Check this out.
I got bush soap. (LAUGHS)
It'd be nice to have a shower, go out on a date with my wife,
to hug my kids.
The difference between winning this or not,
is whether you can bring in food,
and I've got some pretty elaborate ways of doing that.
I'm losing energy because I'm uncomfortable,
and I need to fix that.
It's been many years since I got out of the army.
Maybe I'm not as mentally resilient as...
..I thought I'd grown to be.
Fuck, what am I doing out here?
(PHONE RINGS)
I'm officially tapping out.
We're halfway to the South Pole.
We're going to be totally alone.
It's Tasmania. It's cold. It's rain, it's snow.
We're all going to leave, changed forever.
Holy fuck.
Yeah!
What is this place?
It's like a camp trip from hell.
Mother Nature's kicking my arse.
Oh, man.
This experience...
Ah, you fucker!
..is just as much a mind game...
Oh, my heart.
..as it is a survival game.
Check it out.
$250,000 prize would change my life.
Whoo-hoo!
It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But it comes at a cost.
Holy shit.
Oh.
I'm not really into golf, but here goes.
Hit it too far.
Oh, this is by far the nicest day.
It's just blue all around.
So, after a whole bunch of work, my kayak is complete.
Alright, so here's the kayak.
I'm really quite happy with how it looks on the outside.
Good tension.
I'm going to roll her over
so you can see all of the lacing I did last night.
It took forever, but it was worth it.
Look at that.
To burn the holes in the side of the tarpaulin,
I had to get a fire going.
Alright, you can go straight in the middle,
because you're behaving.
And then I had to heat up the billy handle,
and then used that like a hot poker, to put the holes through,
and that worked really well.
Oh, easy-peasy.
And then I used inner paracord to lace the edges.
Oh, perfect.
That worked even better than I thought it would.
Man, there's a bloody lot of work in that.
(SIGHS)
Yeah, but it's going to make a big difference.
I mean, for the first time since being here, I can explore my area...
..try my line, and all these opportunities just get opened up
with having a kayak.
I can't wait to get it in the water.
OK, I'm just going through final preparations.
It's pretty important that this kayak operates as planned,
because there's a lot riding on it.
It's going to be heavy with all this crap in it.
(GRUNTS)
(SIGHS)
That's a good sign. It floats.
My strategy is to prioritise food above all else.
And I really haven't eaten anything since I've got here.
So the kayak, to me,
is a very, very important survival tool.
Alright.
I do have to be careful,
because the bottom of the kayak is just tarpaulin,
so the slightest rub on a rock will slice it
and cause a leak and be very, very difficult to fix.
Getting my butt in is the tricky thing.
Come on.
Why is that scraping?
Alright. Now I'm floating.
This bloody fishing rod's in the bloody way.
Ah, that's better.
My centre of gravity lower towards the bottom of the boat.
I'm stuck.
Dead wood right under my nose.
£ I want to break free. £
Yes.
Whoop, sinking.
Good morning.
It was so fucking beautiful
waking up to a day of full sunshine.
Guess what?
My shelter was warm last night.
It was so warm, I got to take off my pants,
which is amazing, because my horrible itchy thighs
aren't terribly horrible and itchy.
Sleeping naked in the possum fur is ridiculously fabulous.
How glamorous is that?
(LAUGHS)
Not your normal idea of suffering away on Alone.
Remember how I couldn't do up my pants?
Today...
(HUMS FANFARE)
Guess what?
I can do up my pants. (INHALES)
Kind of.
Alright. It's not the most comfortable doing up of the daks,
but...
..they stay up.
So, the good thing about that is my pants do up.
The not so good thing about that
means I have lost a metric fuck ton of weight.
I reckon I'm coming up on 10 kilos.
For me to fit into these,
it means I'm almost losing a kilo a day.
That's a lot.
It's a lot I don't actually want to lose.
Like, I came in thinking I've got 30 kilos to lose,
and I knew that I would burn a whole bunch of calories
making this shelter,
but I can't sustain that.
I feel so, so, so glad
I came in with the strategy that I did,
which was to just blast the shelter right away.
I'd be so sad right now
if I had all of that work ahead of me.
Shelter's the number one thing, number one priority, in survival.
But now it's time to go out and actually find some food.
(GASPS) That's so exciting.
I'm going to eat something today.
That's what I'm doing today.
Today, I'm going to eat something.
That wasn't expected.
Oh, dry bag.
Right. So, I'm interested to know what happened there.
Obviously...
It's critical that I get this kayak fixed.
The biggest threat for me here is starvation.
I need some bloody food.
Morning, everyone.
Guess what day it is?
Double fucking digits.
And you know what? Have a look at this.
£ Blue sky
£ We got a blue sky day today. £
So, today we're going to go hunting for yabbies.
You beauty! Let's go.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
(WHISTLES)
Wow, look at this.
Isn't this just incredible?
We've gone, like, two metres, and look how pretty it is.
What a rainforest paradise.
Look at that.
It is a dream.
It's a dream.
Oh, bloody check this out.
Have a go at that.
There's a bloody waterfall here.
It's not big, but it's bloody awesome.
And it's perfect water for yabbies. This is it.
We're going to park up here for a bit,
try and get some yabbies and that, in there.
See, if I just put that right in the middle there,
nice and slow, and let that sink down...
..hopefully there's a yabby under that rock ledge there or somewhere,
and he's going to get a scent of that tasty seafood
and come running out.
Then I'm going to pounce.
I love this place so much.
So much.
My time in the army left me with PTSD and anxiety,
and it's taken me many, many years to sort of,
you know, work out the triggers.
This is so intense.
I'm not big on busy, noisy places.
I get anxious when I see ambulance or fireys.
You know, sirens.
Come on.
And when I'm out in the bush, there's no stresses.
There's no triggers, there's no anxieties.
For me, being in nature
is the best thing for my mental health.
It's not looking good here, guys.
Maybe that bait isn't enticement enough.
He's a bit scared. So...
..what I'll do is just try and feel around with me hands.
Nup.
Alright, let's get out of here.
Don't even care about the food.
Well, I do, but I'm not even disappointed.
Just angry.
Nah.
Surely, if we keep having this positive vibe and good attitude...
..working hard, good things will happen.
It will. I know it will.
(HELICOPTER FLIES OVERHEAD)
So, we've got that chopper flying over
and I thought it was, like, super exciting, but...
(SNIFFLES)
..and now I'm just getting mad PTSD triggers.
I don't know why.
I don't know if it's like...
..like someone's hurt or, like...
Fuck.
(SNIFFS)
PTSD is fucking shit.
It's like crazy panic attack.
Huge waves of emotion.
(SNIFFLES)
(SIGHS)
(SIGHS) Far out.
(HELICOPTER FLIES OVERHEAD)
Fuck.
(GROANS)
Fuck.
(SNIFFLES)
Jesus.
Well, that's what a fucking PTSD panic attack looks like...
..if you ever want to see one.
(SIGHS)
(INHALES)
(SIGHS)
(SNIFFLES)
(SOBS)
(SIGHS)
Fuck.
Yeah.
So... I don't know.
It took me a long time to...
..realise I had PTSD, and...
..it's not a good feeling.
It's just something that I believe will never go away.
I haven't had one of these attacks for...
..a while, maybe six months.
Obviously, things are a bit more severe out here with the emotions
and what's going on.
(SIGHS)
It's weird.
It's fucking weird and it's hard to work out.
Like, you've just got no control over your emotions at all.
It's like the most saddest, horrific thing has ever happened...
..but nothing has happened.
That's how your body reacts.
So, yeah.
There it is.
Post traumatic fucking stress disorder.
You beauty.
Wow, that was crazy.
(HELICOPTER FLIES OVERHEAD)
Helicopter, coming to get me.
So, at night I've been hearing some pretty crazy noises around my tent
and I'm super interested to know what it is.
So I've come out the back here behind my shelter
and I'm going to look for, say, like, little diggings
or any, like, scat that can sort of indicate
if it's a possum or a wallaby.
Not hunting them. I would never hunt possum.
I'm just really curious, to be honest.
I've got up a few times in the night
to try and see them,
but they're elusive little critters here.
But this is a great little animal track.
You can see...
..there's no leaf litter here
and there's sort of like
this little highway coming up and through.
So I'm going to follow this along, and see if I can find anything.
It's surprising to me how beautiful this place is to me now.
When I first got here, I was just like, "Ugh."
(LAUGHS)
"What have I done? What am I doing here?"
(LAUGHS)
Still can't get over the forest here in lutruwita.
It's just so different to mainland Australia.
And it really excites me as an ecologist,
that there's so many different landscapes and habitat types
and there's always more to learn.
So I found some poo,
and sometimes that's the best way to know what's around,
is to look at the poo.
And I'm pretty sure this is a Bennett's wallaby.
Then over here, we've got, like, a little possum poo.
I can't really tell
if it's a ringtail or a brushtail possum, but...
(LAUGHS) You probably don't care.
(LAUGHS)
Only the ecologist can get excited about poo, hey?
When I hike, I go into nature and I...
..I look around and I experience and I absorb the beauty and...
I love learning about it and understanding it.
So for me, this is a longer game than just...
..the survival experience.
For me, this is a lifelong experience.
and I'm actually really relieved that I've found my own...
..my own path and I've walked my own path
while I've been out here, and...
..I don't want to be hunting possums
and killing them, you know? I...
That's not how I interact with nature.
And I want to be true to myself.
Even if that does mean
that I can't stay out here as long as I'd initially planned.
I'm OK with that. I'm really OK with that.
Yeah, and I'm really proud of myself for doing that.
(SNIFFLES)
Really proud.
Alright, friends.
The day has come.
If I don't start eating, I am going to get pretty sick.
And I know they tap people for losing weight too quickly.
So I need to go out and find some food.
The simplest option is saw sedge bases.
I want to get a whole bunch and chop them up
and put them in a pot and cook them.
Now, it says you can eat them raw, as well.
Honestly, try eating a toothbrush.
That's what it's like. (LAUGHS)
So, maybe if I boil the shit out of them for a whole day,
they'll turn to mush and I can eat them.
Nah.
Nothing is going to soften that shit.
That is just not edible.
Well, I guess if nothing else, I'll be able to drink the water
and there'll be some nutrients in that.
I think.
I've never said I was an expert survivalist.
And I'm not. And I know I'm not.
I don't have all the crack skills, but I was thinking about it,
and the thing that I do have is
I am completely comfortable in wild nature.
Totally and utterly comfy.
Like, I have an innate sense that it's all going to be OK,
and I'm going to figure it all out.
I don't question it, because I feel at home.
Oh, a little bit more.
So I absolutely think I have what it takes to win.
There we go.
Suddenly that unappetising-looking broth is delicious.
It's kind of revolting. (LAUGHS)
You ever see the cat when it's eaten something
and it just doesn't like it? And it goes, "Bleh".
(LAUGHS)
Yeah.
It was OK.
No, it wasn't. It was horrible. (LAUGHS)
But it's all I've got, so it has to be OK.
My belly does not like that saw sedge soup.
This close to hurling.
(GROANS)
(COUGHS, SPITS)
(BELCHES, SPITS)
(COUGHS)
I have nothing to throw up.
Just some water.
(COUGHS, SPITS)
Doesn't taste any better coming out than it did going in.
VOICEOVER: Alone Australia is brought to you by Kia.
Experience the ultimate human endurance
as 10 contestants battle to survive alone
in the Tasmanian wilderness,
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000.
(ANIMAL CALLS)
(ANIMALS CALLS)
(ANIMAL CALLS)
(POSSUM CALLS) Hello.
(POSSUM CALLS) (LAUGHS)
Can you guys see it?
Tree.
So cute.
I'm really happy that I finally worked out who my neighbours were.
(LAUGHS)
It's just nice now,
when I hear them, I'll be able to think of them
and be like, "Oh, yeah.
"It's my little possum family up in the tree,
"having a nibble." (LAUGHS)
I am missing them and I would love to be with them.
But this is what I'm doing right now,
and I just have to keep pushing, just for a little bit longer.
A little bit longer.
(POSSUM CALLS)
There's some little possum noises.
(POSSUM CALLS)
Trees just past the camp fire.
(POSSUM CALLS)
I probably should go and have a check,
because I'm actually feeling hungry.
(POSSUM CALLS)
(WHISPERS) Come here, little critter.
The critters always disappear so quickly,
as soon as you flick your head lamp on.
(YAWNS) Back to bed.
(POSSUM CALLS)
He is just above the tarp.
But I'm not going to get out of bed again,
because last time I did that, he snuck off.
(POSSUM CALLS)
Good morning, everybody.
Last night was interesting.
It hardly rained at all last night.
So the critters were really active.
There's, like, a little glider or a little possum
living around the camp, through the night.
I've had a little bit of success finding some plants to eat,
but it's been a while since I've had some meat
and I won't be able to stay out here much longer
unless I start catching critters and eating them.
So the plan is start trapping possum.
I think I'm going to build
a kind of box trap with a flap door.
The sun's out.
I think there's total blue skies, from what I can see.
So let's go for it.
£ Possum trapping today. £
I feel my experiences as a vet will make a big difference
to my survival in the wild.
I know a lot about animals, their environments,
their temperaments, their personalities,
their usual routines.
If any critters want to come down to the cove,
whether it's a possum for a drink,
or to graze on some of that mossy stuff down there,
they're going to come past here, which is super open,
and they're just going to go straight down this path.
So we might just put the possum trap
about there, I reckon.
I've trapped feral cats
in the conservation area of my place a few times.
I've trapped cattle before.
I've trapped pigs.
So I'm confident that I can do vastly better
than the average person.
I'm really looking forward to using my extra knowledge
and trapping skills to make a difference
and really get ahead in the game.
Time for a bit of a break, before I make a mistake,
holding the axe the wrong way up, or something.
But it's coming together
and I'm pretty sure it's going to work, which is great.
I think on the whole,
I feel like I'm doing really well out here.
Guess the only thing I dislike...
..not having my family around.
It'd be nice to have a date that this finished on,
to know that after 40 days or 60 days...
..your family were going to be back with you.
It's hard not knowing.
I mean, I'm happy to stay out here, you know, but the longer I'm away,
the harder it is on them.
Dear God, watch over my family in my absence.
Keep them safe and happy.
Amen.
So, I just figured out why this thing sunk.
The water is leaking in just here.
I don't know if you can see that.
So these folds, I just need to pull these folds
up to the same height as the water level.
So I can fix that.
Oh, that's a lot better.
It's an easier job than I expected.
Alright, I'm just about to attempt kayak expedition number two.
Hopefully with no sinking this time.
Wish me luck. (LAUGHS)
It's beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful out here.
As soon as you just hit the water, it's just quiet, peaceful.
There's no water coming in.
It's dry on the bottom.
Like, that is a massive achievement.
It's bloody great.
Bloody great.
Yeah, this is the biggest highlight of my journey so far, out here.
Just saw a little ripple on the water there.
So, I'm going to do a little bit of fishing.
OK.
Super-duper whiz-bang diving lure, check.
Probably quite deep underneath me here.
You know what'll happen?
I'll hook a fish and I'll get so excited
I'll pull my fishing rod up, and I'll fall in.
(SIGHS)
This paddle already weighs a ton.
Yeah, due to the weight of the paddle,
it is using more energy than I was expecting.
Plus I'm doing a constant sit-up, the whole time.
Because my seating position's not great.
My stomach muscles are burning, absolutely burning right now.
(EXHALES)
Come on, fish. It's not that hard.
Just swim up to it, open your mouth, bite down.
Come to papa.
Alright.
Now I'm just going to look at my surroundings closely
for recce purposes.
So, there's two things I really need.
One is to scope out
some new animal habitat, specifically possums.
And second, different vegetation that I can choose from.
Because this place is very low on edible plants.
Almost looks like an island there.
Is that an island?
Pine trees on it.
I think I'm going to jump out.
Look for resources.
Jeez, it's slippery.
Cute little island.
But...
I think the extra grass here is 'cause,
no animals to come out here and graze it.
So that's a bit disappointing.
It's bloody barren as, around here.
There's absolutely no sign of food at all.
Time to scurry away with my tail between my legs.
VOICEOVER: Alone Australia is brought to you by Kia
Experience the ultimate human endurance
as 10 contestant battle to survive alone in the Tasmanian wilderness,
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000.
Good morning, everyone.
Today is day 11 and there's a blue sky
and the sun is out and it's going to be marvellous.
How's that for waking up the neighbours, bright and early?
(GROANS)
You know, obviously, yesterday I had that panic attack
and I could've just gone, "No, that's it, I'm out of here."
But I have learned that it does go and it gets better.
So we're still here. We're still cracking on.
Oh, you know what? It's moving.
The line's moving.
OK, relax.
Don't stuff this up.
I can see it.
There's the bait.
It's a fish.
It's a bloody... Oh, what a jump!
Oh, he's really keen, this one.
Come on, come on, come on.
Oh, no, me rod's too long.
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
No, no, no, no.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, stop. Stop. Don't lose it.
(LAUGHS) Yeah!
Yeah!
Wow, what a start to the day.
Day 11. Whoo-hoo.
We're having trout for breakfast.
I'm going to soup this whole thing.
It's crazy. Like, one minute it's just super insanely tough
and challenging and pushes you to your limits.
Looking real good.
And then the next minute, it's just absolute paradise.
Look at that. (LAUGHS)
(HUMS)
(SPITS) Bones.
(SPITS)
I'm happy today.
I really am.
So good.
But, thinking about home a lot.
Yeah, I guess, just missing the old life, a little bit.
It's funny how the mind can change so quickly.
Start thinking about home a little bit,
and then you're like, "Yeah."
But then at another moment you're like, "Yeah, I'm going to win this.
"I'm going to stay for, like, 100 days."
It's hard to control the mind.
The highs are incredible,
but I'm not very good at managing those massive lows.
Alright, it's time for a final troll...
..on the way home.
Oh, well, that trip wasn't a roaring success, really.
I've been working my butt off a whole range of different ways,
and really haven't brought in a decent mouthful of food.
Through the gap, here.
When even the kayak, yes, I get to fish,
but I'm burning calories when I fish,
and it's not producing any fish.
(SIGHS) Come on.
So I'm actually wondering whether to change strategy...
..and just switch to who can starve the longest
and not burn calories.
Just be extremely stingy with what calories I burn.
Let's get this out of the way, shall we?
When I found out this was going to be in Tasmania,
my biggest fear was it was going to be like this,
a starvation competition.
And that's why I did everything I could to put weight on.
And there's a good chance that that will be the biggest thing
I could have done to win this.
It's not about giving up, it's about...
You got to be smart here. Like, you got to look at what's available.
At the moment, there's jack shit available. So...
..the smarter move, on a scale of frenzied activity,
get as much food as you can,
to sit there and do absolutely nothing,
at the moment, for me,
I'd probably have an extra kilo or two
if I'd sat there and done nothing.
Now, obviously that wouldn't have worked because I needed to find out
that there's nothing out there that I can eat.
So... But 'cause I'm rapidly coming to that conclusion,
then I'm going to go down to this end of the scale,
which is minimise energy expenditure.
Um...
End of day 11 today.
And...
..I've learned a lot, really, a lot about myself, so far.
A lot about what my mind needs.
As much as I love peace and quiet and being alone...
..I just don't have enough distractions
to keep my thoughts at bay.
Stop my mind from wandering off.
Give myself a rule that...
..if you're going to tap, you tap in the morning.
So I'm just going to see what the morning holds,
see what happens throughout the night.
I just want to leave this place on a good note,
with a big smile, and not go down into a deep, dark hole.
Morning!
There's no way I can eat that.
Yeah, baby. An eel. Oh, now I've got to eat it.
If it gets infected, it could be the end.
My knife's out.
Shit! Fuck!
Fuck.
Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2023