A few audience members were left scratching their heads when Carla From Bankstown walked confidently into the Celebrity Apprentice Australia boardroom this year. After all, the internet celebrity was still unknown to many, despite her rapidly growing following online.
But this hasn’t held Carla back. So far, she’s won $40,000 for her charity, Twenty10GLCS through participation on the show, and has successfully avoided getting fired by boss of the boardroom, Alan Sugar.
As we see more of Carla, our intrigue has only grown. We know she’s from Bankstown, a western suburb of Sydney, and through the episodes we’ve gotten some more insight into who Carla is behind the wigs and the makeup – when she becomes Ben.
Scroll on to find out everything we know about Carla and Ben.
A Bankstown local, Benjahmin James was working at JB HI-FI when he decided to take to the internet as Carla, making videos that he literally just hoped would make people laugh.
Having been bullied throughout high school, he seems to have found an ability to laugh at himself, and to make others laugh through darker times.
“I enjoy doing it, I enjoy bringing people that happiness, making them smile, especially during times like this,” he revealed to A Current Affair.
“As the following grew, I just wanted to use the platform to spread awareness for a lot of issues I’ve dealt with in my life,” he admitted.
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Ben’s simple goal – to bring joy to others – really took off across the 2021 lockdowns in Sydney, in which areas like Bankstown and its surrounding suburbs were hit particularly hard.
“I think for me, it was just if people don’t want to watch the news and see all the bad stuff that’s happening, come to my page and have a laugh, you know?” Ben told our sister site, Girlfriend.
Among Carla’s most popular skits were ones where she pretended to be an assistant to Gladys Berejiklian, who was the State Premier throughout the lockdowns.
Each day, Carla would give a press conference of her own, something that grew and grew as more people became aware of her.
“A lot of people struggled during lockdown, a lot of my friends struggled during lockdown, my family struggled during lockdown,” Ben shared of the time.
“I tried to use that as an outlet for me to push myself, to share my light with everybody, and just make people laugh.”
WATCH BELOW: Carla From Bankstown lipsyncs to Celine Dion classic
As Ben remained focused on making people happy, though, Carla was gaining notoriety – to the point where Ben would be asked to join Celebrity Apprentice on the Nine Network for 2022.
But as Carla’s star rises, she’s been met with some online negativity – something she won’t tolerate.
Back in January of 2022, she very publicly called out a troll for their hateful words towards her.
“Just so everyone knows, I am not in the slightest bit bothered by that man’s opinion,” she said of the commenter.
“I’m living my best life spreading love and hope for everyone out there that is different or that is feeling down,” she went on.
“I don’t care what stupid gronks think of me, thank you everyone for the love and support, and if ANYONE gets messages as disgusting as that, NAME AND SHAME!” she encouraged.
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And as people have provided their two cents during Celebrity Apprentice, Carla’s attitude has remained the same.
“At the end of the day I’m a drag queen on a NATIONAL broadcasted television show raising money for CHARITY. Keep your gronk comments to yourself,” she tweeted at the end of May.
You can catch Carla on Celebrity Apprentice from Sunday-Tuesday evenings on Channel Nine and 9Now.
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