Celebrity Apprentice may be the first reality show Jean Kittson has appeared on but in 1990 she appeared in outrageous 10 comedy Let The Blood Run Free in which the audience was encouraged to vote for a cliffhanger storyline every week.

An Option A or Option B choice would play out for viewers the following week.

“You had to ring and press every a number. I think we were the first television show where you could vote …the first sort of Reality TV!” she tells TV Tonight.

“Will Nurse Effie jump off the roof or not? Will Matron Conniving Bitch get fired or not? Hilarious! It was ahead of its time.”

The Media Arts comedy produced by Ian McFadyen features the late Lynda Gibson, Brian Nankervis, Peter Rowsthorn, David Swann and Helen Knight.

Becoming a cult comedy it ran for just 26 episodes, but clips live on thanks to YouTube.

Kittson shot to fame in 1989 on ABC’s live sketch comedy The Big Gig hosted by Wendy Harmer and regulars Empty Pockets, Doug Anthony All Stars, Flacco, Glynn Nicholas, Anthony Ackroyd plus overseas guests.

“It was three years, five series that ran for. It had huge audiences, sometime up to 2 million people watched it. And it was part of that big Australian comedy boom…. Big Gig, Fast Forward, Comedy Company and everyone watched it all. That was a fantastic time. It gave so many of us a public profile, we’d never had one before. So it gave us so much exposure, in a way, to cut our teeth and learn so much really quickly.”

Still performing in corporate and conference work, Kittson says she meets many people who still remember the shows.

“One or two will say, ‘What was that show you were on?’” she laughs.

“But it’s surprising how many young people that weren’t even born say, ‘Our parents let us watch Let the Blood Run Free.’ I say ‘Your parents must have had a very sick sense of humour!’”

Celebrity Apprentice screens Sunday – Wednesday on Nine.