Melbourne Cup 'lady in blue' is a Kiwi! Jade Jillings breaks her silence on those infamous photos

Kiwi Jade Jillings made headlines around the world when pictures of her riding a wheelie bin at Melbourne Cup Day went viral - so what does she have to say for herself?

Jillings, originally from Palmerston North, broke her silence to appear on The Project, alongside her housemate Tyler Johnson, who is also a Kiwi and was with her on that now infamous day.

Speaking from Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse, Jillings was asked by co-host Carrie Bickmore how she felt after seeing the snaps.

Jade Millings and Tyler Johnson say they were having a good time. Photo / Getty

"To start off I was pretty embarrassed like everybody had sent it to me and, like, in the end, when Nova [radio station] rang I said, 'I've just got to laugh about it'".

The stablehand acknowledged she's received some backlash from the photos, but the bubbly blonde was holding her head high.

"We were just having a laugh. At the end of the day we were having a laugh. People were like, 'She not classy. That is embarrassing for Australia' but then some people were also like 'everybody does this and it is just the photographers took photos of them and, like, that's just the way it was'."

Jade and Tyler appeared on The Project last night.

Johnson echoed her sentiments.

"You didn't cause any trouble. There was no trouble. We were having a good time. I feel like that's what racing is about. We didn't harm anyone," he said.

But most importantly the pair's mums were not angry about the photos.

"Mum said 40 years ago she was dancing around at the races and snapped her ankles. They all said lucky there were no photographers back in their day."

There was no sight of the blue dress when the duo appeared on the Channel 10 programme and the 23-year-old joked that the red frock she wore wouldn't allow her to "get on a wheelie bin".