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Celebrity Treasure Island Courtenay’s post show crisis

The star reveals what happened after the cameras stopped rolling

As soon as the cameras stopped rolling on CTI, runner-up Courtenay Louise cheekily punched winner Jesse and screamed, “I’m going to win Treasure Island All Stars!” But that night, her enthusiasm turned into her exhaustion.

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The actress recalls, “Everyone else went to a wrap party, but I literally couldn’t stand up. I was so worn out. When the production shut down, my body shut down as well. I’d been sleep-deprived and running on anxiety for so long. Everyone else partied and I went to sleep.”

Courtenay spent the next two days learning lines and then she was back on the Shortland Street set. “I didn’t have time to recover and rest,” says the 28-year-old. It was only a week and a half later, when she caught COVID, that Courtenay got a chance to relax and reflect on her time on reality TV.

She remembers, “Being so close to winning, I kept questioning everything I did throughout the game, like, ‘What if I’d done this? What if I’d noticed that?’ But you can’t keep beating yourself up. I was relieved the game was over, gutted I lost, very proud of how I played and also just exhausted – all the emotions! I admit it did take about two months before I could make eye contact with Jesse Tuke again as I was still a bit salty!”

Courtenay admits she was “gutted I lost” to Jesse.

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Now, however, the Bay of Plenty-born star’s dominant emotion is satisfaction.

“Before Treasure Island, most people knew me as Monique from Shortland Street and she’s a controversial character – you either love her or hate her. But now the nation can see who I am as a person. That was one of my main motivations for signing up, as well as playing for my charity.”

Courtenay – who hopes to marry fiancé Chris Read over summer – was representing Voices of Hope, a non-profit organisation aiming to break the stigma around mental illness, a cause close to her heart due to her six-year struggle with eating disorders.

While she was nervous to open about her issues with body image on the show and in Woman’s Day, Courtenay says now, “It’s been really awesome because I’ve had a lot of messages from people going through similar things.

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It’s great that they feel they can reach out to me. My next step is thinking how I can help these people more. Watch this space!”

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