The luxury hotel where eliminated Survivor NZ contestants are staying

Don’t feel sorry for the Survivor NZ contestants as they are voted off — they might miss out on the chance to win $100,000, but get to repair their relationships in luxury, poolside at a mountain-top hotel in Nicaragua.

The seven jurors stayed at the Villas de Palermo Hotel and Resort, in between returning to camp to watch their former team-mates being eliminated.

Time at the hotel helped them heal wounds and strategise about which of the final three contestants they might vote for in the live final.

“It was really awesome to have another contestant to debrief the whole experience with,” said the first Survivor NZ juror Lee Haan. “It was even better that the person that I got to spend that with was Sala.

“It totally helped with preparing with the final Tribal Council. We got to hear every jury member’s experiences as they came out of the game and used every bit of information we had to make a decision.

“My winner will have had a handle on the game — in strategy and in challenges — without hurting anyone.”

Haan was just the tonic for Matai’a Salatielu Tiatia, aka Sala, after he was voted off.

“Coming out of the game was hard. When I got to my room and realised that it was over . . . I just cried.

“But when Lee came to my room (after I had a two-hour shower!) he embraced me — we just hugged for ages. His hug was genuine and his smile was family, and I knew I was going to be okay . . . and yep it sounds cheesy but that’s how I felt the first time I saw my Uso Lee — I felt safe all over again. He truly is a beautiful soul and I knew that, but was clouded by the game . . . so glad I had this opportunity to really connect.

“We had many walks, sightseeing and debriefs over drinks to unpack what the hell just happened to us and to also formulate our decisions.

“The more information we got from Tribal Council and what became our ritual, ‘Debrief Dinner’ afterwards — where we invited the next evicted jury member out for dinner and drinks to debrief — the more we were able to formulate our individual decisions for who to vote for come final Tribal Council.”

All will be revealed in TVNZ2’s live final at Auckland’s Civic Theatre on July 5.

This article was first published on Spy and is republished here with permission.