Channel 10
If Natalie Bassingthwaighte wasn’t going to be the Queen of the Jungle on Ten’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, she’s glad the crown sits upon Casey Donovan’s head. “I’m so rapt with her,” Bassingthwaighte says. “I’m super thrilled that she’s the Queen.”
Coming in second runner-up, the singer and actress now gets to holiday with her husband, drummer Cameron McGlinchey, and their two children, Harper, 6, and Hendrix, 3, but not before answering a few questions.
Q: Has your food craving changed or was there something you needed to eat when you got out?
A: Anything with flavour. Inside, we had no salt, we had no pepper, we rarely had any condiments whatsoever. The senses on my tastebuds now are going crazy and I’m loving it.
Q: Did you think going through a show like this would change you so much, physically and mentally?
A: You know, I wanted it to? That was a big part of the reason why I went in there but I never expected it to change my perspective so much. It really was exhilarating, challenging, obviously clearly emotional, but when do we ever get that space in our lives to have in your head without a phone, without a computer, just without a lot of stuff ticking over 24-7. I had a lot of time to think in there, so it was a blessing.
Q: Did you think you would be so candid, even with all the cameras around you?
A: I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if I would be more guarded, but you kind of can’t help it. I feel like what happens with you in an environment like that is you might be a little bit more guarded in the beginning but soon, your true colours come out. You can’t hide that for so long. You can’t not be yourself in a situation like that.
Q: Looking back, what was the challenge that most surprised you by what you were capable of?
A: I was surprised about everything in there. I was confronting fears I didn’t even know I had. I certainly didn’t know that I’d be terrified bungee jumping, but when you’re faced with those things and you have children, that puts everything into perspective a little bit, like what am I putting myself through this for? But I’m really proud I gave it a go and proud that my children can sit back and watch me take chances and overcome my fears. If they are faced with different fears now when they are growing up, they can go, ‘You know what? Mummy did it. I can be fearless as well.’
Q: Were you surprised by the friendships you made?
A: Oh, 100 percent. You never know who’s going to be in there, let alone what friendships you’re going to make or how intense they will be. I feel so blessed that I was able to meet such extraordinary people. You know, you don’t always get on with everyone, but Lisa [Curry], Tegan [Martin], and Carson [Kressley] and Dane [Swan] towards the end, yeah. It’s so hard to explain to anyone what it really is like, but it is life changing.
Q: You had been saying throughout you were motivated by your family.
A: It was so overwhelming for me to see them at the camp. I knew it was coming but every day I would walk into camp or go to the wood chop or something like that and then kind of almost expected them to be there and then when they weren’t, it was really disappointing, so when they were finally there, it was a moment I will never forget. I’m never away from my kids for longer than… if I go away for work for a few days, even then I’m FaceTiming them or calling them more than once a day, and to go six weeks without them, the first time I saw them on that video, I lost it because it’s just so overwhelming.
Q: What were your kids most curious about?
A: Well first of all, it was just about me. The camp didn’t exist! But they did love just exploring. Hendrix is just so into the fire. I told him Mummy’s been building a fire and showed him what that’s like. They loved sitting on our beds and they loved going down to the river and walking on all the rocks and stuff. I don’t know with my son if it registered to him that Mummy’s been on TV and this is the home that she lives in, but my daughter definitely was aware of that. She’s been watching pretty much everything but I think they were just excited to see me more than any of that.
Q: You were so happy to reunite with your family. What will you do now as a unit?
A: Well, we’re just going to have a break in South Africa and reconnect after being away for so long. What we’ve been told is there is usually an adjustment period. For me and my kids right now, it feels like time hasn’t even passed, which is so surreal. They are running around here on the grass with me. Yeah, we’re just going to explore South Africa together without any kinds of media attention or outside presence and just really embrace each other, before I get back to the madness!
Q: So what is in that madness in your future?
A: Rogue Traders. We’ve been working on some new material, so looking forward to getting that to the next level. I don’t really know what the guys have been doing since I’ve been in there, but they’ve been working hard and writing some cool stuff, and that will be really fun. I’ve also got a couple acting projects that I was working before I went in the jungle and I keep saying I hope they are still in the cards before everyone saw me make a fool of myself! I’ve got my business, my baby and kids children’s clothing label, Chi Khi, is just getting bigger and bigger daily, so I’ve got to get back to that, too, but in the meantime, it’s just me, my kids and my hubby.
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