DAVID GENAT Surviving my toughest time

HE’S THRIVED DURING TWO REALITY TV STINTS BUT A FAMILY EMERGENCY ALMOST ENDED HIS THIRD

- Melissa Field

After he found reality TV fame on Australian Survivor: Champions vs Contenders in 2019, model David Genat has gone on to firmly establish himself as an Australian TV favourite. He backed up his stint on Australian Survivor by appearing on – and wining – 2020’s All Stars version of the series and he’s currently starring on Nine Network's Celebrity Apprentice Australia.

But the 41-year-old almost had to leave the show before he’d completed more than a handful of challenges when his wife Pearl – with whom he shares daughter Rei (the couple also have three other children between them) – was rushed to a Perth hospital and admitted while he was filming across the country in Sydney.

“That was so tough,” he tells WHO. “I was so stressed. She had a collapsed lung due to lupus complications and she really wasn’t very well at all.”

With a personal drama going on, what made you continue to do the show?