He’s just played hard and won the prize of a lifetime on Deal or No Deal Island, but beyond his boisterous reality TV façade, David Genat is very much a family man.
Before he won $5.8 million USD, which converts to more than $9.2 million on the show, his life looked very different.
Scroll to learn more about his wife and three kids.
Bringing his family together
Originally from Perth, David took a leap of faith and packed his bags for the USA in 2003 for his modelling career. With this change, he left his two sons, Winston and Hugo, from his previous marriage in Australia.
The reality star then met his now-wife Pearl Christensen, who is a movement coach and personal trainer. Together, they welcomed their daughter Rei.
Following his win and second time stint on Australian Survivor in 2020, David ended his 17-year-long residency in New York, moved with his wife and daughter back to Australia.
Speaking to Mamamia after the win, he said he was ready to bring everyone together.
“Having the kids growing up in different cities has been pretty heartbreaking for us. We’d talked about it for a long time, but being financially stable now gave us the ability to do it,” he said.
It is not the first time he has spoken about having his children apart and on opposite sides of the globe.
“Two of my boys have been growing up in Perth and they can’t quite get the same relationship through Skype as they would in person,” he said to TV Week after the finale.
“It’s pretty expensive to fly a family of four here and have a place to stay. “We were intent on making the move back, and Survivor has given me the ability to do that.”
At the time, he also said that the family would be based in Perth “for a few years” and the $500,000 prize would be dedicated to his family.
“We’re going to use it for the kids’ education, my daughter is dyslexic, so there will be a lot going into there, and my wife has some health complications with an autoimmune problem with Lupus,” he told the publication.
“But we’re going to have some fun too, as soon as this coronavirus goes away, we’ll take a holiday and I’ll definitely be buying a motorcycle or two.”
As for what he plans to do with the millions he won on Deal or No Deal Island in the USA? Some will be for some splurges, but it will also be invested and dedicated to his wife and children.
“I’ve got kids who are about to get their driver’s license, so I probably have to get a fleet of vehicles,” he told The Daily Telegraph at the time.
A proud father of three children
While the former Celebrity Apprentice contestant is private about his children, during his first time on Survivor in 2019, he said he loved them “to bits”.
“I try to think of everything I do as a way to help them,” he said on the show. “Just to have unbridled love right in front of your face and just remembering what that’s about and why you’re out here, it’s just such a good recharge.
He has also spoken about his hopes for his daughter with the dominance of social media. “We want her to be accepted for who she is, no matter how she pans out,” he told our sister publication WHO for its 2020 Most Beautiful People issue.
“We want her to be herself and not feel the weight of conventional beauty standards. And look, I’m coming from the modeling business, I’ve been judged on the way I look for 20 years, but … I think people are really craving for realness. I try to steer away from using any filters on social media so I can come across as real as possible.”
He is also a stepfather to Pearl’s eldest daughter from a previous relationship.
A special love story
From what we can see on social media, David and Pearl’s relationship goes back to 2013. That year, Pearl shared a sweet post with her husband.
The couple also keeps their love lives under wraps, but here and there, Pearl has shared her pride in her husband.
At the grand finale, she captioned a photo: “So proud of this incredible human. He is always up for a challenge, digs into learning new things, tolerates immense stress with grace, doesn’t ever give up, and somehow makes almost everything fun. So happy to be in Australia with him.”
