Former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here contestant and The Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester has come out swinging on TikTok, alleging that Channel Ten’s hit celebrity jungle show is rigged.
On Sunday, Ajay posted a TikTok replying to a comment that asked her whether the popular reality show was rigged. What she had to say was compelling, to say the least.
@ajayrochester Replying to @kasleigh1975__ #imacelebrity #imacelebritygetmeoutofhere #tea #teatok #realitytvtea ♬ original sound – AjayRochester
“In the contract, it says in tiny, little writing right at the end that Channel Ten can choose to elect a winner, regardless of votes,” Ajay claimed.
“It also says Channel Ten can decide when the contestants are eliminated with or without the voting.”
She went on to question why we often see the chef of the season lasting to the end, or why Channel Ten talent are usually the ones who make it through to final challenges.
Although pastry chef Ana Polyviou was one of the first to be eliminated on the current season of I’m A Celeb, The Living Room‘s resident chef Miguel Maestre made it all the way to the end in 2020, securing the King Of The Jungle crown.
“There’s no prize money involved so they’re allowed to rig it,” she said.
“If it’s a competition, you can’t. It can’t be rigged, there are very strict rules. This is a competition but every celebrity is getting paid and raising money for a charity. They’re not doing it for charity, they’re doing it for money,” she continued.
“They’re always going to manipulate it in a way that suits them and their talent,” she said, noting that Abbie Chatfield was up-and-coming talent for the network when she won her season in 2021.
Ajay later confirmed in a follow up video that she does believe the final public voting is rigged, but the network manipulates who makes it to the final few.
While Ajay has proven to be a bit of a wild card, I think she might be on the money for this one. Not just because of her involvement as a contestant in the series but due to her experience working behind the scenes in reality television.
The former on-screen talent currently works as a casting producer in America, predominantly working on reality television. Her list includes bangers like Naked And Afraid and one of my ultimate favourites, Dance Moms.
Plus, I highly doubt she’d be making these bold claims without keeping any receipts.
ICYMI, Ajay was thrown into the jungle in 2019 alongside Gogglebox‘s Angie Kent and Love Island‘s Justin Lacko. She claims that the reason they did so may tucker trials, where the stars have to eat delicious snacks like kudu testicles and pig nipples, was to boost their public image before being wheeled out for respective seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.While we saw Angie star in The Bachelorette later on in 2019, Ajay claims that Justin’s behaviour was so terrible that his season of The Bachelor never came to fruition. If her tip about airtime is anything to go by, it would explain why we saw Kerri-Anne Kennerley do multiple tucker trials in her four days on the damn show.
The network probably wanted to make the most of the alleged $180,000 they paid her to give the jungle a crack.
Although it sounds pretty damn dodgy, it’s not the first time we’ve heard of contractually-obligated evictions on Aussie reality TV.In 2021, Caitlyn Jenner was confirmed to be entering the Big Brother VIP house. As one of the biggest names to enter the house, it was a huge fkn deal. But shortly after she filmed her stint on the show Caitlyn spoiled that she was quickly yeeted out of the house by posting the following tweet.
Great time abroad for fun and glad to be back in #California on the campaign trail! https://t.co/3FrepPj2SB
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) August 7, 2021
To make matters more suss, her contract was leaked and revealed that she allegedly had her eviction written into the contract so she could get back to the States to continue her political tour.
Ultimately, it’s not a huge surprise that Channel Ten might want to be giving publicity to their own talent . After all, it’s their show and it does bloody well in the ratings.
