Jess has copped a barrage of online abuse for her outlandish comments and condescending smirks on MKR, but isn’t apologising for any of it.
“It’s really hard that I’ve had to constantly justify my actions to make everyone else feel better,” she tells Melbourne’s Gold 104.3 during a recent studio visit.
“Get some confidence, be happy with yourself.”
Fitness fanatic Jess is especially perplexed over the online reaction to her revelation that she doesn’t touch chocolate.
“People are very, very offended. They take it personally when you say you don’t eat all that chocolate.
“They freak out, they can’t understand it. They’re so addicted to chocolate that it hurts them.”
So what does she turn to as a pick-me-up at the end of a tough day?
“A salad,” she tells incredulous radio hosts Jo and Lehmo.
“It’s my favourite food. It gives me the energy and nutrition I need to feel better; fuelling my body with the right things so my mind is powerful and it works well.”
She did, however, do a backflip on her no-carbs mantra, conceding that she has a soft spot for the polish dumplings served up by MRK rivals JP and Nelly.
“That would be my cheat meal and I’d have it with pleasure…in moderation.”
Jess adds that she’s nothing like the “character” she’s portrayed to be on the show.
She’s adamant she says lots of nice things about contestants’ dishes, they just don’t make the final cut.
But her rivals aren’t so quick to blame the editing; Alex calls her a “Pinocchio” and Nelly counters with “she’s a walking contradiction”.
The Twitter-sphere also weighed in when wine-quaffing Jess revealed recently on air that she has a soft spot for pizza, and then a picture of her straddling a Nutella jar at a PR event surfaces.
Misunderstood, or not, Jess can only hope her rivals put her ‘quirks’ aside when she and childhood friend Marcos Dillman take to the kitchen for the first time on February 21.
“I am ready for criticism,” admits Jess. “I think they’re going to score very strategically, despite me saying my nutritional values don’t come into the scoring, and Australia’s seen that.
“Hopefully they score fairly. But if they don’t, I hope they understand that they’ve done wrong.”