An Aussie reality TV star has just made television history with a staggering win.
David Genat is best known from Survivor. He appeared on Survivor Australia: Champions vs. Contenders in 2018, then returned in 2020 to win Survivor Australia: All Stars.
The Aussie model also been on Nine’s Celebrity Apprentice, Rush and Getaway.
Now, five years after his last reality show win, he’s done it again on an even bigger scale.
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Genat has just walked away with a staggering $US5.8million (approx. $AU9.2 million) cash prize win on season two of the American game show, Deal or No Deal Island.
He previously won $500,000 on Survivor in 2020.
The recent win not only made Genat a multimillionare on the spot, but is the largest cash prize a contestant has walked away with in reality TV history.
“CONGRATULATIONS to David “The Golden God” Genat, on his historic DEAL OR NO DEAL ISLAND,” host Joe Manganiello shouted out Genat’s win on Instagram.
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Speaking to US Weekly after his historic win, Genat shared how he felt connected on the gameshow to his late father, who passed in 2022.
“I was being held before the big final case game and I [was] really meditating and getting in the zone,” he recalled to the outlet.
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“I’m praying. I was talking to my dad, who passed a few years ago, and I was like, ‘Dad, if this is gonna go well, just give me a sign.
“I look up and there was a tree canopy, there was no open sky.”
He then convinced a staff member on the show to take him to the tree canopy where he saw a shooting star in the sky.
“…I was like, ‘Oh, there he is.'”
Speaking to People, Genat revealed he settled on case number 18 as it is not only the date his dad died, but the date three of his four children were born.
He told the outlet: “18 has been this big number for me that’s kept popping up.”
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Genat started out on TV when he entered and won Search for a Supermodel in 2002.
After getting into modelling, Genat returned to the runway following a decade-long hiatus in 2021 for the Camilla show at Australian Fashion Week.
“I had a long fashion career doing a lot of runway shows, but I probably hadn’t done one in about 10 years because I was a bit past my use-by date,” he told 9Honey.
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