Wheelie bin girl breaks her silence on those infamous Melbourne Cup Day photos

PICTURES of Jade Jillings riding a wheelie bin at the Melbourne Cup went viral — so what does she have to say for herself?

JADE Jillings made headlines around the world when pictures of her riding a wheelie bin at Melbourne Cup Day went viral — so what does she have to say for herself?

Jillings, from New Zealand, broke her silence to appear on The Project, alongside her housemate Tyler Johnson, who was with her on that now infamous day.

Jillings was asked by co-host Carrie Bickmore how she felt after seeing the snaps.

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Jade Jillings and Tyler Johnson pictured at the Melbourne Cup. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

“To start off I was pretty embarrassed like everybody had sent it to me and, like, in the end when Nova rang I said ‘I’ve just got to laugh about it’.”

Jillings acknowledged that she received some backlash from the photos but the bubbly blonde was holding her head high.

Jade Jillings and Tyler Johnson on The Project

“We were just having a laugh,” she said.

“At the end of the day we were having a laugh. People were like ‘she’s not classy, that is embarrassing for Australia’ but then some people were also like ‘everybody does this and it is just the photographers took photos of them and, like, that’s just the way it was’.”

Tyler echoed her sentiments.

“You didn’t cause any trouble. There was no trouble. We were having a good time. I feel like that’s what racing is about. We didn’t harm anyone,” he said.

But most importantly the pair’s mums were not angered by the photos, instead thanking their lucky stars there were no photographers around in their youth.