David Genat has said he was surprised Jonathan LaPaglia felt blindsided by his Survivor axing, after he replaced the long-running host ahead of the new season.
ICYMI, LaPaglia — who fronted the Australian version of the competition show since 2016 — announced his departure last June, with Genat set to take the reins for the 2026 instalment.
Now, Genat — who appeared on three seasons of Survivor and won the 2020 season — has weighed in on LaPaglia’s reaction to him succeeding the role, saying in an interview with Stellar that they weren’t close friends at the time of host shake-up.
“I wouldn’t say that Jonathan and I were friends. I didn’t know him that well but we were friendly. Cordial,” Genat said.
The new host went on to reveal that he “reached out” to LaPaglia when the news first broke.
“I reached out when everything was happening just to say, ‘Listen, dude, it obviously has nothing to do with me, but I just wanted to tell you, I think you’ve been an amazing host. What you’ve done for this franchise, no one can replicate that. I’m just going to try to do my best to pay homage to what you’ve done’,” Genat revealed.
Digging even deeper, Genat said he was surprised LaPaglia was shocked by his Survivor ousting — a sentiment he mentioned multiple times after the firing — because there’d been screen tests and auditions for a host at least five years before the role was offered.
“If he didn’t know the change was around the corner, then I don’t know what to say. That’s how these things go, if they’re looking to change things, or people aren’t getting along,” Genat said.
As for whether the pair will share any hosting tips, Genat isn’t holding his breath. “If someone had taken my place, I wouldn’t be super stoked with them, either,” he said.
Genat’s comments come after some rumoured tensions on LaPaglia’s side, with the host describing the firing as a “blindside” and saying it was “disappointing”, before he was caught ‘liking’ some shady Instagram comments about Genat.
LaPaglia did wish Genat luck when the replacement host was officially announced, but we’ll have to wait and see how the host shake-up plays out when he debuts in the new season of Survivor, slated for February 23.
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