Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Former Kawakawa cop uses skills from his day job in Survivor series

Northern Advocate
24 Apr, 2017 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Former Kawakawa cop and now Survivor star Nathan Davis in last week's viral road safety video. Photo / Supplied

Former Kawakawa cop and now Survivor star Nathan Davis in last week's viral road safety video. Photo / Supplied

Kawakawa's former top cop is used to taking on criminals - but next month Northlanders will see how good he is at taking on competitors and the odd tarantula in a reality TV challenge.

Nathan Davis, sergeant in charge at Kawakawa station until 2013, is one of 16 contestants in the debut series of Survivor New Zealand which hits the screens on May 7.

The series is filmed in the jungle of Nicaragua and hosted by former Seven Sharp reporter Matt Chisholm.

Mr Davis, the first of the show's contestants to be publicly revealed, said it was a push from his wife that saw him audition last year.

"It was my wife's idea to apply, but I had the final say. Those words were 'yes dear'," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"When I was told that I was accepted, I was in a dream for days. I still can't believe I'm part of television history. What an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Mr Davis is sworn to secrecy over how he fared in the challenge but said he wasn't sure if his policing skills had helped him.

"What I would say is that my listening skills and ability to understand people by watching them definitely assisted. I also think being a member of the police helped as I was probably given trust almost by default."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Davis is unlikely to have trouble in the physical challenges - he's well over 1.8m tall and solid to match - and if there are any food challenges the other competitors won't stand a chance.

When living in the Bay of Islands he cleaned up in every eating contest he entered, including the spaghetti-eating race at Russell's Birdman and the pie-eating challenge at Paihia's It Festival.

He also took out the heavyweight bout in the Fighting Cancer charity boxing tournament in Kerikeri in 2012.

Nor is he likely to be fazed by TV cameras - just last week he was the star of a viral police video in which he filmed himself singing about staying safe on the roads over Easter, to the tune of Earth, Wind and Fire's September. The clip was watched almost 150,000 times in its first 15 hours online.

Being a member of the police had made him used to being in the public eye, he said.

The normally fearless cop said the most dangerous thing he saw in the Nicaraguan jungle was a tarantula scurrying into a hole a few centimetres from his foot.

Mr Davis' father is from Kawakawa and many relatives still live in the area. He moved to Dannevirke in 2013 so his wife could be closer to her family in Hawke's Bay.

He is now the senior sergeant in charge of Tararua police.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

The best ham in NZ is from this little suburban store

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay dance crew tame 45C heat to stand on dais at international competition

Hawkes Bay Today

First XV: Hastings Boys' High's Super 8 final hopes hang by a thread


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

The best ham in NZ is from this little suburban store
Hawkes Bay Today

The best ham in NZ is from this little suburban store

'This means so much to small businesses like mine.'

24 Jul 02:20 AM
Hawke's Bay dance crew tame 45C heat to stand on dais at international competition
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay dance crew tame 45C heat to stand on dais at international competition

24 Jul 01:03 AM
First XV: Hastings Boys' High's Super 8 final hopes hang by a thread
Hawkes Bay Today

First XV: Hastings Boys' High's Super 8 final hopes hang by a thread

23 Jul 10:22 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP