In huge news for Australian Survivor fans, longtime host Jonathan ‘JLP’ LaPaglia has finally addressed speculation that he could be returning to the reality show.
The OG presenter and ultimate Aussie heartthrob was unceremoniously booted from his role in June 2025 after eleven seasons of torch-snuffing, cheeky one-liners and challenge banter, with former winner David Genat taking over as host for season 12.
While the move was supposedly a cost-saving exercise and an attempt to boost viewership, the recent season saw a strong dip in viewers compared to JLP’s last stint on Survivor: Australia V The World. Australian Survivor has since been renewed for 2027, with a star-studded cast announced just last week, but that hasn’t stopped rumours swirling that the series is on the chopping block at Channel 10.
A source told New Idea that production company Endemol Shine Australia has been pitching the show to other networks, with Channel Nine particularly keen on bringing back JLP as host.
“Nine loves the format, but they’re clear on one thing, JLP is part of its DNA. If the show moves, they want him front and centre again,” the insider spilled.
Jonathan LaPaglia responds to rumours he’s returning to Australian Survivor
JLP has now responded to the rumours while promoting the upcoming BINGE reality show Apocalypse, telling PEDESTRIAN.TV that he’s definitely still keen on hosting the series.
“I think I would revisit it for sure. If another network took on the show and they wanted me to come back, I would totally be open to that,” he said.
“I don’t feel like I completed what I wanted to do on the show, and I don’t think [I’ll] ever feel that way. It’s one of those gigs where you don’t ever feel like you’re completely on top of it, and so to have it end before I felt like I’d mastered it, there’s something else there that needs to be filled. So if it came up again, yeah, I would do it for sure.”
The California-based Aussie also admitted that he didn’t watch the recent season of the show — “weirdly, they don’t send me the episodes anymore” — and he believes it was a “mistake” to replace him as viewers saw him as “a voice that they could trust”.
“It took 10 years to earn that trust from people, and then to suddenly rip that away from the audience, I think it was very unsettling for the audience, for sure,” he remarked.
JLP’s new gig hosting Apocalypse
12 months on from when his last episode of Australian Survivor aired on TV, JLP has now landed a new gig as the narrator on BINGE’s reality show Apocalypse. The series, produced by the team behind Alone Australia, is a social experiment that follows a group of everyday people dropped into an abandoned city with no power, food, water or rules for 28 days.
Unlike Australian Survivor, JLP was brought onto the show after it had been filmed, which he said made it a much more “relaxing” process than shooting in tropical Samoa.
“Survivor is 20 cameras in your face, and there’s no auto cue or anything, so you’ve got to memorise everything, and it’s reams and reams of material that I need to memorise every day. So it’s just a constant grind,” he shared.
“This thing I turn up and it was an air-conditioned AVR booth, and they gave me nice cold waters, and it was very easy and relaxed. My role solely was just the narration, but it was a fun gig.”
Apocalypse premieres Wednesday, September 16 on BINGE and Foxtel On Demand, with episodes dropping weekly.
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