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When David Genat was announced as the new host of Australian Survivor in August last year, after the sacking of long-time host Jonathan LaPaglia in June, the reaction from fans was swift.
Comments on social media immediately deplored the decision, saying they would never watch the reality show, which LaPaglia hosted for 10 years, ever again.
Genat, though, is not bothered.
“Has there been a negative reaction?” he says, cheekily. “Were people upset?”
David Genat has appeared on Australian Survivor three times, winning once.
Genatis in Sydney, having finished filming his first season as host of Australian Survivor in Samoa. The new season is subtitled Redemption – the righting of past wrongs, the need to make a mark – and Genat, a former winner of the show, is keen to set the record straight about his elevation to host.
“I’m not looking to change Jonathan’s legacy at all,” he says. “I’m just trying to do my own thing and do the best job I can.”
In person, Genat is ridiculously tall and charming – they don’t call him the “Golden God” for nothing – and it’s easy to see why the 45-year-old has thrived on reality TV ever since he made his debut on Foxtel’s Search for a Supermodel in 2002. He is open and frank with his answers, even when there’s a lot he’s not saying – mainly due to the Network Ten publicist standing nearby.
Former Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia, who was replaced by David Genat.
“I think with any show, there’s an evolution of change,” he says. “I think Jonathan does an amazing job. He’s a great host. But, I mean, I’ve been in the entertainment business a long time, long-term gigs don’t really exist.”
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So, what happened? When LaPaglia was sacked, Network Ten wouldn’t comment on the reasons for his departure, only saying in a statement that LaPaglia was a “compelling and memorable figure in the world of Survivor”.
LaPaglia then posted a passionate statement on Instagram, writing that he had been “blindsided” by the news. “I received a call from the Network thanking me for all my hard work and dedication to the show but for next season they are ‘going in a different direction’,” he wrote.
Calling it a “host swap”, LaPaglia added “Whoever said a blindside is the most humane way to put someone down is an idiot. It hurts like a bitch!”
Two months later Genat, who had long been rumoured for the role, was publicly confirmed as the new host. According to Genat, however, the removal of LaPaglia was not a “blindside”.
“That’s not my understanding of how things happened,” he says. “I know conversations were definitely had. Calls were made. It wasn’t, like, an email thing … There was no malice in it. I think it was just time for change. That’s the way showbusiness goes. I’m not sure why people get super upset when millionaires lose their jobs, but he’s gonna be fine.”
Genat says he auditioned for the role twice before he was appointed. First, in 2020, when it was thought LaPaglia may not have been able to travel from the US because of COVID-19 restrictions, and again in 2023.
“So it was something that was on the radar,” he says. “And then after I won Deal or No Deal [Island], there were some discussions going on. And I screen tested, probably, I want to say of December [2024].”
Did he speak to LaPaglia after the announcement?
“Jonathan’s a great guy,” he says. “I wouldn’t say we’re close friends, [we’re] colleagues, we work together, and I wanted to be able to talk to him when it was announced. So I said, ‘As soon as he’s been called, let me know.’
“I reached out to him, and I just was like, ‘Listen…’ I can’t touch Jonathan’s legacy. He’s been so good. I can just pay respects, and that’s what I said to him. I was like, ‘You’ve been so good with this role, I’m not trying to be you or change what you did. I just want to pay respect to what you’ve done’ … He’s been integral to the franchise and to the game.”
David Genat describes his hosting style as “non-interventionist”.Steven Siewert
And he was OK, when you had a chat to him?
“Yeah,” he says. “You understand that’s the business. Actors get replaced. Like, it hasn’t been the same Batman for 20 years, that’s kind of what happens in these jobs. I know it’s sad, and people go, ‘Oh, you know, Christian Bale is the best Batman’ – he actually is, Michael Keaton was pretty soft – but it’s just the evolution of our work.”
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That evolution is something Genat knows well. He’s been around the TV business since he was about 20, when he appeared on season three of Search for a Supermodel after he was dared by a mate in Perth to do a Zoolander impression.
“We only had Big Brother back then,” he says. “Search for a Supermodel was one of the only other [reality shows]. I did it as a joke … and the rest was history. I just went down to [the auditions] to make him laugh, and evidently turned it into a career, which is somewhat ironic.
“My whole career has been a little bit like that. I didn’t go back to reality for a long time because I think , at the time, reality TV was a bit dirty. It wasn’t like it is now, where it’s a staple of the industry supporting so much scripted stuff. Back then, they were like, ‘Reality, yuck’, it wasn’t really taken that serious. Talk-show hosts didn’t want to have us on as guests, we got a bit pooh-pooh-ed, so I stayed away from it for a long time.”
When he did get back to it, though – after 20 years of living and working in New York and overseas as a high-profile model – it was in a big way. He has appeared in three seasons of Australian Survivor – winning All Stars in 2020 – as well as appearing on Celebrity Apprentice Australia. Last year, he made history on the US series Deal orNo Deal Island, when he won a record-breaking $US5.8 million ($9.2 million).
David Genat in episode one of Australian Survivor: Redemption.
Some of the cast of Australian Survivor: Redemption, including Lottie (second from right), who appeared on the ABC’s Portrait Artist of the Year, and (far left) Hannah Reilly, who also appeared on the ABC with her sister Hannah in the show Growing Up Gracefully.
His first two stints on Survivor were legendary among fans, where he became known for his daring gameplay and slightly mad personality (he was voted out first in last year’s Australia v the World season). During his first season, Champion v Contenders II in 2019, he lost 12 kilograms, which isn’t bad considering he put on 14 kilograms before he entered the show.
“I’m coming from a modelling career where I’ve never had an unrestricted diet,” he says. “I was shovelling food in my face for like, six weeks, and then lost 16 [kilograms in total]. The weight loss swings were insane.”
But how does Genat manage the psychological side of the game? Sure, it’s a contest largely built on deceit, but he’s also a father of four, with kids watching him lie to people’s faces.
“You just have to remind yourself you’re in a game the whole time,” he says. “In the morning, I would do a big meditation. I would just remind myself about family and trust no one. And then I do a little checklist of all the backstories and lies I’d been telling in the morning. And I’d be like, ‘All right, remember to check it with this and that and that.’
“But you have to play it like it’s a game because there’s only one person that’s gonna win that money. And you meet 24 people, you bond so fast with them, and there is that feeling of like, ‘Oh, we’re actually friends’, but at the end of the day, you’re not. You’re playing for people back home … You just have to remember [these other people] are gonna stab you in the back.”
David Genat, known as the Golden God, is the new host of Australian Survivor.
Now, that he’s in the host’s seat, Genat can take a bigger view of the game. In episode one, the only episode available to preview, he isn’t doing too much to rock the boat. His long hair is tied back, he’s wearing the show’s signature host uniform – shorts for challenges and a button-up for Tribal Council – and his voice goes deep for the opening voiceovers.
“That’s my serious look for the show,” he jokes about his hair. “I didn’t want to shock the kids too much, ‘Who is this guy?’”
He’s playful with the contestants, who are a mix of returning players – one of which, Harry, who Genat has played with twice on Survivor before – and newbies, including a pastor, an MMA fighter, a home-schooling mum of five and a painter who also appeared on the ABC’s Portrait Artist of the Year.
Genat handles them all with ease. He describes his hosting style as non-interventionist, and that he’s all about tough love.
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“I’ve been there and I’ve done it, and I like to keep people accountable for their actions and what they’re doing,” he says. “It’s a big deal if you’re gonna vote someone out. I don’t want fluff. I want to hear real reasons. I want to hear real gameplay. I want to see real strategy and I want that to be unpacked in a way that pays tribute to the person that’s about to be sacrificed for this fun.
“It’s pretty serious, because a lot of people want to be in that seat and I want to make sure that you were worthy to have sat [there] and to have played. I want people to feel like, ‘Yeah, sure, I got voted out – but, man, I went out in such a good way’.”
Making sure the contestant leaves with a bit of dignity is also a big part of Genat’s job. As host, it’s his responsibility to snuff the departing contestant’s torch and utter the iconic lines: “The tribe has spoken. It’s time to go.”
Sounds simple, right? Not so much.
“OK, so I’ll give you a little inside information on this,” he says. “The most intense thing to do the first time was to snuff the torch. I was like, ‘Do not mess this up.’ It’s such a big moment for that person walking up. So they walked up, I looked them in the eyes, and I was like, ‘The tribe has spoken’ and it didn’t go out. I had to do two more attempts … They’ll never show that in the edit.”
Australian Survivor: Redemption premieres at 7.30pm on Monday, February 23, on Ten.
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