{"id":488378,"date":"2026-02-18T17:56:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T17:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/488378\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T17:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T17:56:06","slug":"dyson-heppell-shares-life-lessons-from-afl-and-im-a-celebrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/488378\/","title":{"rendered":"Dyson Heppell shares life lessons from AFL and I’m A Celebrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may know Dyson Heppell from AFL, or his clothing line inspired by Harrison \u201cHaych\u201d Pennicott, but on I\u2019m a Celebrity\u2026 Get Me Out of Here Australia,<\/a> he was the camp\u2019s captain.<\/p>\n

The fourth person to be eliminated, Dyson went head-to-head against actor Gary Sweet,<\/a> who he says is his closest friend in the jungle, and sadly, his memory and music skills failed him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He took the defeat well, repeated that \u201cIf it had to be someone, I\u2019m glad it was my main man, Gaz.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in his name. Haych was diagnosed with scleroderma, the same condition that took Dyson\u2019s grandmother.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When we speak following his elimination from I\u2019m A Celebrity\u2026Dyson is actually wearing the latest design from the label, so Haych is at the forefront of his mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tell me about your relationship with Haych?<\/p>\n

So little Harrison, little Haych man, as he\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019s a little weapon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was genuinely inspiring to me. So, I got to know him and his family really well over the course of the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At first, they gave him two years to live when he was five. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s 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\u2019s really cool stuff with him and plenty, plenty more on the card. It\u2019s good fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been really special and something that I\u2019ve never thought I\u2019d be getting involved in post-career. Timing-wise, we launched the label literally a month after we retired. So it\u2019s been really nice to have a good bit of purpose and meaning in what I\u2019m doing now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Dyson Heppell and Haych at The Gabba, on August 24, 2024, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

On I\u2019m a Celebrity, you were playing for Very Special Kids. Why did you choose that charity?<\/p>\n

Not only through Harrison and his family, but I\u2019ve also got to know the Very Special Kids Foundation through a couple of other families, and they have been incredible towards them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0Nath Valvo also commented to Concetta that she\u2019s \u201clost her captain\u201d when you were eliminated from the show. Would you agree?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really nice! It\u2019s really nice to hear that from other campmates. Well, in my footy career, I\u2019ve 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\u2019t know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It was funny because it\u2019s like you do need to remind yourself that we\u2019re just being, you know, a reality TV show, but I guess at the time it\u2019s our live reality of what we\u2019re 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s chat about that. They changed the rules a little bit this year, and you had to vote on each other; it\u2019s like the I\u2019m a Celebrity Survivor season. Can you talk me through what it was like for you and Luke to be put up for elimination?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeah, it wasn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019t as if we didn\u2019t like you, which is how they sort of took it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the jungle, you and George connected over your public \u201cscandal\u201d, George with the wage scandal and you with the supplements saga. Can you tell me about that time in your life?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was just a ludicrous scenario. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll ever know the full truth of how everything got to where it did and how big it got across the world. So it was\u2026 a really damning period in the history of the footy club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m 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\u2019ve completely forgiven and got over it all and happy to speak openly about it now, but I certainly wish it never happened, that\u2019s for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Luke Bateman and Dyson Heppell on I\u2019m A Celebrity. Credit: Channel 10<\/p>\n

What did that period teach you about yourself?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019re 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll take those lessons now into your coaching career and your continuing mentorship of Haych.<\/p>\n

Absolutely. It\u2019s a silver lining, no doubt. I\u2019ve always said that. You\u2019re not wrong. It\u2019s sort of taught me absolute life experiences that I\u2019ll have forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who was your go-to person on I\u2019m A Celebrity?<\/p>\n

Two people: Luke and Gaz. Luke\u2019s a weapon. We had some great conversations, and he\u2019s one of those guys who\u2019s happy to talk about anything and, you know, really opened up to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019d hit the gym, the old jungle gym most mornings and nice to just chew the fat and whatnot with him in the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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 \u201cturns of phrase\u201d. Did you enjoy sharing some Australian culture with Barry?\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ve got some weird little sayings and slogans, but yeah, it was funny. Baz would come up to me later in the day and go, \u201cNow, what does that mean?\u201d. And I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, sorry, brother. Here\u2019s the rundown.\u201d So, I would give him a rundown of the old \u201cDysonisms\u201d, I would call them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Tough choice, but I think it\u2019s either Gaz, Luke, or Chet (Concetta).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDigital Editor – The Australian Women’s Weekly
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOrlaith Costello\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tDigital Editor – The Australian Women’s Weekly\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Orlaith Costello is the Digital Editor (Lifestyle) for The Australian Women’s Weekly, covering all things lifestyle from celebrity profiles, to news, lifestyle, travel, food and everything in between. Orlaith (pronounced Or-lah) graduated from The National University of Ireland, Galway (majoring in Creative Writing) and has been working in Australian digital media spaces since 2016 for Concrete Playground, The Plus Ones, WithWine.com, Cellarmasters, Smarthouse and ChannelNews. When she’s not moving around commas and dashes for The Weekly, you will find her flexing her green thumb with her ever-growing plant collection, sipping on whisk(e)y, and planning her next road trip or camping adventure.<\/p>\n

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