Fresh off winning $200,000 on the Channel Nine series The Floor, champion Alex Palmer has revealed the jaw-dropping off-screen twist nobody saw coming.
The 33-year-old Aussie expat has confirmed that a fellow contestant he met during filming of the Rodger Corser-host game show is now preparing to become a surrogate for him and his husband Brett.
Alex formed an unlikely bond with rival Antonia Hayes while competing on the hit game show, before their friendship took a life-changing turn after cameras stopped rolling.
In an extraordinary twist of fate, the couple’s first embryo transfer is scheduled to take place just days after the finale aired on Monday night.
Alex has described the timing as ‘totally surreal’.
The pair had been randomly positioned next to each other on The Floor grid during filming, but Alex said he never imagined the connection would end with Antonia offering what he called ‘the ultimate gift’.
Fresh off winning $200,000 on the Channel Nine series The Floor, champion Alex Palmer has revealed the jaw-dropping off-screen twist nobody saw coming
‘We talked about what I’d do with the money… I mentioned my husband and I were trying to start a family,’ Alex told 9now.
‘I guess that put the idea in her head.’
The two contestants quickly became friends during production and later travelled home together after filming wrapped.
But Alex insisted he initially believed Antonia was simply curious about the surrogacy process.
‘I really had no idea she was thinking about being our surrogate,’ he admitted.
After returning home, Antonia raised the idea with her husband James — despite the couple barely knowing Alex outside the show.
‘James thought she was insane because she just got back from the show and wanted to do this for someone she’d just met and he’d never met,’ Alex laughed.
‘But literally the next day she reached out to me about it and we just kicked off the process of trying to figure out if it was legally possible and if we were crazy – which we are but we’re going to make it work anyway!’
The 33-year-old Aussie expat has confirmed that fellow contestant Antonia Hayes is now preparing to become a surrogate for him and his husband Brett
Alex formed an unlikely bond with rival Antonia Hayes while competing on the hit game show, before their friendship took a life-changing turn after cameras stopped rolling
Antonia and James are already proud parents to five boys, and Alex said the two families immediately began navigating the complex surrogacy process across Australia and the UK.
That included months of counselling, legal meetings, medical testing and extensive paperwork.
Alex said the $200,000 prize money from The Floor would help cover the enormous costs involved.
‘We will be covering all of Antonia’s medical expenses, tests and other support she needs through her pregnancy. There’s a lot there the prize money is going to make possible,’ he explained.
Under both Australian and UK law, paying a surrogate beyond reasonable expenses is illegal.
Alex said he and Brett had already been saving for a family before appearing on the show, but meeting Antonia accelerated everything.
‘Antonia coming forward really sped things up and the prize money has made the possibility of a second pregnancy real too,’ he said.
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