Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko and retired iron woman Candice Warner (nee Falzon) went head-to-head in the premiere episode of Channel Seven’s brutal new series SAS Australia. But it turns out a physical fight on the show ended their friendship.
Roxy, 40, spoke to Kyle and Jackie O on the morning after her voluntary withdrawal from the series and weighed in on the physical boxing match she was made to engage with Candice, 35.
“You know what? Is she really my friend anymore? No,” the entrepreneur told the radio duo.
“You know why I never hit back? She’s my mate and I’m not going to smack [her] in the face for other people’s entertainment.”
“You wouldn’t continue punching when the person – me – turns their back and continue punching them in the back of the head. Now in boxing, that’s totally not allowed but the reality is, I can’t punch my then-friend in the face for people’s entertainment, I will not do it.
“You look back and go, ‘F**k, I should have whacked her one.’ But you know what? I won’t because I’m bigger than that and I’ve got respect for other people,” she added, before confessing she’d cried afterwards.
Keep on scrolling for everything we know about Roxy and Candice’s former friendship.
So, how do Roxy Jacenko and Candice Warner know each other?
Roxy and Candice have been close pals for years, but their friendship made headlines back in 2018 when Candice’s husband David Warner found himself at the centre of a media storm over his involvement in the Australian cricket team’s shock ball-tampering scandal.
David, the Aussie team’s vice-captain at the time, along with captain Steve Smith and bowler Cameron Bancroft, were involved in a plot to tamper with the cricket ball with sandpaper during a match against South Africa in Cape Town.
The whole thing was captured on camera, resulting in their 12-month suspension.
But it was emotional images of David returning home to Sydney with his tearful wife Candice and two daughters, Ivy Mae and Indi Rae, that had some up in arms – and accusing Roxy of having orchestrated the entire moment.
The moving photos were quickly labelled a “PR stunt” designed to garner sympathy for the family, with many suggesting the walk through the airport with their young children was a “staged performance” organised by PR maven Roxy.
Roxy vehemently denied the accusations, clarifying that she wasn’t even at the airport during the saga.
“The family walked out of the airport with their children getting straight into the awaiting car stopping to be polite to media and give them some info,” Roxy said in a statement to news.com.au at the time.
“If you review the footage you will see I was not in fact at the airport for the arrival so a suggestion that they paraded for my personal gain is nothing short of pathetic.”
“How else other than the exit were they to depart the airport with their children? Hardly a parade.”
When she later sat next to a tearful Candice during a press conference David gave, Roxy was forced to clarify her relationship with the Warners.
The founder of PR agency Sweaty Betty explained she had not been hired by the family in an official capacity, and was instead supporting her friend during a time of crisis.
“Candice is a dear friend, thus my support, but I am not their PR,” Roxy told The Australian.
She later stood up for Candice and opened up about the impact the ball tampering saga had on them both emotionally and financially, explaining it had affected the “family’s livelihood”.
“I will continue to be a support to the family as they deserve and will not participate in giving air to this pathetic ‘kick them while they are down’ mentality,” she said.
“I’ve lived it — don’t forget that,” she added, referring to her own husband Oliver Curtis’ very public insider trading trial.
She also revealed in a statement to news.com.au that he had nothing but admiration for her friend in the face of what she endured at the time.
“Candice is an exceptional mother, wife and friend and given the circumstances and the barrage of online abuse is coping as best as can be expected,” Roxy said.
“For now, her main focus is to be a support to Warner and protect her children.”
Just weeks after the saga, the pair were spotted catching up for breakfast in Sydney’s Paddington, in a more low-key fashion.
“Roxy had been at the gym upstairs and Candice was there waiting for her on the street after they finished,” a local onlooker told The Daily Telegraph.
But their previously chummy relationship could be set to crumble, thanks to their tense appearance on SAS Australia.
According to a September 2020 report in The Sydney Morning Herald, the pair were required to get into a brutal physical fight in one scene, with Roxy left with quite severe physical injuries as a result.
An on-set source told the publication the scuffle “ended their friendship” and the pair “have terminated business ties since the scuffle.”
Rumours of a feud further intensified after Candice recently announced she is being represented by new management, instead of Roxy’s influencer management business The Ministry of Talent.