Jennifer Zamparelli has opened up about dealing with the negative side effects of doing reality tv.
The mother of two, who is now soaring to new heights as co-host of Dancing With The Stars Ireland, rose to fame back in 2009 on The Apprentice UK.
The radio star, who was recently announced to be heading up a brand new 2FM radio show, says she found it difficult to deal with the fallout from appearing on Lord Alan Sugar’s hugely popular show.
Speaking with co-presenters Keith Walsh and Bernard O’Shea on 2FM’s Breakfast Republic, the beauty said she was ‘not equipped to deal with’ the pressure of the spotlight.
“The reason I want to talk about this is because not only did I do a reality show, I did a reality show in the UK, so I have huge experience with that specifically,” Jen said on her RTE 2FM Breakfast Show.
“I got fired in front of 8 and a half million people, which was huge figures back then.”
“I had no media background, I had no entertainment background. I was in business… I can only talk about it now, first of all because I was under contract that I wasn’t allowed to talk about it, and second of all it was so traumatic I’m amazed I got out of it unscathed.”
“Even to think about it makes me want to get sick because I was in there for about seven weeks. I was 27. I went in, I got through the audition process, I thought this is going to be amazing, be a great platform for whatever I want to do.”
“But from being misquoted to paparazzi trying to get photographs up my skirt after the show, ex-boyfriends telling stories, nothing prepares you for the s** that comes after it,”
“There were quotes in the paper that I never said like, ‘She describes herself as an iron fist in a velvet glove’. I never heard that saying until I read it in the paper.”
“All these lies, and you have that and then you get kicked out and have to deal with reporters following you, journalists calling you, paparazzi.”
“For my mam to read stories in the paper about my ex-boyfriend telling the nation about what we got up to in the bedroom, or may not have got up to in the bedroom, it’s not nice. And they’re not prepared for it,”
“It’s so easy to have a breakdown when you come out of a show like that. You’re thrust into a completely different world that you’re not equipped to deal with.”
“If you are going to do it make sure you have a support system. Make sure your family are on board, they are prepared for negative comments, for people coming out of the woodwork, for you being cast aside, for not knowing what to do.”
Jen is gearing up for the final of this year’s Dancing With The Stars, which airs live on RTE this Sunday at 6:35pm.
