Jordan Finlaysons fall from grace: Beauty and the Geek star smoking meth

She was once a model and professional dancer before she appeared on reality television as a “beauty” who starred as a cheerleader on the sidelines of NRL and basketball games.

Now Jordan Finlayson has been in and out of court and rehab for years, with police describing her as someone who has an “extensive history of drug use” and “zero remorse and regard for authority”.

Despite saying she was “deeply ashamed and embarrassed” of what she had become, the 32-year-old one-time reality TV star continues to end up in court.

When she appeared on Beauty and the Geek in 2011 alongside Julian Stevensen, she was a cheerleader on the sidelines of NRL and basketball games and an ex-Penthouse model.

Since then it has been a long and dramatic fall from grace.

30th in prison

Finlayson’s time in the spotlight didn’t last long after her time on the reality TV show, but in June 2019 she made headlines again when she was arrested on drug supply charges.

In April 2020, she was sentenced in the NSW District Court to a maximum of four years and three months in jail and was told she would be eligible for parole after three years and three months.

She was caught selling tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs, including ice, heroin and GBL, to undercover police over three months.

But the sentence was backdated to her arrest and Finlayson was eligible for parole in September 2020.

The court was told Finlayson and her then boyfriend were arrested on June 14, 2020 following the formation of Strike Force Petal in 2018 that investigated the supply of prohibited drugs, including heroin and crystal methylamphetamine, in Sydney’s Redfern area.

In media interviews following her release, Finlayson said she was “enslaved” to Sydney’s drug-fuelled party scene that destroyed five years of her life.

The now 32-year-old said her offending came out of a desperation to fund her $5000-a-week drug addiction, fuelled by lingerie modelling assignments and cocaine parties.

Finlayson said she was “deeply ashamed and embarrassed” of her time addicted to drugs, describing prison as “scary” with some “big, intimidating women”.

“For 2½ years before jail I did every drug; cocaine, GBL (a liquid); my life was a blur, I let a lot of people down and made bad choices,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

“I was so destroyed, I overdosed and went to rehab six months before I was arrested but I couldn’t stop.”

She turned 30 behind bars after she admitted to making about $40,000 from dealing drugs before her arrest, spending most of it on funding her own habit.

After her release, Finlayson went back to waitressing and lingerie modelling, citing counselling and Alcoholics Anonymous as the reasons she stayed drug-free.

Two arrests; one week

Just more than a year after vowing to turn her life around, the former reality star was arrested twice within a week in February 2022.

Police were called to an incident at a Botany home on February 17, 2022. Finlayson was charged with two counts of common assault, destroying or damaging property and was granted bail on February 17, with a court date set for just six days later.

However, she was arrested the day before court and was thrown back behind bars on remand after her bail was revoked.

Finlayson was arrested at a Rosebery home just after 10.30am on February 22, 2022 and charged with possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence.

Credit cards

In August 2022, she faced court from prison wearing prison greens with her long, blonde hair pulled into a half-up ponytail.

She admitted to stealing three credit cards from attendees at a buck’s party where she was waitressing.

She was charged with possession of identity information with the intention of committing fraud after she was caught with NSW drivers licences and debit cards of three men between January 29 and February 2 at Botany in 2022.

Court documents revealed Finlayson took photos of the cards on her phone that police claim she gave to someone else to use to defraud the victims.

The Rosebery resident was working as a waitress at a private bachelor’s party when she took photos of men’s credit cards and licences.

Court documents said the she had taken the photos while she used a room where the bags were being stored to get dressed.

In the weeks following the buck’s party, each of the three men noticed their bank cards had been compromised and multiple transactions were made without their knowledge.

She was not accused of making the fraudulent transactions or receiving any benefit from having their licences and bank card details.

Defence barrister Daniel Grippi told the court that Finlayson had been on parole when she breached it with this offence in February 2022.

He urged the magistrate to let Finlayson go to a residential rehabilitation centre to work on her “serious” drug issues.

Magistrate Alison Viney said it was “not a trifling offence” and “so incredibly disruptive to someone’s life”.

She was sentenced to a community corrections order to be served in the community for 12 months but had to face a parole hearing before she was later released.

Orange juice

In February this year, Finlayson told the court that she was seeking treatment for drug addiction at an idyllic beachside clinic after she pleaded guilty to assaulting a family member.

She was due to face a special hearing after pleading guilty to assaulting her brother-in-law during a family argument that turned violent in February 2022 when she was arrested twice in one week.

Court documents state the former Beauty and the Geek star was living with her family after being released from more than two years in prison for a previous offence.

Upon Finlayson’s release from jail, her family imposed “rules” on her residence that included not bringing unknown people into the house.

But the ex-NRL cheerleader brought her boyfriend into the family home and took him up to her bedroom where he got high on Valentine’s Day, court documents state.

She told her sister the next morning that he had left but when her sister went to check, court documents state she found the man scrambling to hide himself under the bed.

The sister told Finlayson and her boyfriend to “get out of this house”, but Finlayson hurled a vile tirade in response.

The 32-year-old told her sister to “f**k off” and called her a “fat b**ch”, according to the police facts.

Her brother-in-law stepped in to defuse the fight between the sisters. The facts state that Finlayson became violent and hurled a glass of juice at her brother-in-law’s head, hitting him just above his right eye before smashing to the floor.

The former professional cheerleader then hid in her bedroom before her sister returned and dragged her from the house with a grip on her hair and shirt-front.

Finlayson was arrested three days later and told police she had no recollection of throwing the glass.

In February, lawyer Daniel Grippi explained that his client had completed a three-week rehabilitation program after her previous court appearance and asked if she could continue the program.

Deputy chief magistrate Sharon Freund agreed that it was in the best interest of the community to ensure that the former reality TV star had the support she needed.

But in April the charges were dismissed on mental health grounds.

Meth

Despite Ms Freund saying it was “fabulous” that Finlayson was “making some really positive steps”, it was revealed in court this week that the former cheerleader had crashed her car while high on meth in February.

Her lawyer on Wednesday entered a plea of guilty to driving while under the influence of drugs, with court documents revealing the 32-year-old crashed a white Toyota Yaris into a barrier about 3.55am on February 7.

When police arrived, Finlayson was found unconscious in the driver’s seat and she was being assisted by an “unknown and unrelated” witness while making groaning noises.

She was not responsive to police, prompting them to open the passenger door that “immediately” caught her attention and she “began acting erratic”.

“The accused leant over to the passenger side seat and said ‘hey babe’ while no one was seated there,” court documents stated.

Finlayson appeared confused and became visibly upset and distressed. She was moved to a stretcher as she had trouble standing up.

She told authorities that she had consumed alcohol but was unable to answer any questions as she was still upset, according to court documents.

Finlayson was taken to Ryde Hospital for medical treatment, but police were told the following day that she “had absconded from hospital” without providing a urine sample.

A sample of her blood was sent for analysis and returned a positive result for gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and methylamphetamine (ice).

In court documents, police said Finlayson had made an admission to “relapsing and smoking meth” in July. They said it was a “clear representation of the accused’s inability to cease drug use and seek rehabilitation, continuously being a risk to other motorists at risk with zero remorse”.

“The accused has an extensive history of drug use and violent domestic violence offences,” the police fact sheet said.

“Despite the accused being put before the court multiple times for her offences, the accused continues to reoffend with zero remorse and regard for authority.”

Finlayson remains on bail, with the matter to return to court in October.

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