Byron Bay local Ash, who is competing in the show with his fiancée Stacey Allen, opened up in the first episode of the show to explain how he lost his eye over a decade ago.
“I was at a party and two blokes started fighting,” he explained. “It didn’t have anything to do with me. I was trying to stop it.
“And the guy threw a glass and tried to get someone else and got me. Ended up taking my eye out.”
Despite numerous operation over the course of the following 12 months, doctors were only able to recover 10% of surf-loving Ash’s eyesight and he was in constant pain.
“It kept me out of the surf which was making me crazy,”
“And I just said, ‘Get my eye out, I want to get back in the water’.”
However, Ash reveals losing his eye has been a positive experience.
“I wouldn’t change a thing. Can I say this? I’m happy I lost my eye!”
