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A former contestant on the Greek edition of the hit competition show Survivor is suing the show’s producers after a horrific boat accident that severed his leg.
Stavros Floros filed a lawsuit in a Florida court on Thursday, seeking $100 million US in damages.
Floros, now 22 years old, was competing in Season 13 of Survivor Greece when he went spearfishing with another contestant in the waters off the Dominican Republic on May 11.
According to court documents obtained by CBC News, a tourist boat accidentally struck Floros, severing his left leg above the knee and severely injuring his right leg.
Floros was taken ashore and transferred to a local medical clinic before being transferred to a hospital in Miami, where he underwent multiple surgeries and spent 61 days in recovery.
TMZ published graphic photos of Floros in the aftermath of the accident, showing the extent of his injuries.
Stavros Floros’s photos, videos while recovering at Florida hospital:
Skai TV, which broadcasts Survivor Greece, said at the time that it immediately suspended the show, even though Turkish company AcunMedya is solely responsible for its production, and offered its support to Floros and to contribute to his treatment and rehabilitation.
But Floros alleges that wasn’t the case.
“I went onto a reality show and ended up with only one leg at 22 years old, having felt like I was slowly dying,” Floros said in a statement to TheWrap on Thursday after filing the lawsuit.
“I want people to know that they didn’t look after us, that I haven’t received the proper support from the production company.”
The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, names AcunMedya, AcunMedya Global, Acun LLC and Turkish businessman Acun Ilicali as defendants, as well as the parent company of Skai TV.
The 50th season of the long-running competition reality show Survivor kicked off on Wednesday. Superfan and CBC associate producer Zach Orobko joined CBC’s On The Coast alongside professor Hartley Jafine, who co-created a McMaster University course based on the show, to discuss Survivor’s cultural significance.
Contestant’s life changed ‘for a game’
The court documents include statements from Floros and other cast members who described how the events unfolded.
Floros said the show’s format meant he and other contestants were expected to fish for food in the open ocean while competing.
The lawsuit alleges that the production had not established any protections or deployed any safety vessels despite knowing there was “heavy, high-speed commercial and tourist boat traffic.”
May 11 was not a “game” day, in which the contestants take part in challenges, but they were still to be filmed carrying out other “survival activities.”
Floros and fellow contestant Emmanouil Malliaros swam out to spearfish around 7:30 a.m. The court documents state that the accident happened sometime between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
In his statement, Malliaros said “it was common for tourist boats to travel close to shore,” and that Survivor Greece cast members were viewed as “entertainment.”
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Malliaros stated that Floros was swimming within 10 metres of a small inflatable dive marker, and within 100 metres of the shoreline, when the boat struck him, adding that he later learned of another contestant having a close call with a passing boat.
After Floros was struck, Malliaros said, the boat kept going and only turned back once tourists on board demanded the operator return to help.
Malliaros said that that a passenger on board applied a temporary tourniquet to Floros’s leg. The severed part of his leg wasn’t recovered, the documents state.
“My whole life has changed,” Floros told the Miami Herald on Thursday. “My mind is like, ‘All of this happened for a game?'”
Although the series shares a name with the hugely popular U.S. series Survivor, which remains a juggernaut after 50 seasons airing over 25 years, Survivor Greece is not affiliated with it.
Floros’s lawyers, with the firm Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, filed the lawsuit in Florida citing AcunMedya and Ilicali’s ties to the state and claiming that the businessman made decisions — including those related to contestant safety — from his residence in Miami Beach.
Floros also said he was influenced to apply for Survivor Greece because of the show’s past seasons being filmed in Florida and because the prize for being the “sole survivor” included a luxury trip to Miami.
He also stated that Ilicali visited him in the hospital. A photo of them together is included in the documents but is no longer on the businessman’s Instagram account. Ilicali also purportedly offered Floros and his family a place to stay at his residence, according to Floros’s statement.
CBC News reached out to AcunMedya for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Aside from Survivor Greece, AcunMedya is behind several other international editions of the franchise, including Turkey, Mexico, Romania and Germany.
Stavros Floros documents recovery after Survivor Greece accident:
