“Australian Survivor” champ David Genat reacts to seeing Parvati on “Deal or No Deal Island”

When Survivor fans here in North America talk about the franchise’s most iconic players ever, names like Parvati, Sandra, Boston Rob, and Tony are likely to be mentioned early and often. However, there is another titan from an international edition that deserves equal footing with those other legends of the game.

David Genat not only won the All-Stars edition of Australian Survivor, he did so in dominant fashion — emerging victorious in key immunity challenges, bending other player’s interests to his will, and possessing two immunity idols simultaneously. Now, David is bringing that special set of skills stateside, as the 44-year-old who splits his time between Australia and America will be competing on season 2 of Deal or No Deal Island, premiering Jan. 7 on NBC. And he will be competing against fellow reality TV powerhouses in Parvati Shallow and Dr. Will Kirby.

How does the new island-based game compare to his old one? Which other Australian Survivor players does he think would do well on DONDI? And what was the reality TV veteran’s reaction when he saw Parvati would be competing alongside him? We connected with the Golden God to ask all that and much more.

Related: Deal or No Deal Island season 2 cast includes Parvati Shallow and Dr. Will Kirby (exclusive)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, what was it like living on an island on a reality show, but this time getting food and a roof and a shower? Even air conditioning!

DAVID GENAT: After the first night, I was like, “What was I doing? Sleeping on the beach? This is amazing!” It was fully like being in a luxury resort. You kind of feel safe because in these domes, you're not being crawled over by creepy crawlies and crabs and all that kind of stuff. It felt like I was in a resort. It was incredible.

Did you lie more on this show or on your first two times on Survivor?

Oh, it's a pretty even contest. My strategy going into this one was to really keep my identity secret. I think it's really, really important that hopefully no one knows that I played Survivor, because I think being a Survivor player just puts a huge target on you no matter what you do. And I've seen that in other shows I've done. They're like, "Oh he's the Survivor winner." And so I was really intent on making sure that nobody knew that, which is pretty tricky when it's kind of like the fabric woven into your fabric of your life for the last five years. So there was definitely a lot of lies this one.

What was your plan and how did you want to handle it if someone did say, “Hey, I know who you are?"

Look, if someone recognizes me in there, I'll hopefully use it as a strategic piece where I can bargain with them a bit. It's a lot of power to give someone information. I think in these games, information is key. If you've got a piece of information that someone else doesn't have, you want to keep that to yourself. And that can be a good way to create bonds with people. So I think my concept will be to just bring people in. If someone is like, “Hey, I kind of know what you did last summer.” I can be like, “Oh sure, I want to be friends. You want to run this to the end? Want to do it with me this summer? Yeah, yeah. It was a pretty good summer. I had a good time.”

Related: First footage of Parvati Shallow and Dr. Will Kirby on Deal or No Deal Island unveiled

So what was your reaction when you saw Parvati was going to be competing this season?

Oh my goodness, man. I mean, honestly, for me as a Survivor fan, it was a dream come true. I'm just a Parvati fan, so seeing her on The Traitors and following her career for a long time and then to see her there, I was like, “Holy cow, we are in big trouble here.” I know how good she is at these games.

Did you have any idea who Dr. Will was when he entered the game?

So I've been living on and off in the States for 24 years now, and I watch a lot of reality TV. So his face was familiar, but I just kind of couldn't place it. And also, I feel like Will's face may have changed a bit over the years, you know what I mean? I think he's been pretty busy with it. [Laughs] He's going to love that I said that. But then, once hearing who he was, I was like, “Oh my goodness, this is going to be wild.”

Break down for me how this game is different from Survivor.

The game mechanic in Deal or No Deal Island is just so much harder, because if you are putting someone up to play against the Banker and you are hoping they lose, it's really, really risky. If they win, you're in trouble. In Survivor, you're thinking a few moves ahead, whereas with Deal, you have to be three, maybe four moves ahead.

So thinking of those scenarios where if that person you put in does win, who's the worst person to go home? Who's the best person to go home? How do you shape what their decision is going to be when you've basically just done something against them that they're going to hate? And for me, that was really, really tricky because when you are manipulating people with Survivor, you're doing stuff in their best interests. And when you're like, “Hey, I've got your best interest at heart in Deal or No Deal, but I'm putting you up against the Banker, please do what I want you to do” — It's really, really hard. So when it does come off, it's just such a great feeling to complete. It's so strategic and so socially dominant. The social gameplay was on another level.

And also to that point of being in these nice surrounding and being in a beautiful location, it feels like the stakes are really high because people want to be there. You're not getting that thing of, “Hey, I'm miserable. Maybe it's okay if I go home.” Everyone is like, “No, this is my spot. I want to stay as long as possible.” They're really desperate to stay in the game. I don't think I heard anyone complaining about our accommodations or wanting to leave. In Survivor, you can kind of be like, “Oh, hey, wouldn't it be great to have a meal? Maybe you should just go home with this one.” That was almost impossible here.

Who else from Australian Survivor would do well on Deal or No Deal Island?

There's a really great winner from season four of Australia. She's an Australian actress named Pia Miranda, and I think her social game is next level. She's the most likable person you've ever met. She's just so nice and she has that knack of, even though she's getting you to do something that's probably against your best interest, you feel good about it. She would be great. I think she'd be someone really, really great on the show. Luke Toki is another strong player who would be really good to have out there, although his Australian accent is way stronger than mine, so if they have subtitles for me, you're going to be in trouble for him.

Tell me about Joe Manganiello as a host.

He's so smooth and he's so genuinely nice, but he's got this really great presence. And I think that's the tricky thing with hosting is having that presence and that kind of gravitas when you are delivering something that sometimes might seem a bit cheesy. And he has a way of really sucking you into his orbit when he's saying stuff. There's a bit of an Australian term they use where someone's pretty, they call him a good-looking rooster, and that dude is a good-looking rooster.

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