Peta Swift raising money for Cancer Council through Stars of Orange

Co-founder of the Avid Gardener, Ms Swift is one of nine individuals or groups taking part in the annual fundraising event which raises money for the Cancer Council.

"My gorgeous friend (Cassandra Sullivan) who is one of the organisers approached me about doing it," Ms Swift said when asked how it was she came to be involved in the 2023 showcase.

"She is super passionate about raising money for cancer and I just couldn't say no. I hadn't really thought about doing anything like that up until now. She asked and it seemed like a great cause."

Asked what was going through her mind when she did say she would take part in Stars of Orange, Ms Swift succinctly said: "Oh my god, I'm shitting myself."

Although she hasn't been directly impacted by the disease, she knows plenty of people who have.

My mother-in-law is in remission from it now, I've got friends who are affected by it, one of the beautiful women who work with me, her granddaughter is suffering with it at the moment. My best friend in Sydney, her mum passed away from it seven years ago and she had it for years and years and years," she said.

"It's awful watching close friends deal with a loved one going through cancer."

Having been paired up with Revolution Aerial Studio - who took 2022 contestant Tom Corrigan to new heights - Ms Swift will need to learn how to pole dance and perform a floor routine to get the job done.

"It's something that I never thought I would ever do," she said.

"I'm actually enjoying the pole part of the dancing, it's the choreography around the pole that I'm really struggling with at the moment. I've been doing pole dancing now for three weeks, but I had the first choreography lesson on Sunday. It is empowering and I can see why people do it, but it's scary."

Although Ms Swift may not have a dancing background, her work in the garden has prepared her to tackle this new challenge.

"I'm enjoying the fact that I can actually physically do it," she said.

"I work outside five days a week and I go to the gym five days a week, so I'm pretty strong, but I'm really inflexible, which doesn't help when you're trying to do splits and other things like that. But I'm glad that I said yes."

With trainings scheduled twice a week in the lead-up to the May 27 main event, Ms Swift is enlisting the help of anyone and everyone to make sure it's a performance to remember.

"I've shown the dance to my daughter because she loves to dance, so she's going to help me. She was practicing it just the other morning," she added.

"The other night, my sister kindly sent on my behalf an email to all of our clients and based on that, I raised about $1000 in the span of 24 hours.

"I've said yes to everything; yes to fundraising, yes to however many practices I need to do, I'm all in."

With many a fundraising event organised between now and the big day, Ms Swift is hopeful to be able to raise enough money to make it all worthwhile.

"I'm absolutely terrified," she said of how she felt knowing she would have to perform in front of a packed crowd.

"I'm also not wearing very much which I think is also adding to my fear. But what I keep saying to everyone is that I'm in and will give it my best shot."

There will be multiple winners on the night of the performance. The first will be the contestant who raises the most amount of money and the second will be based on how the judges vote on the performances themselves.

To donate to Ms Swift's campaign, click here, or search Peta Swift on stars.cancercouncil.com.au

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