The Jordanian friends were left fuming as they were excused from the table, and now it’s been revealed they will not be returning to the show.
Jess and Emma have constantly entertained fans with their quirky quips, but appearing on the show has led to nasty backlash as a result of the implication last year that it was them who were thrown out of the competition.
‘I was getting death threats, and to this day, we’re copping it,’ Jess, who discovered she is expecting her second child shortly before the show went to air, tells New Idea.
‘I went the first three months of my pregnancy feeling like s*** and having everybody pull us apart and start attacking us, and it’s not fair.’
The expecting mum-of-one admits that she has been in a very bad place.
‘I had the worst depression, you have no idea. I was seeing a counsellor and my life fell apart,’ she reveals. ‘I nearly lost my job and I was suicidal.’
Now, Jess is thankfully back on her feet and ready to put the past, including the explosive fight, behind her.
‘We’re happy for the truth to finally come out,’ she says. ‘We don’t have to dodge questions or hide, we’re just happy for it to be all out on the table.’
During the altercation, judges Pete Evans and Manu Feildel were forced to step in after the Jordanians took things way too far.
‘There were things said by both teams, it wasn’t nice to hear, but we felt that Sonya and Hadil were the attackers on the night and it was unnecessary,’ Manu explains.
Jess and Emma reinforce that things got out of hand on the night.
‘We’re definitely regretful of acting that way in somebody’s house,’ Jess explains.
‘I should’ve walked out with Jess at the time and I shouldn’t have sat there arguing,’ Emma adds. ‘We could have handled it better, we should have tried to not react.’
But for Jess the incident took its toll on her.
‘I wanted off the show,’ she admits. ‘I took my microphone off and I was yelling at production to get me a taxi and let me go home. I missed my son – I missed my life...I wanted to go home.
‘$250,000 isn’t worth that kind of stress and it was a really horrible situation.’
Despite everything that’s happened between the two teams, Jess and Emma say they don’t harbour any grudges towards Sonya and Hadil.
‘We have spoken to Hadil just to try and get a little bit of closure on what happened,’ Emma says.
‘I think for Jess and I, because we went through such a tough time, we wouldn’t wish that on our worst enemies, so we’ve been in communication with Hadil and she’s not in a good space herself. She was really sorry and regretful.
‘We do wish that things had worked out differently.
‘At the end of the day, we’ve accepted Hadil’s apology and we’re happy just to leave it.’
For the full story see this weeks issue of New Idea - out now!
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