We chat with Rodrigo Salvador, the Spanish chef who works for the production of ‘Survivors’ in Honduras.
One of the most beloved people in ‘Survivors’, who is practically a superhero for the program’s team, is Rodrigo Salvador, the chef who has been attached to the reality show since the 2021 edition. Food is something that we all love, and when we are away from our country for a long time we miss it.. Therefore, the production of the format had no doubt that there had to be a Spanish cook in Honduras to feed the entire team.
The same goes for the Italian version of the format (‘L’isola dei famosi’), which also houses its team in the same hotel. Therefore, in the restaurant we can find three buffet lines: the general Honduran one, the Italian one and the Spanish one, which Rodrigo manages, a former computer scientist who changed his life to dedicate himself to cooking. We spoke with him to tell us what his day-to-day life is like, how he manages the administration, how he gets to this job, how he prepares the rewards, what team he has and what dishes are the most in demand.
The star dishes
“Spain has 120 people and Italy the same…”, he comments when reflecting on the number of people he feeds daily. He also comments that many Italians go directly to the Spanish food line, something that he has to take into account. “I think by dishes, I don’t do everything the same. I know that some are eaten by 20 people and others are eaten by everyone. Paella, for example, I know that everyone eats it, and I make it on the day that Italy is not there because otherwise it is unfeasible.“, he says jokingly, but with sincerity.
He says the paella, the salad, the gazpacho and the salmorejo are what he likes the most. to the team, in addition to the breaded and fried ones: “They love these, but I can’t put them on every day because they would leave here loaded with kilos.” However, being in charge of food in a place like this is not an easy task as he tells us below.
How to manage food
To make the different dishes offered each day, you have the ingredients provided by the hotel. “I depend a little on the orders they make, I adapt and they also adapt to what they see we are consuming. It is one of the biggest problems at my job, because there are a lot of shortages“he comments.
That said, it is regrettable that only one order is placed per week and also “They usually skimp a lot so that things don’t get ruined.“, he assures. For example, the fruit and vegetables arrive on Wednesdays and many times on Sundays they are already sold out. On the other hand, regarding the issue of utensils, he confesses that everything is a bit precarious.
Rodrigo Salvador, the cook of ‘Survivors’
Luckily, it seems that conditions are gradually changing for the better. “This year I have seen a health inspection that I had not seen until now. Things are getting better,” Salvador tells us, detailing that “everything comes frozen and vacuum-packed,” but “you have to try to get just enough, because preserving food from one day to the next can be dangerous.”
The Rewards Keeper
Without leaving all these people he has to feed unattended, he is also in charge of preparing the rewards for the contestants. “They ask me for them with very little time, because, as they say, reality is alive. The reward depends a lot on what the contestants have talked about that week. If Torres says that he would like a pizza, they take that into account in management and they ask me for it,” he gives us as an example.
But it is not always an easy task… “Sometimes they are more complicated things. They do not take the process into account. Once they asked me to make 300 torrijas in one day.. They need to know how this goes… In Spain you go to the supermarket, buy loaves of bread, dip them in infused milk, fry them, and that’s it. Here you have to make bread from flour“. And not only that, but the conservation, which as he has already mentioned before, never takes more than 24 hours from its preparation: “Everything is done daily.”
What the doctor suggests the contestants need is also taken into account.. If, for example, you consider that they are low in protein, a steak can be a good reward. However, the whims that are mentioned during the contest are usually used more. He also has to know how to adapt to situations and be able to get the dish that is requested: “The only thing that happened is that they asked for ham croquettes and it was impossible to find the ham and they were made with chicken,” he remembers.
What the contestants eat when they go out
Rodrigo also prepares the dishes that the contestants eat once they are eliminated. “We give them a special meal that includes a little bit of everything for the recording they make, which I also take care of. They usually carry pizza, hamburgers, pasta with tomato… that kind of thing.“, he comments. But from then on, as they stay at the hotel, “they eat in line and serve themselves. “There is variety, they come hungry and don’t have any problems.”
How did you become a chef on ‘Survivors’?
He was a student of Sergio Fernández, renowned chef and television face, so he was in charge of recommending people for programs being inside the world. Thanks to him, Rodrigo learned about this possibility and did not doubt it much. He admits that when it was proposed to him he got a little nervous, but it coincided with the fact that we were coming out of the pandemic and he saw this proposal as a great opportunity.
Here they did not leave the hotel, they were tested constantly and they could be without masks as they all formed a nucleus. “The first year was very hard, the second was better and now it’s fine. Experience is important in my position,” he tells us, before confessing that “here the cook usually doesn’t last long, it’s a lot of work and you end up at the top.”
Your daily life and your team
“My team arrives at 6 in the morning and starts making food. As soon as we finish making food, we start making dinner.“, he begins by narrating about the day-to-day life in kitchens. At the beginning of each edition, as we have new equipment, it is usually more complicated because he has to teach them the recipes, prepare them with them… and he laments that “sometimes they don’t even know cut well”.
When approximately a month has passed and they can now make all the dishes themselves, “there is more freedom and I might come in at 8:30 or 9, I can take a break at noon… but it’s a lot of hours,” we say. Rodrigo says, who has two people on his team in the mornings and another two in the afternoons.
