The Fijian government has suspended all international passenger flights due to a recent rise in COVID-19 cases, putting the filming of Survivor‘s forty-second season in jeopardy.
Survivor is currently deep into the filming of season 41 on Fiji’s Mamanuca islands, but a second outbreak of the highly infectious Indian COIVD-19 variant over the past two weeks has seen the government impose new restrictions, including a ban on air travel in and out of the country.
“I want to be clear with everyone: Fiji suspended all international passenger flights from all countries on the 22nd of April, nine days ago,” said Ministry of Health permanent secretary Dr. James Fong over the weekend. “We are not labelling countries as high-risk or low-risk—we simply are not taking passengers from any countries at all.”
This is significant news in regards to Survivor, as the season 42 cast was scheduled to fly out last week to begin its 14-day quarantine. The plan was for the season 42 castaways to complete their quarantine while season 41 wrapped up filming. Obviously, the season 42 cast has not been able to fly out and remains in limbo.
“Our quarantine capacity has been directed entirely dedicated towards contacts of local cases in Fiji,” continued Dr. Fong, adding “we need a much firmer grasp on this outbreak” before considering reopening international passenger travel.
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The travel ban was implemented on April 22 and was initially set to be lifted on May 2; however, that date has since been pushed back to May 9 and may potentially be moved back again until the country gets a firmer grip on the latest outbreak, which, as of Sunday, stands at 49 active cases, 16 of which are border cases.
“Given this outbreak’s index case was at the border, we will be revamping our quarantine facilities with additional CCTV cameras and strengthening our protocols to protect against human error to an even more stringent degree than before,” Dr. Fong explained.
As far as Inside Survivor is aware, the filming of season 41 has not been affected and is scheduled to wrap up next week. Although, there is now a question of the cast potentially being stuck in Fiji should the travel ban be extended further.
In terms of season 42, filming was meant to begin by the end of May, but with the cast not even on location yet and uncertainty over when flights will reopen, there will obviously be significant delays.
Stay tuned to Inside Survivor for more info in the coming weeks, or subscribe to our Patreon for all the latest rumors and speculation.
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Why they dont film s42 on us territory? This production is so damn lazy
OMG, “Andy”, you couldn’t be any more stupid! Do you get some kind of sick enjoyment out of pretending to be me? It is very ironic how “I” could post a comment on something I hadn’t even seen BEFORE even seeing it! What makes me sick is whoever monitors this board (Martin) has GOT to know “you” aren’t “me” because – although it’s not displayed – you need to include an email address to post here & it is impossible for you to have the same email address as me so they SHOULD be smart enough to know how inappropriate you are making falsified posting pretending to be someone you aren’t!
That being said, Martin, despite what you think about me (I know you don’t like me [either]) you can not allow this nonsense to continue!
Bullshit! Get your facts right mate
There is no Covid cases in in Fiji. There has not been a case or proof of Covid related death, especially the Indian variant. India is having over 5,000 a day.Yet Fiji has no confirmed Covid related death. Dr Fong go back to China and stop asking for foreign aids under false pretence.
Josefa Ratunuku they have just locked down Lautoka hospital!
Just come to the states and film it here like hawaii just film it there because it’s a island and it’s scenery enough of fiji with there restrictions just come here to the states film the show and let’s just stay here until they light up on the restrictions.
Martin, can you reveal the cast for Season 41 please? This is always one of my favourite articles on InsideSurvivor, finding out the cast before the season starts.
It’s the tax break, they paid nothing on production tax …..
Good for Mr .Fong…
“Borders closed “, should mean exactly that !!..
No favours to ” celebrities”..no favours to Politicans or anybody else..
This Virus will sneak thru’ one way or another if Aircraft or Ships are allowed into any Country..
@ everyone: filming in the US is too expensive. I wish they could find another (new) location too. Isn’t Samoa an option again? Or the Pearl Islands? They’ve done multiple seasons there in the past…
They won’t film in the US because they can’t get the same tax breaks they would in Fiji and it would be much more expensive to hire a US crew than the locals they use in Fiji. It would take at least six months and probably longer to change locations like that, and they probably feel they are better off just waiting out the Fiji delay. Also – even if they got permission to film in a remote part of Hawaii, it would be virtually impossible to maintain secrecy and keep reporters and fans away.