Chaos on the set of Australian Survivor as problems plague production, leaving presenter Jonathan LaPaglia out of action for weeks
Jonathan LaPaglia has returned to host Season 8 of the Channel 10 reality show Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains.
The series, which premieres at 7.30pm on Monday 30 January, has this time proved to be a grueling experience for the presenter, reports The Daily Telegraph.
With filming taking place on location in Samoa rather than the Australian outback, food poisoning and Covid-19 has affected production – not to mention the challenges brought on by the elements.
The new season of Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains proved a grueling experience for host Jonathan LaPaglia (pictured).
The 53-year-old actor has not contracted any foodborne illnesses but had bigger concerns.
He tested positive for Covid on the last day of shooting, after a lengthy shoot that left 80 crew members unwell at some point.
“I’ve heard a lot of anecdotes, you know, people saying it’s nothing but a little cold and it’s done and dusted,” he said.
Australian Survivor premieres Monday January 30th at 7:30pm.
But that wasn’t the case for LaPaglia, who was out of action for six weeks before fully recovering.
Elsewhere in the interview, LaPaglia admitted that the show’s budget didn’t match that of the American version of Survivor.
“We don’t have a lot of redundancy when it comes to crew,” he said.
With filming taking place on location in Samoa rather than Australia, food poisoning and Covid-19 have impacted the production – not to mention the challenges brought on by the elements
Under the new motto “Heroes vs. Villains”, former participants meet new ones this year, while “good” competes against “evil”.
LaPaglia believes all returning contestants took a huge risk given the fast pace of the competition.
Some of the high profile names attending are actress Sharni Vinson, former Miss World Australia Sarah Marschke and author Benjamin Law.