‘Shattered’: I’m A Celebrity star Nicky Buckley reveals she was fired from TV gig

TV presenter Nicky Buckley opened up about angering TV bosses and facing the consequences while chatting with her I’m A Celebrity campmates.

I’m A Celebrity star Nicky Buckley has revealed her side of the story behind her firing from Perfect Match.

Buckley opened up about the highs and lows of her career while chatting with her I’m A Celebrity campmates.

The Aussie star started out as a model before venturing into TV with her first high-profile gig, co-hosting dating series Perfect Match.

Nicky Buckley has opened up about being fired from a big TV gig. Picture: Ten

Sadly for Buckley, things didn’t quite go to plan and she claimed that she angered the network by ignoring their demands for her to play into a “bimbo” role.

After just six months on screens, it was revealed that Buckley had suddenly left the show to be replaced by Swedish-born model Ankie Nordberg.

At the time, it was claimed that she had left the show “to pursue her modelling career and personal interests.”

However, during the latest episode of Ten’s I’m A Celebrity, Buckley revealed her story.

“My show was called Perfect Match, and then when they brought it back it was Blind Date. That was before I did Sale. And after six months only... I got the sack. They wanted me to come out all giggly and flirty and I’d go ‘Yeah sure’ but I didn’t want to look like a bimbo.”

“Were you like ‘Thank god I’m off it’?” replied Dave Hughes.

“No, I was shattered. I was embarrassed. And when I got the sack I went and studied voice lessons and got acting lessons to get over my fear of what people think of me.”

Radio presenter Dave Hughes looked visibly shocked by Buckley's story. Picture: Ten

Elsewhere in the action-packed episode, Olympic swimming champ Shayna Jack broke down while discussing the drug scandal that almost ended her career.

Jack was one of 11 celebrities to enter the African jungle during Sunday’s premiere – tonight they’ll be joined by one more currently-unnamed celeb. And in emotional scenes that played out on air, Paris Olympics gold medallist Jack opened up about the 24-month ban she copped from her sport in 2019.

She was barred for competing for two long years, for an anti-doping rule violation relating to her unintentional use of the anabolic agent Ligandrol.

The resulting court case put her under intense emotional and financial strain, as she spent $180,000 trying to prove her innocence.

Jack broke down as she told her campmates that at her lowest moments, her longtime partner, Kookaburras hockey player Joel Rintala, was afraid to leave her at home alone for fear she might hurt herself.

“Some nights I was in a bad place. He said those nights were the most fearful. He said he’d speed home because he just didn’t know if he was going to walk home into something that he wasn’t able to cope with. [If] I’d done something that I would eternally regret,” she said.

I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! Sunday At 7.00pm And Monday to Thursday At 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play

Originally published as ‘Shattered’: I’m A Celebrity star Nicky Buckley reveals she was fired from TV gig