NEED TO KNOW
- Australian Survivor host David Genat has confirmed where he stands with Jonathan LaPaglia.
- Jonathan was famously axed from hosting the show after 10 years in June 2-05, claiming he was “blindsided” about the announcement.
- David, who has competed on the show three times, was rumoured as his replacement, which was confirmed months later.
With the start of Australia 2026: Redemption less than a week away, new host David Genat has lifted the lid on where he stands with Jonathan LaPaglia.
The former Survivor contestant’s announcement as the new host was met with mixed reviews last year, especially when Jonathan claimed he was “blindsided” by his axing.
When speaking with Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little on their Carrie & Tommy show, the model addressed their friendship directly.
Are David Genat and Jonathan LaPaglia friends?
“I wouldn’t say we’re friends,” he said when asked, but did say that he reached out to him. “But it’s fine. Of course, you’re upset when you lose a job, but I’ve lost so many jobs and been upset. It was not my fault, so what can he say?”
While he acknowledged that the former Australian Survivor host did respond to his message, he did not share further details. When he spoke to our sister publication TV Week, he revealed that he didn’t give him any advice about hosting the show.
This isn’t the first time that David has shared more about their dynamics, telling the Sydney Morning Herald that they’re “colleagues”.
Revealing that he initially auditioned for the role in 2020 and then in 2023, he said he wanted to reach out to him once the news was shared publicly.
“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.”
However, he doesn’t think replacing Jonathan was a “blindside”.
“Calls were made. It wasn’t, like, an email thing …” he explained.
“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.”
What has Jonathan LaPaglia said about his Australian Survivor axing?
However, Jonathan, who hosted the show for 10 years, told Stellar that he did not see it coming.
“The speculation online was that I received an email. But no, it was a call to my manager in Australia,” he explained.
“I didn’t get a direct call, which, I’ll be honest with you, was disappointing.”
Despite these feelings, he did publicly endorse his replacement.
“Damn DAVID! If I’d known, I could have just handed you the snuffer like an Olympic relay. Oh well. Good luck out there, brother. Stay Gold Ponyboy!” he wrote on Instagram.
“Ps, who knew my sign-off line for you was actually a message for me?”, which was in reference to the clip he posted about it with a moment from the show.
In the video, he snuffed out David’s torch when he was eliminated from Survivor: Australia V The World.
“Well, this tribe might be full of relationships, but shack up with the wrong people, you might just find yourself dumped.”
While he then replied to David’s comment, wishing him the best, the former host was also caught liking negative comments about the hosting change, as per Pedestrian TV.
At the time, the outlet reported that he liked a comment that read, “If it’s David, I’ll stop following him.”
Another included reference to David’s $9.2 million Deal or No Deal win in the US, complaining that he “did not need the money.”had enough money and doesn’t need the gig”.
