There’s good fortune. And then there’s whatever it is that’s been raining down on WA-born model-turned-reality-TV-winner-turned-Survivor host, David Genat.
To say he’s had a charmed run of luck would be an understatement: in 2020 he famously won Australian Survivor: All Stars, picking up a cool half a million dollars, earning a place in Survivor history and the nickname The Golden God.
Hard to top, right? For most.
But in March last year, Genat competed in — and won — the US game show Deal Or No Deal Island, picking up a whopping $US5.8 million ($9m), the largest cash prize in US network television history.
Yes, his head was spinning too.
“It’s changed my life — 100 per cent,” says Genat, who is speaking with STM during his recent trip back to his home town of Perth, where he’s been staying for several weeks over summer with wife Pearl and their four kids.
“No financial stress! I mean, who gets that?” he says.
“Nobody! Especially not someone who is working in (the world of) entertainment.
“When you win money in a game show-type circumstance, it doesn’t really feel real until you look at your bank account, so both those experiences of winning large sums of money, it wasn’t real until I looked at that first bank statement.
“For Deal or No Deal, I got a call from the bank manager — which is when you know you’ve hit it big — and was like, ‘Wow! What is my life?’.”
What, indeed?
The Golden God’s luck actually stretches way back to 2002, when he famously got his big break via an open casting call for the reality TV series Search For A Supermodel. At the time he was living in Perth, and went along to Challenge Stadium, where auditions were being held, on a dare by a friend.
“Thousands of people showed up — I was just there doing my best Zoolander impression,” he laughs.
But it worked a charm. He was picked for the show and ended up walking away victorious, scoring a contract with exclusive Ford Models in New York, kickstarting a successful international modelling career.
Runway shows followed, and magazine covers — including three for STM — and pretty soon he was in hot demand.
While based in New York, Genat plugged away in front of the camera, booking modelling gigs while also studying acting at the T. Schreiber Studio. It was slow going, but in 2019 everything changed when, on the urging of his friends and manager, he successfully applied to compete in the Champions v Contenders series of Australian Survivor.
He didn’t win, but the rest is history.
Fast forward, and Genat, who now splits his time between WA and Texas, is now in something of a sweet spot. He’s got those millions in the bank, an international profile thanks to his reality TV stints, and last year he scored the biggest coup of his career to date when he was chosen to replace outgoing Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia.
Although he’d previously fronted Nine’s short-lived reality series Rush in 2023, this was new territory for Genat, and stepping in to replace the much-loved LaPaglia (or JLP as he’s known to Survivor fans) was always going to be bittersweet.
Sure, he had more than earned his stripes having competed three times and won the show once, but fans were always going to question whether he had what it took to host.
To make matters more muddied, JLP was sidelined by Ten in the shake-up and was beloved by fans — all of whom will be watching intently when the new season premieres on February 23 with Genat at the helm.
“JLP was very good — like, one of the best television hosts out there,” Genat says. “So I can see why people were upset. People don’t like change.
“And yeah, there’s been a little bit of a weird vibe around it.”
Genat knows he has big shoes to fill. But as he explains, all those years putting himself front and centre on reality TV shows, the years plugging away studying acting and going to audition after audition, of honing his craft as a presenter: it’s all led to this.
“I ended up going the contestant route (with my career), but this is what I was born to do,” he says emphatically.
“I have seen every angle of this game, and nobody gets that experience.
“I have won it, I have been booted early, I have been booted mid-way through, I have seen every iteration.
“Plus, some of my closest friends are, like, legends of American Survivor and Australian Survivor, so I know the ropes.
“I think I am more than qualified.”
Two of those good mates will be joining the cast this year, with previous Australian Survivor contestants WA-based Harry Hills (2019 and 2020) and Brooke Jowett (who competed twice and placed fourth behind Genat in the 2020 All Stars season) signing on for Australian Survivor: Redemption, which kicks off this week.
They join two other returning players, Simon Mee (2021 and 2023) and Mark Warnock (who finished third in 2024), and 18 new “civilians” for this latest series.
Genat admits it felt strange to see those familiar faces come striding in on the first day of filming, knowing he would be the one calling the shots this time.
“I got emotional the first time the players walked out, actually, mostly because Survivor has been such a big part of my life,” he admits.
Genat first auditioned to host Australian Survivor five years ago after he won All Stars.
“I have known that this is a potential role that I could fill, and I always thought, ‘I would love to get to do that one day’,” he explains.
“I have been working on getting myself (to this point) with my presenting skills, trying to put myself in the best position, so this is the culmination of this huge, life-changing experience I had as a contestant.
“Now it’s a goal I’ve reached professionally.”
He’s now presiding over this new crop of contestants, who will embark on one of the biggest challenges of their lives as they compete for the chance to walk away as Sole Survivor with the $500,000 prize.
Genat knows only too well how quickly things can change if Lady Luck decides to smile on you during your time in Samoa.
“I feel this stewardship over the show and the contestants,” he says.
“And on top of that, I have two of my friends walking out — I mean, I was at Harry’s wedding. The gravity of the situation is not lost on me at that moment.
“I am a big visualiser, so I run through things in my head of how I am going to say a line, or how I’m going to do stuff, but it felt so much bigger than what my brain could imagine, and I have a pretty active imagination.
“I got pretty emotional and I had to choke down some tears up there before I got the first line out, because it really was a big and really special moment for me.”
Genat hopes audiences can get onboard with the slightly discombobulating experience of seeing him step in as host for the first time.
He compares his casting to that of the Batman franchise: many have taken on the role of the Caped Crusader, and most have found their place, but there is always that initial hesitation of seeing a role you know and love being played by someone entirely new.
“It’s like the first time you hear Christian Bale doing it — it’s not George Clooney, it’s not Michael Keaton,” he says. “Then people come to love that person on their own terms.”
Having seen the first episode, we agree: it is strange seeing Genat take the reins for the first time, but it’s not long before he proves himself.
“The show, to be fair, is not made by the host,” Genat points out.
“This is one of those shows where the players and the game are what make a good season of Survivor, and I feel like this season we have got the best game and the best players.”