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Pukekohe local and rugby great Frank Bunce can reveal the winner of this season’s Celebrity Treasure Island.
“You probably will [be surprised] about who wins,” he says. “You could say the winner is more a dark horse than a favourite… but it might be the other way around.”
Seeing as the popular reality TV show was filmed in advance, of course he could name the winner, but he’s not going to.
Careful not to give the game away, Bunce wouldn’t confirm nor deny that audiences can expect plenty of fireworks or controversy during the coming weeks.
“But there’s a lot of fun, especially during the charity challenges, as well as drama and emotion,” he says. “When you’re with the same group of people for so long, you become really connected to them, so it is hard when people leave the show.”
Bunce was still on the show at the time our latest issue went to print, but anything can (or could have) happened since.
This is not his first rodeo – the former All Black was part of the first group to be ‘stranded’ on Celebrity Treasure Island in 2001.
“It was a bit more relaxed back then and a little easier – mind you I was more than 20 years younger!” he laughs. “But I’ve never shied away from challenges, especially physical ones, and although the body might let you down a bit as you get older, so long as the mind is still on to it, you’re good.”
Playing for charities provides added incentive.
“There’s so many deserving charities and I wanted to pick everyone,” Bunce says. “But Mai Lighthouse was [an obvious choice] because they’re local and they cover a whole lot of bases helping families in our community.”
Based in Pukekohe, Mai Lighthouse assists families with social work, counselling, parenting, budgeting and more.
While working to raise money for Mai Lighthouse, Bunce found that some challenges on the show tested both mind and body.
“The ones where you have to hang on longest, that type of thing, they’re really tough. With those, it’s not just about how strong your grip is, it’s also about mindset.”
A knack for strategy, gamesmanship, teamwork and mental agility – or sheer bloody mindedness – are assets in both professional sport and reality TV. Bunce says these abilities, and more than just a little cunning, certainly came in handy.
“I didn’t have an overall strategy necessarily, I just tried to keep my mouth shut, watch and learn about people’s strengths and weaknesses,” he adds.
“You need to work with your team, but also to figure out how to mess with the other team’s morale and putting doubt in their minds.”
Asked how successful he was in achieving this, Bunce replies simply:
“You’ll see!”
No doubt, we will see as Celebrity Treasure Island continues on Mondays to Wednesdays from 7.30pm, TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
