'My phone's cut off, I'm super broke': Bachelor star breaks down in emotional TV return

Apollo Jackson blew the judges away with a death-defying Australia’s Got Talent audition last night, but the former reality star’s candid pre-audition interview was what really got people talking.

The handsome performer pulled off a highly anticipated escape stunt, only just managing to escape being completely engulfed in flames to the fascination of a transfixed audience, and the horror of gobsmacked judges.

It was however, in the surprisingly candid chat ahead of his performance that the star appeared at his most vulnerable.

It turns out, far more than a shot at fame was riding on the back of the 26-year-old’s highly anticipated return to screens after he first turned heads on Sophie Monk’s season of The Bachelorette.

The reality TV star admitted he had placed all his hopes on using the televised act to propel himself out of desperate circumstances, after struggling to turn his reality stint into an opportunity to market his true passion for magic - and he didn’t hold back.

He revealed he had to supplement his magic act with odd jobs including telemarketing, hospitality work and landscaping to keep his head above water financially.

“There are times it gets really hard and you feel like giving up. My phone's cut off, I'm living at home, I'm super broke,” he admitted ahead of taking the stage.

Once he did, he left it all behind him and proceeded to pull off the stunt, which was so dangerous, medics were standing by in the wings.

The eye-popping performance

The magic maker had himself straight-jacketed by girlfriend Edyn Mackney of Love Island fame.

He was then hung upside down, shackled, doused in kerosene and then set on fire in an ambitious attempt to take your average fire escape to its most extreme level.

While flames engulfed the star, and he swung precariously closer to a set of spikes waiting to greet his head on the ground (also set on fire for good measure), he managed to pick the lock drawing as he put it, ‘real blood’ in the process.

He then used a safety pin to unlock a fire extinguisher which he used to put the fire out.

Truly hectic stuff.

Edyn even posted to Instagram revealing she herself almost had a ‘mild panic attack’ while watching the stunt.

The shaken judges put him through to the next round, at which point any follower of Apollo would have breathed a sigh of relief.

No stranger to vulnerability

The former reality hunk famously delved into his personal struggles on his social media back in March, before confiding in the Australia’s Got Talent camera man.

Last month, a lengthy Instagram post pulled back the curtain on ‘a crappy few months’ following the perceived glamour of appearing on show’s like The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise.

With a fire in his heart, and on his clothes, Apollo has burst back into the public eye, and after the commitment to danger on every level this week, we’re waiting with bated breath for his next dance with death.

It wasn’t the only performance to raise eyebrows last night, for entirely different reasons the aptly-named performance artist, ‘Pricasso’ sparked consternation among audiences for his graphic take on art.

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