reality tv

EXCLUSIVE: 'People don't believe me'. I'm A Celebrity's Domenica on her social anxiety.

It seems there is no better place for a candid chat than around the campfire, somewhere in the South African jungle.

In exclusive unaired footage, members of this year's I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here season gather at camp, where this time, they discuss their experiences with social anxiety.

"Do you experience social anxiety at all?" radio host Woody Whitelaw asks former Home and Away star Debra Lawrance.

Watch: the exclusive I'm A Celebrity footage. Post continues below video.


Video via Channel 10.

"No, I can speak in wet cement," she says. "I didn't even as a kid either. Yeah, so we're very social family."

"That's one reason I'll drink," Whitelaw replies. 

"I'll drink fast [and] early sometimes, and I realise I do it. And I think it's just because I'm heightened or anxious around new people."

Domenica Calarco, sitting next to them, then shares she also has social anxiety, which most people don't take seriously.

"I think when I tell people I have social anxiety, they don't believe me," she says. "Because when I am in a group of people I don't make it known."

Domenica with campmate Nathan Henry. Image: Channel 10.

ADVERTISEMENT

Lawrence says it's clear the former Married At First Sight star has a coping strategy when out in public.

"Yeah. That's why I was like struggling being in here too," Calarco continues.

"Because you can't get away from anything. But yeah, [with] social anxiety, I've had times where I've been in like, Woollies, doing the groceries, and I just had to leave my groceries and run out.

"Just like from being in an environment like that... I just had a panic attack out of nowhere. Yeah, being in here is going to help me because I can't get out of here and I have to sit with those feelings and just know that they'll pass."

Calarco has been one of the most talked about cast members this year, including over her disagreements with cast mates former Australian Idol judge Ian 'Dicko' Dickson and presenter Kerri-Anne Kennerley.

She is playing for the Leukaemia Foundation, in memory of her uncle who passed away five years ago due to a rare form of blood cancer.

Read more:

Feature image: Channel 10.

Are you someone who values beauty, health, and self-care? Take our short survey to go in the running to win a $50 gift voucher!