Dancer, TikTok star and now Celebrity Treasure Island co-host Lance Savali. Photo / Stephen Tilley
Hosting Celebrity Treasure Island is his latest gig, but Lance Savali made his name on the stage and an even smaller screen. He sits down with the Herald’s Emma Gleason to talk career, content, and his next move.
From dancing onstage with Rihanna to corralling Kiwi celebrities, Lance Savali’s career has had some unexpected twists and turns.
But for the 32-year-old, everything started with dance.
“I’ve just always been quite an individual child,” he says. “Dancing was my passion growing up and I always wanted to dance.”
College was St Patrick’s College in Wellington, Savali says, and he still goes back there to visit. “That really shaped me as a man and my values,” he says. “What I learned through my friendships at school, I hold that to this day.”
He was a self-confessed class clown and was advised that dancing full-time wasn’t necessarily a realistic dream for a kid in New Zealand. But he proved otherwise.
Savali auditioned for Chris Brown in 2014. “I was 21 when I flew over there; I had nothing to lose, I gave it my all and booked the job.”
It was his first professional dance gig, but it had been a goal of the Wellingtonian’s for a long time; his direction was clear and the drive was there.
“I always wanted to dance with Chris Brown. I always wanted to dance for Rihanna,” Savali says. “Those were the two artists that I always knew I was gonna dance for, and I was able to accomplish that.”
He’s grateful for the opportunity and it changed everything. “I think that was the turning point of my career,” Savali says. “I went on to work with other artists, and my platform on social media started to grow.”
By 2019 the list included Beyonce, Usher and Jennifer Lopez.
An audition for Madonna fell through, he theorised at the time, because of his horoscope - Savali is a Scorpio, a sign that’s aligned with traits like passion and determination.
Offstage, his online profile was expanding, growing in the US first, before finding an audience in New Zealand.
A choreography video he posted during Covid lockdown, set to a Willow Smith song, he claims absolutely blew up. “I just posted this stupid dance that I did to it. And then I went for a run and came back 40 minutes ago and they already had 2 million views.”
His TikTok videos regularly get millions of views. His profiles totals 1.2 million followers, and his down-to-earth videos - many of them dancing backstage, at home or on the sidewalk - have racked up 31 million likes.
“Sometimes the stupidest s**t, that will blow you up and you just kind of have to accept that and run with it.”
Growing his online profile happened organically, evolving outside of dance, but that doesn’t mean he’s not driven or strategic about it.
Savali has shown a keen eye for creating content that resonates and connects with audiences, understanding the rhythms of what’s in the zeitgeist. He’s proved so adept at it that he says he’s now managing Chris Brown’s social media.
The platforms are fascinating because they’re democratic; anyone can upload some choreography, and the simplest TikTok dances have gone viral.
Apps are having an impact offline too. “Dance has changed a lot now because of social media.”
However, virality isn’t always synonymous with skill or quality.
“Some kids can make so much money doing a half-ass dance on TikTok, but a professional dancer is making half as much.”
Savali has a skill for it, choreography and content, but he is the first to admit that his age and timing were fortuitous. “I was very lucky with my age window. I wasn’t too old for TikTok and I wasn’t like too young.”
There are pros and cons, he concedes, admitting he’s “so consumed by social media, always on my phone”.
It’s 70% of his job these days. Creating content and collaborating with brands – Samsung, Odd Company, Bonds and Adulttoymegastore included – and authenticity and individuality are critical to his approach.
“There’s no blueprint to being an influencer or how to sell a product.”
He’s fascinated by it, particularly the “ideas side of things” and is enjoying the work that goes behind the scenes. “I love when a brand comes to me and they want me to consult for them, not necessarily promote them. That’s what I really enjoy.”
The psychology of marketing has sparked something in him, and it gives him a different kind of creative outlet.
Now in his 30s, it also means an alternative to the gruelling world of dance and touring.
Rehearsals are “very, very hard on your body” he explains. “Eight hours a day. You get one day off during rehearsal.”
It’s also been hard dancing while dealing with heart problems.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m gonna die but people don’t see that,” Savali reveals.
“That’s probably the scariest thing about life or like what I’ve done.”
He had an operation to fix an old condition, supraventricular tachycardia, which makes the heart beat as fast as 240 beats per minute.
“But now I have something called second degree heart block and atrial fibrillation,” he says, which affects the electrical conduction of his heart and mean he has an irregular rhythm.
“I’m too young for a pacemaker. So I just learned to live with it.”
He’s supported the Heart Foundation, and it was his charity of choice when he competed on Celebrity Treasure Island in 2021.
The cause became all too real when he collapsed on the beach while filming, calling for the medics, who were already aware of his condition ahead.
Savali got the all clear and soldiered on, making it all the way to the final three in the last episode.
The condition means he can’t always do as much as he’d like to, dancing or at the gym. But it’s not stopping him. “I still feel good,” he demurs. “I’ll get on stage now and still be able to go hard.”
But television also presents a different pace and different challenges.
Savali’s current gig sees him joining Bree Tomasel as the hosts of Celebrity Treasure Island.
It’s quite a big deal, hosting the sixth season of a Kiwi show’s celebrity franchise, and there are a lot of eyeballs on it, with big names from sports, politics and media competing for charity.
There are challenges, eliminations and schemes; a format to follow, curveballs to catch and personalities to navigate.
Savali’s learned a lot while hosting Celebrity Treasure Island. “It was quite difficult. It made me, made my brain work in a different way,” he explains. “I really had to learn my scripts. I had homework to do every night – which I was never good at, at school.”
It was a good exercise, but the gig wasn’t just remembering lines. Savali and Tomasel are there to keep the energy up, contestants in line, and viewers at home clued up as to what’s going on.
“Tāmati, I’m going to have to ask you to leave this team face off,” Savali tells Tāmati Coffey sternly in the first episode. “You are disqualified”.
He’s less serious when broadcaster Duncan Garner, egged on by his teammates, performs a risqué dance move before one face off.
“Bree, you got this. I’m done,” Savali jokes, walking away from the cameras. It’s all in jest though, and that mix of Kiwi humour and tension is what makes the show engrossing.
“You have to hold the essence of the game and the intensity of the game,” Savali explains. “It felt like a lot of pressure.”
Any little mistake could take away from the reality of the show, something he knows all too well. “I’ve been there as a contestant.”
Having been there helps. Savali’s not unfamiliar with the format, he’s a Celebrity Treasure Island alumni, competing in season five in 2021, and starring in last year’s Fiji-set spin-off Treasure Island: Fans V Faves.
Was he surprised to get the call-up for a different role on the show?
His agent’s phone call about the audition was met with a “what!?”.
Savali didn’t think he was going to get it, worried that he was too edgy for Kiwi TV or not experienced enough, but he really wanted the job. “I rang my agent and I was like ‘there’s something I actually really would love to do’.”
He’s not usually a “practicer” but admits that he did for this. “I feel like I killed my audition.”
A couple of days later the call came. “I was jumping, I got goose bumps,” he says. “It was so cool. I was very, very stoked.”
Fast forward to March and Savali, Tomasel and the cast of local celebs – MP Carmel Sepuloni, RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under star Spankie Jackzon and All Black Christian Cullen among them – were in Te Whanganui-o-Hei (Cathedral Cove) in the Coromandel.
By September Savali was on New Zealand screens in full host mode, first handing Suzanne Paul’s team Aihe’s rākau kōrero in their first challenge.
“This is a serious role for me,” he explains. “I want to do this kind of stuff.”
Savali’s keen to do more television (his CV also includes Dancing with the Stars judging and The Great Kiwi Bake Off Christmas Special) and more music. And with his drive and charisma, he undoubtedly will.
“I’m just motivated by what I want to do in life and what I want to achieve,” he says. “I know where I want to be in life and I know what I have to do.”
Savali credits his family with giving him the freedom to be creative. They knew he wanted to dance. “I don’t remember having a conversation ever with my Mum or my step dad about ‘you need a real job’,” he says. “Maybe my self-belief came from theirs.”
Touring, though a dream, can get lonely. “At the end of the day I want to do stuff with my friends.” And he is; there’s a music project in the works, and something with clothing, he reveals. “I’m real excited about that.”
For now though, he’s on the small screen three nights a week.
Emma Gleason is the Herald’s lifestyle and entertainment deputy editor. Based in Auckland, she covers culture, fashion, media and travel.
The Hollywood star is 70 but has no plans to retire from acting.