Jazz Thornton. Photo / Supplied
Loyalties and friendships. Who’s nice and who isn’t so nice? Who are the ones to watch?
Spy has all the inside gossip from the latest season of Celebrity Treasure Island.
Team lines will be crossed between the contestants in teams Tohorā and Kārearea and drama will ensue with some hilarity too, as the 18 contestants battle it out in the surrounds of Wanaka.
Spy hears former decathlete and Lotto presenter Jordan Vandermade, 36, rubbed some players up the wrong way with his competitive streak.
Vandermade went in as the energy man and to some cast mates that came over as extremely intense.
Sources tell Spy that the pressure cooker situation gets to Vandermade and he ends up in tears.
The friendship made between Vandermade and broadcaster Matt Gibb, 42, during their earlier careers in children’s TV, could be beneficial to Vandermade as Gibb is known as Mr Nice Guy.
Not quite as intense, but competitive - as is expected of a fellow former sportsman - is league player Steve Price, 49, who is described as another Mr Nice Guy.
We hear both former sportsmen’s competitiveness takes them far in the competition.
Other inside gossip has some contestants had issues with mental health advocate and last year’s Dancing With the Stars champion Jazz Thornton, 28, over domestic issues.
Thornton entered the show with allegiances in mind and we hear she may have saved the hard work for the challenges. Some within her team were less than impressed with her cooking and cleaning efforts.
Thornton’s DWTS alumnae comedians Eli Matthewson, 34, and Laura Daniel, 32, had their allegiance sorted and their competitors knew it. Matthewson was in Daniel’s bridal party when she married Joseph Moore earlier this year. The pair are BFFs and their competition was all too aware.
The pair are on rival teams. Matthewson has fellow comedian Courtney Dawson, 34, with him in Kārearea and Daniel has funnyman James Mustapic, 27, with her on team Tohorā.
Don’t underestimate the comedians, we are told - one might make the final by making people laugh.
Familiarity was a bonus for former songstress Megan Alatini, 46, and musical theatre star Nick Afoa, 37. The pair have known each other since growing up in South Auckland.
It’s the women who might indeed take the title out for the first time in two decades.
Influencer Matilda Rice, 32, and actor Turia Schmidt-Peke, 29, are the ones to watch, we are told.
Rice’s endurance in the first episode has been marvelled at, although as one keen insider pointed out, with the timing of the filming of the show and Rice’s pregnancy announcement earlier this year, how far does she really go?
Schmidt-Peke, on the other hand, will find a whole new fan base outside Shortland Street we are sure.
Not only is she admired for her Survivor-like determination in the show, but she is also hosting the Inside CTI podcast this season.
This Thursday night the cast will have a reunion for the VIP advanced screening of the show at a secret location in the city.
The body language of the new celebrities will be fascinating.
· Celebrity Treasure Island starts on Monday, September 18, TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+
Ebony Lamb performs Successful Feelings. Made with funding from NZ On Air. Video / Locals Only