A former Survivor Greece contestant who lost his leg during filming in the Dominican Republic has taken his fight to a Miami-Dade County courtroom, filing a lawsuit that seeks more than $100 million from the reality show's producers. Stavros Floros, 22, was airlifted to Miami after the May 11, 2026 accident and spent 61 days recovering at Ryder Trauma Center inside Jackson Memorial Hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries before the case ever reached a judge.
The 61-page complaint, filed September 3 by the maritime law firm Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A., brings claims of negligence, civil conspiracy and violations of general maritime law, according to Courthouse News Service. The filing names Acun Medya, Acun Medya Global, Acun LLC, Acun Medya founder Acun Ilıcalı and broadcaster SKAI TV as defendants, according to reporting by TheWrap. The Miami filing itself is notable: the accident happened in Caribbean waters off a Greek-produced show, yet the case is unfolding in a South Florida state court.
That venue choice is no accident, according to the lawsuit. The complaint alleges personal jurisdiction in Miami-Dade County rests on Ilıcalı's ownership, through Acun LLC, of real estate at 250 S. Coconut Lane in Miami Beach, and on claims that he made key operational and safety decisions for Survivor Greece while physically present in Florida, per the same court filing.
How the Collision Happened
Court documents describe the accident occurring off Saona Island near Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, while Floros and fellow contestant Emmanouil Malliaros were spearfishing for food. A tourist boat carrying roughly 20 passengers struck Floros, completely severing his left leg above the knee; the limb was never recovered from the water, according to the documents cited by Thought Catalog. The seed facts note Floros ultimately needed most of his left leg amputated and now lives with permanent disability from trauma to his right ankle as well.
The complaint further asserts that Floros survived the initial trauma only because an unidentified bystander aboard the colliding boat applied an emergency tourniquet to control the bleeding before he was brought ashore, according to the ABA Journal. Floros's team argues that no such intervention should have been the only thing standing between him and death on a professional production.
Allegations of Prior Warnings Ignored
The lawsuit alleges that producers required contestants to spearfish in open waters heavily used by commercial and tourist vessels without spotters, safety boats, or warning buoys — despite what it describes as prior near-misses and a previous fatality in the same Bayahibe waters, according to RadarOnline. Among the broader claims listed in the seed reporting, the suit contends producers knowingly put contestants in danger, failed to take basic precautions, and failed to properly mark boating areas used for diving.
The filing also accuses producers of trying to create a false record of the incident in order to keep filming, and separately alleges that producers distributed cocaine and marijuana to remaining cast members to calm them after the accident, per the same RadarOnline report. Those allegations remain unproven claims within the litigation rather than established fact.
Production's Response and the Show's Fallout
Acun Medya has offered a very different account. In public statements, the company said the incident happened outside the show's official competitive process, contending Floros was diving without a surface marker buoy in waters used by tourists, and maintained that emergency medical care and transport were provided immediately, according to CBC News. The company also said an investigation into the incident was ongoing, per TheWrap's reporting, and that port authorities were separately investigating the causes and circumstances of the accident.
Broadcaster SKAI TV suspended airing of Survivor Greece after the accident, releasing a statement emphasizing that production was conducted exclusively under the control and responsibility of Acun Medya while pledging to help with Floros's medical care, according to Global News. Production on Season 13 was suspended in the wake of the tragedy.
A Symbolic Title After the Season Ended
With filming halted, producers named Floros the symbolic winner of the season and awarded him the €250,000 grand prize, worth roughly $291,000, according to Thought Catalog. That payout came before litigation began and is separate from the $100 million Floros is now seeking in damages through the Miami-Dade court system.
Floros's suit claims producers failed to provide him with a reasonably safe workplace and failed to deliver timely, proper medical care in the aftermath of the collision. He remained hospitalized for weeks in serious but stable condition before eventually being described as out of danger, according to the seed reporting on his recovery.
