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“After being voted off and going to purgatory and then making it
back into the game, it was like walking into a group of people that
outwardly hated you. I got bullied for eating too much. I had the
same serving size as the guys, but they always said I was a small
girl, so I have to eat less. I would also wake up sometimes and hear
them whispering about me. It got to the point where the producers
had to step in and talk to them about it.
“The positives were amazing though. The whole experience is like
being in another world because you don’t have phones, you only
have nature. Every night you are falling asleep under the stars and
it’s beautiful. I did a lot of meditating and yoga, and it still taught
me how important it is to have resilience, because if I didn’t I would
have walked out of there a lot earlier.”
As someone who holds themselves so naturally and with
confidence, it was no surprise that Shay was able to power through
the relentless social nonsense and come out of the show with a
bright smile on her face – just like she always does.
Shay has a down-to-earth approach to life and everything in it, so
naturally we had to ask her where she draws her courage from.
Shay said she doesn’t think she felt truly confident until she was in
her mid-twenties, when she learnt to embrace the wild and lovable
sides of herself.
“That was when I realised that over the years of weird coincidences
and things going wrong and things going right – you can’t control
anything. So if you just let go, be yourself and enjoy being yourself,
then you’re never going to look back and regret that you were trying
to be someone else, or that you were timid or held back.
“If I’m feeling sad one day, I’ll cry in public. If I’m feeling ecstatic, I’ll
wave and smile at people in public. Just embrace yourself. Because
my biggest fear is being like 80 and looking back at photos of me in
my twenties and wishing I lived life more.
61 / #55 / SB