Comedian Mel Buttle entered the Aussie “jungle” during the Australian premiere of ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’ on Sunday, January 3 and was immediately tasked with a pretty vomit-inducing challenge.
You might recognise the 38-year-old, from The Great Australian Bake Off, which she hosted alongside Claire Hooper, or maybe you know her from her stand-up. Either way, Buttle has already brought the laughs to the competition show and we are only one episode in.
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Buttle, who hails from Brisbane, told The Sydney Morning Herald one of her reasons for wanting to brave the Aussie bush stemmed from the uncertainty brought on by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“I thought, I’ve just been offered a great gig where I get to be funny and hang out with people and have challenges,” she said. “What else am I going to do? Sit here and watch Dr Phil?”
The funny lady, who will be competing on the red team, made her debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2010 and since then she has gone on to support the likes of Josh Thomas and Aziz Ansari on their tours.
In addition to her impressive radio credits (she’s been heard on Triple J and Nova) Buttle has been seen on shows like The Project and Good News Week and, of course, on The Great Australian Bake Off from 2015-2018.
Buttle is also an animal lover who acts as an ambassador for the RSPCA in Queensland, so perhaps she will find the Aussie wildlife less of a challenge than her fellow contestants — although she confesses she is not a fan of snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies.
Incidentally, one of those fellow contestants is another comedian, Ash Williams, and Buttle has explained why she thinks stand-ups might have a slight advantage when it comes to gaining votes from the audience.
“You’re constantly processing your experiences in the world and trying to turn it into something funny,” she said.
“I think experience in stand-up might prepare me to respond in an interesting way for the viewer in every situation. And to help me make friends, like I did in primary school – to get people to like me by saying funny things.”
Suffice to say that so far, she is doing just fine.
I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Australia is now airing on Network Ten.