The winner of Celebrity Treasure Island 2024 talks strategy, stamina and what the show means to him. 

Last night, John-Paul Foliaki dug his spade into the Coromandel sand and pulled up an old suitcase worth $100,000. It was an epic ending to the 2024 season of Celebrity Treasure Island, one that saw Foliaki and fellow castaways Christian Cullen and James Rolleston compete in a tense series of perplexing puzzles and slippery physical challenges to dig up the treasure. 

And dig they did: it took three long, arduous hours for Foliaki’s spade to finally hit gold. “This is the longest treasure hunt in Celebrity Treasure Island history,” host Bree Tomasel told us, as an exhausted Foliaki wiped tears from his eyes. 

Foliaki joins a prestigious group of CTI winners, but when The Spinoff sat down with him in the Coromandel just days before filming began, the actor, musician and artist admitted he was shocked when CTI asked him to be on the show. “I was like, ‘have I done enough? OK, I guess they’re just asking anyone now’,” he joked.

But whether it was playing “kumara in a box” against infomercial queen Suzanne Paul or trying to solve a tricky tree puzzle in the final challenge, Foliaki proved he had indeed done enough. After winning $100,000 for his chosen charity Childfund NZ, Foliaki spoke with The Spinoff about what it was like to actually win Celebrity Treasure Island – and what was really hiding inside that ratty old suitcase. 

Congratulations on the win – how are you feeling this morning? 

Man, just an immense feeling of gratitude. We watched the episode last night with my friends and family and some of the contestants as well. I was so grateful when I dug up that treasure, but then to watch it with everyone else and to talk to Childfund as well, just immensely grateful. 

It’s been months since the show was filmed. How hard was it to keep your win a secret?

It was tough, especially once the show kicked off. Everyone was asking, “How did this happen? How did that happen?” I would see people in public who were watching the show and they’d recognise me and say, “Oh, you got eliminated”. I was like, “Keep watching, it’s getting good. The best bits are coming.”

What surprised you the most about the CTI experience?

How real the show actually is, in terms of our food and living the Celebrity Treasure Island life. I was having showers in the ocean, no two ways about it. We had to try and use the limited water that we had, and the rice and beans, that was getting to me. Also, it was a reminder of how far we can actually go with just the bare minimum.

You were humble and loyal through the game and it seemed like you were genuinely having fun. Was that your game plan, or did things change once you got on the island?

I did want to keep a low profile. I didn’t want to look too strong in anything, in case I got eliminated. I just gave everything my best shot – it worked sometimes, and a lot of other times, it didn’t. I felt that if I was being viewed as a threat, there was always someone else who was seen as a bigger threat. I knew my strength was in relationships, in getting to know people and building genuine friendships, because that’s what the game is about. 

At what point did you think, ‘I could actually win this’?

Once we made the merge, I thought “I’ve got a good chance”. I had good relationships with both teams, and I was kind of floating in the middle. Once we got into the top six, I was like, “OK, I’ve got a genuine chance at getting to this final.” Then I tried to visualise actually digging up that treasure. I was praying about it a lot.

Take me back to that moment when your shovel finally hit the treasure. What was going through your mind? 

Well, we had been digging for hours. It was night time, it had turned dark, and by then, we had been digging in the same areas and digging each other’s holes and refilling them with sand. It seemed like we were going around in circles. We’d got to a point where the three of us were digging and thinking, “Are we ever going to find this?” 

I remember thinking I just had to push through. I could see this line that lined up with the clues that we had, and there was a certain point that hadn’t been dug too deep yet, so I just followed that. Then, it just seemed like everything went silent. I know James and Cully had stopped digging at that point as well. Once it hit, it just felt like the world stood still. Nobody’s going to cheer and be like “you’ve found it!” until you pull the treasure up. So I just had to keep going. Such a surreal feeling.

It must have been a feeling of relief too, that you could stop digging after three hours? 

Yeah, and for the entire show, you’re all working towards this one goal of finding that treasure. If you win the challenges, if you lose the challenges, it doesn’t matter. If you end up going home, that’s the end of your journey. So to have this constantly on your mind as your end goal, and to finally reach it, it’s hard to describe.

What was actually inside the suitcase? It looked like some shiny trinkets?

I was like, this is Voldemort’s horcruxes? They had a version of the treasure, with trophies and chalices and all that kind of stuff. 

Apart from digging up the treasure, what’s one moment from the show that has stuck with you? 

Sharing that moment with Millen when we were fighting for our spot to get into the top four. That was definitely a highlight for me. Being able to hold on for as long as we did, despite the cold, was really tough. Also witnessing Gabi and Carmel’s moment was beautiful, to see our culture really shine throughout the game. For me, being Tongan and Pasifika, it’s those kinds of moments that we were looking forward to seeing.

You spoke a lot about coming on CTI as being bigger than yourself and representing your Pasifika and Tongan communities. Why was that important to you?

I know that when there’s someone that looks like me in this line of work, it just makes whatever dream that you have a lot more achievable. Sometimes I’ve been seen to be way too farfetched, but I know that when there’s someone that looks like me, it’s something that we can actually grasp. When you can see it, it feels like it’s within arm’s reach, right? I’ve got young nephews and nieces, and for them to see me on a show with the likes of an All Blacks legend or Suzanne Paul, it puts things in perspective, especially if you have big dreams.

CTI also taught me that when I put my mind to something, that I can achieve it, and how powerful our culture can be. To call on the values that we have as Tongans, as Pasifika people, when times get really tough in the game. For Pasifika people, it’s never really about us. If we’re at the centre of something, it’s at the centre of our village and everyone that surrounds it. Whatever opportunity that I have, especially as an artist, there’s a lot of friends and family that help out. Those values help in so many different scenarios. In a game like Celebrity Treasure Island, those were the things that really got me through.

Celebrity Treasure Island streams on TVNZ+.