Back in 2006, Big Brother contestant Camilla Severi, now 36, found herself embroiled in what would become one of the show’s biggest ever scandals.
WATCH: Big Brother’s Camilla speaks about the Turkey Slap scandal
In scenes that never aired on television, but were live-streamed on Channel Ten’s website, contestants Michael “Ashley” Cox slapped his genitals across Camilla’s face, while Michael “John” Bric held her down.
The act, known colloquially as a “Turkey Slap”, caused huge controversy. It led to the men involved being immediately kicked out of the house, became a headline-making scandal and even resulted in then Prime Minister John Howard calling for the show to be taken off air.
And now that Big Brother has been rebooted on Channel Seven , Camilla has discussed the incident in a rare interview – 14 years later.
Speaking on The Ben, Rob and Robbo show, Camilla explained that “a lot of people got hurt” as the incident continued to haunt both her and the men involved for years.
“It was really one of those things where it was really a moment in time. We were all mucking around and I’ve said this before, if it happened at a party and someone did that to me, I’d probably say to them ‘Hey, that wasn’t cool’ and then we’d move on,” Camilla explained.
“But because it happened on live TV and it’s been dissected so, so many times from different angles, it was quite a confusing experience,” she continued.
“I don’t know how the boys feel about it now but where I’m at now with it is I feel like yeah, the boys didn’t mean any harm to me, they didn’t mean to hurt me and I didn’t actually mean to hurt them if I was upset the day afterwards. Because it was scary the amount of attention that it received.”
Camilla and the two men have mostly kept quiet about the scandal over the years, with all three of them repeatedly turning down interviews.
However, speaking to host Gretel Kileen two days after the Turkey Slap occurred, Cox attempted to defend himself by saying, “It was just a practical joke and Camilla knew this. We were mucking around, having a good time, and obviously we didn’t intend on hurting Camilla in any way.”
Bric added: “We are good blokes and we really do treat women with respect.”
Cox later told Zoo Weekly in 2009 that the scandal “ruined his life”.
“I was branded a rapist on national TV. The hardest part was having no support from anyone,” he said.
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