SAS Australia: Inside Roxy Jacenko’s bitter feud with Candice Warner
PR queen Roxy Jacenko has opened up after her feud with former friend Candice Warner after a boxing match turned ugly while filming a reality TV show.
Confidential
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Is this reality TV moment normalising domestic violence?
- Honey Badger punches AFLW star on SAS Australia
- Download our app and stay up to date anywhere, anytime
PR maven Roxy Jacenko has opened up about her bitter feud with former ironwoman Candice Warner.
The former friends have fallen out after a boxing match turned ugly while filming SAS Australia. Jacenko said she broke down in tears after Warner repeatedly punched her in the head because she had the choice not to.
“I was upset,” Jacenko told the Kyle and Jackie O show on Tuesday morning.
“Is she really my friend anymore? No. You know why I never hit back? Because it would be like me being in a ring with Jackie, she’s my mate and I’m not going to smack you in the face for other people’s entertainment. You wouldn’t continue punching when the person (me) turns their back and continue punching them in the back of the head. In boxing, that’s totally not allowed. The reality is, I can’t punch my friend in the face for people’s entertainment.”
The pair had been friends for several years and Jacenko, 40, was by Warner’s side during her husband David’s 2018 cricket scandal press conference.
Warner, 35, even signed to Jacenko’s Ministry of Talent agency however their feud resulted in the Sweaty Betty founder being axed.
“Nope, she sacked me instead,” Jacenko said when asked whether Warner had apologised.
“The thing for me is people will always let you down and I will always go out of my way. Like me or loathe me if you ask me for a favour, I’ll do whatever I can to make it happen for you no matter what the situation.
“I believe after what I did for Candice, it was a real smack in the face (pardon the pun) that she actually did do it. It’s TV, it’s entertainment, have some principles. Why would you punch me and then continue to punch me when I turn my head?”
Jacenko declined to comment when approached for comment, telling Confidential that she wants to put the drama behind her.
MORE NEWS
First look: How the SAS Australia contestants line up
‘I thought I was eating human flesh’: Schapelle’s jail hell
‘Disappointing’: Roxy Jacenko’s ‘depressing’ reality TV show
Confidential has contacted Warner for comment.
During Monday night’s SAS Australia premiere, the Vaucluse mother-of-two was repeatedly punched by Warner, 35, and dramatically quit the show after six hours.
On Tuesday, Jacenko cancelled all media interviews after being subjected to vicious trolling.
“My health is first and foremost for me. I’ve had cancer three years ago, I fractured my pelvis and hip two months ago, six weeks before filming. I couldn’t do it … I did my best,” she said.
“I actually have never, ever seen the extent of trolling that I’ve experienced in the last 24 hours and then to be berated on Triple M by whoever [the host] is.
“Look to be honest I don’t even know who listens to it, that’s the good thing about it.
They basically said I was a loser, I could hardly get a word in.”
Meanwhile, the Channel 7 reality TV show proved to be a ratings winner with 834,000 metro viewers tuning in.
SAS Australia beat Channel 9’s The Block, which had 783,000 viewers and Channel 10’s Junior MasterChef (454,000).
Comedian Merrick Watts said he wasn’t surprised Jacenko was the first to quit the show.
“I was not surprised Roxy didn’t last that long,” Watts said on The Morning Show. “I predicted that. It is not about the strongest, the toughest, the fittest, the fastest, it is about the application that you take to try and get as far as you can in that course and you can tell from the get go who is going to try their very hardest and how far they are going to suffer. It is about how much you are prepared to suffer.”