The tribe has spoken

Ayoub Kara a candidate for Survivor reality TV show?

Outgoing communications minister eliminated from Knesset, but could he survive reality television?

Likud Knesset member Ayoub Kara at the Likud polling station in Jerusalem for the party's primary on February 5, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Likud Knesset member Ayoub Kara at the Likud polling station in Jerusalem for the party's primary on February 5, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Outgoing Minister of Communications, Ayoub Kara wants to take part in the next season of the Israel television reality show “VIP Survivor,” the Ynet news site reported Sunday.

Kara, who failed to survive the Likud primaries last year and was eliminated from the Knesset, remains a cabinet minister as part of the interim government until the next government is formed following the September 17 elections.

Sources in the Survivor show told Ynet that Kara, who as communications minister is also responsible for television licensing including the private station that produces the series, met the show’s producers at the beginning of May to discuss being a candidate on the new season.

Chances of him joining increased Sunday when he announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy to become Israel’s ambassador to Egypt in the face of strong opposition from within the diplomatic corps to his appointment.

Based on the American “Survivor” franchise, contestants travel to a tropical setting where they compete, often dressed in only in bathing suits, against each other, with participants being eliminated from the game each week until only one survives and wins the grand prize of NIS 1 million ($276,000). In the VIP version, most of the contestants are Israeli celebrities from the arts and entertainment fields.

Contestants of the 2019 season of the Israeli television reality show “Survivor.” (YouTube screen capture)

One former member of Knesset, Inbal Gavrieli, who is also from Kara’s Likud Party, participated in the 2012 season of Survivor and finished fifth.

Kara, a lawyer and Druze politician from the Galilee town of Daliat el-Carmel, has been a staunch supporter of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but failed to win a high enough spot on the party’s slate before the April 9 elections to enter the current Knesset.

The Reshet television network that produces the show said that casting is still underway and told Ynet it would not comment on the candidates.

Kara’s office issued a statement saying the minister appreciated the request to participate in the program, and “Minister Kara is indeed considering the matter and will get back to the producers with answers in the coming days.”

First elected to the Knesset in 1999, Kara is the first member of the Druze community to become a cabinet minister.

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