TVSA can reveal the identity of one of the contestants on
Survivor South Africa: Panama, gained from a trusted source.
As predicted last month former Archers Aqua model and current
Egoli cast member
Gareth Tjasink is indeed involved in the South African version of the world's most famous reality show - as a contestant.
Tjasink's suspected involvement was the subject of wild media speculation before filming of the show began in June, when calls to his cellphone were met with a message that he was away for an extended period of time.
His colleagues at Baragwanath Hospital - where he is currently working off an internship in between working on soapie Egoli and trying to win a million bucks on some godforsaken island in the Gulf of Panama - said he'd upped and left one day without warning, shortly after telling them he'd auditioned to be on the show.
TVSA
speculated later that he could be the host of the show, but that theory was blown out of the water by
M-Net's announcement of
Mark Bayly as the Survivor host, on Sunday 16 June.
Now we can confirm that Tjasink is indeed one of the 14 contestants, although we're still in the dark as to how far he makes it in the game.
Beauty won't get you far in Survivor - you require brains and the ability to backstab and lie covertly.
We know Tjasink has the brains - does he have long-handled knife skills as well?
We'll find out soon enough - Survivor SA begins on M-Net on 3 September, at 18h00.
We know you'll be watching...