In a special edition of My Life in TV, we take a stroll down memory lane with the co-hosts of the new season of Celebrity Treasure Island.
When Celebrity Treasure Island returns next month, a familiar face will stand beside Bree Tomasel on the golden sands of Te Whanganui-o-Hei in the Coromandel. With last year’s co-host Jaden “Let’s Get It” Daniels committed to an acting job, one of CTI’s best players is returning to the show – but not as one of the 18 celebrities raising money for their favourite charity. This season, Lance Savali is leaving the huts and rice behind to be a CTI co-host.
Having already competed twice on CTI – first in 2021, when he was runner-up to comedian Chris Parker, and then in Fans v Faves in 2023 – Savali knows this wacky game better than anyone else. How excited is he to return to the show, but in a completely different role? “I’m like an excited 12-year-old girl who’s favourite act has come to New Zealand and who’s mum has bought them VIP tickets to a meet and greet and also a T-shirt,” the dancer and TV personality told The Spinoff from the Coromandel, just days before filming for season six commenced.
Savali became a fan-favourite for his clever strategising and cheeky rule-breaking, but he’s not worried about making the step up from castaway to host. “As a contestant, you go into the game knowing the unknown,” he said. “It’s the same for me now. I don’t know what to expect, but I know what I can do.” It helps that he’ll be standing beside the experienced Tomasel, who returns for her sixth season as co-host. Together they make a lively duo, and the energetic TV and radio presenter assures Savali that she’ll have his back, no matter what.
As Tomasel and Savali prepared to launch into another sizzling season of CTI drama, we sat down with the pair and quizzed them about their lives in television. “No one watches more TV than me. I’m obsessed. I just love it,” Tomasel revealed, as they looked back on a haunting full moon, lingering CTI regrets and a secret yearning to find love on the telly.
My earliest TV memory is…
Bree Tomasel: Playschool. Big Ted, Jemima, Humpty, the whole gang. It’s a classic. I also remember watching episode one, season one of Survivor as a whole family, all of us sitting around in the lounge room. It was like a religion in our house every week. It’s one of my core memories of my family, watching Survivor together.
Lance Savali: Rugrats, The Simpsons, typical little kids stuff.
My earliest TV crush was…
BT: Anna Kournikova. My Nan and Pa had a VCR that could record TV, and I used to call them up when she was playing tennis and say, “Nan, can you record this game? My favourite player’s on.” I didn’t realise why she was my favourite player at the time, but it all made sense as I got older.
LS: Mine would have to be Jessica Alba in the movie Honey. She was a dancer.
The CTI moment that haunts me the most is…
BT: If I could go back, I don’t know if I would moon the contestants on national television. Technically I was mooning Matt Chisholm, but I mooned Dame Susan. She was so close to me. She would have got full gooch.
LS: Probably when I didn’t dig up the treasure. I find myself in the shower saying “what if” every now and then. Even though I am so happy for Chris, I’d also be lying if I didn’t say there wasn’t a “what if”. It’s better now. Now it’s pretty sweet.
My favourite TV moment from my own career is…
BT: I pinch myself every season when they ask me back. I’m like, “are you sure? Did you watch last season?” My favourite are the raw moments where you have that interaction with someone and you can’t recreate it. When these contestants have been here for 20-something days, and they’re tired and exhausted and this real emotion comes out – I live for those moments.
LS: Dancing at the Super Bowl with JLo. I’d never been to a football game before, and I got to lift JLo up by the bottom.
My TV guilty pleasure is…
BT: Probably Married at First Sight: Australia. So good. “Put a muzzle on it”. I mean, you can’t write that.
LS: Reality love shows, like Love Island. Have you watched Love on the Spectrum? Oh my god, that shit is awesome. I love a good reality love show, eh. I just love seeing the drama.
The TV show I wish I’d been involved with is…
BT: Hands down, I would love to be on Taskmaster. I’m obsessed with that show. I love that you can be as weird as your brain will let you be. I feel like I have the weirdest brain, and I’d love to put it to the test. It would be fun to just see what happens.
LS: Last night I said if The Bachelor NZ did come and ask me, I would do it. Jesus. That’s how desperate I am. Just find love, you know.
My favourite CTI moment is…
BT: Last season, we had a helicopter ride that went vertical up this mountain to take us to the end of the treasure hunt. I hated every second, but I also loved it. I was like, ”this is how I’m going to die”. I could see the headlines. I was gripping the producer’s arm so hard that she had a bruise. When I got to the top of this mountain in Wānaka, it was one of those moments where I was like, “I can’t believe I get to do this”.
LS: Watching Chris Parker dig up the treasure, and my growth connection with Dame Susan Devoy. That taught me a lot. She messages me and always asks me when I’m going to the Mount.
The TV show I’ll never watch is, no matter how many people tell me to is…
BT: The Big Bang Theory. Hell, no. I’m not smart enough to understand the jokes. The show’s real dry for me, I just don’t know what’s going on.
LS: Neighbours. They do have a good theme song though.
The last thing I watched on TV was…
BT: Friends. It’s my current emotional support show. It’s familiar. You put it on, maybe not necessarily watching it, but you’re doing other things and it’s there, feels comfy, supports you.
LS: I don’t really watch TV. Maybe… Celebrity Treasure Island?
Celebrity Treasure Island comes to TVNZ2 and TVNZ+ next month. The 2024 celebrity cast will be announced on Sunday August 25.