[music playing]
NARRATOR: 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.
I just need to bring some food in.
It's a male.
Look at that stonker.
[laughs]
Last night was pretty intense.
Tehre was deer all around me.
It was freaking delicious.
I know how tough it's going to be.
Terrible wail of doom.
WOMAN 1: You got to feel safe.
Otherwise, you just die out here.
Oh my god, I miss them all.
It doesn't feel as bad as it looks.
It feels worse.
MAN 1: Oh, this [bleep] just goe
Jesus.
I'm scared enough to have an emergency tap out in my hand.
MAN 2 The last person standing may take home $250,000.
I just got these pains in my chest.
Somebody help me!
WOMAN 2: He's not answering the phone.
We need to talk about a chopper.
[gasps in pain]
It's like a lost world.
JASON (VOICEOVER): There's a real beauty here,
but there's also a real element of danger.
We need to be prepared for deadfall, for earthquakes,
for flash flooding.
Wow, this is crazy.
TAMIKA (VOICEOVER): Out at rock whirls up inside of me
a sense of strength and power that I've never experienced
on any other land before.
This is gorgeous.
I can't believe it.
TAMIKA (VOICEOVER): These mountains
are home to wild boar, goat, deer.
And if I can just get one of those, hunt them,
I might survive.
LEANNE (VOICEOVER): When you look out
and you see those mountains overlooking the lake,
it has an ancient feel to it.
Great.
Thank you.
[exhales]
LEANNE (VOICEOVER): But it's also scary.
ANDREAS (VOICEOVER): This is one of the most daunting things
I've ever done.
But we're now allowed to hunt with bow and arrow.
It's something I'm comfortable with
and I have done for a long time.
Probably the steepest country I've been in.
ANDREAS (VOICEOVER): We all think we can do it.
But the only thing we can really do
is compete against ourselves.
Things just got real.
ANDREAS (VOICEOVER): And it's petrifying.
SUZAN (VOICEOVER): The whole game is a mental game.
Everything is about the psychology.
I know there's fear in me.
Can I sustain myself as a human alone in a wild place?
So it begins.
It's going to be cold.
Real cold.
No one will hear you scream out there.
KRZYSZTOF (VOICEOVER): We have to survive completely unaided.
So long.
Farewell, and amen.
KRZYSZTOF (VOICEOVER): The fauna and the floor
are completely different back home in Australia.
Look, it's just a tiny little speck.
Look at it go.
It's going to get real cold tonight,
and those look like rain clouds.
Time to get to work.
RICK (VOICEOVER): I have absolutely no way
of knowing how other competitors are faring.
I only know how I'll be doing.
Catch you later, guys.
Thanks for everything.
RICK (VOICEOVER): 10 of us go into this challenge,
and only one of us will be the winner.
JACK (VOICEOVER): Hunting's not a sport.
To me, hunting is an instinct.
Thank you.
There are big moments in life.
And for me, this is one of them.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): It's just us, our cameras documenting
our survival.
Completely alone.
I am so--
--pumped.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): $250,000 prize for the last person standing.
And it would mean the world to be the last person.
CHACE (VOICEOVER): The lake sits at 200 meters above sea level.
Also runs just as deep.
Everything about this place is intimidating.
We are totally alone in a whole new world.
Time to arrive.
CHACE (VOICEOVER): You have to be
willing to give up everything to come here and win, alone.
Nobody else here but me.
And there they go.
There they go.
And that's it.
I'm alone.
And the midi flies already here to greet me.
Namu namu.
Good day, fellas.
I'm your new housemate.
[squawking]
It's unreal how big this place is.
Even if I wanted to get out of here, I don't--
you'd have a hard time making it back to society from here.
[chuckles]
So let's go have a look, eh.
First things first, don't walk anywhere--
--without your bow, huh.
CHACE (VOICEOVER): I'm absolutely stoked that I
can have a bow in this season.
[gunshots]
I'm a combat engineer in the Australian Defense Force.
Joining the army was the best thing for my Indigenous
heritage, really.
Because I'm part of the Indigenous Pre-Recruitment
Program and fostered a lot of love there.
As far as my ancestors go, I am Quandamooka man.
Think of worse ways to spend the day.
I've literally been hunting my whole life.
I go hunting at least once a month, yeah.
And it's just what I do for fun.
It's what I do in any time I get off.
I go out, and I do exactly like what
I'm going to be doing here.
If you miss, you don't eat, you know?
I never miss.
[laughs]
Yeah, I've hunted with rifles, bow and arrows, spears,
boomerangs, and even just a knife at times.
Not out there being a killer, I'm out there being a hunter.
You know, it's-- they're totally different things.
He was born for this.
He's prepared.
Love you, baby.
Mom is my biggest fan.
And so is me grandparents.
Love you, Grandma.
I love you, too, darling.
Pray for me?
Yes, I will, honey.
You want to do it for them, too.
Prove your grandpa I'm as tough as he thinks I am.
$250,000 would be game changing.
Buy me a big old farm.
Then have my family and my own--
my horses, and just start living that life, you know?
CHACE (VOICEOVER): The number one thing
you need when you're hunting with a bow is patience.
Because you don't always get on to something.
Sometimes it takes a bit of time to get used to animals
in different areas, too.
And they're not all the same.
Let's keep looking, shall we?
CHACE (VOICEOVER): Like red deer here are not the same
as red deer in Europe.
They're the same animal.
But you know, they're going to act different.
OK.
I'm talking quietly now, because it's a rub tree.
Some stags come through here and give that tree a bashing.
They're right here.
I can hear the water.
Feel the air.
Oh.
I am just so happy to be here.
I don't even feel like doing a shelter or a fire.
I honestly just feel like sitting here.
OK, I'm not-- I'm not going to do that, I promise.
I've got stuff to do.
I'm just going to collect some tinder, because I think
that's all I'm going to have time for tonight.
Shelter, tinder.
Even if I don't light it tonight,
I'll be ready for tomorrow.
These make great fire starters.
Leptospermum.
We'll have a tea tree.
I just want to take a little bit off each tree.
I don't want to take too much.
It'd be nice if I could walk along here and not
see what I've done, really.
God.
TAMIKA (VOICEOVER): I feel a bit like an animal at the moment.
I'm shaking on the inside.
And it's like this 50/50 scared versus pure exhilaration.
Just try and stay calm.
Let's go have a little look around.
Get my shelter.
TAMIKA (VOICEOVER): The winds can be ferocious here, I know.
And I want to make sure that I don't hate myself later
when the wind's howling.
So shelter is number one.
I definitely have been labeled as being determined,
and I think that's come from just my childhood of adventure
and hanging out with the boys and choosing careers that
have really made me step up physically and mentally.
So I think I have found somewhere I really like
and a view to die for.
Close to my water.
I definitely want to look at what's up.
Yeah.
I reckon we might be--
might survive.
It's a little bit of elevation.
Yeah.
I'm loving it.
It's never been more in the forefront of my mind
that I'm just going to be so cold.
Absolutely awesome.
Ooh, rocks a bit slippery.
Look at this.
Look at this backdrop.
This is the most incredible thing I could ever possibly do.
This is home for the next three months.
And that rainbow, that rainbow is just still sitting there.
It's like it's hanging around just for me.
In fact, it's getting stronger.
Magic.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): My strategy day one--
build a shelter, get a fire going.
Survival has been a passion of mine for over 20 years.
It's been given to me from my parents, from my dad.
So it's been a part of my life since I can remember.
In my line of work, I provide mental and physical resilience
training.
What have you just become?
Accountable.
Why?
Because you said you're going to do.
Resilience training allows you to push the physical
and emotional barrier, which came off the back of my career,
I think, in rugby.
I had the good fortune of playing for the Australian
under 21s.
I played for Queensland, now known as the Reds.
And I played for New South Wales, now known
as the Waratahs.
How are you doing?
And being 60 years of age comes with just that,
60 years of experience.
And I personally see it as an advantage
when I go out onto the land.
See you, sweetheart.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): I think it would also be great--
See you, Mark
MIKE (VOICEOVER): --to be a lovely inspiration
to my children.
I love you.
Love you too, mate.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): As a single dad for quite a while,
I just know they would be so proud.
Bend at the knees, please.
Deadlift.
Oh Jesus, I'm weighting that.
Let's go.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): What I want to show my children is there are
no boundaries.
There are no age limits.
And even as you enter into the-- let's just say the last third
of your life, there's so much more opportunity for you
to be able to strive for.
And that is my anchor point.
Keep it simple, sexy.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): The ability to handle pain and discomfort,
I would say, is my superpower.
I'm willing to push myself to my ultimate limits to win.
[chuckles]
Go away.
Go away-- away.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): You know, I've set the pass mark at 60 days.
One day for every year of my life.
But to me, the benchmark is 100 days.
And I am prepared for 100 days.
That's not too bad.
This place is alive with them.
That'll do for tonight.
I'm just knocking up a quick maul.
I'm going to use that wide area there for clubbing
and have this part as the hand gliding.
[scraping sounds]
One way around.
[tapping]
And is rough and ready as it is.
It will suffice.
Let's get that tarp up.
Let's get that shelter above me.
Water, shelter, fire, food.
Swap the orders around.
This is all about shelter at the moment.
I'm well hydrated.
Stack of water this morning.
Been pissing like a racehorse.
[tapping]
RICK (VOICEOVER): I do believe I have what it takes to win this
due to my skills, my background, my knowledge, and my wisdom.
I'm sure this location will throw everything at me.
RICK (VOICEOVER): I don't know what looms
over the top of these hills.
All I know is whatever's out there is unpredictable
as far as weather.
And that can make life very difficult
if you're not prepared for it.
Namu namu.
They're drawing a bit of blood already.
They're bigger than what we have in Australia.
And they're persistent.
They don't want to go.
But I don't want them there.
Now here we go.
This is pretty cool.
I'm not the only living animal walking this beach.
I got deer tracks, and they're fresh.
They got throw forward.
They lift their foot to move forward.
They throw forward a bit of sand, and that's fresh.
That's a good sized deer.
You're watching one of those games
where you see the symbol comes up.
It could be food or medical.
Like a game of Fortnite.
Not that I play Fortnite.
But this just has added a whole new dimension
to where I am now.
It's turning on another sense.
It's turning on my eyes and ears to know that I'm not alone.
There are deer that have wandered along this beach.
Recently.
I get the feeling I'm being watched.
I can hear something.
Every now and then, I hear something.
I don't know, it's not a-- it's like, you know,
that single stepping crunch.
A little break of a stick or something.
I've heard two today.
But I am in no position to be hunting anything,
even if it is anything.
In my family, bow hunting was pretty much everything.
Yes, lovely shot.
I think growing up, I always looked up to my dad.
He just put a bow and arrow in my hand and--
Beautiful.
--said, let's go get food.
So I'm pretty experienced with the bow.
We did enter a lot of competitions.
And yes, I was an Australian champion.
I just want to show you where I live.
It's like a little gypsy wagon, but on the back of a truck.
Not only do I live in it, but I also work out of it.
Home is outside for me.
So every day, I'm out there in the elements.
Cooking by the fire, growing food, foraging food.
In the last five years, I've been cooking plant based only.
See, I haven't eaten meat for about eight years.
I think the things that could send me home on Alone
are definitely starvation and lack of food.
I've thought a lot about how I'd feel if I had to kill animals
again.
And I think the higher level of care
that an animal gives to its offspring,
the harder it is to kill it.
So I'll start with fish, and I'll work my way up.
Animal trail.
It's pretty big.
So I'm guessing deer.
And they're able to step over quite high logs.
And then their next step.
And you can even see, like, disturbed soil.
TAMIKA (VOICEOVER): I've been veggo for a lot of years now.
And it's not because I don't love the taste of meat.
TAMIKA: Be the deer.
TAMIKA (VOICEOVER): If I kill my own, if I hunt my own,
I know that their suffering is so minimal.
But I'm probably not really ready for that yet.
So I'm goddamn hoping I catch a lot of fish.
But that doesn't mean I'm already preparing myself
and looking around and doing all the things that you need
to do if you're hunting.
CHACE (VOICEOVER): A lot of energy goes into hunting.
And, you know, if you're going to be a hunter,
you need some gatherers at home.
And if you don't have gatherers at home,
you need to be the gatherer.
Because that's where your money's at.
I found a few of these supplejacks around.
But as you can see, they're all getting
munched on pretty regularly.
It's a deer or something.
Coming through here.
Hungry.
Looks like they like these supplejacks.
And I found one here.
Look at that.
The first bit of native food I've found.
Nice and supple, as I suppose the name suggests.
Come down here where it breaks.
Got there.
Nice one.
Keep this face mask on because, as you can see, as soon as I
stop, the midgies come on in.
I've already found myself dinner in the form of that supplejack.
I would like to cook it, so if I can get a fire going for that,
that'd be nice.
So I'll just snap this stick here.
Found it.
It's a bit dry in the middle there, see?
Dry timber.
So all I'm going to do now is--
[cutting sounds]
--make myself some nice flaky bits.
And that's going to be my tinder for starting this fire tonight.
CHACE (VOICEOVER): I've only got 10 items, you know.
And I couldn't bring some items in sacrifice of other items.
So you need to sort of figure out ways to get around
these things.
I didn't bring an ax.
I just brought a knife, and I made my knife nice and big
so that I could use it for snapping up my kindling
and stuff like that.
And you just go to--
you know, you figure out what you can and can't
do with what you can bring and then figure out
which ways you're going to substitute the things you
couldn't bring once you get there.
Having some dramas here.
Fucking bastards.
Come up here.
Everything is just soaked through and sodden.
Wow, I'm so not used to this.
This is really dense.
Really wet.
LEANNE (VOICEOVER): Come from dry dirt, red dirt.
So this is the complete opposite.
Wow, this is crazy thick.
LEANNE (VOICEOVER): It's not going
to be easy as it would normally be just going bush and setting
up camp.
So what I'm bringing from my own culture
is respect for the land.
Hey, little fella.
Little birds just following me around.
OK.
Just need to get some sticks to peg my tarp down.
LEANNE (VOICEOVER): I don't think
I'm going to give up easy.
My biggest strength will be that I'm nunya.
And that means stubborn, because I am very stubborn.
And I'll go and go until I figure it out.
Or till I get the result that I want.
And hopefully the end result is being tapped on the shoulder
by Rob.
So Rob is my partner, and he was in season one of Alone
Australia.
Don't get sulky and tap out after one night.
I won't be doing that.
[chuckles]
I'm an Aboriginal heritage programs officer for National
Parks and Wildlife Service.
I'm 42.
I'm from Mildura, and I'm a Barkindji Aboriginal.
Growing up on country, you learn to be self-reliant.
ROB: See all the abbeys?
That starts from the time you're born right through.
I've learnt so much from my dad.
We didn't grow up with a lot of money.
Dad provided by, you know, going out bush, getting wild meat.
You learn by observing.
Go hunting or use a rifle to get meat.
I can fish and I can track.
I can read tracks.
Learning to read country, read animals and how they move
and why they move the way they do, you know,
that helps you to hunt them.
Oi, Mummy's leaving.
The ultimate goal is to hopefully win the money to buy
myself a little bit of land.
Good luck, eh.
Thank you.
Don't tap out after one night.
Sandflies are really bad.
LEANNE (VOICEOVER): I want it so much because I guess
as an Aboriginal person, you know, we've had so much taken.
And this is just my way of getting a little peace back.
Because that money will buy me my very own little piece
of land.
And not have to go and ask a white landholder, you know?
Well, my shelter's done.
I should be OK for tonight, at least.
Everything's wet.
Everything's soaked.
CHACE (VOICEOVER): Going into this experience,
my biggest strength is my adaptability.
Being a combat engineer itself, you know,
you have to think outside the box
to get things done with limited amount of tools,
without the right equipment.
And that nearly happens all the time.
So if at first you don't succeed, what do you do?
You drop your showbag and you throw your lollies everywhere.
No.
You just try a different way.
So I went up the hill there and I found this stuff
in a big old dead tree.
I think we're pretty much cooking with gas now.
Now that was a mission, huh?
Far out.
Day one, though.
Got the fire going.
Although it's not, you know, imperative to my survival
right now, it is--
it's really good for upstairs, you know?
It means a lot to be able to accomplish this in such [bleep]
conditions, honestly.
Everything's wet, everything's moist.
But this just means a bit more life at home here.
I'm going to cook that supplejack now.
You can't eat it raw.
I heard it's better if you cook it,
so that's what we've done here.
Let's try the top.
Apparently the top's the--
--the most subtle of the jack.
Geez.
Nah.
It's just straight up asparagus.
That's-- that's what it tastes like.
Tastes like asparagus.
Looks like asparagus.
It tastes like it, too.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): Having done resilience training for so long
will certainly equip me for being out there alone.
I want to be able to test how far I can actually go
I'm knackered.
It's been a big day.
And I'm knackered.
[squawking]
Can you hear that?
[chuckles]
I hope you can.
It's a sound I've never heard before.
And boy, have I spent some time in the bush,
but I've never heard that before.
Have you?
I actually had a really good night.
The bed was worrying me.
And although it reminded me a bit--
you know when you go for--
well, some people get really drunk when you're younger
and go to a festival.
And you stagger in your tent, and you realize
you've set up on a lean.
And there's lumps and you ache and you're freezing,
and you're just too drunk to do anything about it.
So I was sort of expecting that kind of feeling.
But it wasn't.
It was really cool.
The new day.
So anyway, I was so keen to walk this land and see what's here.
Oh my god, there's so much happening in this forest.
I love foraging, and I have studied herbal medicine.
And I found this thing.
It's so slimy.
Oh yeah.
It kind of says, don't touch me.
That's why I poked my finger in it.
Massive.
Oh my gosh.
All right.
We might keep going.
Just look at that.
Seriously.
If I didn't have to eat, I could just look at that all day.
At what point do I switch from, this is so beautiful, to,
I'm so hungry?
Still got that mindset that I'm OK, that I'm fed.
My body feels fed.
So--
So I haven't switched yet.
RICK (VOICEOVER): The motivation for me at 58 years old,
to realize that that life is just getting started.
I'm physically and mentally at some of the primest time I've
been in my life.
I heard the average person dies six years after they retire.
That scares [bleep] out of me.
The fact that you spend your life working,
and that's the result at the end of it.
Don't retire.
Keep doing the stuff you love in life
and just do it to the best of your ability.
Live your life to the fullest.
That's what I'm about.
[water splashing]
I am the captain of my ship.
I am the father to my sons and a husband to my wife.
I am the brother to my siblings.
And I am my own king.
RICK (VOICEOVER): I'm a former SAS soldier.
I've taken those skills into the bushcraft and survival arena,
and I work a lot with fathers and sons and families
to teach them a skill set that I have come to love and enjoy.
I've done it pretty tough before,
and I'm prepared to push through those barriers again.
It is about doing it for my family.
My wife and I have been together for 30 years,
and a key drive is that this will create for the future,
giving her and the boys things that maybe they haven't had
for the last 30 years.
Sort of feels real, doesn't it?
[laughs]
It's been a little bit more of a challenge
than I thought, getting this fire going.
RICK (VOICEOVER): I don't see tapping as being something
that I'm likely to do.
What I do is teach people the fundamentals of survival.
Teaching them the priorities.
How to create fire with very little.
How to find water, how to filter it.
How to make a shelter.
So they know what sequence to put them in to give themselves
the best chance of getting back to loved ones with a heartbeat.
Me old beard had a little bit of a pyro trim.
Bit of a singe.
It's a good thing it doesn't actually flare up.
It just sort of singes the end of it.
But certainly no hairdressers out here,
so it's not a bad thing.
Yeah, got that rustic look to it.
I'm also going to utilize the hollow of this tree
trunk, which will lend itself to being
able to get some dry kindling.
If it was a bit bigger, I'd sleep in there.
Fire is such a key component to survival.
Whilst it's not always considered the first priority.
Well, generally not in Australia, it's not.
But once you move into cold environments,
it definitely takes on a whole new meaning.
But if can heat up this rock, that's
going to get sat inside my little wood cave.
That warmth will go a long way to drying out this material
even more.
Got to get a fire going.
Let's clear this area first.
[taps]
Hello, my friend's back.
Hello.
What are you doing back?
Hey?
Cool.
That little cheeky bugger was trying to take my lifejacket.
Hey.
I'm not meant to disturb you, but you can't have it.
I might have to be on the--
on patrol tonight.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): I've had some very dear mates of mine,
great rugby players, people have associated with rugby, Rugby
Union, who have unfortunately taken their own lives.
And that saddens me.
And I see with men, let's say of my vintage,
that-- we can lack direction.
When the children grow up and leave home and we've
worked so hard all our lives to get to a certain place
where we want to be.
And when it all may disappear, there's often a journey lost.
Where do I go now?
And the outdoors has helped me heal in a very real way.
I feel connected.
I feel free.
Come on.
Oh yes.
I just saw my first worm.
There it is.
Oh, stop it there.
We do have worms.
Yee-haw.
That's a good sign.
That's made me happy.
MIKE (VOICEOVER): The vessel I live in is 60 years old.
And bottom line is, I could fall over and I could pass away,
and nature would still continue on.
Getting a sweat up doing this.
Getting stiff.
Getting cold.
[snapping]
It's a bit a bit damp.
I should still get it, though.
Let's get this.
[groans]
I'm knackered.
See what happens.
[coughs]
Get some dried tether tomorrow.
[coughs]
Really, really tight in my chest.
Oh god.
How perfect is this?
Feel privileged to be here.
I'm under no false illusions that things will get tougher.
Way tougher.
That's what I'm here for.
It's like rocks on stillwater.
You know that means.
We've gotten privileged.
I feel every father or father figure
it's just been time teaching a young bloke how to skip stones.
RICK (VOICEOVER): I think it's extremely important
to have a good relationship with my sons.
I know even at this stage they're--
you know, they're men now, 24 and 26 years old.
And they still look at me and look at the way
I treat their mother.
I find that's important, that they see love and respect.
She's been my rock and soulmate all of my life.
It's my wife's 60th birthday.
Happy birthday, my darling.
You're probably about 4,500 kilometers away.
I guess I wish I was with you.
But I'm with you in my heart.
I feel like we all miss our families when we're apart.
I think when they say absence makes the heart grow fonder,
that's what they're talking about.
I think you realize how much you take people for granted
or just don't fully appreciate them until they're not
around you.
Make the most of those times that they are there.
Would have been quite a celebration, our 60th.
Celebration's for my wife.
Good night to my darling and good night to my boys.
[groaning in pain]
[phone ringing]
WOMAN: Hello?
Are you there?
Hello?
I just got these pains in my--
I've got these pains in my chest.
I'm so scared.
[groaning in pain]
[phone ringing]
MAN: It's going to get colder and wetter as the weeks go on.
RICK (VOICEOVER): You don't realize
how hard it is until you're just here by yourself.
I wouldn't go back.
[chuckls]
I'm here to win.
I'm targeting 100 days.
And if I get to 100, I can just keep going.
Beautiful.
Three days without Tucker.
That's a long time.
We need to bring some food in.
Look at that!
Two stonky trout.
That's just lovely.
[honks]
The hell is that?
(WHISPERING) I thought I saw something.
Definitely something big.
Look at that.
He's right there.
There's actually something to eat here.
Come on, come on.