Locky Gilbert apologises to Irena after SAS confession: 'Deeply sorry'
SAS Australia star Locky Gilbert shocked viewers on Tuesday night after bragging that he hasn't worked in over a decade.
The 32-year-old has since apologised for his statement, taking to his Instagram Stories to apologise to his girlfriend Irena Srbinovska and his mother, who both work in healthcare.
"I just want to clear things up with the comment I made last night," he began. "I never meant it in the way it was edited. What I meant was that I am so lucky that I get to do what I love each and every day.
"I said I haven't worked a day in the last 10 years because 'when you do what you love you don't work a day in your life.'
"When I said I don't know how people go to work every day, they left out the part where I said to a job they hate. Unfortunately this came across the wrong way."
He added that he had worked countless 12-hour days, seven days a week "working my ass off in the last 10 years of my life".
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Locky continued saying he doesn't believe what he does is work, simply because he loves it so much.
"I pinch myself every day and I am so grateful that I have the life I have," he said.
"My beautiful partner and mother both work in healthcare and they are both so passionate about their jobs, I love that they get to do what they love. I never meant for it to come across the way it did and I am deeply sorry if my comments offended anyone."
During the episode, Locky said that he couldn't imagine why anyone would choose to "get up and go to work" every day, with social media users slamming the former Bachelor star for his "white male privilege".
Locky owns an adventure tourism company in Bali that hasn't been in operation since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
Since then, he's hopped from one reality show to another and earns money as an influencer.
"In the last 10 years, I mean, I really haven't worked," he said. "It blows my mind people get up, they go to work every single day, living a mundane and boring life."
"I've just done whatever I wanted to do, and it's got me this far," he added.
"Locky Gilbert is a f**kwit," one user wrote.
"White male privilege is Locky Gilbert insulting someone’s way of life whilst he has had luxuries that majority of people don’t have. The f***ing audacity," another added.
"So I’m sensing that maybe Locky is the most hated of all contestants on all seasons so far," a third wrote.
"It continues to blow my mind that smart/beautiful women purposely competed to be Locky's girlfriend in real life," someone else added.
"So it seems that no matter what reality show he is on – I dislike Locky," another agreed.
An insider told Daily Mail Australia Locky was so desperate to stay in the spotlight, he would have done the show for free.
"He was desperate to go on SAS Australia. It is so on-brand for him because he sees himself as a manly tough guy," they said. "He loves being famous and really gets off on people recognising him in public and coming up for selfies."
They added that he was already trying to find his next reality show.
Celebrity contestants in the past, such as Sam Burgess, have been paid up to $200,000 to appear on the show, while Koby Abberton confirmed he was paid $100,000.
Elsewhere in the show, Locky was also slammed for "fake crying" after being branded a "liability" by Ant Middleton.
"Watching Locky Gilbert fake cry for views," one viewer wrote.
"And now fake crying for sympathy, can Locky get any more repulsive," another added.
"Your tears mean s**t Locky," someone else said.
The reality star admitted he's "not a crier" and couldn't "remember the last time I had a good cry", but then smiled as he recalled Sam crying last year, adding, "Everyone fell in love with him when he cried," with a big smile on his face.
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