Entertainment
Survivor contestant ruptured fallopian tube while filming after suffering unknown ectopic pregnancy
Georgia Jane Ray didn’t know she was pregnant (Picture: @georgiaray.psychologist/Ten)
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn contestant Georgia Jane Ray has revealed she suffered an unknown ectopic pregnancy while on the show, with her fallopian tube rupturing.
The forensic psychologist, who lives in Noosa, Queensland, wasn’t aware she was pregnant when she went on the gruelling reality show and has since shared her relief the ectopic pregnancy, and the associated internal bleeding, was caught in time.
An ectopic pregnancy is a potentially is potentially life-threatening and occurs when a fertilised egg implants itself outside the womb, such as in the fallopian tubes, where the embryo cannot grow.
Ray was briefly forced out of the game this season to be treated for the ‘agonising’ illness, after first sitting out a challenge and then leaving camp entirely, before she was eventually voted out by her tribemates in scenes shown on Sunday night.
Georgia, who has two children, son Oscar, six, and daughter Claudia, five, with husband David, revealed the illness she was dealing with in a detailed statement shared on the Survivor Instagram.
Explaining the confusion around her health on the show, she wrote: ‘Where to begin? I want to take this opportunity to put to bed some of the confusion concerning my health on Survivor. I have had some people question the timing of my illness and also the 24 hour medical exemption. Most importantly, I want to find the courage to share my experience because I believe that telling your story releases you from it, no matter what it is … The good, the bad, and the ugly.’
Ray goes on to recall on the 18th day of the show, the night before she was taken to hospital, she suffered an ‘extremely painful rupture to my fallopian tube due to an unknown and unexplained ectopic pregnancy’.
She said: ‘At the time, I had absolutely no idea why I was so unwell, let alone feeling such severe abdominal pain.
‘Thanks goodness my tribe mates were there to help me through what I recall as the longest and most agonising night of my life.’
Ray – who added in an interview with the Daily Telegraph she would have been two or three weeks pregnant from the beginning of the show – said she was grateful to receive treatment in hospital, however she noted ‘unfortunately the pregnancy was not identified by the doctors’.
Georgia already shares two children with husband David (Picture: @georgiaray.psychologist)
She continued: ‘I returned to survivor within the 24 hour time limit believing that my health would eventually improve, and the abdominal pain was bowel related (diverticulitis was the diagnosis I received).’
The contestant said it wasn’t until she was voted out and returned home, doctors in Noosa were able to locate the source of her agony.
Ray recalled: ‘I suffered another painful rupture (severe abdominal pain and further internal bleeding). The doctor at Noosa Hospital told me I was in fact 6 weeks pregnant and needed emergency surgery to remove the pregnancy and ruptured fallopian tube. Full on right?!?!’
Thanking her husband and kids for supporting her back to good health, Ray said she wanted to speak out about her experience to raise awareness for ectopic pregnancies.
She also added for others to be mindful of their assumptions: ‘I also want people to remember that it is more important than ever not to judge others harshly as we are all human and you never truly know what someone else is going through.’
In a statement, broadcaster Ten insisted it ‘takes the health and safety of our contestants very seriously’.
It said: ‘During filming, Georgia became ill and subsequently required hospitalisation. We are pleased that Georgia has recovered now and we thank her, not only for the determined game she played, but also for the courage to share her story… ‘
Speaking to the Telegraph on her return home, Ray believes it was ‘divine intervention’ that had her eliminated from the show and able to return home.
She explained: ‘I am lucky to go home when I did, that was divine intervention. If I had stayed out there, I could have possibly lost my life.
‘I had no idea I had internal bleeding. I see myself as lucky.’
