Celebrity Treasure Island episode 18: A thrillingly close final brings ...

Foliaki takes an early lead to arrive at the first challenge. The players must negotiate a key across a long, tangled chain to a box, which the key unlocks.

“It seems simple, right?” Foliaki frowns. “No.”

Despite his horrendous start, Rolleston has caught up. It’s now Cullen who’s befallen by disaster. Without his glasses, he can’t see the numbers on his padlock. He starts guessing as Foliaki puts his key in his lock.

“JP opens the box!” co-host Lance Savali shouts.

But Foliaki looks puzzled.

“It’s empty!” he shouts, confused. He looks again and notices a photograph taped to the lid. He grabs it and hoofs off down the river.

Having finally deciphered the numbers Cullen unlocks his box. He also misses the photo taped to the lid. He sees Foliaki disappearing into the distance and makes a rash decision to chase after him.

“Oh no!” Savali shouts as Cullen dashes off without his photo.

Host Bree Tomasel is at the second challenge. Here the players must balance a ball on a paddle and manoeuvre it along a set of tracks in the river. If the ball drops they must restart. The first to get three balls into their box at the end can move on.

Foliaki starts but can’t keep his ball steady. His lead disappears as his ball keeps splashing into the water. Rolleston appears beside him but has no better luck at the task. Cullen has sensed something’s amiss and has doubled back to re-examine his box.

He remains philosophical. “There’s plenty of time to catch up,” he says.

In the cold running water of the river, there’s all the time in the world. The task is proving an exercise in frustration.

“I’m just getting p***ed off,” Rolleston mutters as his ball drops again and again and again.

Cullen’s steady hand and zen attitude see him glide his first ball to the finish. And then, his second.

“I can hear Cully’s onto his last ball,” Rolleston huffs. “I can’t even get my ball out of the first track.”

“There goes Christian Cullen,” Tomasel shouts as Cullen delivers his final ball. “He is away.”

Arriving at the final challenge, he finds Savali waiting.

“All you need to do,” Savali shouts, “Is complete your tree puzzle.”

“I’m not a big puzzler,” Cullen sighs, looking at the bonsai-shaped puzzle in front of him. He starts trying to work it out but gets nowhere fast. Foliaki is soon beside him. Then in front of him.

As Foliaki’s tree blossoms, Cullen takes a sneaky peek at how he’s done it. Then a blatant look. Then a studious stare. Then, he starts assembling his tree.

“If Lance had told me off, I would’ve stopped,” Cullen grins, before having another look. “But nothing’s been said.”

Foliaki is only two pieces away but is annoyed by Cullen’s wandering eye. He pulls out a powerstone, giving Cullen a five-minute penalty.

“That’s what you get for peeping,” he says.

But Cullen ain’t going out like that. He pulls out his own stone. “I play advantage block,” he cries, cancelling Foliaki’s stone and taking another long look at Foliaki’s now completed tree.

Annoyed, Foliaki pulls his puzzle apart.

“Good luck trying to copy that, Cully,” he smirks, before running off.

But Cullen doesn’t need luck, he has another powerstone.

“JP!” Savali shouts. “Stand down for five minutes.”

“I’m so p***ed off,” Foliaki mutters in disbelief as the Paekākāriki Express completes his tree and charges past him.

By the time Foliaki’s free, Rolleston has also completed his puzzle.

“All three contestants are off to dig up that treasure. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for, baby!” Savali shouts. “Let’s go!”

Having scouted three of the four locations, Cullen takes a punt and starts digging.

“I’ve got to start digging somewhere,” he reasons.

Rolleston has also identified three locations, albeit different ones.

“I assume it’s around here,” he says, only a metre or so away from Cullen. He too, starts digging.

Foliaki has also spotted three locations but doesn’t want to commit until he’s identified the fourth. He loses a lot of time but then spots it.

“I’ve walked past this tree at least 50 times,” he grumbles. But having all four locations gives him no advantage as it leads him directly to where Cullen and Rolleston are already digging.

An hour passes. Two. Three. Night falls. The trio are surrounded by deep holes. They dig. And dig. And dig.

Until finally, a loud thud.

“Did anyone else hear that?” Foliaki asks, visibly excited. “I think I’ve found it!”

Everyone stops digging. For a moment, Foliaki is frozen, as if a sudden movement will cause the source of the thud to disappear. After a pause, he resumes digging before unearthing a beaten brown suitcase.

He gets down on one knee. He unzips it. He is overcome with emotion. Tomasel appears behind him.

“JP,” she says softly. “Congratulations. You have just won Celebrity Treasure Island.”

After six weeks, 17 episodes and 17 eliminations we have our winner. The 30-year-old Tongan actor wipes away a tear and says, “It’s a lot harder than people watching at home would fathom, but I’m doing it for a bigger purpose and something more than just myself.”

He stands up. And with his hand on his heart. JP Foliaki, the winner of Celebrity Treasure Island 2024 says, “This one’s for South Auckland. For Tongans. For Samoans. Polys. All of us.”

Then he breaks into a quite beautiful Tongan hymn to sing us out for the final time.

Karl Puschmann is an entertainment columnist for the Herald. His fascination lies in finding out what drives and inspires creative people.