Olympian Shayna Jack breaks down in tears on I’m A Celeb after receiving surprising news

There will be tears all around on Sunday night’s episode of I’m A Celebrity when one of the campers receives some surprising news from home.

There will be tears all around on Sunday night’s episode of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! when one of the campers receives some surprising news from home.

Olympic swimmer Shayna Jack breaks down in a flood of emotions after discovering she is set to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), one of the country’s highest accolades handed out on Australia Day.

In a teaser for the episode, fellow celebrity camp mate Nicky Buckley is the bearer of good news, reading out a letter from home to announce that the 26-year-old swimmer from Queensland is now a OAM recipient.

Shayna Jack cries after learning she has received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). Picture: Ten

“I promise you these are tears of happiness,” Jack says in a later confessional, moments after her fellow campers congratulated her with a group hug.

“I just never thought I would get to a point where I get such a honourable award and in lots of circumstances in my life we may get to the highest triumphs and you are taught to put them aside to get ready for the next race or the next competition,” she adds.

“This is probably the first time that I’ve received something and felt immediate joy and celebration.”

The Olympian says she is honoured to be among this year’s recipients. Picture: Ten

The honour comes after an incredible comeback for the athlete who in 2019 endured a doping scandal that saw her cop a 24-month ban from her sport.

Jack, who was just 20 years old at the time, 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 has bravely opened up about her ordeal on I’m A Celebrity, telling her campmates that her longtime partner, Kookaburras hockey player Joel Rintala, was afraid to leave Jack at home alone for fear she might hurt herself.

Jack attended the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after clearing her name in a doping scandal from 2019. Picture: Adam Pretty/Getty Images

Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay gold medallists Mollie O'Callaghan, Meg Harris, Shayna Jack and Emma McKeon. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“Some nights I was in a bad place,” Jack said in one episode which aired last week.

“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.”

Jack also broke down in the show’s to-camera confessional booth, the Tok Tokkie, as she explained why it felt important to be upfront with her new campmates about her backstory.

“It’s using the people around me to continue to open up about it and face those difficulties and stop giving it so much power,” she said of the scandal that turned her public image from top athlete to figure of notoriety.

“I feel like the more I take it off my chest and take it off my heart, the more I can try to move forward with my life and not feel this huge aspect of my life pulling me back,” she continued.

Jack’s comeback has been spectacular. After years of trying to clear her name, she returned to the sport in 2022, winning Gold, Silver, and Bronze at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

She was also part of the Australian Team at the recent Paris Olympics, winning two gold medals for her efforts in the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay and 4x200m Freestyle Relay.

I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! continues tonight at 7pm, and Monday – Thursday at 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play

Originally published as Olympian Shayna Jack breaks down in tears on I’m A Celeb after receiving surprising news