Million Dollar Island may be Australia’s “groundbreaking” new adventure show, but we’ve got our hands on a tonne of SAVAGE behind-the-scenes secrets that will leave you shooketh.
In the race to win the jaw-dropping $1M cash prize, contestants had to compete in various games, forage and fend for themselves on a blistering hot island. But that wasn’t even the hardest part.
From starvation, sickness, injury and dehydration, things were more brutal BTS than what we saw on TV and one anonymous rogue contestant spilled all the tea in a juicy two-part interview in episodes 300 and 301 of the So Dramatic! podcast.
Million Dollar Island contestants started eating TERMITES due to the lack of food
As revealed in episode 303 of the So Dramatic! podcast, ANOTHER rogue contestant confirmed that the cast members got so hungry that they started cooking up termites. Vom.
“No food was provided for the campmates at all,” they dished.
“One camp became so desperate for food that they started cooking up termites after a campmate claimed it was a good source of protein.”
According to the source, the contestants continued to eat termites until the safety officer found out.
But it gets worse…
Apparently, the cast eventually got so desperate for food that they asked if they could kill the wild boars, but production said no. WTF!
Many Million Dollar Island contestants are FORCED to leave the game by medics
According to our source, lots of contestants were made to look like they were leaving the show for personal reasons. But apparently, this wasn’t the case.
“I’d say a majority of contestants who ended up leaving didn’t do so just on their free will,” the spy spilled.
“They left because the medics told them they weren’t allowed to continue anymore and they were really angry about it.”
Now, these contestants were told to cover up their departures by saying they were “missing their families”. However, they were really being “pulled from the game” because their blood sugar was too low, or because they weren’t physically coping on the island. Yikes.
Million Dollar Island contestants take MONTHS to recover from filming the show
The physical stress didn’t end when they left the island either, as supposedly, the contestants took MONTHS to recover after filming wrapped.
Our source revealed that lots of the cast members were “super fit” people who usually consumed around 3000 to 4000 calories a day. However, on the show, they were living on a quarter of a cup of rice in the morning, so naturally, this did some nasty things to their bodies.
“Lots of people I’ve spoken to have said it’s taken them months to recover. People were losing their hair because that’s one of the things that happens with starvation,” they dished.
“People also struggled to get their digestion back on track,” they added, stating that former contestants started developing allergies and intolerances.
And because people’s bodies were in “such distress”, many participants also lost muscle tone. Meanwhile, a handful of the women stopped getting their periods too. Sheesh!
The winners get their prize ONLY if the show goes to air
Apparently, according to their contracts, the winners wouldn’t receive their prize money unless the show went to air.
Consider us SHOOK. Imagine going through the entire filming process, winning and not even getting compensated?! No thanks.
“Production was really strict about not letting participants speak to anyone before the show aired,” the contestant recalled.
However, our source mentioned that they were quite “surprised” that nobody spilled the tea, given there were 100 contestants.
“You’d think people would’ve spoken up a bit, but everyone’s been really well behaved which is very commendable… Apart from me,” they laughed. LOL!
Only 15 contestants are mic’d up the entire time during filming
Although there were 100 people competing for the jaw-dropping cash prize, only 15 of them were mic’d up during filming.
“15 people were selected by the producers to be mic’d up and it was the same people the whole way through. Nobody else was mic’d,” the source said.
“The producers had chosen the characters that they were going to focus on from the beginning and we were all a little bit suss about how it was all playing out,” they added. Talk about favouritism!
Million Dollar Island contestants aren’t allowed to bring basic necessities with them
Apparently, producers took away the contestants’ essential items before they even got to the island and this sounds suss if you ask us!
According to the contestant who shall not be named, the cast were told to pack a list of necessities including sunscreen, insect repellant and microfibre towels.
However, during their pre-show quarantine, all of these items were confiscated and nobody was sure why.
“People were losing their sh*t and fighting with production because they didn’t give us a reason [for confiscating our stuff],” the mystery source told host Megan Pustetto.
“Was production [intentionally] playing mind games on us…or was there a reason for this change,” they added.
Million Dollar Island contestants are only given a small portion of food to last them four weeks
At the start of the show, the contestants were given wooden boxes filled with all the food and amenities they needed to sustain themselves for the four weeks of filming.
This included things like rice, beans and canned food, as well as basic survival tools like rope and wood.
However, our source confessed that food started “running out” within “three to four days” and there were no extra food drops. So people were literally STARVING.
“We were subsisting on half a handful of rice in the morning,” they admitted. “We were starving on less than 200 calories a day. Within three days, people were standing up and getting head spins.”
There were also professional fishermen and survivalists on set during filming. However, these professionals were “shocked” at how little natural resources were on the island.
“Part of the game was living off the land, but [there wasn’t any] stuff to forage,” they explained
Even if a cast member was lucky enough to find something to eat, they had to get it cleared by production which could take up to SEVEN hours.
Eventually, things got so bad that producers began giving out food at the start of challenges.
“They were giving out apple slices before games because we had no energy to do things,” the cast member dished.
“By the end of week two, everyone was lying down in the sun, unable to give anything.”
Many Million Dollar Island contestants FAINTED due to a lack of food and water
According to our source, many contestants were FAINTING due to the lack of food and water on the island.
“[During games] people were taken out early by the medics because their blood sugar was so low,” our source spilled, stating that this actually happened to “a number of contestants.”
“I think the producers didn’t realise how bad it was going to get food-wise,” the cast member confessed.
But to make matters worse, the reality stars also faced a shortage of fresh water and by the sounds of it, there were better conditions on the Hunger Games!
“There was a tank where you could fill up your water bottles. But within five days, it had completely run dry,” the contestant recalled. Well at this point, we’d probably start drinking our own tears…
Unsurprisingly, many contestants ended up quitting the show.
“Lots of people quit the game, even people you wouldn’t expect to quit. Many contestants ended up in big screaming matches with production behind the scenes.
“People were standing up for everyone, saying ‘You can’t treat us like this.'” Yikes.
Many contestants were severely injured or sick after filming Million Dollar Island
As if the food and water situation wasn’t bad enough, many contestants also sustained some SERIOUS bites, cuts and injuries on set.
“Somebody got bitten by a snake and there were many deadly, poisonous snakes on the island,” the contestant said.
Not only that, but lots of cast members suffered from tick bites.
“Malaysia and most tropical areas have ticks which are known for carrying Lyme disease and all sorts of horrid things,” the source continued.
“Many people were waking up with ticks attached to them. They’re really painful and you have to be careful when removing them because if the head gets left in your body, it could cause all sorts of infections,” they added.
However, since filming wrapped, numerous contestants ended up suffering long-term health effects from the ticks.
“There were contestants who ended up going to hospital after leaving the show. A number of them had medical help months after leaving the island. All because of the adverse health effects attributed to the tick bites.”
And according to our spy, there was a contestant who got “really severely injured during one of the challenges.” And if you want to know more about that, buckle up, because we’ve got some tea for you.
There’s limited access to medication
The show also had limited access to medication which got particularly difficult for the female contestants.
“The [women] on the island had a really hard time. There were a couple of girls that had endometriosis and they weren’t allowed to get medication for it,” the source dished.
“If you had your period or were having really bad cramps, they weren’t giving out any Panadol to help with it.” Hmm. Sounds problematic if you ask us…
Producers are able to change the rules of the game at any time
Despite being called Million Dollar Island, contestants were shocked to learn that they weren’t actually playing for $1 million.
“There’s a clause [in our contracts] that says production can change the rules at any time,” the insider explained.
“During the game, rules [spontaneously] changed and people were really thrown by the things that were happening.”
Now, one of the things that ended up changing was the prize that the cast was promised.
“The wording had changed slightly from ‘You will be playing for $1 million’ to ‘You can play for up to a share of $1 million.’ And people were quite taken aback,” they dished. Eep, now that’s a big jump.
“There was lots of grumbling and moaning because people were playing for the money. They were coming to play for $1 million.”
And if it were us, we’d be demanding a flight home, STAT!
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