The tech firm Plex spent half a million dollars flying 120 remote workers to Honduras for a “Survivor”-themed retreat that went wrong nearly from the beginning, attendees recalled.
Six people who attended the corporate trip spoke to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an interview published April 6. They are reportedly still working alongside each other and recalling what took place nearly a decade after. CEO Keith Valory said he typically arrived early to prepare but was laid out with a severe stomach infection the day first employees arrived.
The executive admitted he ignored repeated advice to skip the fresh produce. “‘Don’t eat the vegetables. Don’t eat the vegetables,’” Valory recalled being told.”I was like, ‘I’ve got to have a salad. Just one little salad.’”
He recalled contracting E. coli, dropping nearly 10 pounds and spending the trip hooked to an IV bag while a doctor attended to him in his room, according to the WSJ. (RELATED: Karoline Leavitt Says Trump Wants Congress To Hightail It Back From Vacation And Finally Reopen DHS)
With Valory sidelined, co-founder and Chief Product Officer (CFO) Scott Olechowski took over the kickoff, which he said included a platter challenge where employees had to eat whatever was placed in front of them. Shawn Eldridge, Plex’s head of business development, lifted his cover and allegedly found a dead tarantula.
“I just grabbed it and did it. Pretty horrible, not going to lie. Those hairs,” he told the WSJ.
Senior executives at the tech company Plex were eager to treat their 120 fully remote staffers to a weeklong corporate getaway in a tropical paradise.
What followed was a comedy of errors. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/YdNFJUsmzd
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 7, 2026
The company also brought in a former Navy SEAL to run military-style drills on the beach, employees recalled. “We’re doing Army crawling on the beach. It was 100 degrees,” senior product manager Greta Schlender told the WSJ.
She recalled landing on a fire ant hill during one exercise. “On command, everyone had to hit the grass. Everyone is silent. We’re pretending we’re Navy SEALS. But I happened to land in the wrong spot. I’m just like, ‘What’s happening? What’s happening?’ I was sitting on a fire ant hill. I was wearing shorts, OK?” she said.
She alleged that the resort‘s medical team had no standard antihistamine. “So they’re like, ‘Oh, we can shoot some into your butt cheek.’ That was a first for me,” Schlender told the WSJ.
In another incident, a porcupine allegedly fell through the bathroom ceiling of senior software engineer Rick Phillips’ room overnight. He recalled discovering it the next morning when he went to shower. “I called the front desk. I said, ‘There’s some sort of large rodent thing here,’” Phillips told the WSJ. “The hotel pretty much just got the porcupine and left.”
The trip’s final disaster came during a day excursion by plane to the island of Utila, according to Olechowski. Sean Hoff, founder of Moniker Partners, a corporate retreat agency behind the trip’s planning, told the WSJ what happened next. He said they attempted to shuttle more than 100 employees back on small propeller planes before sunset because the runway lacked lighting. They fell short when two planes never took off, leaving a group stranded overnight where they made the most of things, Hoff and employees said.
“You get really close bonds on these trips,” Valory told the WSJ. “It’s like the life-sustaining force of the company.”