Alone Australia

[Shell]

Alone Australia Season 2 2024 – Everything You Need to Know

Alone Australia is back for another season! Meet the cast and new location...

weareexplorers.co

Oh that's brilliant. I might actually tune in for the entire series, instead of tapping at about ep 5 or 6 like I did the last time

 

[Kram]

Hopefully they screen the contestants a lot better this time as well.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Hopefully they screen the contestants a lot better this time as well.

Hopefully not 3 people pulling out day 1.
Bow n arrows I'm not sure about as there is plenty of ways to hunt without them.
Indigenous people killed without bows.

 

[Vader]

Hopefully not 3 people pulling out day 1.
Bow n arrows I'm not sure about as there is plenty of ways to hunt without them.
Indigenous people killed without bows.

We saw how effective nets were... not!

The only major kill of the entire series happened when she literally fell over the animal, when she went out to go to the toilet. It wasn't some great hunting kill.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

We saw how effective nets were... not!

The only major kill of the entire series happened when she literally fell over the animal, when she went out to go to the toilet. It wasn't some great hunting kill.

Koori eel farms are found in western Victoria that are 15,000 years old.
I still think the wallaby in S1 was a set up.

 

[Vader]

Koori eel farms are found in western Victoria that are 15,000 years old.

They caught plenty of eels anyway.

I still think the wallaby in S1 was a set up.

We're well aware of your strange conspiracy theories.

 

[Vader]

They want to film Alone in the winter months, when conditions are at their most challenging. All of the US seasons were set at the start of winter, in cold environments, and Alone Australia is no different.

However, the area where they filmed in Tasmania simply doesn't have much in the way of resources during winter - even the aboriginals used to bail out during winter, heading to more plentiful areas. Compounding matters, local hunting regulations mean that the only way they could hunt larger game (i.e. wallabies) was using drop nets, which proved extremely unsuccessful - both in the time/energy resources used in creating & setting them, and the fact that they produced SFA as a result.

Filming in NZ will allow participants to be more proactive with their food supplies, given that bow & arrow hunting is permitted. They won't be limited to fishing for days on end. They may not have wallabies to hunt, but I'm sure they'll find other animals in the NZ wilderness.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

They want to film Alone in the winter months, when conditions are at their most challenging. All of the US seasons were set at the start of winter, in cold environments, and Alone Australia is no different.

However, the area where they filmed in Tasmania simply doesn't have much in the way of resources during winter - even the aboriginals used to bail out during winter, heading to more plentiful areas. Compounding matters, local hunting regulations mean that the only way they could hunt larger game (i.e. wallabies) was using drop nets, which proved extremely unsuccessful - both in the time/energy resources used in creating & setting them, and the fact that they produced SFA as a result.

Filming in NZ will allow participants to be more proactive with their food supplies, given that bow & arrow hunting is permitted. They won't be limited to fishing for days on end. They may not have wallabies to hunt, but I'm sure they'll find other animals in the NZ wilderness.

Ahahahah.
Feral pigs and feral deer.
Last years contestants wouldn't have got within cooee of either.

 

[faible]

Ahahahah.
Feral pigs and feral deer.
Last years contestants wouldn't have got within cooee of either.

I'd hope they've learned some lessons, casting for diversity is all well and good, but people need to fundamentally have the skillsets to survive first and foremost.

 

[Vader]

Ahahahah.
Feral pigs and feral deer.
Last years contestants wouldn't have got within cooee of either.

Not just big game. You often see participants in the US version shooting smaller animals, such as squirrels and grouse (birds).

I'm not sure we've ever seen a season with multiple large animal kills - but we've seen plenty of small animal kills, and this is what I would expect to see more of in NZ.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Not just big game. You often see participants in the US version shooting smaller animals, such as squirrels and grouse (birds).

I'm not sure we've ever seen a season with multiple large animal kills - but we've seen plenty of small animal kills, and this is what I would expect to see more of in NZ.

Yep

 

[StingBitten]

A lot of older and mostly male contestants this time.

I wonder if the demographics of the applicants were much different this time or the eligibility criteria?

 

[Vader]

Season 2 starts at 7:30pm next Wednesday.

Apparently they're not allowed to hunt native NZ animals with their bow & arrows. Feral animals, most notably possums & deer, are legitimate targets.
https://www.theage.com.au/culture/t...-alone-australia-is-back-20240318-p5fd9e.html

Not sure if there's a complete ban on killing native NZ animals, or if they just can't be hunted using the bow & arrow (i.e. trapping may be OK).

 

[Vader]

A lot of older and mostly male contestants this time.

I wonder if the demographics of the applicants were much different this time or the eligibility criteria?

There also appears to be fewer indigenous contestants this time around, at least based on the skin colour visible in the photos.

Looks like they've learned a few casting lessons from S1 - being indigenous doesn't automatically mean that you're competent in the bush. The S1 winner was indigenous, but almost all of the other indigenous contestants were eliminated inside 48 hours. What matters most is survival skills, and Gina had those in spades - she won because of her exceptional survival skills, not because of her skin colour. Maybe, just maybe, they've altered their selection criteria to weight survival skills a bit higher than diversity this time around - and that can only be a good thing.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

There is millions of pigs and deer

 

[StingBitten]

There also appears to be fewer indigenous contestants this time around, at least based on the skin colour visible in the photos.

Looks like they've learned a few casting lessons from S1 - being indigenous doesn't automatically mean that you're competent in the bush. The S1 winner was indigenous, but almost all of the other indigenous contestants were eliminated inside 48 hours. What matters most is survival skills, and Gina had those in spades - she won because of her exceptional survival skills, not because of her skin colour. Maybe, just maybe, they've altered their selection criteria to weight survival skills a bit higher than diversity this time around - and that can only be a good thing.

There's a few Indigenous people I know who live in the desert regions of WA who'd have a damn good chance of winning, but those people don't speak great English nor would really have any desire to go on the show.

Interestingly, there's a few I work with in the metro who tried to apply and I'd say their survival skills are no greater than most others, except that they're decent at camping/fishing/hunting... Whereas long-term survival is a completely different

 

[Vader]

SBS have announced some information about this year's cast members:
https://tvtonight.com.au/2024/03/alone-australia-2024-meet-the-cast.html#comments

By my count:
Males: 7
Females: 3
Indigenous: 2

Average Age: 46 years

It remains to be seen if this year's crop have better survival skills than most of the S1 group, but demographically I think they've hit the same sweet spot as the US series.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Fjordland great hunting , just stacks of food.

And that wasn't a rub tree

 

[Vader]

Well, we're off to a decent start. Nobody pulling the plug inside 24 hours. The only person who tapped in the 1st episode did so because they were having what appears to be a heart attack - not because they lacked skills. Fingers crossed he'll be OK. I assume we'll find out the outcome early in next week's episode. I know they normally do half the group in ep 1, and the other half of the group in ep 2, but surely they won't make us wait for ep 3 to find out the story of his medical emergency?

... and the girl has already outlasted her partner, who tapped inside 24 hours in the first series!

 

[Lyttelton Ranger]

There is millions of pigs and deer

Have you ever been out in the NZ wilderness? I've spent plenty of time in the Alps and Fiordland and deer are especially hard to find in the bush. Wild pigs/boar are also good at evading humans. The only other large critter of note is the tahr which exist at altitude. Even the birdlife is scarce thanks to the destructive efforts of the stoat.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Have you ever been out in the NZ wilderness? I've spent plenty of time in the Alps and Fiordland and deer are especially hard to find in the bush. Wild pigs/boar are also good at evading humans. The only other large critter of note is the tahr which exist at altitude. Even the birdlife is scarce thanks to the destructive efforts of the stoat.

Yes.
Did fjordland in the 70s.
No problems getting fish,pig and deer.
25 minute helicopter ride in.
3 1/2 hour boat ride in

 

[Vader]

So... did people prefer ep 1 of season 1, or season 2?

In Season 1, we saw some truly clueless contestants evicted from the show. There wasn't a whole lot of competence on display, just a couple of examples of really bad casting - people who were cast largely on the basis of "diversity" (i.e. skin colour) and not on their ability to survive.

In Season 2, we saw a group of people who all seemed reasonably competent in the bush. However, the only real drama was the medical emergency which happened in the show's dying minutes - and which was left as an unresolved cliff hanger. We saw people setting up temporary shelters, lighting their first fires, and starting to explore their environments (and gaping in awe at the beauty of the NZ Southern Alps). All in all though, there really wasn't much drama until the medical emergency.

Obviously the S2 competitors have been better cast, but did that make for better television viewing?

 

[Kram]

Only the first ep but it felt like a cure for insomnia.

 

[Vader]

Only the first ep but it felt like a cure for insomnia.

The first couple of eps are often slow. The episode time has to be shared between a large number of contestants, and they're all people we haven't gotten to know yet. The drama starts to kick in once the weather gets cold & wet, and the contestants start struggling to find enough food to sustain themselves. That usually takes a few episodes.

Last year the first episode was full of champagne comedy, as the incompetents (who should never have been cast in the first place) were quickly weeded out. This year the casting was better, so we didn't have anybody to laugh at or poke fun at.

 

[Vader]

Redditors have identified the filming location as Lake Te Anau, on the eastern side of Fjordland National Park:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/plac...4d167.7500397!16zL20vMDMwcmg4?hl=en&entry=ttu

Gotta say, the location shits all over the site they used last year in Tasmania. They might as well have named that area Dismal Swamp, for all we saw of it. The scenery at Lake Te Anau is simply majestic.