Australian Alone

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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Biggles » Thu 25 May, 2023 11:47 am

ggorgeman wrote:I don't think I need to issue a spoiler alert....

Without revealing the outcome for those who didn't watch the finale last night, I have an uneasy feel about the integrity of final days leading up to the conclusion.... if you get my drift. Thoughts?


Why?
What are the specific pieces where integrity is brought into question?
It is a made-for-TV docu/reality series; there would have been a lot of post after the event, particularly the self-run camera work — heaps and heaps of it.
The person who would win could be picked out 2 weeks back. And not from spoilers.
Nothing new to the concept of winner takes all, the conclusion witnessed last night, and no surprise to keen observers how the they got to that point: acceptance of the wild and nature, perseverance, resourcefulness, reflection, emotional control and learning quickly from mistakes. I thoroughly enjoyed the series.
“Is é comhrá faoin aimsir an tearmann deiridh ag an duine gan samhlaíocht.”
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby ggorgeman » Thu 25 May, 2023 2:28 pm

The uneasy feeling that I had was re the access to food for one of the 'competitors' in the back half of the competition. Especially so when they "went out for a pee" and returned with a wallaby that they had clubbed.
I also felt that there were moments in the footage of the competitors going about their daily activities (when isolated) that had a slight feel of having been filmed by a third party. Definitely majority of footage looked to have been filmed from their tripod or handheld, but enough other parts here and there left me wondering.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Plod » Thu 25 May, 2023 6:43 pm

There was a certain irony in one catching a wallaby while going for a pee and seemingly not having put any effort into trapping one, while the other put in a lot of effort and had one escape by the barest of margins.


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Re: Australian Alone

Postby michael_p » Fri 26 May, 2023 9:13 am

This image was posted by SBSOnDemand it is not mine. The forum software doesn't seem to handle embedding tweets. Original tweet link: https://twitter.com/SBSOnDemand/status/ ... 0521708545

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One foot in front of the other.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Biggles » Fri 26 May, 2023 10:32 am

On the other hand, last night's ALONE REUNION looked very heavily scripted, with TV veteran Amanda Keller at the helm with a few clumsy observations. While it was scripted and directed, there were real emotions and paths flowing: Gina's recollection of loss of little Blaise, both in reflection at camp, and in rewinds to their history, was a real tear-jerker, and a cathartic, very formative moment that was the steam in the engine that got her going to the 67th day. Interesting too, how Gina said she can do without the company of people, because loss can happen, and she doesn't want to go through the experience of heartache again.

So there goeth one of SBS's better, very watchable series, worth tucking in and following keenly.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Fri 26 May, 2023 5:23 pm

Plod wrote:There was a certain irony in one catching a wallaby while going for a pee and seemingly not having put any effort into trapping one, while the other put in a lot of effort and had one escape by the barest of margins.


There was, but them's the brakes. Given enough time, Mike would have refined his trap (eg. lower it a bit so it landed more quickly, may have need to be weighted more too) enough to reliably capture wallabies or possums. Gina had a random opportunity and made it stick when it counted. And contrary to the conspiracy theorists' collective opinion, rugby-tackling a pademelon is within the realm of possibility. They're easily dazzled by headtorches and can to dumb things when startled. It's a one in whatever stroke of luck though, hardly a practical hunting/food getting methodology, but definitely not impossible.

I will admit that while there was obviously no decent footage of what went down (just the timelapse cameras they were running overnight - she's not going to film herself going for a quiet midnight wee, obviously) the show could have better explained how it all went down to limit the confusion. They clearly leaned hard into post-production voice overs to fill in the gaps, compared to say the first season where the commentary was delivered straight to camera in real time.

Biggles wrote:Interesting too, how Gina said she can do without the company of people, because loss can happen, and she doesn't want to go through the experience of heartache again.


Compartmentalisation and externalisation of emotion is a pretty typical response to highly traumatic events. Gina's ability to articulate it so clearly and beautifully, though, is just incredible. Amanda Keller struggling to hold back tears was about the only non-contrived/TV-esque aspect of her hosting the Reunion.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Tortoise » Fri 26 May, 2023 5:32 pm

I have a friend who grew up snaring in Tassie, as his Dad was a snarer. His wife's comment was that he should go on the next Australian Alone, if there is one, because he'd win. She may well be right, but he's not interested. Anyhoo, his comment was that snares are far easier to make and far more efficient than other types of traps. Not sure if there were restrictions on the type of trap they could use.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby WestcoastPete » Fri 26 May, 2023 5:55 pm

There are restrictions in Alone Australia. All traps have to be live capture in case of capturing endangered wildlife like devils etc, so no snares

I can totally imagine getting close enough to a pademelon to catch one, especially a startled one in an area with narrow points
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Fri 26 May, 2023 6:01 pm

Tortoise wrote:I have a friend who grew up snaring in Tassie, as his Dad was a snarer. His wife's comment was that he should go on the next Australian Alone, if there is one, because he'd win. She may well be right, but he's not interested. Anyhoo, his comment was that snares are far easier to make and far more efficient than other types of traps. Not sure if there were restrictions on the type of trap they could use.


Absolutely! Any practical survivalist will tell you a handful of snares will keep you fed far longer than a rifle and a bucketful of bullets.

However they're completely illegal in Tasmania (as are traps) for hopefully very obvious reasons. The likelihood of the show getting an exemption on this, I'd guess, would be zero. Given they couldn't leave fishing lines unattended (in case a platypus etc. got caught) and had to live-trap wallabies/possums (to ensure any animal caught could be dispatched quickly and humanely as possible). I suspect any thought of allowing an exemption for hunting bows was immediately scuttled simply due to optics (they're currently banned, which I'm in mixed minds about), however there is also a real risk of fatally-injured animals not being able to be tracked successfully in our dense scrub and lost.

WestcoastPete wrote:I can totally imagine getting close enough to a pademelon to catch one, especially a startled one in an area with narrow points


I've had them crash into my feet quite a few times. Years ago my Pop caught a wild rabbit flying past him, literally by the hindfoot. He was an experienced outdoorsman, but not a ninja to our knowledge ;-)
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby warnesy » Sun 28 May, 2023 8:05 pm

Enjoyable show for what it was. It shows you just how many rules we live under compared to other countries, which I thought made it much harder to survive than some of the other Alone series with a much larger range of both traps and game.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby CBee » Mon 29 May, 2023 8:51 am

Not sure I understand why a reality show based on survival where food is the focus of survival, if you have restrictions on hunting and trapping. Because after providing them with that massive tarp, shelter was not an issue. And water was obviously not an issue either. It was clear since the beginning, that getting food was the only race for endurance in the show.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Mon 29 May, 2023 9:21 am

Very true. I started binging Season 6 (the 'Arctic' one on Slave Lake in Canada) over the weekend. They too had a number of species that were off limits due to endangered status or specific hunting laws (fur laws?) but still, the amount of game around and the general efficiency of both snaring and bow hunting was pretty amazing. Especially for what most would consider a relatively barren and hostile environment. Probably why over half the contestants are still in the game after the first month.

I can understand why snares and bows weren't allowed for Alone Australia, but I think the case could have been made for spearing, being - for want a better term - a 'culturally and historically appropriate' hunting method?
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby WestcoastPete » Mon 29 May, 2023 10:50 am

headwerkn wrote:I can understand why snares and bows weren't allowed for Alone Australia, but I think the case could have been made for spearing, being - for want a better term - a 'culturally and historically appropriate' hunting method?


I was thinking this too. It'd be selective, and much less likely to result in a injured animal running away than an arrow
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby matagi » Mon 29 May, 2023 7:16 pm

Apparently there is going to be a Season 2 of Alone Australia. I hope they pick a location where it's slightly easier to obtain food.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Mon 29 May, 2023 7:32 pm

I can't help thinking that the Centre would make for a good challenge. They'd need plenty of schooling about edible plant species, however.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby ribuck » Mon 29 May, 2023 11:04 pm

north-north-west wrote:... the Centre would make for a good challenge. They'd need plenty of schooling about edible plant species...

And about where the Larapinta water tanks are :)
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Tue 30 May, 2023 7:25 am

Nahh, dump them all north of Ormiston and Giles and watch the fun begin.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Last » Tue 30 May, 2023 8:47 am

north-north-west wrote:Nahh, dump them all north of Ormiston and Giles and watch the fun begin.

They could change the title to "Alive?"
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Tue 30 May, 2023 9:01 am

Last wrote:
north-north-west wrote:Nahh, dump them all north of Ormiston and Giles and watch the fun begin.

They could change the title to "Alive?"


Just make sure everyone has a Fitbit on 24/7 and send in the chopper when they flatline.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Tue 30 May, 2023 10:44 am

matagi wrote:Apparently there is going to be a Season 2 of Alone Australia. I hope they pick a location where it's slightly easier to obtain food.


The Kimberley would be a good mix of scenic outback that isn't complete desert, but the sheer logistics would make for one very expensive production.

And crocs. I guess every other season has had bears, moose, wild cats and rabid squirrels (!) to deal with, so it could be argued that dangerous animals are just part of the show. But I get the feeling that salties are considered an 'unmanageable risk'.

You'd think the Victorian/NSW high country would be the sensible option: can bow hunt rabbits, hare, goat, brumbies, foxes and deer, fires and timber getting are less restricted, good range of environs and climate to deal with. Only real issue is finding a big enough common water body so everyone's spaced out far enough yet still in the same basic sort of environment.

Will be interesting to see what changes with the next season. I reckon the producers learnt an awful lot about what works - for contestants and viewers - and what doesn't with the first season.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Tue 30 May, 2023 3:31 pm

headwerkn wrote:You'd think the Victorian/NSW high country would be the sensible option: can bow hunt rabbits, hare, goat, brumbies, foxes and deer, fires and timber getting are less restricted, good range of environs and climate to deal with. Only real issue is finding a big enough common water body so everyone's spaced out far enough yet still in the same basic sort of environment.


There's some wild country out around the Berrima Range - few people get past the Pilot ridgeline.

Kimberley and Pilbara would both be good, although I might just be saying that because I love that country. And I don't see how salties would be any worse than grizzlies or, especially, polar bears, although the grizzlies are unlikely to be an issue in winter.
Then again, given the previously discussed PFD scene, salties would definitely be a disqualifier.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Last » Tue 30 May, 2023 6:20 pm

Would being taken by a saltie count as "tapping out"?
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Wed 31 May, 2023 7:25 am

Last wrote:Would being taken by a saltie count as "tapping out"?


Seems more like being chewed out.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Wed 31 May, 2023 9:14 am

north-north-west wrote:Seems more like being chewed out.


Attempting to make a satphone call while being dragged underwater by a croc would make for, umm, interesting GoPro footage. Definitely cut to a (online gambling) commercial break three seconds in... :roll:

For anyone interested Mike has posted up his final recap video, answers a lot of questions about what actually happened in the last 20-30 days, which the show very much rushed over (annoyingly).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH-njNF ... FjayBtaWtl
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Last » Wed 31 May, 2023 10:32 am

Would a satphone have reception from inside the croc?
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Wed 31 May, 2023 11:37 am

Last wrote:Would a satphone have reception from inside the croc?


I've heard of butt-dialling, but gut-dialling?
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Tyreless » Wed 31 May, 2023 1:34 pm

headwerkn wrote:For anyone interested Mike has posted up his final recap video, answers a lot of questions about what actually happened in the last 20-30 days, which the show very much rushed over (annoyingly).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH-njNF ... FjayBtaWtl

Thanks for the link. I liked Mike a lot when I was watching the show and now like him even more having watched the recap video.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby ggorgeman » Wed 31 May, 2023 2:50 pm

Plod wrote:There was a certain irony in one catching a wallaby while going for a pee and seemingly not having put any effort into trapping one, while the other put in a lot of effort and had one escape by the barest of margins.
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Mike's Youtube clip is interesting (although haven't watched it all yet). Also interesting to read some of the comments there, including a number that indicate some skepticism around some of the events in the latter stages.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby GPSGuided » Mon 05 Jun, 2023 1:08 pm

Just came across this SBS series and gosh, just another mass entertainment program with appropriate expectations needed.

Given the experiences here, is there consensus on the 10 picked items from their list of 41?
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby matagi » Tue 06 Jun, 2023 8:08 pm

I liked Mike's list.

He covered everything he was planning to take in a video before they went to boot camp and then did a recap video of how useful his choices were at the end of the series.

He also covered his clothing choices and how well they worked.
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