Speaking of Ari Kimber's ever-growing web of lies during the social experiment, Katie claims that, despite what we may have seen on screen, the law student was unable to pull the wool over her eyes.
“I knew he was playing us." Katie tells New Idea in an exclusive chat. "I did know he was playing us. He was all over us saying, stuff like, 'I’ll just do what you want'. And I knew that he was a smart kid. I did know what he was doing.”
While the former Australian Ninja Warrior star clocked onto Ari's game plan from the start, Katie confesses that the actions of another housemate towards the end of her run in the house well and truly threw her for a loop.
Although Katie and fashion designer Sarah Jane were extremely close at the start of the competition, the 66-year-old started expressing doubts about the personal trainer once she developed a strong bond with Jess and Marley, confessing she felt neglected by the 27-year-old.
In the end, Sarah Jane voted her former alliance buddy out of the house, and Katie was pretty cut up about it.
“It felt heartbreaking because there was opportunities in the house where she could have spoken to me about her concerns about us not being as close." Katie tells us, before confessing she finds SJ's concerns "bizarre".
"I rallied for her and supported her and had her back 110%. What is hard is when she was up for eviction I would encourage everyone in the house to save her, I would put my body on the line, I was loyal to her, fiercely loyal, and it was heartbreaking when she didn’t have my back for the one time I needed it.”
Despite the betrayal, Katie reveals she and SJ have no bad blood now. Though, the same can't be said for her and Daniel.
After controversial player Danny pretended to befriend Katie during her final day in the house, before turning around and blindsiding her by placing her up for eviction, Katie was shocked and hurt by the real estate agent's double-cross, tearfully admitting she "want(ed) him out" as she departed the competition.
Speaking to New Idea about their complicated relationship, Katie explains that the hardest part of rooming with Danny was his "relentlessness".
”He’s very reactive and he made it very clear he didn’t want me in the house and that’s hard." Katie says. "It was tough living with him, for sure."
Talking of one particular scenario where Danny and his partner-in-crime Nick disrupted one of Katie's group meditation sessions by banging on pots and pans, the personal trainer deemed the behaviour "disrespectful".
“For anyone who knows meditation, it’s very rude. He was trying to bait me, he was trying to get a reaction from me, he was doing the very best he could to throw me off my game and get under my skin. He was just coming at me like a freight train”.
Katie also admits that she and Daniel haven't spoken since leaving the house; however, the personal trainer reveals she still talks to 90% of the housemates.
Katie also recently opened up to New Idea about her ex-boyfriend, MAFS star Mikey Pembroke, explaining that dating a reality star wasn't the easiest thing to go through.
"MAFS was very challenging for me because I had a lot of people asking me about my personal life with him which I did not want to share," Katie explained.
She goes on to stress that, while there is no "bad blood" between the two, their "breakup wasn't fantastic". However, she bears Mikey no ill will.
"We broke up two years ago. I don't have hard feelings towards Mikey.... Our breakup wasn't fantastic but nothing bad happened. We just weren't good for each other, it's as simple as that. I wish him all the best."
