Yvie Jones has revisited the powerful moment she refused to be weighed on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! (I’m a celebrity… Get me out of here!) Australia.
At the time, the Gogglebox Australia star shared a powerful speech, revealing her battle with an eating disorder and criticizing the show’s decision to check the weight of celebrity contestants on the show.
“I looked at the numbers and I was the only one in triple digits,” the 51-year-old told the podcast. Enough of everything: a guide to success alone this week.
“All I could see were two digits and me at the bottom and I thought that’s how they wrote us, from thinnest to fattest,” Yvie continued.
“What really shocked me at the time, and I’ve never, ever talked about this publicly, was that Angie (Kent) was at the top and she was only 52kg, and I was at the bottom and I was 112kg. So That’s more than double her.
‘It was so blatantly embarrassing and embarrassing. Are they doing this to sew me up? These are the things that were going through my head.’
Yvie said she was anxious about how her message would be received, but in the end it was for the greater good.
‘I knew television well enough to know that if I did it right, I could make this powerful enough to help just one woman. Just one woman, that’s all I wanted to do,’ she said.
Yvie Jones (pictured) has relived the powerful moment she refused to be weighed I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Australia
‘When I finished, everyone was clapping. The team was behind me and I turned around to look at them and they were all crying, and most of them were men… It was a really defining moment.’
The powerful episode came during the 2018 season of the jungle-based reality show.
Yvie refused to be weighed and instead used the platform to speak out about her eating disorder for the first time.
She broke down while talking about body image and how she “wish we lived in a different world where our looks didn’t matter.”
During the weigh-in, Yvie revealed she would not be participating, telling her fellow campers: “I’ve had an eating disorder for most of my life.
“I looked at the numbers and I was the only one with three digits,” the 51-year-old said. “All I could see was two digits and me at the bottom and I thought that’s how they wrote us, from thinnest to fattest.” Pictured on the show in 2018
“I’ve never, ever talked about this publicly. Angie (Kent) was at the top and only weighed 52kg, and I was at the bottom and weighed 112kg. So that’s more than double her weight,” she said.
‘I grew up in a house where they told me that one of the worst things you can be is overweight. I can’t say when the last time I weighed myself was.
‘I know a lot of people think they understand, but unless you’ve had a problem with being overweight, you don’t understand what it’s like to live life being judged solely by your weight and clothes that don’t fit you.’
One year later, the reality revealed that she “still struggles every day” with an eating disorder. Hit Network Summer Breakfastduring an emotional conversation with Grant Denyer.
In an attempt to inspire others, Yvie began: “I see myself as someone who still struggles every day with an eating disorder, what I see in the mirror, on TV and what I read online from well-meaning people, both professionals as non-professionals”.
She went on to say that she had now decided to “love herself anyway”, revealing that she speaks to herself in the same way she would to a vulnerable friend or child.
‘When you think something horrible and critical about anyone, including yourself, always remember that the first thing your mind thinks is how society has taught us to be. The second thing is how you really feel,’ she said.
‘Reprogram your mind, embrace yourself. We are much more than what we see in the mirror.’
Yvie is best known for starring in the reality show Gogglebox Australia from 2015 to 2018. She has been friends with Angie Kent (left) for over a decade.
