Jess Eva reveals paltry I’m A Celeb pay cheque

Jess Eva has revealed what she earned as an I’m A Celeb contestant – and it’s a fraction of what some stars allegedly earn from the show.

Retired AFL great Nathan Buckley famously pocketed a reported $300,000 for his stint on the most recent season of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here – but it’s not quite as lucrative for other contestants who take part on the show.

Reality star and radio host Jess Eva made an eyebrow-raising admission about her own I’m A Celeb pay cheque during a discussion on Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess and Pagey this morning.

Mentioning Buckley’s rumoured six-figure payment, Eva’s co-hosts played coy and asked her if she’d received a similarly whopping amount for her stint in the jungle (aka Northern NSW bushland) last year.

Jess Eva lasted til the end of her season of I’m A Celeb.

Eva placed third in last year’s season, lasting all 21 days of filming.

“You son of a …! I know why you’re asking me this. You’ve got a big smile on your face,” she said, before revealing that she was paid “not even half of half of half” of Buckley’s amount, confirming that the sum was “lower” than $40,000.

Her co-hosts jokingly role-played how the negotiations might have gone down:

“You get to be on the telly …”

“Yeah alright, I’ll do it!”

Eva left the show with more than just a comparatively meagre pay cheque – she also had dead bugs trapped in her ears, something she only discovered after going to see a doctor about persistent hearing problems after filming had finished.

She might not have been paid much, but she did get to take home some free bugs.

Eva documented the gruesome discovery on social media, revealing she thought it had happened while she swam in the “manky” lake the contestants used to cool off.

Elsewhere in the chat, Eva’s co-host Mark “MG” Geyer shared a reality TV tale of his own.

The former rugby league footballer revealed that he’d been asked to compete in an international Celebrity Survivor-style show filming in Asia around 15 years ago – but one issue held him back.

Mark Geyer passed up a reality TV opportunity for one personal reason.

“At the time I was going to Advanced Hair … I used to have a hair filler, where you’d put black powder on your hair so it looks like you’ve got a full head of hair,” he said.

“I thought to myself – what if the hair filler starts to (fall off) if I go in the water? I thought, I can’t do this. My hair will wash away. I’ll go in looking 18 and come out looking 60. The challenges and that, no problem, but the hair? Couldn’t have done it.”

Geyer said his attitude towards baldness had changed since then and he now “loves” being bald.

“I was disgusted, sick to my stomach, that somebody could be offered a reality TV show and say no,” joked reality TV veteran Eva, who won The Block in 2018 with husband Norm.

The couple scored $209,000 for their season-winning St Kilda apartment – but later revealed that they’d spent it all on swimming pools, gambling, helping out friends and a kind act for a stranger.