Michael Galvin<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Frank]()
Frank Bunce ticks the retired rugby player box for 2026. Photo \/ TVNZ, Matt Klitscher<\/p>\n
No meet-cute<\/p>\n
You might believe teammates happen upon each other for the first time on day one of filming, decked out in colour\u2011coordinated gear while gushing to the camera about how they can\u2019t believe they\u2019re teamed with their childhood hero. In reality, they can believe it \u2013 they\u2019ve just spent the past two days together, and already planned who to deceive first while trading itchy-bite remedies.<\/p>\n
While rival teams never meet beforehand (and their identities are genuinely kept secret), teammates usually stay in the same hotel, eat dinners, shoot promo content, do media interviews with the Herald and stick to tightly managed schedules together.<\/p>\n
So while there\u2019s no magical meet\u2011cute on the beach, before the cameras roll, Frank Bunce might be tossing around a rugby ball, Suzanne Paul could start a singalong, or T\u0101me Iti might nap on a rock beside you, which is far more magic.<\/p>\n
![\"Peter]()
Peter “Gunner” Ashford. Photo \/ TVNZ<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a man named Gunner in the shed<\/p>\n
Despite the bevvy of on\u2011screen talent, the people behind the cameras are the glue that holds CTI together.<\/p>\n
A team of more than 80 handle everything from casting and talent negotiations to publicity, set and challenge builds, medical care, sound, camera operations, location management and directing.<\/p>\n
Executive director Craig Burton, aka Burto, started on the show as a soundy. He\u2019s the production team\u2019s fearless leader and is meticulous about every shot being right, but never over\u2011polished. Burto is hellbent on keeping the reality in reality TV, and rocks a utility vest with the very best of them. <\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the soul of the show: Location manager Peter Ashford, known to cast and crew as Gunner. Each season, he stays on site, and a single radio call to him can solve almost anything. <\/p>\n
At night, his digs range from a tent to a rusty shed tucked in the corner of a bogged paddock. Nothing fazes him. Gunner would be my first-round pick for a pal to survive the apocalypse with. <\/p>\n
![\"Louis]()
Louis Davis, Liv Parker and Harrison Keefe were three out of seven of the salt smugglers. Photo \/ Jenni Mortimer<\/p>\n
Contraband is contra-bad<\/p>\n
Every season you hear the cast complaining about eating rice and beans and nothing else \u2013 so is that really it, or do they secretly have a bag of One Square Meals stashed in their rucksacks?<\/p>\n
Turns out, the show takes contraband seriously. Like, really seriously. Anything that adds flavour or protein to those rice and beans is confiscated.<\/p>\n
This year, with permission, I tested the celebs. Given the show had not yet started and they were still in hotels, with access to salt, coffee, sugar and more, I wanted to know how they might play the game they weren\u2019t yet in.<\/p>\n
With a warning that what I was offering was definitely contraband and would definitely be taken off them if they did try and take it into camp, I asked a simple question: Would you accept a tiny salt sachet I sourced from the show\u2019s sponsor, McDonald\u2019s?<\/p>\n
You\u2019d think the crew might applaud my flawless brand integration and my efforts to test contestants\u2019 morality, but after a rigorous bag search by production, the salt was seized from anyone who confessed or was caught with it.<\/p>\n
The results? Seven out of the 17 contestants I offered it to had wanted to take a little something salty with them, if they could: Ria Vandervis, Sammi Poole, Harrison Keefe, Louis Davis, Liv Parker, Georgia Lines, Te Ao o Hinepehinga. <\/p>\n
What nobody noticed was that while attention was fixed on my few grains of salt, contraband was being buried, shoes were destroyed and rebuilt to hide items in the soles, and one contestant even told me they planned to stash a vape somewhere truly unthinkable. <\/p>\n
![\"Filming]()
Filming is paused so teams can have challenges explained to them prior to action being called. Photo \/ Jenni Mortimer<\/p>\n
Challenge the challenges <\/p>\n
Each season, I\u2019m invited to watch the first challenges (after signing a non-disclosure agreement that lasts until the show starts and emptying my pockets of salt).<\/p>\n
And what viewers don\u2019t see is what happens before the teams go at it. <\/p>\n
Once the tricky challenge is announced, contestants are given time to ask questions and make sure they fully understand the rules. Only when everyone is confident do they call action.<\/p>\n
So when your fave celeb mucks it up, it\u2019s not because they didn\u2019t understand the rules; they might just be suffering from salt withdrawals. <\/p>\n
Wardrobe woes<\/p>\n
Minus the promo shoots, celebs pack their entire wardrobe themselves \u2013 there\u2019s no team styling those often\u2011iconic looks.<\/p>\n
Once cast, you\u2019re assigned a team colour and sent to raid your local Cotton On for everything available in that hideous hue. Pack badly \u2013 say, two pairs of jeans and no PJs for a 21\u2011day outdoor adventure \u2013 and that\u2019s on you. No one\u2019s couriering you a pair of trackies.<\/p>\n
Get swapped to the other team? You\u2019re not just furious, you\u2019re also borrowing their week-old, filthy graphic tee.<\/p>\n
By merge, you\u2019ve got a wardrobe of clashing colours and a ragtag group of badly dressed misfits, wildly unfit for adventure. It\u2019s a thing of beauty, every single season. <\/p>\n
Celebrity Treasure Island premieres on Monday, April 27 at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2 & TVNZ+<\/p>\n
Jenni Mortimer<\/a> is the NZ Herald\u2019s chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Casting chaos All contestants are issued lengthy contracts before entering Celebrity Treasure Island, but that\u2019s about the only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37634,3623,71,2944,2514,10543,111,43,139,178833,69,10112,6045,13843,1551,418,21707,58228,80],"class_list":["post-395990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-behindthescenes","tag-celebrity","tag-from","tag-inside","tag-island","tag-match","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-notoriety","tag-nz","tag-power","tag-reality","tag-secrets","tag-set","tag-shows","tag-staying","tag-treasure","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}