Fallen stars: The celebrity scandals that ended TV careers
She had it all - AJay Rochester was lapping up fame as TV host on The Biggest Loser after trying her luck at love on First Dates, but her time in the spotlight came crashing down when she was slapped with serious charges. And she isn’t the only star who has found herself on the wrong side of fame. SEE THE LIST.
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With its supposed promise of glamour, fame and fortune, many people are attracted to a life spent in the spotlight.
But what happens when the spotlight turns its back on you?
Chef Pete Evans is the most recent celebrity who has discovered that fame doesn’t guarantee popularity.
Evans, along with his brother Dave, started out as regulars on the Sydney social scene thanks to their swanky celebrity Kings Cross hangout Hugos.
Evans turned this prominence into national fame and it landed him a spot as host on My Kitchen Rules, which was for years the No.1 TV show in the country.
But when Evans rebranded himself as ‘Paleo Pete’, things started to go pear-shaped.
First there were the activated almonds comments and strict no-sugar diet, which confused viewers of a cooking show.
However the more Evans started to position himself as a new age guru, offering nutrition and health advice that was contradictory to science and health professionals (like how sunscreen is poisonous or offering bone broth to babies), then his light started to dim.
The final straw for the Channel 7 came after Evans started selling a $15,000 BioCharger, which he claimed could help treat the coronavirus.
He was subsequently fined more than $25,000 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Channel 7 ended their $800,000 contract with the chef, who will most probably step away from mainstream media.
He’s not the only celebrity to exit stage left from the spotlight for contentious reasons.
AJAY ROCHESTER
As host of The Biggest Loser for four seasons, Rochester was the poster child for empowerment.
However the TV host promptly ran away to America after she plead guilty to welfare fraud in 2009.
At the time, Rochester was on the single-parent pension and has said she “hadn’t noticed” the extra money was still coming in from the government.
She plead guilty to 23 counts of fraud and paid back $14,000.
But running away to the US to escape the controversy also ended Rochester’s time in the spotlight.
She’s tried to resuscitate her career with stints on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Outta Here, but nothing has quite stuck.
VINCE COLOSIMO
The Underbelly star is one of Australia’s finest actors, having won an AFI Award and shared the screen with greats like Leonardo DiCaprio.
However Colosimo has failed to keep the drama in his life strictly onscreen and he’s been plagued with a string of personal controversies that have hindered his personal popularity.
Colosimo has made headlines for his messy divorce and custody battle with Jane Hall, to bankruptcy proceedings.
However, his run-ins with the law have been most damaging.
In 2014, he was banned from driving and fined $1000 after he was caught behind the wheel with a suspended licence.
Then in 2017, he escaped conviction but was fined $1000 after he was caught with a small amount of the drug ice.
Later that year, he was caught driving with a suspended licence and under the influence of drugs.
Added to this are allegations of infidelity in his personal life.
All of this has put a dampener on the talented Colosimo’s acting career.
DAVINA RANKIN
The reality television star provided Married At First Sight with its original affair storyline – after she kissed fellow contestant Dean Wells while being married to Ryan Gallagher in 2018.
The dramatic plot seemed to be THE water cooler topic across the country and one of the reasons the show was a ratings success.
While Rankin insists the affair was actually a set-up by producers, with Gallagher knowing what was going on the whole time, it didn’t stop the public from turning against her.
Rankin refused to speak to journalists when the show aired.
Then, rather than cash in on her time in the spotlight, Rankin has retreated and said she’s now focused on her life with daughter Mila-Mae, which she shares with partner Jaxon Manuel.
GEORGE CALOMBARIS
Unlike his fellow former MasterChef hosts Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan, Calombaris’ time in the spotlight was anything but al dente.
Most recently, Calombaris was caught in the middle of a $7.8 million underpayment saga, in which he admitted to short-changing 515 current and former employees of his hospitality empire, leading to the collapse of his network of restaurants.
This followed an overturned conviction for assaulting a teenager at an A-League match.
The Greek chef has been fairly quiet since stepping away from being a judge on the reality show, which has broken ratings records this season.
KELLY RAMSAY
Ramsay, along with her friend Chloe James, became one of the most hated teams in My Kitchen Rules history when they competed on the show in 2014.
While their seemingly harsh critiques made look like bullies, their cooking made them contenders and they made it all the way to the grand final.
However even the backlash didn’t cause them to retreat from the spotlight immediately.
The two started a catering business and wrote restaurant reviews in their home of Perth. Although after one restaurateur complained the girls fabricated a review of his establishment, the two were fired and have stayed away from the spotlight ever since.
BLAKE GARVEY
How did Blake Garvey become one of the most hated men in Australia?
He simply proposed to Sam Frost in the final episode of The Bachelor in 2014, only to break it off the night after the finale was aired and hook up with third-placed contestant Louise Pillidge.
Since that controversial moment Garvey, a real estate agent from Perth, hasn’t been able to shake his reality television villain tag and has stepped away from the spotlight.
