She might be a model, but don’t for a second think that Tegan Martin doesn’t loves herself a bit of tucker.
The 2014 Miss Universe Australia – who’s openly discussed her past struggles with chronic fatigue and an eating disorder – was met with a rude shock when she arrived in the South African jungle for I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, having to survive on next to no food. Well, apart from a few pickings of beans and rice.
Tegan chatted with NW after she left the jungle and revealed there were times she was so hungry she could almost faint. Yikes! But that’s not all she revealed…
The contestants have all lost A LOT of weight since entering the jungle.
NW: How on earth did you cope in the jungle with next to no food?
I definitely think the detox period was the hardest part of the whole five-and-a-half weeks; our bodies adjusting to not being able to eat every two hours. For me, I have a super-fast metabolism and I need to eat every two hours to keep my hunger at bay. I thought to myself, ‘How am I going to do this? What in my right mind thinks that I can go five weeks with three meals that are spread six hours apart.’ You know, I was light-headed at times.
And you lost four kilos while you were in there. How did you feel about that?
It was a huge deal for me. I had a shoot about a week before I went in and I was at my peak, fit weight and I was slim, a little bit of muscle tone, the perfect figure for me for my career. And then to lose four kilos on top of that, it completely shocked me. I thought, ‘There’s no way!’
The food Tegan did get to eat wasn’t exactly appetising…
Will losing that weight affect your work as a model?
Look, I’m in Australia now, I don’t have any plans on going back to Paris or these high fashion catwalks. You know, I have a booty, I have boobs – I embrace those curves now. It used to be something that I used to battle with in my early days when I was pursuing the high fashion thing.
Lack of food wasn’t the only battle you faced. You were among some seriously conflicting personalities in the jungle. Were there ever some really confronting moments?
There were so many moments like that but it wasn’t with a particular person, it was with everyone. We were carrying on about the most insignificant things that you would never even think twice about in the real world. Like a pair of socks going missing, or someone having four more bean kernels than someone else, or someone dishing up the portions unevenly. It was like we were some kind of vultures who were attacking each other for portions of food.
There was a little incident I had with Tziporah that lasted for about a day but blew over, it was fine. There was a little bit of tension with Ash towards the very end but nothing that a meal, once I got out, didn’t fix. I got completely over that. I managed to get along with most people.
