James Rolleston on Celebrity Treasure Island, life after his car crash and building resilience

Kiwi actor James Rolleston is the face of Taika Waititi’s award-winning 2010 film Boy, has starred in The Dark Horse and The Dead Lands, and most recently appeared in Whina and Uproar. Now, he’s heading to the shores of Celebrity Treasure Island. Here, he tells the Herald how surviving a car crash in 2016 has helped him build the resilience he needs to compete.

Actor James Rolleston grew up hunting, diving and horseback-riding in the rural Bay of Plenty.

So he’s quite at home on the beach in Te Whanganui-o-Hei/Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel, where with 18 other Kiwi celebrities, he’s turning castaway in the name of charity on Celebrity Treasure Island.

“I was born and raised in Ōpōtiki. I love the outdoors, being out here,” Rolleston tells the Herald.

“I’ve always thought to myself, you know, I’d like to be a part of something like Treasure Island.

“So when I had my accident and physically I was shot for a long time, you know, I thought that opportunity was out the window.”

In July 2016, Rolleston was driving his friend Kaleb Maxwell when he crashed his car into a bridge in Ōpōtiki. Maxwell broke several vertebrae and needed surgery on his sternum, while Rolleston had to be airlifted to Waikato Hospital, where he spent a month in intensive care.

He suffered traumatic injuries to his brain and both legs and had to have rods put in both his shins and a plate in his arm. The actor had to undergo physiotherapy and speech therapy to learn how to walk and talk again and get his motor skills back.

James Rolleston is appearing on this season of Celebrity Treasure Island. Photo / Matt Klitscher

He’s returned to acting since then, and found renewed appreciation for his craft and life. “I didn’t really know what I had, until it was almost taken away from me,” he told the Herald in 2017.

“What young teenager wouldn’t want to be doing what I’m doing? I just took it all for granted, you know? Having to start back at square one has been real tough. Just being at home, beating myself up as to where I could’ve been.”

However, once he recovered, he went on to land roles in films The Breaker Upperers and Lowdown Dirty Criminals and TV show Golden Boy.

In 2022 he played Dame Whina Cooper’s nephew Gabriel in biopic Whina, starring alongside Vinnie Bennett, Tioreore Ngātai-Melbourne and Rena Owen, as well as Miriama McDowell - herself a CTI alum.

READ: Whina’s boys: James Rolleston and Vinnie Bennett on playing the loves of her life

But despite his return to the screen, he admits that when the opportunity to go on Treasure Island came up, he was a bit hestitant. “I didn’t jump at it as quickly as I would have,” Rolleston reveals. “But now I’m happy that I’m here and only gonna make more memories with everyone, and more stories.”

After the crash, Rolleston was charged with dangerous driving causing injury. He pled guilty in court in 2017, was sentenced to community work and supervision, and was disqualified from driving for a year.

In hindsight, he can see that the aftermath of the crash and his recovery have taught him some invaluable life lessons.

“I learned a lot of resilience,” he says, and it definitely made him stronger.

“I managed to get through it. I was surprised at how well I think I was to be able to get through those tricky times and those early stages of the recovery.”

It’s why the charity he’s chosen to support on Celebrity Treasure Island is Brake New Zealand.

“[It’s] a national road safety charity supporting people who suffer injuries through road accidents and trying to reduce the road deaths around the country. So, I really want to help out there and show support,” he said when the cast was announced last week.

As well as raising awareness and cash for his charity, Rolleston sees going on the show as a “good opportunity” to forge friendships with the other contestants. “It’s a good way to bond with people and make relationships.”

Meeting new people is a highlight. “That’s something that I love,” he says. “You know, meeting people.”

However, the game isn’t always a friendly one. Of his fellow celebrity castaways, who include the likes of Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni, broadcaster Duncan Garner and infomercial star Suzanne Paul, who does he think will be his biggest competition?

Celebrity Treasure Island's Team Wētā. Photo / Matt Klitscher

“That fella Wairangi [Koopu] he looks a bit suspicious, he’s gonna be tricky,” he says with a laugh of the former Warriors player, adding that if he could eliminate a player right away, “I would get rid of Wairangi before he gets rid of me”.

“I think Wairangi or Vinnie [Woolston] are gonna be awesome people ... they’re gonna be good to rub shoulders with.”

Contestants aren’t allowed to bring in items such as coffee, chocolate, paper and pens, alcohol, toilet paper or anything that can lend the camp-issued rice and beans a bit more flavour. Did he manage to smuggle in any contraband? According to Rolleston, there’s “nothing too exciting” he packed in his bag apart from plenty of orange clothing to match his team’s colour.

“There might be a couple of days where you think I’m off to work in my high-vis,” he jokes. “I just left my work boots at home.”

Other than his boots, there’s nothing he’s particularly missing about home, except maybe the gym. “I think just getting back to training and stuff and just trying to get back to a place where I’m happier physically.”

Rolleston says spending time in the gym was part of his preparation for going on the show, where the physically demanding challenges and the camp beds can take a toll on contestants.

“I was trying to get ready physically, get ready for the challenges,” he says. “I’ve watched the show a little bit, watched little snippets here and there. I’m just going to get there and just enjoy it and yeah, just have fun.”

He may appear cool, calm and collected going into it - but the $100,000 question is, can he see himself walking away with the treasure at the end?

“I believe I can win it. Let’s say, well, I’ll be top 10,” the actor suggests with a laugh.

“The facial hair might be a bit darker by the time I leave.”

Celebrity Treasure Island NZ premieres on September 9, TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+

Bethany Reitsma is an Auckland-based journalist covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2019. She specialises in telling Kiwis’ real-life stories, money-saving hacks and anything even remotely related to coffee.