chantelle Barry in 2009. Source: Getty Images

According to the Woman’s Day feature, Chantelle was forced out by management after the incident, who paid her $1,000 to essentially keep her mouth shut and leave the group quietly.

Chantelle says she’s seen none of the Bardot members since, so don’t expect her popping up in some reunion situation on The Bachelorette. Imagine, though.

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