reality tv

Jamie Lynn Spears is attempting a redemptive arc on TV. It’s not going well.

It's not uncommon for celebrities to use reality TV to revive their career or restore their reputations. 

And no TV show does this quite like I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here. 

There's something about this raw and relatively unedited reality show that can boost a celeb's status like no other, as high-profile people shed their makeup, Instagram filters and designer clothes to reveal their true selves. 

Plus, nothing brings a celebrity down to earth more than having to shove a bull's testicle down their gob. 

On the Aussie version, Brendan Fevola brought his career back to life in 2016 by winning the show, which started the former footy player on his pivot to radio host of the popular show, Fifi, Fev & Nick

Then there are celebrities whose fan bases grew thanks to their I'm A Celebrity stints, such as Abbie Chatfield and Casey Donovan. Both women won their respective seasons because of their lovable personalities, and they've since become two of the most booked and busy celebs in Australia. 

This show can be a game-changer for public perception and controversial celeb sister Jamie Lynn Spears knows it.

Jamie Lynn Spears on I'm A Celebrity. Image: ITV. 

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Spears just made her debut on the UK series which is filmed here in Australia. 

"There is literally every misconception you can have on a person about me so I don't take any of it seriously," Jamie Lynn said in her introduction. 

"But I do think going on I'm A Celebrity will be a nice way for people to see the real me."

She also competed in this year's Dancing with the Stars in the US but was eliminated in week two. 

Jamie Lynn Spears is truly doing the most right now.

Along with Spears, the UK season has also cast former right-wing politician Nigel Farage, who is most known for supporting Brexit and Donald Trump. 

The controversial figure presumedly hopes that a stint on TV will endear himself to viewers. 

But it’s not looking that way for Jaime Lynn, who so far this season has been flip-flopping between refusing to talk about her famous sister and saying too much. 

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In a teaser video, Spears described herself as being “best known for being an actress and a singer.”

Sure, she was once the star of Zoey 101 but we all know her most for being Britney Spears' sister. 

Then once the series kicked off, as Big Brother's Josie Gibson asked Spears if she's from "a very musical family, ain’t you?” 

To this, Spears responded: “My mum played the piano a lot.”

Ah yes, nothing to see here, there's no other family member who happens to be one of the best-selling artists of all time.  

It's Britney, bitch! Image: Getty. 

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Jamie Lynn's refusal to even mention Britney's name led to fans assuming she had been prohibited from speaking about her superstar sister on the reality show, perhaps even by Britney herself.

But then she told a story about Britney, a story that did not cast her sister in a flattering light.

“Wanna hear about something really embarrassing that happened one time?” she asked her camp mates this week. “It involves my sister.”

She went on to speak about the 2000 Grammy Awards where Britney was up against her fellow Mouseketeer and longtime rival, Christina Aguilera, for 'Best New Artist'. 

“Britney was clearly the bigger star of that year, she worked her ass off. They had MTV camera crews at home watching our family, because it was like a no-brainer, she's winning. And she’s there and she lost.”

Jamie Lynn added that Britney was left “heartbroken” by the loss. 

“She was really like, ‘I don’t ever want to go to the Grammys.’ She was heartbroken about that because her whole life had been dedicated to winning that,” she said.  

The way the Zoey 101 star framed this as a "embarrassing" story left fans reeling about how Britney would felt having this vulnerable moment of defeat shared with the masses. 

Britney went on to win a Grammy in 2005 for her hit song 'Toxic.' 

In another moment, Jamie Lynn tried to play down her public feud with her sister. "Every family fights and has their stuff," she told a campmate. 

"I talked to her before I came here and you know, we love each other." 

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This attempt to convince the public that she and her sister are on good terms is likely fuelled by the public fallout she's faced in the past few years over Britney's claims she was complicit in her conservatorship.  

In 2021, Britney accused her younger sibling of doing “nothing” to help her during her court-ordered, 13-year conservatorship which was enforced from 2008 until November 2021.

Britney has spoken out about Jamie Lynn and her family on several more occasions over the years since the conservatorship ended. “My so-called support system hurt me deeply,” she posted on Instagram. “This conservatorship killed my dreams.”

The 'Womanizer' singer also took aim at her Jamie's 2022 memoir Things I Should Have Said, accusing her sister of “trying to sell a book at my expense,” in an Instagram caption. 

These many public call-outs are at odds with how Jamie Lynn represented their relationship on TV.

Most recently, Spears said in her 2023 memoir The Woman In Me that she was no longer on speaking terms with her sister, who she described as a "ungrateful" and a "total bitch" in the book.

“She will always be my sister, and I love her and her beautiful family. I’m working to feel more compassion than anger toward her, and everyone who I feel has wronged me,” Britney wrote.

If this is Jamie Lynn's attempt at damage control, she's got to do better than this. 

Or at least, eat an extra big bull's testicle. 

Feature image: ITV.