Alone Australia

[MrsBlueSky]

I imagine to really get into it you'd need to follow their socials/streaming platforms, I followed Mike after last year and found a wealth of knowledge that they really hone into.

Outback Mike seems to be a bloody decent bloke.
He gets up to a lot of interesting things.
One was meeting up with an Aussie lady walking the length of the Americas and they ventured up an active volcano together

 

[Vader]

Maybe I was on a bit of a vent, naturally the mental anguish plays a huge role particularly in the latter stages - but there was almost no bush-craft focus this year.

For me it's actually interesting as it paints the unique personality traits each contestant has, for example I was surprised to learn most of the contestants thought K had the best shelter - seeing as he didn't eat any protein some people might've thought he was lucky to win it. But I imagine his shelter would've played a massive part.

K was pretty much the only one shown insulating the walls of his shelter.

K was fairly lucky, in that his body was breaking down and he was on the verge of being pulled due to medical reasons. Suzan chose to leave, despite having the physical capacity to continue. If she's hung around for another 24 hours, the she would have been the winner.

In most cases, the series winner has been capable of continuing well beyond the tap out of their runner-up. Gina had 4x eels stored away, at the time when Mike pulled the plug. K is pretty much the only one - Aus or US - who wasn't capable of remaining in the bush until his partner arrived to deliver the good news.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Why would they read BigFooty? Lol.

They do read the Alone subreddit and some of the former contestant peruse/comment on it, particularly Kate from last season.

The trouble with Reddit is that like much of social media the shortest, most biting comments receive the most upvotes.

Anything with substance gets the TL;DR format.

I bet you Lucy Zelic does. She's soccer so must be SBS surely?

 

[Vader]

Alone Australia returns for Season 3, starting Wednesday 26th March.
https://tvtonight.com.au/2025/02/returning-alone-australia-2.html

As we already knew, this one was filmed in the West Coast Ranges in Tasmania. Also known already is that they had to endure some seriously rough weather. Fingers crossed they've found a better location than the first 2

New information is that the cast includes 5 females, and the oldest Alone contestant (63yo Muzza). Not sure if those are supposed to be Alone Australia records, or records for all Alone franchises.

Looking at the cast photo, it appears that they're all very white. No obviously indigenous contestants, though it's possible one or more may be be indigenous with fair skin.

No doubt we'll get more information about the cast as the broadcast date approaches.

The promo video looks promising. We see a quoll and a Tasmanian Devil, an animal getting caught in a trap, and some proper shelters. Fingers crossed it won't be just another starvation contests. At least the scenery is better than the dreary dam they were stuck on in the first season.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Love the west coast.
Best fishing,abalone, lobster and wallaby.

 

[Vader]

Contestant bios are up on the SBS website: https://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/2025/02/12/meet-the-cast-of-alone-australia-season-3/

My thoughts on the contestants, based purely on their bios:

• Ben - Has experience trapping. Has foraging skills, but none of the foods he's used to foraging exist in western Tasmania. Another God botherer, we can only hope he's not as annoying as the twat in S1.
• Ceilidh - "Hunting & trapping are not her forte". Oh dear... Reading her bio, she seems like someone who will be an early tapper.
• Corinne - Used to the cold. Comes from Tasmania, so should have some familiarity with the food options & weather conditions. Has some potential.
• Eva - Used to living off-grid, which puts her several steps ahead of the city-based contestants. Has some experience with bush foods, albeit not necessarily those available in Western Tasmania.
• Karla - A female "big game hunter". I think we all know how this ends. Should be gone by day 5.
• Matt - The token indigenous contestant (this is SBS after all). Has significant bushcraft skills, but how well do the Kimberley skills translate to Tasmania? Should be an interesting one to watch.
• Muzza - Has plenty of experience hunting & fishing, the question is how he goes without the bang sticks. At 63, he's the oldest contestant in Alone Australia history.
• Shay - The first Kiwi contestant in Alone Australia! As a trapper, you'd expect them to be reasonably competent at building and operating traps. Seems well equipped for the cold & wet weather in Tasmania. Promising...
• Tom - Bio is big on the word "foraging", but that's where it ends. Could very well be an early exit.
• Yonke - Sounds like a hippie, but not one with the mind-blowing skills of Gina Chick. I'm not reading anything in her bio which suggests why she was cast, let alone why anyone would consider her a contender.

Early favourites for me, based purely on bios, are Corinne, Eva, Matt and Shay.

It will be interesting to see how my predictions pan out... Surely one of the others will surprise me, and actually show something.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Eva
Ceilidh
Shay.
Definitely scratch the Koori on past series.

 

[Shell]

How the hell can you go on Alone without knowing how to hunt or trap?!?

 

[Vader]

Eva
Ceilidh
Shay.
Definitely scratch the Koori on past series.

Based on the bio he's one with actual bush skills - not an urban Koori who has never even seen the bush (like the husband/wife twats they cast in S1 & S2).

The question is whether the skills he learned in the Kimberley translate to Tasmania. Highly likely that a lot of them don't.

 

[Vader]

How the hell can you go on Alone without knowing how to hunt or trap?!?

WTF were SBS thinking when they cast them?

Australia just doesn't have the same bushcraft/survivalist sub-culture that is so prevalent in parts of the USA. It just doesn't exist here, which makes attempting to recruit talent (for the show) from a non-existent sub-culture somewhat difficult!

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Based on the bio he's one with actual bush skills - not an urban Koori who has never even seen the bush (like the husband/wife twats they cast in S1 & S2).

The question is whether the skills he learned in the Kimberley translate to Tasmania. Highly likely that a lot of them don't.

I led for many years outdoor survival groups and the better of places to survive is the west coast of tassie.
Water,crayfish, abalone,rabbits, snake,snails,shellfish and good shelter materials.
Good attitude and some basics will let you live there for 14 years

 

[Vader]

I led for many years outdoor survival groups and the better of places to survive is the west coast of tassie.
Water,crayfish, abalone,rabbits, snake,snails,shellfish and good shelter materials.
Good attitude and some basics will let you live there for 14 years

The filming location is in the Western Ranges of Tasmania, which suggests that seafood will probably not be on the menu - only what they find in the freshwater lakes & streams. That takes out most of the food options you listed.

 

[Shell]

I led for many years outdoor survival groups and the better of places to survive is the west coast of tassie.
Water,crayfish, abalone,rabbits, snake,snails,shellfish and good shelter materials.
Good attitude and some basics will let you live there for 14 years

Can you make fire from scratch

 

[tenderwarrior]

Pieces of help in the way of advice.
Where an animal might be.!
What plants could be eaten.!
Maybe you haven't tracked everywhere yet!
We're just changing camera batteries!

I actually worked as an adviser on a outdoors survival expert show once.
Seeing the star stay in a motel and wake up under a branch canopy for the camera.
Me showing a production assistant things in a general conversation and hearing the expert repeat it on camera at the viewing of the program.
Joe Rogan(who I don't like) at least he admitted to all these foibles
The life of television hey.

I remember the 'Survivor man' (Les Stroud) belittling Bear Grylls about how he was the real deal with no production team or cosy hotel bed waiting for him at the end of filming, and stating that if you did what Bear did in a survivor situation you would probably die.. but there are levels of 'scripting.. I remember watching a 'reality' renovations show where they had a 'last minute' disaster of a stone benchtop being dropped and chipped - however on watching the replay of it being taken off the truck BEFORE it was dropped, you can plainly see that the chip was already there and the drama was scripted in to add tension to the show (yuck)

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Can you make fire from scratch

It's tougher than people think.
In southern Australia all the ingredients are generally available.
Practice is the key.
Most people do it a few times and think yep I've got it, but under pressure in the middle of nowhere they typically fail.
Western highlands are a bit tougher but lots of possum and wallaby available.
Sorry Shell , yes I can rather well .
But I always carried a flint

 

[Shell]

It's tougher than people think.
In southern Australia all the ingredients are generally available.
Practice is the key.
Most people do it a few times and think yep I've got it, but under pressure in the middle of nowhere they typically fail.
Western highlands are a bit tougher but lots of possum and wallaby available.

I know it's tough.

Just asking

 

[Shell]

They had it as one of the final challenges on Naked and Afraid, they had a four day time limit or something similar. Only 2 actually did it

 

[Sqotty from office works]

I remember the 'Survivor man' (Les Stroud) belittling Bear Grylls about how he was the real deal with no production team or cosy hotel bed waiting for him at the end of filming, and stating that if you did what Bear did in a survivor situation you would probably die.. but there are levels of 'scripting.. I remember watching a 'reality' renovations show where they had a 'last minute' disaster of a stone benchtop being dropped and chipped - however on watching the replay of it being taken off the truck BEFORE it was dropped, you can plainly see that the chip was already there and the drama was scripted in to add tension to the show (yuck)

Bear Grills.
Ahahahah
That's all I've got.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Karla was on Survivor a year or two ago, absolutely nauseating, would continually refer to herself as an Alpha.

 

[Vader]

Did anyone else watch the new series of Alone Australia last night?

So far, so good. We've seen multiple contestants getting food - one eating worms, one catching 2x fish & 2x eels, another 1x eel. We've seen some creative bushcraft, from Muzza building his rainwater tank to Shay building a wallaby trap.

Better yet, we're now 9 days into the competition, and nobody has gone home!

Best news: SBS have finally seen sense and refused to cast a 3rd member of the useless aboriginal family who polluted our screens in both S1 & S2 (Leanne & Rob).

The shows intro has a few major spoilers. It shows a female eating what appears to be a wallaby - I'm fairly sure it's Corinne. It shows a participant with a badly swollen ankle, saying that they think it's broken - the voice seems to belong to Muzza. It shows one particpant with a completely flooded shelter, having built it too low and been surprised when the lake's water levels rose, the voice sounds like Shay.

 

[Vader]

My thoughts on the contestants so far...

• Ben - Not much to report here, other than that his God bothering is already extremely irritating. The sooner he goes home the better.
• Ceilidh - Was given a lot of screen time, despite achieving SFA in the game to date. Being both deaf and lesbian she was almost guaranteed to be cast as soon as she lodged her application, regardless of the fact that she seemingly has no survival skills. Strong contender for "worst DEI casting of the season". Starting to talk about being worried over not finding any food. All signs point to her being an early exit, as predicted before the game even began.
• Corinne - Didn't see a lot of her, at least nothing particularly memorable. Seems reasonably competent.
• Eva - See Corinne.
• Karla - See Corinne.
• Matt - Got off to a good start, but by the end he was already into "I miss my family" mode. Has survival skills, but is very quickly losing the mental game.
• Muzza - Had a LOT of screen time, along with Ceilidh. Unlike Ceilidh, he demonstrated competence in setting up a water tank to store rainwater running off his tent, and getting quickly into the fishing - which was surprisingly productive. Based on the spoilers in the opening sequence, his exit will be due to medical reasons (broken ankle), so the big question is how long before this happens? Given the sheer volume of screen time he had in Eps 1 & 2, I'm thinking the broken ankle happens sooner rather than later.
• Shay - Demonstrated some decent skills. Setup some salt lick sticks, to attract animals, with a view to setting traps for them once they had established a new pattern of life around the salt licks. We then saw him building the trap, which so far hasn't caught anything. We've also seen him digging for, finding, and cooking earth worms, and eating the edible base of sedge plants. Good survival skills all round then. The only problem is that he appears to have built his shelter very close to the water...
• Tom - See Corinne.
• Yonke - If Ben's God bothering is annoying, then Yonke's shit is off the scale. "Trees, are you happy for me to setup camp here... they're OK with it. Are you happy for me to cut off some of the branches... they're OK with it. Are you happy for me to cut down some of these young saplings... they're OK with it. This place really wants me to be here." The place may want you there, but I feel like vomiting watching this garbage. Don't even get me started on the annoying song she performed...

I know we saw all of them in at least 1 episode, but Ben, Eva, Karla & Corinne were completely unmemorable. I honestly couldn't tell Eva, Karla & Corinne apart at this point in time. However, given the minimal screen time they received in Eps 1 & 2 it's likely that they'll be going deep in the game, so we'll have lots of time to get to know them better in future episodes.

** I am now reminded that Corinne did the charcoal eyeliner. I rolled my eyes, and was tempted to hit the fast forward button.

 

[Vader]

Someone on Reddit has done a hell of a lot of work, figuring out where all of the contestants were dropped and setup camp:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Bf8kEwUF1tTfC_uvF0muBByj0FHDFlQ&ll=-42.116911552730286,145.671873&z=12

I take no credit for this - I've taken the link from a post on Reddit.

The contestants have all been dropped on Lake Burbury, in SW Tasmania.

 

[StingBitten]

My thoughts on the contestants so far...

• Ben - Not much to report here, other than that his God bothering is already extremely irritating. The sooner he goes home the better.
• Ceilidh - Was given a lot of screen time, despite achieving SFA in the game to date. Being both deaf and lesbian she was almost guaranteed to be cast as soon as she lodged her application, regardless of the fact that she seemingly has no survival skills. Strong contender for "worst DEI casting of the season". Starting to talk about being worried over not finding any food. All signs point to her being an early exit, as predicted before the game even began.
• Corinne - Didn't see a lot of her, at least nothing particularly memorable. Seems reasonably competent.
• Eva - See Corinne.
• Karla - See Corinne.
• Matt - Got off to a good start, but by the end he was already into "I miss my family" mode. Has survival skills, but is very quickly losing the mental game.
• Muzza - Had a LOT of screen time, along with Ceilidh. Unlike Ceilidh, he demonstrated competence in setting up a water tank to store rainwater running off his tent, and getting quickly into the fishing - which was surprisingly productive. Based on the spoilers in the opening sequence, his exit will be due to medical reasons (broken ankle), so the big question is how long before this happens? Given the sheer volume of screen time he had in Eps 1 & 2, I'm thinking the broken ankle happens sooner rather than later.
• Shay - Demonstrated some decent skills. Setup some salt lick sticks, to attract animals, with a view to setting traps for them once they had established a new pattern of life around the salt licks. We then saw him building the trap, which so far hasn't caught anything. We've also seen him digging for, finding, and cooking earth worms, and eating the edible base of sedge plants. Good survival skills all round then. The only problem is that he appears to have built his shelter very close to the water...
• Tom - See Corinne.
• Yonke - If Ben's God bothering is annoying, then Yonke's shit is off the scale. "Trees, are you happy for me to setup camp here... they're OK with it. Are you happy for me to cut off some of the branches... they're OK with it. Are you happy for me to cut down some of these young saplings... they're OK with it. This place really wants me to be here." The place may want you there, but I feel like vomiting watching this garbage.

I know we saw all of them in at least 1 episode, but Ben, Eva, Karla & Corinne were completely unmemorable. I honestly couldn't tell Eva, Karla & Corinne apart at this point in time. However, given the minimal screen time they received in Eps 1 & 2 it's likely that they'll be going deep in the game, so we'll have lots of time to get to know them better in future episodes.

Glad someone finally posted, the only other forum to discuss Alone is on Reddit - and you're going to be downvoted there if you write anything that equates to two or more sentences.

I was worried about the casting initially, but the show really progressed positively toward the end of the 2nd ep imo. I noticed a higher focus on bushcraft as well in the camp setups and the creation of traps and so forth which was interesting. I reckon Muzza got a lot of extra screen time due to his early catches but also because he's really likeable and funny - he represents more of the regular Aussie battle (aka 'not a hippie').

I'm big into supporting Aboriginal culture and people, but the first two seasons were an absolute joke in casting Leanne and Rob, other Aboriginal people have been mostly Vic/NSW Metro and have had incredibly Western upbringings. After working in Aboriginal communities for 15 years, I can assure you that the survival/tribal bush skills that most Aboriginal people had previously have not been passed on - unless you head out to the remote/dry communities in central Aus where hunting is still a way of life, but those guys would never travel off-country to try and survive. It feels like Oz is trying to push a cultural narrative that isn't reflective of reality, Matt seems like a ripping bloke but it looks like he may have grown up in foster care and learned his survival skills from non-Indigenous foster carers, but I could be wrong.

I really hope he doesn't tap out early, because there's a recurrent theme of the Aboriginal contestants bailing to get back to their young families. I've also noticed many of the Males/Dads who join this show always seem to be leaving behind young families? I couldn't imagine going on a show like that when my kids were toddlers, just seems irresponsible and highly likely you're going to miss your kids incessantly. The women in the show tend to either not have kids or they've grown up.

Finally, I can't understand why the show doesn't bleep the swear words. I'm no do-gooder but I'd love to watch the show with my kids but the swearing can be incessant - wouldn't it make sense for SBS to bleep them to target a wider family audience? Bizarro.

Overall a good start to the season.

 

[Gak Attack]

Guessing someone in casting is a God botherer, good grief the two in AA have been annoying. The majority of the US would be religious but are far less annoying with it

Must have some special permissions for some of the hunting/trapping such as the possums.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

My thoughts on the contestants so far...

• Ben - Not much to report here, other than that his God bothering is already extremely irritating. The sooner he goes home the better.
• Ceilidh - Was given a lot of screen time, despite achieving SFA in the game to date. Being both deaf and lesbian she was almost guaranteed to be cast as soon as she lodged her application, regardless of the fact that she seemingly has no survival skills. Strong contender for "worst DEI casting of the season". Starting to talk about being worried over not finding any food. All signs point to her being an early exit, as predicted before the game even began.
• Corinne - Didn't see a lot of her, at least nothing particularly memorable. Seems reasonably competent.
• Eva - See Corinne.
• Karla - See Corinne.
• Matt - Got off to a good start, but by the end he was already into "I miss my family" mode. Has survival skills, but is very quickly losing the mental game.
• Muzza - Had a LOT of screen time, along with Ceilidh. Unlike Ceilidh, he demonstrated competence in setting up a water tank to store rainwater running off his tent, and getting quickly into the fishing - which was surprisingly productive. Based on the spoilers in the opening sequence, his exit will be due to medical reasons (broken ankle), so the big question is how long before this happens? Given the sheer volume of screen time he had in Eps 1 & 2, I'm thinking the broken ankle happens sooner rather than later.
• Shay - Demonstrated some decent skills. Setup some salt lick sticks, to attract animals, with a view to setting traps for them once they had established a new pattern of life around the salt licks. We then saw him building the trap, which so far hasn't caught anything. We've also seen him digging for, finding, and cooking earth worms, and eating the edible base of sedge plants. Good survival skills all round then. The only problem is that he appears to have built his shelter very close to the water...
• Tom - See Corinne.
• Yonke - If Ben's God bothering is annoying, then Yonke's shit is off the scale. "Trees, are you happy for me to setup camp here... they're OK with it. Are you happy for me to cut off some of the branches... they're OK with it. Are you happy for me to cut down some of these young saplings... they're OK with it. This place really wants me to be here." The place may want you there, but I feel like vomiting watching this garbage. Don't even get me started on the annoying song she performed...

I know we saw all of them in at least 1 episode, but Ben, Eva, Karla & Corinne were completely unmemorable. I honestly couldn't tell Eva, Karla & Corinne apart at this point in time. However, given the minimal screen time they received in Eps 1 & 2 it's likely that they'll be going deep in the game, so we'll have lots of time to get to know them better in future episodes.

** I am now reminded that Corinne did the charcoal eyeliner. I rolled my eyes, and was tempted to hit the fast forward button.

Great synopsis.
The casting director was obviously sacked because they've actually chosen the right people this year, although gender equality still showing.
The line you see around the lake should be an obvious no go camping area, so that's interesting.
Some contestants not using rocks to build a permanent fire and storing dry tinder is interesting also.