
A beaming Abbie Chatfield is spending her day speaking to journalists, radio presenters and TV hosts around the country after she was crowned the winner of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here on Sunday night.
Seven finalists were whittled down to two during the grand finale, with the 2019Bachelorrunner-up crowned Queen of the jungle over TV and radio's Grant Denyer, winning her $100,000 for her chosen charity Dementia Australia.
"Crying in the toilets while writing this. I am so eternally grateful to everyone who voted for me and has supported me," she wrote after accepting her crown.
Watch: Abbie being crowned winner of the jungle. Post continues after video.
To her fans, this is the 25-year-old's redemption story. But it's become obvious in the past 24 hours that to large sections of the media and the public, this is just another opportunity to spew hatred and dislike at a confident woman who isn't afraid to tell us who she is.
A quick glance at the social media commentary from viewers, and while there's plenty of Abbie well-wishers who are ecstatic with her win, there's just as many people telling her that she "rigged the vote by encouraging her fans to vote", or that she is "gross", "bogan", and "vile".
On her winner's post on Instagram, Abbie had to take time out of her celebrations to write: "Any negative comments are getting straight up deleted. Not letting you ruin this for me."
All because she dared to win a reality TV show voted for by the Australian public.
We've seen time and time again how reality TV's 'villain edit' leads to bullying and cruelty. Abbie's spoken openly about how damaging it can be.
But in the wake of theI'm a Celebrityfinale, it's not Channel 10 producers peddling the villain edit. Instead, it's news headlines.
'Abbie's final desperate attempt to get votes,'reads one story, implying that it's somehow shameful that Abbie wanted to win.
'I'm A Celeb fans claim Toni Pearen was 'robbed' after Abbie Chatfield wins,'reads another, which goes on to exclusively report social media comments from people who say Abbie didn't deserve to win.
It's a tone uniquely reserved for women who won't be quiet and submissive, and it works because Abbie has been groomed to continue her role of 'villain' ever since her time onThe Bachelor.
In 2019 we watched Abbie get the 'villain edit' on Matt Agnew's season ofThe Bachelor,with internet trolls and fellow contestants despising the Queenslander for her sexual confidence. Apparently Australia wasn't ready to accept a woman talking openly and candidly about her desires.
She wasn't afraid to tell Matt what she liked, what she wanted, and who she was. And all Channel Ten production had to do was lean into the narrative that there was something fundamentally 'wrong' with that.
Abbie was mercilessly trolled both in the mansion and on the internet for the entirety of the season. Ultimately, Australia watched her unceremoniously dumped on a rock in South Africa as Matt chose Chelsie McLeod as his winner.
Abbie has never taken the bullying lying down. From the very start she called out the double standards, the hypocrisy, the editing tricks and the death threats publicly, earning herself a fierce and loyal following on her personal Instagram account.
But that doesn't mean she wasn't terrified.
"F**k you if you've ever messaged anyone something even close to this," she wrote on Instagram last year alongside a slideshow of messages she'd received of disturbing threats, vile comments and ridicule.
Gemma Bath
True Crime Conversations host
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