Reality TV legend Reggie Sorenson ‘scammed out of $40,000’ after second Big Brother win

I’m A Celebrity star Reggie Sorenson became the target of a sham TV producer after she scored $250,000 from her Big Brother win.

I’m A Celebrity star Reggie Sorenson has opened up about scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars by a scammer masquerading as a TV producer.

During a one-on-one chat with presenter Matty Johnson on tonight’s episode of the Ten reality show, Sorenson shares a heartbreaking story about how she was fooled into making a fake TV pilot.

After the Queensland mum-of-two won Big Brotherfor the second time in 2022, pocketing $250,000 in the process, she relocated to Sydney in a bid to further her career.

Reggie Yates opens up about getting scammed in the latest episode of I'm A Celebrity. Picture: Ten.

However, a series of heartbreaking blunders meant she was burning through her winnings much faster than she’d hoped.

“I went to Sydney, I thought I’ll be close to management to get more work. But they did nothing,: she explained. “Then I had to pay a lawyer to get out of the contract.”

Down on her luck and desperate for a new project, Sorenson met a man who claimed to be a producer that offered her the chance to be the star of her own travel series.

“I had this guy he made out he was a TV producer. We shot a TV pilot and I thought it was going to be this travel show thing,” shared Sorenson. “But it was all bulls**t.”

Tragically, nothing came of the pilot, and the producer turned out to be a scam artist, leaving her without a TV show and tens of thousands of dollars poorer.

“He ripped me off $40,000. I find it hard to trust people now,” continued the reality star. “People take advantage of you. I’m a very trusting person.”

Sorenson has been having a tough time of it in the years since her second Big Brother win. Picture: Ten.

Johnson later shared his heartbreak for Sorenson in the jungle confessional, saying: “I think the biggest shame is someone who’s as nice and genuine as Reggie is someone who’s been taken advantage of.”

Sorenson spoke to news.com.au in December and confessed the quarter-million in prize money from Big Brother had only served to keep her head above water.

“I feel like I’m a mouse in one of those spinning wheels … I just can’t get off this vicious circle,” she shared.

The TV star, who has lived with a worsening degenerative eye condition for many years, revealed her initial hopes that the money would get her on the property ladder had proven unrealistic.

“I went to the bank to get a loan and couldn’t, because you need to borrow well over half a million dollars to buy a house on the Gold Coast, and I don’t have a job. No one wants to employ me because of my vision. I’ve been trying to get a job, but I just can’t get any work, so I can’t get a loan,” she said.

“I’ve been living off the winnings, paying the rent to keep a roof over our heads. That’s where the money’s been going – on rent.

“It’s been poo to be honest. I’m not whingeing, but that’s been the reality of it. So it’s been hard,” she added.

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues tonight at 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play!

Originally published as Reality TV legend Reggie Sorenson ‘scammed out of $40,000’ after second Big Brother win