Survivor runner-up Lee’s shocking weight loss

HE was the buff ex-sportsman many thought was a shoo-in to win. Now, Survivor’s Lee Carseldine has revealed the incredible toll the show took on him.

HE was a close runner-up, but in the end, buff ex-cricketer Lee Carseldine lost Australian Survivor and his shot at winning half a million dollars.

It turns out, the 41-year-old’s losses on the show didn’t end there.

In a new interview with Men’s Health — Carseldine appears on the cover of the January 2017 issue of the mag, out now — the popular reality show contestant explained that his muscles atrophied at a remarkably fast rate during his 55 days spent living on a Samoan island with his fellow castaways.

The end result? Carseldine lost an incredible 17kg from his frame in just two months of filming.

Just take a look at these pictures:

A scrawny Lee pleads his case at the final tribal council.

Lee arrived on Samoa buff and burly.

Months after the show finished filming, Carseldine’s put on all that muscle he lost sitting on a beach eating nothing but rice and beans for weeks on end — and he shows it all off in an impressive shoot for the mag.

“My dad believed sitting around not getting the best out of yourself is a travesty,” Carsedline tells Men’s Health of his lifelong drive to keep fit. “The mental strength I had drummed into me as a kid set me up to have a red hot crack at things.”

Lee’s back fighting fit.

The divorced father of two sons also acknowledged his budding romance with third-placing contestant, fellow Queenslander and single mum El Rowland. The pair were tight-lipped about their growing spark during their time on the island, tentatively stepping into the limelight as a couple once the finale had aired.

Lee and El: They found love in a hopeless place. Photo: Claudia Baxter

“I knew what I wanted in a partner, but I wasn’t finding it in the real world,” Carseldine says. “When you’re on an island and stripped bare, what better way to get to know someone?”

The January issue of Men’s Health is now available.