After a smaller viewership tuned into Australian Survivor this year, fans have been worried that the reality TV show won’t be returning to Aussie screens.
This year, ratings for the first episode of Australian Survivor dropped significantly, with Episode 1 pulling 464,000 overnight viewers, compared to last year’s 527,000.
But while lower ratings can sometimes spell cancellation, David Genat has confirmed to Woman’s Day that Australian Survivor will be continuing full steam ahead.
In fact, casting for the next season of the show is already underway, according to the publication. “I’ll be back,” David assured the publication. “I’ve signed for a few seasons.”
David Genat urges Australian Survivor fans to “be nice”
After a whole lot of commotion around the new season, David slid into a Reddit thread, encouraging fans to give the show a shot.
Stepping in as host of Australian Survivor after a decade of the beloved Jonathan LaPaglia (JLP) at the helm, David called for calm. “I left a little message in there asking people to please be nice… just for our contestants, because they’re all first-timers and it’s such an intense experience,” David told Woman’s Day.
“I remember that too from my first time — and I was a full-fledged villain the first time I played — and I think sometimes the fans can forget it’s a show and these are people,” he added.
David also defended himself against accusations that his hosting isn’t up to par. While he told the publication he doesn’t read comments about himself, he’s confident he’s becoming a great host.
“I found my rhythm around the third or fourth Tribal. I think I settled on where I wanted it to be,” he said. Now I’ve got a season under my belt and I’ll keep getting better and I think you’ll see that through the season I settle into the role. I try to be as good as I can.”
David says he wants to play homage to JLP
David admits that it’s been difficult to fill JLP’s shoes. “He’s a beloved host, and he was really good,” he said. “But Jonathan also had a lot of time to settle into the role. He had 10 seasons to get where he is.”
“I really had to step up and do my best from the start, and I’m really proud of what we did. I think we got it there. I know it’s not Jonathan, and it’s going to take people a little bit of time to get used to [me]… we also wanted to pay homage to Jonathan and just build on that foundation that he had.”
Australian Survivor airs Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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