Alone Australia

[Sqotty from office works]

Once again our Koori brother is 1st home.
This is the best series by a mile.
Great people

 

[StingBitten]

Great series. So disappointed to see Matt tap out, very entertaining bloke and clearly could've gone the distant.

Blackfella's just can't be away from their families though.

 

[Vader]

The show's producers have clearly taken note of the complaints from previous seasons - with almost all contestants catching fish and/or eels it's not a starvation-fest, we've seen plenty of bushcraft, and the scenery is infinitely more beautiful than the dreary hydroelectric pond where they filmed the 1st season. With all participants making it to Day 16, you'd have to say that they've learned a lot about casting as well.

With 10 participants still in the game, the producers were unable to give everyone screen time in tonight's episode - Ben, Tom & Yonke were completely MIA from this episode. Presumably we'll be catching up with them next week.

• Eva - Has built a reasonable shelter, spending an inordinate amount of time on the front door, which hopefully will be reasonably weatherproof. Had encounters with a bush rat (which stole her toothbrush) and a spotted quoll. The bush rat may end up on the menu in future episodes, but her attempts to catch it proved futile this time around. She's the only participant in this week's show who hasn't consumed any protein at all since drop-off (that we're aware of). She remains one of the show's most anonymous characters.
• Corinne - Didn't get much air time (again), but we did see her eat a grub, and she now figures she can find & eat a handful of them each day, which should keep her going for a while.
• Ceilidh - Dominated the episode's running time for the 2nd week running, despite having achieved SFA until the dying minutes when she caught a brown trout in her funnel trap. To her credit, we've seen her building the funnel trap, and having a nudie dip while setting up a pulley system to get her net out into deeper water. She was seriously starting to struggle with the lack of food before she caught the fish. I'm still struggling to see her as a long-term contender, and the amount of airtime she's had in the first few episodes suggests that she'll be going home early.
• Shay - Bugger! Had a big wallaby trigger his trap, only for the whole thing to fall apart because the wallaby was too heavy for the ropes. His weight loss is starting to be a concern, and it's fairly certain that it's his emaciated body we see in the opening credits, with the body's owner being told that they're being pulled from the game.
• Muzza - We know how this ends, as it's been thoroughly spoiled by the opening credits - but damn, this guy is thriving. He's caught a heap of fish & eels, enough to fill 2 racks in the smoker he's built. I don't know how he breaks his ankle, but surely bad luck is the only reason he doesn't win this season.
• Karla - Moved into her permanent shelter, which we saw her build in time lapse. Her shelter appears to be built on an island, extremely vulnerable to rising lake levels. I'm wondering if SBS have pulled a swifty on us with their voiceover, as it appears to be her shelter which is flooded in the opening sequence (with Shay providing the voice over)?
• Matt - Much to the surprise of nobody, the aboriginal participant is the first to go home, failing the mental/emotional side of the game due to missing his family. This was foreshadowed last week, and it was obvious that it was going to happen as soon as we saw how young his kids were. The only real surprise here is that he lasted until Day 16 before pulling the plug.

This week we saw Muzza catch another fish (adding to an already healthy larder), Matt catch 2 eels, Karla catch a big eel, and Ceilidh catching a brown trout. We also saw Corinne eating a grub, and confirmation that she's the one eating the big game in the opening credits. The participants have already caught more food in the first 16 days than the previous 2 seasons combined.

Almost half this week's runtime was allocated to Matt & Ceilidh. Matt went home at the end of the ep. What does this say about Ceilidh's future in the game? In contrast, Eva & Corinne have barely had a few minutes of airtime between them, suggesting that either they didn't turn in much usable footage or that they're going deep into the game.

My money is still on Muzza & Ceilidh to be the next to exit - Muzza due to injury, Ceilidh due to a lack of food.

Hopefully we'll see more of Tom next week. I'll be happy if we don't see Ben's God Bothering, or anything of Yonke at all, for the rest of the entire season.

Credit to SBS for minimising the pixellation on screen when Ceilidh got her kit off and went swimming. Apparently naked buttocks are fine, but breasts need to be pixellated. Fair enough. The yanks would have been far heavier on the pixellation than the SBS producers.

 

[StingBitten]

The show's producers have clearly taken note of the complaints from previous seasons - with almost all contestants catching fish and/or eels it's not a starvation-fest, we've seen plenty of bushcraft, and the scenery is infinitely more beautiful than the dreary hydroelectric pond where they filmed the 1st season. With all participants making it to Day 16, you'd have to say that they've learned a lot about casting as well.

With 10 participants still in the game, the producers were unable to give everyone screen time in tonight's episode - Ben, Tom & Yonke were completely MIA from this episode. Presumably we'll be catching up with them next week.

• Eva - Has built a reasonable shelter, spending an inordinate amount of time on the front door, which hopefully will be reasonably weatherproof. Had encounters with a bush rat (which stole her toothbrush) and a spotted quoll. The bush rat may end up on the menu in future episodes, but her attempts to catch it proved futile this time around. She's the only participant in this week's show who hasn't consumed any protein at all since drop-off (that we're aware of). She remains one of the show's most anonymous characters.
• Corinne - Didn't get much air time (again), but we did see her eat a grub, and she now figures she can find & eat a handful of them each day, which should keep her going for a while.
• Ceilidh - Dominated the episode's running time for the 2nd week running, despite having achieved SFA until the dying minutes when she caught a brown trout in her funnel trap. To her credit, we've seen her building the funnel trap, and having a nudie dip while setting up a pulley system to get her net out into deeper water. She was seriously starting to struggle with the lack of food before she caught the fish. I'm still struggling to see her as a long-term contender, and the amount of airtime she's had in the first few episodes suggests that she'll be going home early.
• Shay - Bugger! Had a big wallaby trigger his trap, only for the whole thing to fall apart because the wallaby was too heavy for the ropes. His weight loss is starting to be a concern, and it's fairly certain that it's his emaciated body we see in the opening credits, with the body's owner being told that they're being pulled from the game.
• Muzza - We know how this ends, as it's been thoroughly spoiled by the opening credits - but damn, this guy is thriving. He's caught a heap of fish & eels, enough to fill 2 racks in the smoker he's built. I don't know how he breaks his ankle, but surely bad luck is the only reason he doesn't win this season.
• Karla - Moved into her permanent shelter, which we saw her build in time lapse. Her shelter appears to be built on an island, extremely vulnerable to rising lake levels. I'm wondering if SBS have pulled a swifty on us with their voiceover, as it appears to be her shelter which is flooded in the opening sequence (with Shay providing the voice over)?
• Matt - Much to the surprise of nobody, the aboriginal participant is the first to go home, failing the mental/emotional side of the game due to missing his family. This was foreshadowed last week, and it was obvious that it was going to happen as soon as we saw how young his kids were. The only real surprise here is that he lasted until Day 16 before pulling the plug.

This week we saw Muzza catch another fish (adding to an already healthy larder), Matt catch 2 eels, Karla catch a big eel, and Ceilidh catching a brown trout. We also saw Corinne eating a grub, and confirmation that she's the one eating the big game in the opening credits. The participants have already caught more food in the first 16 days than the previous 2 seasons combined.

Almost half this week's runtime was allocated to Matt & Ceilidh. Matt went home at the end of the ep. What does this say about Ceilidh's future in the game? In contrast, Eva & Corinne have barely had a few minutes of airtime between them, suggesting that either they didn't turn in much usable footage or that they're going deep into the game.

My money is still on Muzza & Ceilidh to be the next to exit - Muzza due to injury, Ceilidh due to a lack of food.

Hopefully we'll see more of Tom next week. I'll be happy if we don't see Ben's God Bothering, or anything of Yonke at all, for the rest of the entire season.

Credit to SBS for minimising the pixellation on screen when Ceilidh got her kit off and went swimming. Apparently naked buttocks are fine, but breasts need to be pixellated. Fair enough. The yanks would have been far heavier on the pixellation than the SBS producers.

Good summary, I haven't seen this promo revealing Muzza's broken ankle, seems like a crazy thing for SBS to do? For all the things they've fixed this season they still make so many mistakes.

Mostly good casting but I feel that Yonke will destroy us all mentally.

Why oh why do these young Dad's join when their kids are so young still. I've got two small kids and I'd at least wait until their teens before applying for a show like this. My theory is these blokes have an identity crisis when the kids are small, as they feel useless, so they run off to the bush to try and win a quarter of a mil.

 

[Vader]

Good summary, I haven't seen this promo revealing Muzza's broken ankle, seems like a crazy thing for SBS to do? For all the things they've fixed this season they still make so many mistakes.

It's in the opening credits, straight after the inspirational quote.

Mostly good casting but I feel that Yonke will destroy us all mentally.

I can see my TV's remote going through the screen if they give her any more airtime.

Why oh why do these young Dad's join when their kids are so young still. I've got two small kids and I'd at least wait until their teens before applying for a show like this. My theory is these blokes have an identity crisis when the kids are small, as they feel useless, so they run off to the bush to try and win a quarter of a mil.

It's not just young dads - it's also young mothers as well. You do have to wonder why they bother applying for the show though, when they have such young kids at home.

 

[StingBitten]

It's in the opening credits, straight after the inspirational quote.

I can see my TV's remote going through the screen if they give her any more airtime.

It's not just young dads - it's also young mothers as well. You do have to wonder why they bother applying for the show though, when they have such young kids at home.

More annoyingly why does SBS consistently put parents of young kids on the show? I guess Matt was worth rolling the dice with - good looking, Indigenous, camera-savvy with decent bush-craft skills.

Can't believe that re Muzza, are you sure it's not a false alarm?

 

[Vader]

More annoyingly why does SBS consistently put parents of young kids on the show? I guess Matt was worth rolling the dice with - good looking, Indigenous, camera-savvy with decent bush-craft skills.

Can't believe that re Muzza, are you sure it's not a false alarm?

Looks & sounds like him...

 

[Vader]

Another good episode last night, with not much for the whingers to whine about. More people catching fish, doing bushcraft, and generally playing the game.

With 9 players still left in the game (at the start of the episode), they didn't have screen time for everyone. Karla was completely MIA, while Yonke & Muzza featured only briefly during the "it's a little bit breezy today" montage. This episode covered days 16-19, and there's no evidence to suggest that we're going to slide back in time to catch up on the activities of those who missed out last week.

Most of the episode centred around Eva & Ceilidh.

Eva was celebrating her birthday. She starts by crapping on about how much she's turned her life around since she hit rock bottom 10 years ago... tell someone who cares, because I certainly don't. She spends most of the day fishing, failing to catch anything. The following day she pulls the plug, realising that she has no future in the game if she can't obtain food. I don't mind this - it's an honest assessment of her situation, not an "I miss my family" failure. SBS did make a point of including her statement that she'd spent many hours fishing every day, at multiple locations, using multiple baits - all to no avail. We're thus not left with the mistaken impression that she pulled the plug having not made a real effort to obtain food.

Ceilidh caught another 2 fish, before noticing foam and a burning sensation when she peed. Her assessment is a UTI (urinary tract infection), so she calls in the doctor. The episode ends with the doctor talking to the producers. Given the amount of screen time she's had in the first 4 episodes, it's fairly obvious that she's going to be pulled on medical grounds at the start of Ep 5.

... and so to the 10 minutes of screen time left for the other contestants.

Ben - Made himself a new handle for his shovel, having broken the original. He didn't do a very good job though, as the new handle keeps sliding out. He hasn't caught any fish since the start of the game (19 days). At least he wasn't god bothering this time.

Shay - Is seriously struggling with a lack of food. He's getting worried about his weight loss. He spends time re-jigging his wallaby trap, in the hope of catching some decent food. Previews show a Tasmanian Devil in his trap, but there's no sign of any wallabies.

Tom - Built a windproof (and probably waterproof) door for his shelter. He started talking about missing family, but that stopped as soon as he caught his first fish. It's marvelous how catching a fish brings new hope.

Corinne - Is really starting to look like a player. She talks about the difficulty of having to kill animals, but she seems resolved to do whatever is necessary to succeed in the game. She builds a wallaby trap, using a net she made herself. Based on Shay's experience, and the preview, her trap is too flimsy and lightweight to succeed. However, the previews also show her eating a wallaby, so presumably she will build a bigger & better trap in future episodes - and this trap will succeed. Mind you, she's also started hearing voices in the night, so the wallaby would want to come soon!

Right now Corinne & Muzza are thriving. Ben, Shay & Tom are barely surviving. We've seen so little of Karla & Yonke that we have no idea how they're going (and I'm all for Yonke's disappearing act becoming permanent).

 

[Sqotty from office works]

Shay looks like he's putting all his eggs in the "big game catch" basket.
If it doesn't work he's a goner

 

[Shell]

Shay looks like he's putting all his eggs in the "big game catch" basket.
If it doesn't work he's a goner

How many episodes in, is the series atm?

 

[Vader]

How many episodes in, is the series atm?

Last night was ep 4.

In terms of the game, it covered days 16-19.

 

[Shell]

Last night was ep 4

Now other shows are over, I'll catch up. Cheers

 

[Gasometer]

The fish trap! Seen this many times over the years via First Nations history but that’s the first time I’ve seen it in practice.

 

[Vader]

The fish trap! Seen this many times over the years via First Nations history but that’s the first time I’ve seen it in practice.

It's the first time we've seen one used successfully, since Alan's inverted coke bottle in Alone US S1. It's the first time we've seen one actually catch a fish big enough to eat - let alone 3 of them.

Mind you, she also put it to better use than other failed fish traps. Most just put them in still water, and hoped that the fish would swim in by themselves. Ceilidh dammed the creek, putting the trap in the only outflow point - a much smarter way of using a fish trap!

 

[Gasometer]

It's the first time we've seen one used successfully, since Alan's inverted coke bottle in Alone US S1. It's the first time we've seen one actually catch a fish big enough to eat - let alone 3 of them.

That Lake water looked dodgey.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

The fish trap! Seen this many times over the years via First Nations history but that’s the first time I’ve seen it in practice.

Purnim eel farms are said to be 15,000 yo

 

[Gasometer]

Purnim eel farms are said to be 15,000 yo

Lake Condah says hello

There’s another place in the middle of NSW that I have forgotten the name of as well

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Now other shows are over, I'll catch up. Cheers

It's in Tassie, don't expect Clint and Jacqui to make a cameo

 

[Shell]

It's in Tassie, don't expect Clint and Jacqui to make a cameo

God i hope not

 

[Vader]

The big question is why we've seen so little of Yonke? Don't get me wrong - she was so obnoxious in her first brief appearance that I'm happy she's been ignored since, but why?

Ronke was seen briefly in ep 2, first singing a song while banging on a log, then doing the deluded hippie thing when choosing her long-term shelter location. In ep 4 she had 30 seconds of screen time (maybe less), noting that it was a bit blowy outside. She didn't appear in ep 1 or ep 3 at all.

Given that we're now 19 days into the game, and she's had barely 5 minutes of screen time from the 200-odd minutes aired across 4 episodes, there are only 2 possible explanations...

Either she's going deep, deep, deep into the competition, and we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the last few episodes, or she failed to turn in any usable footage. My guts say it's the former, but I'm seriously hoping it's the latter.

At least Ben has toned down his God bothering, becoming instantly more likeable.

 

[StingBitten]

Another good episode last night, with not much for the whingers to whine about. More people catching fish, doing bushcraft, and generally playing the game.

With 9 players still left in the game (at the start of the episode), they didn't have screen time for everyone. Karla was completely MIA, while Yonke & Muzza featured only briefly during the "it's a little bit breezy today" montage. This episode covered days 16-19, and there's no evidence to suggest that we're going to slide back in time to catch up on the activities of those who missed out last week.

Most of the episode centred around Eva & Ceilidh.

Eva was celebrating her birthday. She starts by crapping on about how much she's turned her life around since she hit rock bottom 10 years ago... tell someone who cares, because I certainly don't. She spends most of the day fishing, failing to catch anything. The following day she pulls the plug, realising that she has no future in the game if she can't obtain food. I don't mind this - it's an honest assessment of her situation, not an "I miss my family" failure. SBS did make a point of including her statement that she'd spent many hours fishing every day, at multiple locations, using multiple baits - all to no avail. We're thus not left with the mistaken impression that she pulled the plug having not made a real effort to obtain food.

Ceilidh caught another 2 fish, before noticing foam and a burning sensation when she peed. Her assessment is a UTI (urinary tract infection), so she calls in the doctor. The episode ends with the doctor talking to the producers. Given the amount of screen time she's had in the first 4 episodes, it's fairly obvious that she's going to be pulled on medical grounds at the start of Ep 5.

... and so to the 10 minutes of screen time left for the other contestants.

Ben - Made himself a new handle for his shovel, having broken the original. He didn't do a very good job though, as the new handle keeps sliding out. He hasn't caught any fish since the start of the game (19 days). At least he wasn't god bothering this time.

Shay - Is seriously struggling with a lack of food. He's getting worried about his weight loss. He spends time re-jigging his wallaby trap, in the hope of catching some decent food. Previews show a Tasmanian Devil in his trap, but there's no sign of any wallabies.

Tom - Built a windproof (and probably waterproof) door for his shelter. He started talking about missing family, but that stopped as soon as he caught his first fish. It's marvelous how catching a fish brings new hope.

Corinne - Is really starting to look like a player. She talks about the difficulty of having to kill animals, but she seems resolved to do whatever is necessary to succeed in the game. She builds a wallaby trap, using a net she made herself. Based on Shay's experience, and the preview, her trap is too flimsy and lightweight to succeed. However, the previews also show her eating a wallaby, so presumably she will build a bigger & better trap in future episodes - and this trap will succeed. Mind you, she's also started hearing voices in the night, so the wallaby would want to come soon!

Right now Corinne & Muzza are thriving. Ben, Shay & Tom are barely surviving. We've seen so little of Karla & Yonke that we have no idea how they're going (and I'm all for Yonke's disappearing act becoming permanent).

Haha was going to say less Yonke is good. Either everything she says is annoying or it's just what they edit in (I.e. the necessary villain). I swear a saw a short promo of her screaming with her eyes closed, which doesn't bode well.

This has easily been my favourite season so far - best contestants, good fishing/foraging and bushcraft. The inly letdown is the poor editing in of all contestants.

Why tf would we care about Ben or Tom if we literally haven't seen their first 16 days in. If they were to win now it would look ridiculous having missed the early journey.

I think someone else said SBS spoiled Muzza's broken ankle too. Poor editing spoiling an otherwise great season of Alone.

 

[StingBitten]

Shay looks like he's putting all his eggs in the "big game catch" basket.
If it doesn't work he's a goner

Does he have any fishing lines in too?

 

[Vader]

Time for the S03E05 recap.

We started the episode with 8 people still remaining, but Ceilidh was pulled by the medical team in the first 30 seconds. This was not unexpected, given that she had a UTI, had pain when the doctor pressed her kidneys, and she'd been given 40% of the show's airtime over the first 4 episodes.

Of the remaining 7 participants Tom was completely MIA from this week's episode. The other competitors all had air time this week, though Yonke & Muzza only had a few minutes each.

The episode covered days 19-21, bringing us to the 1st nexus point. 3 weeks has historically been the point where competitors who haven't been able to source food start drop out in large numbers. Tom & Ben have only caught 1 fish each, with Karla & Ronke having caught nothing at all. History says we can expect at least 2 of these players to tap out next week, rather than prolonging their time in a game which they know they have no realistic chance of winning.

Muzza hasn't been given much airtime recently. He's basically been chugging along in the background, regularly catching fish & eels, meeting his nutritional requirements. Tonight we saw him catching another fish, but also expressing concern about the rising water levels. I think he said something about his shelter site potentially becoming an island if the water levels continue to rise, though I didn't quite catch what he said.

Yonke was only given a couple of minutes of air time, thankfully. It was just enough to confirm that she hasn't caught anything at all in the way of food, is concerned about rising water levels, and continues to be the most irritating participant in the show's 14 year history (including both US & Aus editions). I'm still scratching my head in disbelief over her delusion that "the land is still welcoming me", despite it steadfastly refusing to offer her ANYTHING at all in the way of food. Surely that's a sign that the land is outright rejecting her, just as I do?

Karla is seriously struggling, and is my pick for next player to tap. She's had no protein, and the vegatation she was eating made her sick (to the point of vomitting repeatedly). After 3 weeks without food, it's only sheer bloodymindedness which will see her persisting beyond ep 6. To her credit, she's spent a lot of time fishing, and she's built herself a fairly extensive wallaby trap - only to review the trail camera footage, which showed no wallaby activity whatsoever. Doh!

Shay is in a similar position to Karla, albeit without the vomitting. Like her, he's built a hefty trap, but there's no sign of wallabies anywhere near it. Possibly this was caused by him scaring them off with his earlier trap, possibly it's because of the presence of a Tasmanian Devil, which wandered in & out of his trap without setting it off. Shay knows his days are numbered, and is now pondering the calories in vs calories out, and whether it's even worth the effort of foraging and digging for worms. If he doesn't get food soon (and I'm betting his trap won't catch a damn thing), then he could be gone fairly soon.

Ben was busy going nowhere for most of the episode, until he went to check his lines at night, having left them out after dark. Bingo - an eel! I wonder if the penny will drop, and he'll figure out that he's more likely to catch something at night than during the day? Ben is still God Bothering to an irritating extent, but he's definitely dialed it down compared to the obnoxiousness he showed in ep 1. He's waaaay less irritating than Yonke.

... which leaves us with Corinne. Corinne was previously shown setting up a net trap for wallabies. This week she set another, on a frequently used wallaby trail with evidence of fresh wallaby poo. This was clearly a good plan, and a good place to set a trap! The plan bore fruit almost instantly. The trap was quite flimsy, and it was never going to stop a wallaby outright - instead, the wallaby wore the net like a vest, becoming increasingly entangled until it couldn't move any further. For all Corinne's bitching and moaning about never having killed anything beyond a fish, she had no difficulty in picking up a rock and despatching the wallaby with multiple blows to the head.

We now have 2 clear leaders in the game. Muzza has been catching fish regularly, and is in good physical condition for now (though the pre-show spoilers indicate that this is a temporary state of affairs). Corinne has a wallaby to eat. The rest of them have only caught 0-1 fish each, which is not a lot to sustain the human body given that they've been out there for 3 weeks.

The big questions remaing are...

• Is Yonke's lack of screen time caused by her failure to turn in any usable footage? Is it SBS acknowledging that showing more of her would result in them being handed large numbers of repair bills after thousands of viewers break their TV screens by throwing their remotes at them in anger/irritation at seeing this obnoxious human being? Or, is she somehow going deep into the game despite having shown no survival skills whatsoever to date?
• What impact will the rising water levels have on each of the contestants?
• How long can Karla & Shay persist, given their lack of food and degenerating physical condition?

At this point, Corinne is now my clear favourite to win the game - and I doubt it will even be close (unless the Muzza/ankle spoiler turns out to be a red herring).

 

[HirdyLannister]

Muzza has fishing down to a T - to your question Muzza eel is also delicious when you haven't been starving

Ben has no idea to cook/eat a eel, who the hell fillets a eel and loose all the meat around the spine. Dumb

Corinne foxed them in the interview, pretended to novice. Able to building wallaby traps, eel traps makes Shay look like an amateur. She clearly knows what she is doing.

 

[StingBitten]

Great ep.

What a game changer from Corinne!