Why The Block 'villain' turned down I'm A Celebrity 2025 at the last minute

From The Bachelor’s Matty ‘J’ Johnson and Big Brother’s Reggie Bird to Married At First Sight’s Samantha Moitzi and Love Island’s Tina Provis, this year’s season of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! features more reality stars than ever before. Each of these participants entered the jungle after receiving a positive ‘edit’ on their previous TV stint, but it turns out a much more controversial personality was originally set to appear.

Kristy Beames, who was one of the most talked-about contestants on The Block in 2023, tells Yahoo Lifestyle she made it to the final stages of the audition process for season 11 before ultimately changing her mind. If she was cast, she would have been only the second person from the renovation series to appear on I’m A Celebrity after Jess Eva in 2020.

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“After our season of The Block, I’m A Celebrity actually reached out to Nine and wanted me the year that our season had just finished. But because I was still under contract with Nine, they were like, ‘No, she's still under contract, she can't do a Channel 10 show’, and they didn't even tell me,” she details.

“Then I finished up my contract with Nine in November 2024 - finally - and I did the sit-down interview with I’m A Celebrity and it was such an honour. I did all three rounds, met the executive producers, went the whole way down to fly out dates and payments, everything like that.”

Why Kristy changed her mind

While she was initially excited to push herself out of her comfort zone, Kristy admits she began to change her mind when she saw snippets of last year’s season.

“I’d never watched the show, so I went on Skye Wheatley’s page and saw the s**t that she had posted and what she had to do and I was having hives just being like, ‘Oh my god, I can't do this’,” she recalls.

“It was stressing out like if I got buried alive, I'm just not good with that sort of stuff. I was freaking out having full nightmares and everyone in my family was like, ‘You can't do this, it’s just so not something that you would do’. I was so petrified. And so right at the very end of the process, it was just like, yeah, this isn't the right fit.

“Also, there were people from my season of The Block who were screaming out to do it, so I felt bad for taking their opportunity.”

How does Kristy feel about her decision now?

Now that the season is officially underway, Kristy says she’s “so happy” with her decision - and not just because she barely knew anyone in the cast.

“Dave Hughes was obviously at the auction on our season of The Block and I just didn't mess with that guy from the get-go. So I think that there might have been a little bit of hostility there,” she shares.

“Also, the money wasn’t enough. I took a huge pay gap going on The Block and I lost so much money by going on The Block, so I was kind of just like, the money was so minute on I'm A Celebrity that it wasn’t worth being uncomfortable.”

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She also confesses that she has no desire to return to TV for just any opportunity that comes her way - especially not SAS Australia.

“It would have to depend on the show and the timing and those sorts of things,” she explains. “I did The Block for an experience, so it's not like I'm chasing my next show or anything like that. The whole realm kind of seems a little bit thirsty.”

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