British backpacker Jamie Neale and his dad Richard Cass
British backpacker Jamie Neale denies being stingy with the money he earned from selling his Blue Mountains survival story.
The Sydney Morning Herald claimed Neale had donated just AUD$1,500 of the $200,000 he earned from appearing on the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes programme, to State Emergency Service (SES).
But Neale, whose disappearance sparked a massive search operation at taxpayers’ expense, says he’s donated a total of $16,000 to various people who helped him.
The 19-year-old Londoner was lost in the Blue Mountains for 12 days in July and has publicly fallen out with his dad over the handling of the cash.
Neale was believed to have originally said he would donate half of the money.
The cash he has donated has gone to the Blue Mountains hospital, where he was nursed back to health, National Parks and Wildlife Services, the Bush Walkers Wilderness Rescue Squad and the police.
The majority of the money will go towards buying locator beacons educating people about the risks of bushwalking
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