MAN: The South Island of New Zealand, it's an epic place.
It's wet...
..it's cold...
..it's snowy.
If you don't respect the environment here,
it will slap you hard.
WOMAN: I just need to bring some food in.
MAN 2: Ooh.
(GROANS) It's a male.
MAN 3: Look at that stonker! (LAUGHS WITH RELIEF)
Last night was pretty intense.
There was deer all around me.
That's freaking delicious.
WOMAN 2: I know how tough it's going to be.
Terrible wail of doom.
You've got to feel safe, otherwise you'd just die out here.
Oh, my God, I miss them!
It doesn't feel as bad as it looks, it feels worse.
Oh!
This shit just got real.
Jesus!
I'm scared enough to have an emergency tap-out in my hand.
And the last person standing, they take home $250,000.
(PHONE RINGS)
MAN: I just got these pains in my chest.
Somebody help me!
WOMAN:
We need to talk about a chopper.
(WINCES WITH PAIN)
Things just got real.
There's a real beauty here,
but there's also a real element of danger.
So, long, farewell and amen.
We're now allowed to hunt with bow and arrow.
It's something I'm comfortable with.
WOMAN: Everything is just soaked through and sodden.
I can hear something.
I haven't eaten meat for about eight years.
At what point do I switch from -
"This is so beautiful"
to "I'm so hungry"?
I've got deer track. And they're fresh. I'm not alone.
Jesus, there's some weight in that.
I'm willing to push myself to my ultimate limits to win.
(COUGHING AND WHEEZING)
(PHONE RINGS)
WOMAN: (ON PHONE) What's happening with you?
MAN: I've got these pains in my chest.
(THUNDER CRACKS)
MAN: 600 metres out.
WOMAN: Mike, we're just coming out to you.
How are you going?
I'm scared actually.
Yeah. Yeah. I could tell on the phone.
So, what time - what time did it start?
About six o'clock. Six o'clock.
So, it's going on and off for about four hours?
Yeah. Yeah.
And did you say it's worse when you're lying down?
Yeah. It just goes bang.
Hits me right in the chest. Yeah. Really, really sore.
Um, I think what I would like to do, if you don't mind,
just check your numbers.
Um... Yeah, sure.
You're not on any medication, are you?
No, none at all. Yeah.
So, I'll just check your blood pressure there.
It just come really intensely.
Um, so I think what we need to do, Michael, is
get you checked out properly.
Um, because you will need to have an ECG.
Yeah.
But to do that, it's probably easiest to do on the boat.
Are you OK with help to get onto the boat?
Yeah. You want to come with me?
(GROANS) Take it nice and slow.
(MUFFLED VOICES)
So, if you want to lean back onto that back there again,
so you don't have to be completely flat.
Is it worse when you move your arms around or...?
No, it's not. It's not.
It's just deeper.
How old are you? 60.
Um, yeah, I understand.
Yeah.
WOMAN: That's OK. Yeah.
It'd be a pretty scary experience.
Yeah.
At my age, whenever you think about chest pain,
you can't help but think there could be something drastic.
What is my limit?
Have I reached my limit? Perhaps that's why I made the call.
Just going to take this off,
and then you can put your shirt back on.
So, that looks pretty good to me.
Good? Yeah.
But we'll need to do formal ECGs just to make sure.
Yeah, we might just go. Yep.
(MOTOR REVS)
(GROANS)
You did the right thing, Mike, to call us.
Um...
Yeah.
My whole life, I've just tried to be strong,
trying to be tough,
trying to nurture everyone around me.
This Alone experience was for me, it was something I wanted to do.
Winning Alone and winning the prize would've been the world of difference
to me and the kids.
But I think my kids are really proud.
(TEARFULLY) I thought I was going to die.
I really thought I was going to die.
And it's not my time.
It's not my time to die.
MAN: So, yeah, today,
day three,
I think I can feel a bowel motion coming on.
You didn't want to hear that. Too much information!
Nothing's been stirring,
but this morning, it's going, "Hey...
"..it's about time."
If, when I go to the toilet,
you probably wonder about toilet paper.
This old man's beard,
not this beard, this one.
That, handful of that,
like Sorbent four-ply.
Let's find something a little bit more, um, moist.
This one's a bit more scratchy.
Got to be kind to the old butt. I think I'll go old man's beard.
Today, I'm going to modify my current sleeping situation.
It won't be nothing too fancy, but I want to get in there
and change the bedding system.
Whilst it might not seem a priority, it sort of is.
If, uh, my sleep deteriorates
or I get a whole wet backside from bad weather coming in,
then that can play with the head space.
And I don't want nothing in there playing around.
There was a very slight decline this way,
which doesn't have me necessarily rolling down the hill,
but you're aware of it when you're sleeping.
So, with my log,
I intend to lay it as a retainer...
Trying to recess this in a bit.
..and then build all this area up with more debris
so that it gets me up off the ground that little bit more.
Once I get some insulation of those leaves
back over the top of this, I think we'll be laughing.
With my skill sets as a bushcraft and survival instructor,
I feel I'm very prepared.
I've recently taken
to the social media platform of TikTok
to share my survival and bushcraft knowledge...
..with the followers that I lovingly call bush-tokkers.
G'day, bush-tokkers.
Yeah. G'day, bush-tokkers.
Don't start chewing away on plants or berries and seeds and things
unless you're absolutely sure.
There's some plants in Australia that are pretty unforgiving,
and you'll end up in a hurt locker or with diarrhoea or vomiting.
We just had a cricket jump into the camp fire.
So, that's pretty secure there.
If it does move, I'll just drive in a couple of stakes,
which I may do anyway,
just to ensure it doesn't shift during the night.
My secret weapon will be my life skills.
Out here, you need to improvise, overcome,
adapt, use whatever's around you
to achieve what it is you're trying to do.
This will definitely protect me
from any moisture that may be coming up.
The reason I'm taking on this challenge is for the experience
and to push myself as far as I can be pushed.
I believe I have what it takes to be here at the end of the series.
OK, so, that's task complete.
One bed modified.
It's GSD day...
..Get Shit Done.
Underwear, good size.
I'm going to make a makeshift bag.
So I can fill it up with berries and whatever I can find eating.
So, at least I have something in my stomach tonight.
Let's finish this off with a reef knot,
and then it should be good.
There you go...
..got a bag.
I'm a personal trainer by trade,
model by occupation...
..hunter and gatherer at heart.
Alright, so this is my meat freezer, where I'll keep wild meat.
This is some pork.
So, two roasts,
and this is some goat.
We'll come home, break out whatever we've caught,
I butcher it, date it,
vacuum seal it, put it in the freezer.
I class myself as an ethical hunter.
I want to get a good shot.
I want to respect the animal.
That's right.
And I get to take that resource and use it.
Back up, buddy.
I get meat, I get everything else,
I'll try to utilise as much as I can.
So, I'll take a hike now and then, try to make use for it, learn.
I was born in Sweden.
My mum worked as a butcher.
You know, she'd buy a half a pig or something,
cut it up, put it in a deep freezer.
But hunting is something I took up later in life.
So, I'm well and truly capable of feeding myself in the bush.
I gained a lot of weight for the show.
Probably carrying an excess of 15 kilos more than I normally do.
I can win. I can do this. I can win it.
I think I have the skills to do it.
But mother nature always has a big finger in the game.
I've got my bows and arrows all set up,
and I'm going to walk, see what my land has to offer.
Food's going to be a priority in the first couple of days.
Just got to slow down the weight loss as much as I can.
And to do that, I need to eat.
Massive trees down.
This looks swampy.
(GROANS)
That was a slight slip.
(WHISPERS) This is freaking ridiculous.
You have no idea how dense this is.
Most of the forests look like this.
(REGULAR VOLUME) To be able to hunt with a bow and arrow,
you need to be able to read animals.
You need to be able to be stealthy enough
to sneak up on them and get close enough to get the shot.
Animals are far superior to humans.
They see better than us, they hear better than us,
they have better senses.
I need to find out what's actually in the forest before I...
Hey.
This is a good find.
(WHISPERS) That look like a red deer scat to me.
That means there's a red deer in this area.
It's fresh and big.
That would feed me for three months.
My motivation's gone up.
There's actually something to eat here.
It's hard to move quietly.
One set of hoof prints. Looks like a deer.
I saw something between the trees.
(WHISPERS) I thought I saw something between the trees.
(TWIGS BREAKING)
I can hear something in front of me.
(LEAVES RUSTLE, TWIGS BREAK)
There's definitely something big enough to snap a couple of twigs.
(MIMICS FAWN)
(WHISPERS) That was the first animal I heard...
..but he walked off.
(REGULAR VOLUME) We're hunting for deer.
It's just a lot harder than I thought.
Like, everything is dense.
And the bush is dense as.
I did a big stalk.
Did a big bush bash.
I haven't had the best of luck, have I?
You know what, I'm going to get some berries.
I know I said this was hunting, but...
..we've got to have some dinner.
They look a little bit like tree tomatoes, actually.
I wonder if you boil a soup of them.
Oh, I've found a tree fern.
Oh, something more to eat. This is good.
I'll take one leaf...
..try to cook it up, and we'll see.
Into my forager bag.
I actually walked further than I thought.
Uh, I want to be back in good time to make fire and eat my berries.
Who is that handsome devil? Hmm...
Huh.
(HUMS TO SELF)
Alright.
(GROANS)
We haven't had rain yet, but in a place that gets,
like, seven metres of rain annually...
..chances are it's definitely coming,
and it'll be coming hard.
(HUMS TO SELF)
So, might start work on the permanent shelter.
In order to be able to survive in the wilderness,
building the shelter is essential.
I need to be prepared for the roaring winds,
sub-zero temperatures, snow.
My name's Krzysztof, this is my place.
I've been living here since 2010,
and I've been slowly trying to turn this
into my little slice of paradise.
I do pretty much everything around the house myself.
I'll fix things.
I've built a rock wall, built a smokehouse.
I'm definitely a jack of all trades.
Ever since I was in nappies growing up,
I'd be out camping with the family,
and that's been something that I've been doing my entire life.
I can hunt, I can fish.
I'm an aquaculturalist.
So, I've got a pretty strong grasp of fish and what fish do.
Gotta eat your greens!
How they feed, how they like to school.
Fishing line, some paracord.
Stubborn is the word.
If I dig my heels in, I dig my heels in.
Well, guys, this is it.
I'm targeting 100 days,
and if I get to 100, I can just keep going.
Bye, baby. Bye, baby.
Erin, my partner is super supportive.
She is 100% behind me.
I'm incredibly confident. This competition was built for me.
I'm here to win.
So, to build this shelter, I've decided to start
with just the basic A-frame.
I was thinking about how I'm going to join these two pieces together,
because they're going to come in like this,
but I don't want them...
I don't want them like this.
I want them like this.
So, what I figure is I'll cut a little groove in this one
and, uh,
a little, um, notch in this one,
so you can basically go...
..like that.
If I want to make something, I'll generally build it first
in my head.
Our hammer.
I'll improvise things where I need to,
I'll adapt where I need to, and then I'll overcome the problems.
That's one side.
So, I've seen a lot of pictures,
I've read a lot of information about different shelters
and how they're built.
Beautiful.
And this has been, like, the first real opportunity to do it.
Like it was made for it!
Start the waterproofing part.
Once we get a good base layer going,
we'll just cover it with leaf matter and rinse and repeat.
So, I've decided, rather than using moss,
I'm just going to use all this detritus that's down here.
It's perfect for the chinking.
And that'll prevent any wind sweeping through the shelter.
I'll feel good once it's, sort of, enclosed.
I want to be comfortable,
and I feel that being comfortable is the key to winning.
When the weather goes to crap,
I've got somewhere to hide out, keep warm.
Beautiful!
Already that sun's dropped
behind the clouds,
behind the mountain over there...
..and it's freezing already.
This is what I shredded up this morning and laid out
on the rocks in the sun to dry.
I can use that for my fire tonight.
It's definitely an adventure.
And my mum used to always say,
"Live life to the fullest and do what makes you happy."
I miss her so much.
Family is everything.
Can I have a big cuddle? Mmm...
Rob, from season one is my other half.
We've made a beautiful family together.
So much fun!
We've got our big boy, Kobe, our little girl, Karali.
The ultimate goal is to win the money
to buy Rob, Kobe and Karali a little bit of land.
Ooh...
It's very bright.
I have to have a fire.
Fire is very important to Aboriginal people.
Like, you have a fire to cook with, to boil your water,
but the smoke from a fire is also protection.
Fire makes you feel safe.
Imagine going camping or being stuck in the bush and not having a fire.
Smoke keeps those sand flies away as well.
So, that's a good thing.
Just thinking about a poem...
..we used to recite every morning...
..when I went to Worawa Aboriginal College.
It was written by the founder of the school, Hyllus Maris.
I'm a child of the Dreamtime people
Part of this land Like the gnarled gumtree
I awakened here When the earth was new
There was emu, wombat, kangaroo
No other man of a different hue
I am this land and this land is me
I am Australia.
I always thought that was such a beautiful poem.
I really miss my family.
I know they'd be at home and they'd have a lovely fire going
in the back as well.
Probably thinking about me
Being away from my family, like, that's not normal for mob.
We do everything together, everybody has a role to play.
And being here alone, you've got to do it all by yourself.
Those berries I found and picked today,
I chucked them in some water
and then one little stalk of the tree fern.
Just want to see how it turns out boiling.
It's a bit of a soup...
..but it looks horrendous.
I don't know if you can see,
it's just leaves and a...
..brown, yellow...
..juice smell.
We'll try this fern first.
Oh, juicy.
But it's severely fibrous.
Can't eat stalk anyway.
That is what comes out of it.
It's basically like sawdust.
Let's try what the juice tastes like.
Can I get it down? Sure.
Oh.
Can't survive on berries for very long.
For me to be able to stay here long-term,
I'll have to be successful at hunting and fishing.
I gotta get my shit together and find some protein.
Alright, that's it for tonight.
Goodnight.
Alone Australia, powered by Kia.
It's the ultimate human endurance challenge.
The battle is on to survive alone in the rugged New Zealand wilderness
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000.
At this little spot, I don't get any sun here
and it's beautiful here,
but it's freaking freezing and it's wet.
I've seen nothing here...
Like, every time I check water
and I just see, I don't see much here at all.
Where there's sun, there's more birds,
there's more worms in the ground.
There's more plant food.
Yes.
So, I've chosen a new location to build my permanent shelter.
I'm going to take a chance
and I'm gonna move to the sun.
But there's a bit of a hike.
I don't know if... It wouldn't be a K away.
It's probably as a crow flies, 400 metres, 500, 600 metres.
I've got no idea.
Just prep yourself and hump that gear over.
Alright, that's me.
Oh.
It's a big amount of energy to move.
And my problem is food, lack of.
'Cause energy out here is everything.
I'm actually excited to go over there.
Oh, imagine spending the day in the sun building shelter.
Oh, God, I could dry my underpants.
I could just dry them, I reckon, in, like, a day.
I know it will be so good. It's worth it.
You're just so tired.
You've got to constantly be making sure
what you're doing's safe.
Now be careful. Slow down here.
Oh.
You're kind of in a little bit of a blur, you know,
and the simplest of things just sometimes it's not so simple.
That freaking hurt.
(WHISPERS) Take a breath.
Any slower, I wouldn't be moving.
I feel like I'm running a slow, painful marathon.
Oh, I have arrived.
The relief!
Just look at this sunlight over here.
It was just such a big effort today.
Oh, and I am just incredibly exhausted.
I'm so happy, though.
Hello, beautiful thing.
So relieved to be here.
But I'm not out of the woods yet.
I need to build a shelter.
I need to build a bed and I need to do it before nightfall.
(FIRE CRACKLING)
(SIGHS)
Well, getting a little bit hungry.
But I want to go chase one of these bloody stags down.
I know they've pissed off back up the hills...
..so I'm probably gonna have to bust my ass
getting up that mountain behind me here.
You need to have a lot of energy before you go out
and spend such a huge amount on hunting.
So, I'm just gonna try fishing today
because it's a good way to get, you know, good food.
I am a very confident hunter.
It is what I am good at.
But my biggest strength is my adaptability.
Need to catch some fish.
Need to catch some food.
We've got four lines out now - that'll do.
More lines, more chance to catch fish.
We'll just sit here for the day,
keep an eye on 'em
and spend the day on the beach.
Wait for a fish to bite, I guess.
Not much else to do today.
There we go.
I just got something on this line.
Alright, brother.
Come on, now, let's be a fish.
It is a biggie.
He's doing a death roll on me.
Come on, now, my brother.
Um, I think it's a big eel.
That really sucked.
Come on.
Oh, you silly bugger.
What did you do that for?
It's alright. I'm not gonna hurt ya.
You're too slippery to get a hold of.
It's a shame we can't eat 'em.
There's a lot of food right there just to be letting go like that.
Come on.
Ah, he's got my hook.
Oh, that's proper in his gullet.
Ah, well, I'll have to just cut it out.
It's a loss of a hook, anyway.
Come on, here, mate. You'll be alright.
Yeah. Stop moving.
There you are.
(SIGHS DEEPLY)
Yeah, it's a shame.
It's a real shame.
A long day on that beach.
I like fishing and all,
but not when it's like a chore like that.
I'm so bored to look at them bobbers,
hoping that a fish takes it.
But I will give it another crack.
It's not the end of my fishing endeavours here.
See what tomorrow brings me.
This stick's pretty heavy so, yeah, sit it there.
My mood's down.
Four days without tucker is a long time.
I miss my kids. I miss my home.
I miss my partner, Rob.
I was highly considering tapping last night.
Anyways, I didn't bring a picture of Rob and my kids...
..so I thought that'd be the reason I'd want to tap and go home.
But...
..what I did bring was a picture of my mum and dad.
(SOBS) And they've always made me believe I can do anything.
They both passed.
They both passed of cancer.
She was in her early forties,
like, she would've been around my age.
Everything I've done in life is to make them proud
and I know they are.
It's my dad that gave me the love of being out bush.
And Mum would always say, live life to the fullest.
Don't worry about what other people think.
It doesn't matter.
You only live life once.
Do what makes you happy.
Right now, I think they'd be saying,
you know, family is the most important thing
and if you want to go home, go home.
'Cause I could be at home in the bush with my family,
making memories and...
..living every day in the moment
because you never know when someone's gonna go.
(SATELLITE PHONE BEEPING)
Hello...
Yes, this is Leanne.
I'm officially tapping out.
Ready to go.
This has just made me realise how important family is.
Just makes you think, why be here alone...
..when I can be at home making memories with my kids
before it's my time?
I guess that's my biggest realisation.
I don't want them to miss out on having me around.
I'm done and I'm happy with the decision.
I'm not gonna have any regrets at all...
Life's too short.
No amount of money in the world is worth being away from my family.
The day I arrived,
there was a little fantail following me around
and then I didn't see him the second day or the third day.
And then, today, leaving, the fantail came back
and I just thought, you know, this is the right decision.
He's sort of come to say goodbye.
At least I beat Rob's one night, so I am happy with that.
We really do put our family first
and I guess it's this experience
that really, really makes you realise that.
Alone Australia, powered by Kia.
It's the ultimate human endurance challenge.
The battle is on to survive alone in the rugged New Zealand wilderness,
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000.
I need to build a shelter, A-frame.
Tripod, actually, 'cause I've got nothing here
and my bed will just be over this side.
I'm just gonna simplify it down - big time.
I'm not having guests.
It doesn't need to be pretty,
it just needs to do a job.
And I just need to get this done before dark.
There's all sorts of reasons
why you come out here to a place like this.
A big part of it was pretty simple, I just want to challenge myself.
So I think I'm doing it about now, like today.
I don't want to actually run myself down too quick,
but, no matter what, I've got to get this bed done.
I think we're getting there.
Ooh!
Oh, you are gonna put that on, aren't you?
(LAUGHS)
Well, that was good to find out now.
Being out here all alone,
it's 100% not about what you own,
how much money you make, what you look like.
I'm gonna make a good outside one 'cause it's a bit thicker.
It's just you and what abilities you have to keep you alive.
(SIGHS)
I'm done.
It was just such a big effort today.
I had to, like, start again.
I can't wait for the time that comes
when I can just come out of the shelter
and just spend all day looking for food.
As soon as you jump out of bed,
bang, getting smashed by these midges.
They're never ending.
They never stop coming.
Can't even put my shoes on quick enough
without 'em just smashing my feet.
All I want to do is do some fishing again today.
Give it another crack.
Seems to be a bit of current in the lake today.
Yesterday, it was a bust, didn't catch any fish
and lost a hook on that naughty eel.
What do you do?
Just gonna keep fishing.
Oh, sun's finally out.
Maybe that'll get the fish moving.
Alright, there we go.
We just got something on this line.
Let's find out.
Come on, now, buddy.
What have you got for me?
Oh-ho! I got a fish on here.
Yoo-hoo!
Check him out.
Oh!
Oh, first fish.
How lucky is that?
Well, mate...
..not a bad size, too.
You'll do for my dinner.
Bloody hell.
Hang on, let me just,
these midges keep getting in me bloody eyeballs. Holy moly.
Hey, he's not too bad, eh?
Beautiful colours, right?
Yee-ha! How good is that?
I'll cook him up for tea tonight, eh? Cool.
Jeez, that makes me feel good.
I had no idea the little bastard was even on there.
Oh, God, he's slippery.
Fish guts.
Leave them here for bait.
I'm gonna absolutely pig out tonight.
Now I'm gonna try fit this whole damn fish in this two-quart pot.
And we've got to cook him in two lots.
Doesn't really matter.
Look at that - beautiful pink.
They're just lovely.
Mm.
It's going to taste so good.
Whole fish for dinner, eh?
Well, let's have some tea.
Ooh la-la.
Ah, I'm sure you know what trout tastes like.
It's even better now, but this is it.
Day five knocked on the head.
I'll just keep this up.
This will be me.
Now I'm gonna survive and stay out here for as long as it takes.
Last night, there was deer all around me.
Oh, I think I've got a couple of hundred bites on me now.
Lots and lots of miro berries.
My heart rate's going quite fast.
That might take me out.
Thought I heard something.
Where's my shovel?
(GRUNTS)
Oh, shit.
Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2024