‘Survivor Greece’ star who lost a leg sues producers in Miami-Dade court

A 22-year-old popular television star suddenly left without a left leg and with a badly damaged right one is suing his show’s producers in Miami-Dade County for negligence and is seeking compensation for injuries suffered while taping.

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Stavros Floros, a cast member of “Survivor Greece,” represented by Coral Gables-based law firm Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, filed the suit on Thursday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

The incident happened in May off the southern coast of the Dominican Republic near Bayahibe, which is east of La Romana. The lawsuit alleges that the show’s producers required contestants to spearfish in heavily boat-trafficked waters without adequate safety measures and despite knowledge of previous problems, including a death.

The lawsuits named Acun Medya, Acun Medya Global, Acun LLC, Acun Ilicali and Skai TV as defendants and seeks damages on Floros’ behalf. Acun Medya is a Turkish media giant and production firm. Acun Ilicali is a Turkish media businessman worth millions of dollars. The suit is seeking $100 million.

“Survivor Greece” is a Greek TV offshoot of the original “Survivor.:

The lawsuit claims Florida has jurisdiction for the case for several reasons including past seasons of “Survivor Greece” and “Survivor Turkey” taped in Miami, and contestants regularly sent to the city as a reward.

“Survivor Greece” taped in South Florida in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023, and “the prior filming in Miami, Florida is what enticed Stavros to participate,” L. Alex Perez, one of the alleged victim’s lawyers and a partner with Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “He wanted to win the luxury reward trip to Miami.”

Additionally, “Survivor Greece” got benefits from the state of Florida by using its attractions in filming such as Government Cut or Wynwood. to attract viewers. Over a long period of time, “the TV production is doing business in the state of Florida … which subjects them to jurisdiction,” Perez said.

Acun Ilicali also owns assets in South Florida, including a home in Miami Beach. And he has used that property for business activities, the lawsuit alleges.

Acun Medya didn’t respond Thursday to a request for comment on the lawsuit from the Miami Herald.

Earlier this year, Stavros Floros experienced the following, according to the complaint:

At 7:30 a.m. May 11, Floros and castmate and friend Emmanouil Malliaros waded into the waters near Palmilla Island, in the Bayahibe filming area, to spearfish. They thought the water would be calmer in the early morning.

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Between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m, a boat carrying about 20 tourists headed toward Floros, and it wasn’t slowing down. Malliaros yelled at him to get out of the way. Floros tried to. He managed to slightly move so that he wasn’t hit and killed by the hull or propellers of the boat.

Still, the vessel’s propellers struck both legs of Floros. Part of his left leg was never recovered. It was severed above the knee and that led to an eventual full amputation. His right leg was badly mangled.

The collision happened less than a tenth of a mile from the shore. The boat eventually returned to Floros and helped him after a passenger insisted.

Someone aboard then applied a tourniquet to Floros, and possibly saved his life.

He was then taken to a clinic in the Dominican Republic.

Malliaros witnessed the events and described them.

“No production safety personnel, safety boats, spotters, or other protective measures were provided by Defendants,” says the complaint, “nor present at the time of the incident to warn approaching boats away from the area, or to protect Plaintiff and other cast members from boat traffic while in the water.”

Floros was then flown to Miami for trauma, surgical, and critical care. He was admitted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital and hospitalized for 61 days. He had several operations.

The defendants helped ensure Floros received medical care, the lawsuit acknowledged.

Yet, following the incident, filming and production of “Survivor Greece” didn’t stop. Producers “continued to exercise the same control over the remaining cast members that it had exercised before the incident,” according to the lawsuit. Producers also provided remaining cast members with cocaine and marijuana “apparently to help calm and settle the cast following Plaintiff’s injury.”

The production crew also sought to award Malliaros, the plaintiff’s friend, prize money due to his involvement in the incident. But to receive that prize money, producers asked Malliaros to sign a document falsely representing that the Survivor competition had ended on May 10, 2026, one day before the incident.

Malliaros refused to sign because the statement was untrue, the suit said, and instead required any agreement to state accurately that the competition remained ongoing at the time of the incident.

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