"I wish I had done more prep!"
While this upcoming season of Celebrity Treasure Island might be set in the picturesque setting of Central Otago's Wanaka, former 'Squirt' star and TV host Matt Gibb knew he wasn't signing up for a holiday. In fact, he still doesn't know if it was the right decision to sign up.
Talking to Luka from More FM Nights, Matt explains that his motivation to join the reality TV show was for the challenge and his charity.
"I wanted to push myself and see how I'd go on a show like this. And also a big part of it was that charity prize. My chosen charity was the Cancer Society of New Zealand, and to be able to compete and win money for them was a huge motivating factor."
Matt has a personal connection to the Cancer Society, after his dad passed away from cancer a few years ago.
"We went through the ringer of what a cancer diagnosis does to a family. And I've got friends going through that right now. No one escapes cancer anywhere in the world. It affects everyone."
He explains that a charity like the Cancer Society goes beyond supporting families and that $100,000 could really make a difference.
"They've got programs where they can get counselling for kids who have a parent going through cancer. Plus the research they do into finding cures and finding help for people going through cancer is amazing."
But with all that in mind, Matt doesn't think he got as much help as he should have before getting onto Celebrity Treasure Island, which has seen our own More FM hosts Lana Searle and Joe Cotton pushed to their physical limits, and forced to eat a lot of rice and beans.
"I wish I'd gone to the gym for a start," he shares. "I didn't have a gym membership. That was a huge, huge mistake. I hadn't been swimming for a long time either. There was a massive mistake. But I did reach out to one person and I probably made a massive mistake in reaching out to him."
That massive mistake? Comedian Guy Montgomery who competed in 2022's Celebrity Treasure Island set in the Far North.
"He was first off. He was the first one out in his season. So he didn't really have many words of advice for me."
"The main thing he did tell me was to try to sneak in some salt, some like little condiments, maybe a little bit of sauce if you can, because it is literally rice and beans. That's the entire diet that you're on. So any little bit of flavour, a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper can make a massive difference to your meals," Matt shares.
And while it was solid advice from the former CTI competitor, it was all Guy could give.
"Everything else, he kinda was like, 'I don't know, I lasted one day!"
