Roxy Jacenko reveals SAS Australia ruined Candice Warner friendship

An emotional Roxy Jacenko has revealed her brief, controversial stint on SAS Australia cost her a friend and high-profile client.

PR queen Roxy Jacenko says her brief, tumultuous stint on Seven’s SAS Australia has cost her a friendship and a key high-profile client.

Jacenko dropped out of the competition during last night’s premiere of the brutal reality show, which sees a group of Australian celebrities undergo tough military-style training exercises.

After a barrage of online hate and one disastrous aborted interview on Triple M this morning, Jacenko cancelled the remainder of her press commitments – but KIIS hosts Kyle and Jackie O circumvented Channel 7 publicity and called her directly to find out what had gone wrong.

Among other things, Jacenko said she was “upset” to be paired with retired professional ironwoman Candice Warner for a one-on-one boxing match during last night’s premiere.

Warner, a friend and PR client of Jacenko’s at the time of filming, was shown landing several strong blows while Jacenko barely fought back.

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Roxy Jacenko quits SAS Australia.

Ironwoman Candice Warner.

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“Is she really my friend anymore? No. You know why I never hit back? Because it’d be like being in a ring with Jackie. You’re my mate, and I’m not going to smack you in the face for other people’s entertainment,” she told the hosts.

“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 then-friend in the face for people’s entertainment.”

“You look back and go, ‘F**k, I should have whacked her one,’ but you know what? I’m bigger than that and I’ve got respect for other people.”

Jacenko revealed she cried after their bout, and said Warner had not since reached out to try and repair their friendship. “No, she sacked me instead,” she said with a laugh.

“People will always let you down. I believe after what I did for Candice that it was a real smack in the face, pardon the pun.”

Jacenko had been a very public shoulder for Warner to cry on as her husband, cricketer David Warner, weathered the 2018 Australian ball tampering scandal.

Jacenko (left) comforts Candice Warner at her husband David Warner's press conference.

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Elsewhere, Jacenko claimed she was unfairly targeted during the season’s extreme opening stunt, which saw each contestant fall backwards out of a helicopter and into a lake. She claimed the helicopter had been “double the height” during her stunt as during everyone else’s.

“That was when I basically buggered myself – the impact of hitting that water. Then we had to swim, and what you don’t see on TV was the swim was a really long way – about 10 Olympic pool laps to swim (back to shore).”

Ultimately, Jacenko said her decision to quit just six hours into the season was about putting her health first.

“I’ve had cancer. I don’t want to be in a position where I put my health at risk any more. I fractured my pelvis and hip six weeks before filming – I just couldn’t do it.”