Network Ten has been keeping us on a drip-feed of information about the upcoming Australian Survivor for months at this point, and overnight, they made a key announcement about the big-budget production, officially naming the host.
Survivor-wrangling duties will go to Aussie actor Jonathan Lapaglia, who has starred in TV series including Love Child, Underbelly and The Slap, and is the younger brother of actor Anthony Lapaglia.
Lapaglia is a surprising choice given that he’s never had a hosting gig before, and was picked over many other strongly-rumoured contenders, including Dr ‘Not That Chris Brown’ Chris Brown and the ever-rugged Jamie Durie.
Even he himself is a bit mystified as to how he landed the gig, telling the Daily Telegraph:
“I’m not sure why they singled me out. Out of the blue my agent called me and said, ‘How would you feel about hosting Survivor?’ They know I’m into outdoor pursuits and I guess they wanted someone who had some humanity for the contestants, but was also an authoritative figure. That’s how (the producers) put it to me. I think they must be talking about someone else though!”
The L.A.-based actor met up with long-time U.S. Survivor host Jeff Probst to pick his brain about how he’s survived 32 seasons of tribal councils and remote tropical island-based nonsense, and said:
“His job in that part of the show is to try and peel back layers and press buttons to try and expose people. Hopefully I’ll be attentive and perceptive and pick upon stuff that’s going on.”
More than 15,000 people have auditioned for the upcoming Aussie series, which begins filming later this year.
Source: Daily Telegraph.
Photo: Paul Archuleta / Getty.
