’I’m opinionated... and I won’t put up with anyone who is being mean,’ says Olympian Lisa Curry

THE first contestant is revealed for the new series of Network Ten’s I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! which begins tonight.

THREE-time Olympian Lisa Curry claims Australia has the wrong idea about her.

“The real Lisa is not this tough athlete,” the 54-year-old Curry told News Corp Australia ahead of appearing as a contestant on series three of Ten’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

“People think because you are an Olympian, you must be really tough. I am a pussy cat. I am a crybaby. I am a bit of a walkover sometimes.”

Curry is one of 10 celebrities to be unveiled for the Channel Ten reality series, to premiere at 7pm tonight, and is one of Australia’s most recognisable athletes.

She may be a former Olympian, but Lisa Curry admits to being scared of snakes, spiders and heights. Picture: Channel Ten/Nigel Wright

Her sporting credits include having won 15 gold, seven silver and eight bronze international swimming medals, as well as competing at several Commonwealth Games and the Moscow, Los Angeles and Barcelona Olympic Games.

“My athletic career was a moment in time a long time ago,” she said.

Lisa Curry says the last 18 months have been the best in her life. Picture: Channel Ten/Nigel Wright

“It is nice to win a gold medal but it is so temporary. The next day you are back to square one and it is like, ‘what now? Last night you’re a champion, what are you today?’ Your goal is to be a gold person, not the person on the blocks with a gold medal around your neck. It has taken me years to get to this point. Experience and age, there’s a lot that goes with it. It is not what you get from what you do; it is who you become trying to get what you get.”

Curry and her fellow celebrities will spend up to six weeks in the South African jungle competing in various physical challenges with the ultimate aim of winning $100,000 for their chosen charity.

“I would say that I’m scared of spiders and snakes, I can’t stand them. I really don’t like heights and I don’t like pretentious people. It might be the wrong show,” said Curry, competing for the Aussie Helpers farming charity.

“I have to be careful because I am quite opinionated and I certainly won’t put up with anyone who is being mean to someone.”

As a swimmer Lisa Curry won 15 gold medals for Australia. Picture: Supplied.

Curry has three children — Jaimi, Morgan and Jett — to ex-husband, former Ironman champion Grant Kenny.

She is now engaged to marry Elvis impersonator Mark Tabone.

“The last 18 months has been the best in my life, he’s changed my life completely,” she said. “He is very calm, very kind and very soft and he has really brought that side back to me. Being an athlete you are loud, you’re aggressive, you’re strong and I’ve realised it is okay to be like that in sport but in life you don’t need to be like that. I am in my love bubble, I don’t even train. We go out and have breakfast out and dinner with wine. I am completely out of shape so losing a few kilos over here would be a good thing.”

Lisa Curry with her fiance Mark Tabone, an Elvis impersonator. Picture: Inga Williams

Curry and her partner recently spent a year travelling around Australia in a caravan, which she says put life into perspective.

“Living in a really simple way … I had to sell all my high heel shoes, I had to get rid of a lot of my clothes. Getting rid of that stuff was cleansing, it was really good and you realise how much in life you don’t need. I actually really like the simple life.”

Looking ahead to the future, Curry hopes to continue helping people through retreats she runs.

“I like being able to show people the world and different things and the simplicity. When ladies come back from my retreats, it changes their lives and for me that is better than any gold medal.”

I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! premieres Network Ten, Sunday, 7pm

The journalist is in South Africa as a guest of the network