The Netflix game show Floor is Lava featured a tribute to producer Tim Sullivan at the end of its first episode.
Sullivan worked for a number of companies in the entertainment industry including Disney and Magical Elves. The Montclair Local News reported that he died in May at the age of 42.
Who is Tim Sullivan?
Tim Sullivan worked as the assistant to executive producers on the hit Bravo series Project Runway. He had 43 credits to his name for that show from 2004-2006.
He was also credited on the shows Last Comic Standing and Top Chef.
While his credits are limited, he actively worked in Hollywood, where he helped develop new shows as an executive for Zodiak, Core Media, Good Bye Productions and Fullscreen.
He eventually started his own production company, Gang of Wolves, in association with Sony Pictures.
Sullivan was 42 at the time of his death and passed on after a battle with bile duct cancer. According to his family, he died on May 18 with his friends and family around him.
He graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in English.
Sullivan leaves behind a wife, Claire, and one son named Rory.
Initially, there was a GoFundMe to help support his cancer battle, but any money raised in it now will go to his wife and son to help them start their new life without their husband and father.
There is also a charitable donation set up with The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation in his name.
What is Floor is Lava?
Floor is Lava is Netflix’s new game show that honors the childhood game of pretending that the entire floor in a room is lava and you have to move around it without touching the “lava” to stay alive.
In this case, it is the newest obstacle game similar to the classic Wipe Out.
Contestants are put into teams and they have to make it through exaggerated household scenes in living rooms and kitchens with lava on the floor.
“We tasked Hollywood’s number-one slime manufacturing lab with coming up with the proprietary blend and then ordered more slime than any show had ever produced—close to 100,000 gallons,” explained show producer Irad Eyal.
Floor is Lava joins other recent Netflix series Too Hot to Handle and Love is Blind as the company ventures into the competition show genre that has been successful on traditional networks.
Floor is Lava premiered on Netflix on June 19 with ten 30-minute episodes.