Former NRL host Tiffany Salmond claims that football journalist Jake Duke misled her just before she made a late-night call to him, which reportedly led to the end of his relationship with a television celebrity.

Salmond, who has openly expressed her struggles to secure television jobs after losing her position reporting on New Zealand NRL matches for Fox Sports, RNZ, and Sky, criticized Duke regarding the controversy that surfaced in February of the previous year.

As reported exclusively by Daily Mail Australia, Duke, currently a prominent figure in Fox’s NRL coverage and esteemed as a ‘golden boy’ of the network, was allegedly left by his television star partner, Grace Fitzgibbon, following a late-night call from Salmond in February last year.

A source close to the couple told Daily Mail Australia the call came to Duke, 30, ‘in the wee hours’, prompting a ‘devastated and heartbroken’ Fitzgibbon, 32, to end the three-year-long relationship and leave the couple’s apartment in Freshwater, on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Now Salmond has opened up about what preceded the call – and claimed she’s been unable to find another TV job because broadcasters don’t want to employ women who are ‘too sexy’.

‘The phone call situation that was reported wasn’t the reason I was removed. But once I started gaining visibility and attention, it felt like that moment became an easy narrative to use against me – despite senior staff being completely unfazed by it when it happened,’ Salmond told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘I want to make it very clear: it was an innocent phone call I made all the way from New Zealand, to a colleague I considered a friend.

‘He had also made it very clear to me that he was single, so I saw no issue in calling him for a chat while I was on my way home from a night out.

‘Unfortunately, I had obviously been misled, and I copped the backlash publicly for something I was a victim in, too.

‘I was left to carry the full weight of the fallout alone.’

Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Duke was misleading Salmond, only that Salmond has made the accusation. Jake Duke has been contacted for comment. 

Salmond also claimed she’s the victim of a ‘boys’ club’ in footy that is preventing her from returning to TV work.

‘Rugby league media is very conservative when it comes to female representation,’ she said.

‘The men are allowed to be edgy, loud, have huge personalities and take up space.

‘But women have to toe the line of being attractive, but not too sexy. Knowledgeable, but not enough to outshine your male counterparts.

‘Unfortunately for me, the audience became so loud about my presence that it became clear that if I gained any more airtime, I was going to outgrow the sideline role. 

‘Over a year later [since she lost her job], I still receive constant message asking where I am and why I haven’t been brought back.

‘So if it’s not the boys’ club, then genuinely, I’d love to hear what it is.’

Over the last few months, Salmond has engaged in an online campaign to win work in the TV industry, regularly posting supportive comments from her fans on social media.

She has also repeatedly accused broadcasters of failing to give her a fair go despite what she sees as her highly successful time on screen.

‘I wasn’t let go because I failed. I was cut off while thriving, connecting, performing and being embraced by the audience.’

Salmond had previously expressed her thanks to her fans, revealing she had received a lot of heartfelt messages, both asking why she was no longer on their screens while also sending her support.

‘There was nothing to fix, no feedback to apply, no bridge to mend.

‘And yes, people lose jobs every day but this was not that. This was not a restructure. Not a performance issue. Not a scandal or a clash behind the scenes.

‘It was a silent shut-out and it’s been devastating. Professionally, because I loved what I did. Personally, because I was never given a reason.’

She has now come to a shattering conclusion about her time in the industry.

‘I’ve accepted that I probably won’t work in rugby league media again – at least not the way it’s currently run or with the people who hold the broadcast rights,’ she told the SMH.

‘Back then I thought maybe they just didn’t realise how much the audience connected with me.

‘But in time, I saw the truth.

‘They did see it, they just didn’t care. And they didn’t want any part of it.’