You may know Dyson Heppell from AFL, or his clothing line inspired by Harrison “Haych” Pennicott, but on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here Australia, he was the camp’s captain.
The fourth person to be eliminated, Dyson went head-to-head against actor Gary Sweet, who he says is his closest friend in the jungle, and sadly, his memory and music skills failed him.
He took the defeat well, repeated that “If it had to be someone, I’m glad it was my main man, Gaz.”
While in the jungle, Dyson spoke about his close relationship with Harrison Pennicott, aka Haych, who inspired Dyson and his wife Kate to launch a clothing brand in his name. Haych was diagnosed with scleroderma, the same condition that took Dyson’s grandmother.
When we speak following his elimination from I’m A Celebrity…Dyson is actually wearing the latest design from the label, so Haych is at the forefront of his mind.
Tell me about your relationship with Haych?
So little Harrison, little Haych man, as he’s known as, he was a mad little Bombers fan, and he was diagnosed with the same condition that my grandmother passed away from, scleroderma, which is an autoimmune disease. When I got drafted, I became an ambassador for the Scleroderma Foundation. They let me know about young Harrison. He loved watching me play. And he came out to the club, and I got to meet him.
He was the youngest in the world to be diagnosed with scleroderma at five years old. And just seeing this kid and how he operated, just so much love for other people, so much energy and exuberance and just genuine care for others, I thought, this kid’s a little weapon.
He was genuinely inspiring to me. So, I got to know him and his family really well over the course of the years.
At first, they gave him two years to live when he was five. He’s now 13. He sort of cracked through every life expectancy barrier and is just a genuine trooper. So my wife and I wanted to try to impact his life as much as we could. So came up with this concept of a clothing label being Haych, a little play on his name.
He’s got his hand on all the designs, his little artworks, slogans, and handwriting for the graphics on the kit, and the proceeds from the sales go towards taking off his bucket list items. So yeah, that’s really cool stuff with him and plenty, plenty more on the card. It’s good fun.
It’s been really special and something that I’ve never thought I’d be getting involved in post-career. Timing-wise, we launched the label literally a month after we retired. So it’s been really nice to have a good bit of purpose and meaning in what I’m doing now.
Dyson Heppell and Haych at The Gabba, on August 24, 2024, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
On I’m a Celebrity, you were playing for Very Special Kids. Why did you choose that charity?
Not only through Harrison and his family, but I’ve also got to know the Very Special Kids Foundation through a couple of other families, and they have been incredible towards them.
Spending some time there and seeing how loving and incredible the staff are. It really hits home to me and Kate all the things that we’ve done with them. I thought it was quite fitting for them to be my charity of choice and, hopefully, raise as much awareness as we possibly can for them.
Mentorship is a huge part of who you are, as we saw in the jungle and in your chosen career as a coach. You seemed to be a real calming force in the camp. And it was something that a few of the campmates have mentioned in other interviews about your good nature and wanting to settle things and wanting people to get along. Nath Valvo also commented to Concetta that she’s “lost her captain” when you were eliminated from the show. Would you agree?
That’s really nice! It’s really nice to hear that from other campmates. Well, in my footy career, I’ve had the opportunity to experience so many different personalities and characters. I think coming into camp was really helpful, knowing we had a whole diverse range of personalities and people whom I didn’t know.
I managed to get along with all of them, which was really nice. Obviously, there were tensions that rose throughout the show and little kickoffs that I was a part of, but that was part of the fun of it, too. I think in the end, as part of the jungle family, that was me. I was being my authentic self and playing my little role as part of the crew.
It was funny because it’s like you do need to remind yourself that we’re just being, you know, a reality TV show, but I guess at the time it’s our live reality of what we’re going through. So yeah, it was really interesting to see how everyone handled the different eliminations and having to nominate each other. It certainly changed the dynamic of the camp from that point.
Let’s chat about that. They changed the rules a little bit this year, and you had to vote on each other; it’s like the I’m a Celebrity Survivor season. Can you talk me through what it was like for you and Luke to be put up for elimination?
Yeah, it wasn’t great. I guess the good part is we survived an elimination, so we got the opportunity to nominate who was up for the next one. And we had a lot of fun in the elimination. So we were like it’s not such a bad thing! You get to experience it. But I guess in the emotion and heat of it all, it can be challenging. But we tried to keep it as fair as we could, having one girl, one guy. And honestly, we had great relationships with everyone.
In the end, Cyrell and Rebekah were the main ones who instigated Luke and me going into the elimination trial in the first place. So I think naturally they were probably the first two to come to mind. But having said that, we had great relationships with them. So it wasn’t as if we didn’t like you, which is how they sort of took it.
And I tried to say that it was randomised and luck of the draw for the elimination, just to try and protect some of the emotion of it all. But it sort of backfired on me. But no hard feelings in the end, all good.
In the jungle, you and George connected over your public “scandal”, George with the wage scandal and you with the supplements saga. Can you tell me about that time in your life?
It was a pretty damning period. [The supplement saga] was the first of its kind in not only AFL, but in world sport, really. So it was just a crazy scenario that put a dark cloud over footy and a sport that I absolutely loved since I was five years old, playing for the team I supported since I was a kid and having my childhood hero as my coach. Those early years got thrown into an absolute spin through this whole supplement saga and it dragged out over the course of four years.
At the end of the day, we were told we were going to be completely clear, and our names will be cleared, and away we go, move on to the next chapter with our footy careers and lives. But, with that being said and done, in the end, we were sanctioned and found guilty of taking performance-enhancing drugs with no positive tests whatsoever.
It was just a ludicrous scenario. I don’t know if we’ll ever know the full truth of how everything got to where it did and how big it got across the world. So it was… a really damning period in the history of the footy club.
I’m really proud in terms of how I treated myself throughout that period and came out the other side of it, a better person and leader and just grew a lot as a person. So at the end of the day, I’ve completely forgiven and got over it all and happy to speak openly about it now, but I certainly wish it never happened, that’s for sure.
Luke Bateman and Dyson Heppell on I’m A Celebrity. Credit: Channel 10
What did that period teach you about yourself?
Well, I guess the biggest thing was my resilience and capacity to cope through hard times and still be able to show up for others and still be able to perform under heavy circumstances. You’re coping with that throughout the week and then having to show up in front of 100,000 people and play the best possible footy you can.
So, it just showed that I have a capacity to withstand a fair bit and still be there for others. Also, I guess more of my genuine care and empathetic nature really grew through that period too. It also helped me open up and ask for help and lean on those close to me. It was a very important chapter of my life in a way.
And I’m sure you’ll take those lessons now into your coaching career and your continuing mentorship of Haych.
Absolutely. It’s a silver lining, no doubt. I’ve always said that. You’re not wrong. It’s sort of taught me absolute life experiences that I’ll have forever.
Who was your go-to person on I’m A Celebrity?
Two people: Luke and Gaz. Luke’s a weapon. We had some great conversations, and he’s one of those guys who’s happy to talk about anything and, you know, really opened up to him.
Gaz was pretty much like the jungle dad. It was unreal, he just had a beautiful nature about him, and we had a lot of things in common. You know, we’d hit the gym, the old jungle gym most mornings and nice to just chew the fat and whatnot with him in the morning.
Earlier today, I was speaking with Barry, or Big Bad Bazza. He was very grateful that you made him an honorary member of the Australian Ratpack. And he also complimented your “turns of phrase”. Did you enjoy sharing some Australian culture with Barry?
So I’ve got some weird little sayings and slogans, but yeah, it was funny. Baz would come up to me later in the day and go, “Now, what does that mean?”. And I’m like, “Oh, sorry, brother. Here’s the rundown.” So, I would give him a rundown of the old “Dysonisms”, I would call them.
And as we are getting closer to the end of the season, who would you like to see crowned king or queen of the jungle?
Tough choice, but I think it’s either Gaz, Luke, or Chet (Concetta).
Digital Editor – The Australian Women’s Weekly
Orlaith Costello
Digital Editor – The Australian Women’s Weekly
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