Ajay Rochester is back on our TV screens for the new season of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! – and she’s ready to make some waves.
The former Biggest Loser host entered the South African jungle this week and is already making headlines with some of her wild confessions.
Ajay has never been one to sugarcoat her problems – she’s always been super honest and put everything out there, warts and all.
So let’s take a look back at some of her craziest moments. We expect there will be plenty more of these to come!
Ajay’s tough weight battle
Before Ajay went on the Biggest Loser, she weighed about 140kg at her heaviest.
She has battled with her weight for more than a decade. Even after losing 87kg in 2009 thanks to a healthy diet and regular exercise, she gradually put the weight back on.
In a 2009 interview with a local publication, Ajay vowed that she would “never be obese again”.
“I will never, ever be obese again. I know that. I don’t eat if I’m depressed anymore – I just borrow a dog and go for a walk instead. Now I get miserable if I go for two or three days without getting any exercise.”
But Ajay’s battle with mental health soon took over. She’s admitted she overeats when she is sad and depressed.
In 2013, Ajay told the Kyle and Jackie O show that she was gaining about a kilo a week, or about 48 kilos in a year.
“If there is an emotion, I’ll use that eat. Any emotion. If I’m extremely happy, I celebrate by eating crap food, If I’m really sad and depressed, I’ll eat crap food.
“To be really blunt I can eat a whole heap of crap in one day. There is this place here called ‘Norms’ [in Los Angeles]. ‘Norms’ is called ‘Norms, Bigger Better Breakfast’. So it’s breakfast for 3 people. Two pancakes, big plate sized pancakes, three bacon strips, a plate sized hash brown, a plate, I’m not talking the little macca’s ones, two eggs, two sausages. So I’ll eat that.
“Then I just lie down all day because I can’t move because my arteries are so clogged. And then I drive past Carl’s Jr and get a burger and fries. I’m laughing about it. But it’s really serious because I am eating myself to death.”
Ajay at the 2008 Logie Awards. (Image: Getty)
Kyle then asked Ajay, “Do you sometimes just cry about it?”
“Oh my god of course,” she replied. “Seriously my house looks like somebody else lives in there. There are all these beautiful clothes, because I have lots of clothes from Biggest Loser. So if you open my cupboard you would go, ‘Well she must be the cleaner that big fat thing, and where is the skinny girl who lives here?’ Because I live in sweatpants.
“I’m laughing about it. But it’s really serious because I am eating myself to death.”
This week, Ajay said she hopes going into the jungle will help her lose weight.
“I’m failing miserably right now, I’m so fat! A year-and-a-half ago I broke my foot and tore a ligament in my knee,” she told Woman’s Day.
“I wish it was a really great party story, but there was an earthquake and I slipped down a staircase twice in two weeks, so I haven’t been able to go to the gym. It’s so bad I’m ashamed, but I’m going to use this jungle diet for my betterment.”
READ MORE: Ajay Rochester’s awkward plea to followers for cash
That time she narrowly escaped conviction for welfare fraud
Ajay Rochester outside Downing Centre Court in Sydney. (Image: Getty)
In 2005, Ajay was charged with 23 counts of receiving single parent benefit payments from Centrelink, despite not being eligible for them, between December 2001 and December 2005.
She plead guilty to the charges and was ordered to pay back $14,000 in payments.
Ajay, who is the mother of a young autistic son called Kai, was given a 12-month good behaviour bond.
She promptly paid back the $14,000 and the judge said her good “character” and “extenuating circumstances” helped her avoid any criminal charges.
READ MORE: I’m A Celeb contestants – where are they now?
The bitter feud with trainer Michelle Bridges
Ajay and Michelle at the 2007 TV Week Logie Awards. (Image: Getty)
The 12-year feud between Ajay and Michelle Bridges is famous. The pair worked on The Biggest Loser together, with Michelle acting as one of the trainers.
Ajay claims “mean girl” Michelle bullied her and sent her rude texts.
“There was about two-and-a-half years where she just hated me,” Ajay has previously said.
“She actually vowed to ruin my life at one point…via text. She literally said, ‘I will not stop until I destroy you.'”
Just this week, Ajay told Woman’s Day Michelle was the one celebrity she’d hate to see in the jungle.
“If she walked in I’d get a fork and stab myself. I’d prefer Satan,” she said.
When asked if the pair had spoken at all since their falling out in 2007, Ajay said: “Not a word! I guess I welcome an opportunity where we could have an adult conversation… But I refuse to base my self-worth on whether or not she hates me. I’d honestly rather lie in a pit of snakes than be locked in a coffin with her.”
Ajay’s very surprising sex confession
Ajay says she hasn’t had sex in over a decade. (Image: Getty)
Ajay recently revealed that she hasn’t been intimate with a partner for a very long time.
“I haven’t actually had sex or been in a relationship for 10 years, it’s so bad,” she told Woman’s Day.
“I don’t know what to do any more. It’s going to be like I’m 18 years old again. I’ve become a born-again virgin.”
WATCH BELOW: Take a peek at I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here 2019. Post continues…
That time she won $20,000 for losing 20kg
Yep, this actually happened.
Fed up with her lack of weight loss progress, Ajay accepted a bet from the Kyle and Jackie O Show in 2012.
She made a “Fat Bet” with hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson. If she lost 20 kilos, the radio show would give her $20,000.
Ajay lost the weight and won the cash.
Wonder if the thought of winning I’m A Celeb – and hence loads of cash for her favourite charity – will help Ajay lose more weight this time?
Ajay Rochester at New York Fashion Week in 2013. (Image: Getty)
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