Catching up with two-time Celebrity Treasure Island competitor Lance Savali before competing in the reality show seemed like
a good idea. But for Jazz Thornton, the plan didn’t work out well.
“He broke my hand!” exclaims the mental health advocate and 2021 Young New Zealander of the Year, 28. “Obviously, not on purpose. We were doing a TikTok dance together. He spun his leg and he’s so high and I’m so short, so his foot just smacked my hand and broke it.”
Jazz, who is asthmatic, also got COVID the week before the show started, so she wasn’t in peak physical condition, but she didn’t let it take the shine off being part of a show she’s loved since childhood.
“I grew up watching Celebrity Treasure Island and Survivor, and the concept of it is thrilling. More thrilling to watch than do, but I was super-excited to be in it.
“I spent so much money buying the right-coloured clothes for my team! It was completely out of my comfort zone, but I had the time of my life.”
The author and podcaster, who boasts more than two million TikTok followers, already had some reality TV experience after winning last year’s series of Dancing With The Stars, but being a ballroom champion didn’t really help.
Jazz’s had a broken heart – and a fractured hand, courtesy of horrfied mate Lance.
“That was glitter, glam and getting your nails done,” she recalls. “It was hard work, but nothing like this. Although I’d love to have back-to-back wins, particularly because a woman hasn’t won this show in so long. Whether it’s me or I’m helping another woman win it, I’m keen to get the men out and get the women in. This will be the year!”
Jazz, 28, is competing on the show to raise money for Voices of Hope, a charity she co-founded to break the stigma around mental illness. She’s incredibly dedicated to helping others, but projects like Treasure Island allow her to show a lighter side of her personality.
“For ages, if people googled my name, the first thing that came up was a clickbait headline that said, ‘Jazz Thornton tried to kill herself 14 times and now stars in a movie.’ If that’s all they’re reading, they’re going to think I’m still that person now, which can be hard.
“However, I still get stopped every day by people who’ve been helped by me sharing my story, which will always be more important than worrying about what people think of me!”
Although she had a ball on Treasure Island, it sadly contributed to the end of her relationship with a DWTS cameraman.
“It was my very first relationship in the public eye and my second relationship ever,” Jazz shares. “I went through quite a big trauma after Dancing that I had kind of avoided and pushed aside. Then I was away without my phone or any other distractions, which just gave me the space and time to think.
After Jazz’s DWTS win.
“We broke up after I came out of the show. Some things just aren’t meant to be. I’m doing a lot better now, but it was obviously very hard at the time, especially being in the public eye and having two million people saying things like, ‘If they break up, I don’t believe in love any more.”
Jazz has also been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since filming finished – an arduous and expensive process involving a long wait for an assessment from a specialist psychiatrist.
However, she says the diagnosis was a relief and the medication she’s been prescribed is a revelation.
“I was put on Rubifen, which is a different kind of Ritalin for adults, and the very first time I took it, I just started crying because it was the first time my brain was quiet,” she marvels.
The unflagging support of her friend and flatmate Alicia Lineham, 30, has also helped.
“It’s been cool having someone around who doesn’t just think I’m annoying, messy or lazy. Every ADHD person will know what a room or a hole of doom is – it’s where you throw everything. Mine was in my wardrobe.
“It’s been cool having someone around who doesn’t just think I’m annoying, messy or lazy,” says Jazz of her flatmate Alicia.
“She helped create a whole system, redoing the whole thing for me so that I was able to keep it somewhat functional and tidy! She also puts up with my massively impulsive ideas, which has been great because she’s also become a lot more adventurous. I’ll suggest we go to America and she’s like, ‘OK, cool!'”
The second season of Hope Is Real With Jazz Thornton is out Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
For more info on Voices of Hope or to donate, visit thevoicesofhope.org.
For the Suicide Crisis Helpline, call 0508 TAUTOKO.
