Original subtitles

Well, sink him.

It's bloody ridiculous how hard the fishing is.

Honestly, I don't know how much longer I can last.

My belly does not like that sausage soup.

It'd be nice to have a date that he's finished on, to know that your family

are going to be back with you. It's hard not knowing.

I want to be true to myself, even if that does mean that I... Can't stay out

here as long as I'd planned.

Just getting mad.

PTSD triggers.

I don't know why.

Shit.

I just don't have enough distractions to keep my thoughts at bay.

Give myself a rule. If you're going to tap, you tap in the morning.

I'm just going to see what the morning holds.

We're halfway to the South Pole.

We're going to be totally alone.

It's Tasmania, it's cold, it's rain, it's snow.

We're all going to leave changed forever.

Holy fuck.

Yeah!

What is this place?

It's like a camp trip from hell. Mother nature's kicking my ass.

This experience... Oh, you fucker! ..is just as much a...

Mind game. As it is a survival game.

Is there another way?

$250,000 prize would change my life.

I'm fucking over it.

Holy shit.

Holy shit.

Is that not one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen?

And it's silent.

And so still.

Good morning!

Woo!

Look, the sun's coming up. You can see it hitting the trees.

Oh, it's just exquisite.

Day 12 today.

We've hit a dozen.

Dozen eggs, thanks, love.

It's been an amazing journey so far.

Some really intense emotions.

I came here in the middle of the bush hoping that I can get that emotional...

with the land, with the bush.

And I definitely have.

It's okay to step away from reality and, you know, let that inner child go

running around.

Pretend you're in an Alice in Wonderland movie or Lord of the Rings movie.

Just totally immerse yourself in it.

And I've been lucky enough to be able to do that.

Just me.

and this beautiful planet we live on.

It's amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

I mean, there's been some tears and some heavy thinking.

I feel like if I stay, I might go down a hole where I don't want to go.

I want to end it on my own terms.

Hey, it's Chris.

Yep.

Yep, I am officially tapping out.

Ready to take the next step.

All right.

That's us.

I feel like I'm not going to regret leaving today.

Now's the time.

That could be my taxi, I reckon.

There we go.

Come ashore, my friends.

What's going through your head right now?

Pretty happy about it, you know.

I wanted to leave on a high.

You know, resilience is a big thing.

And I've worked so hard on my mental game over the last 10-odd years since,

like, since leaving Iraq and the Defence Force.

Yeah, I don't know.

I guess realising that there's still a lot of work to go, you know.

It was great. I was loving it.

But then, you know, having those massive highs and those massive lows, and the

massive highs are awesome, but being out there with the lows, I just couldn't

find a way to manage that.

I definitely need people in my life.

Hopefully I've inspired at least one person.

And at the very least, showing people with mental health challenges, it does

get better, 100%. Most of the work is on you, but it does get better.

Didn't get that 250K, didn't get to the end, but I've won. I've won so much.

I'm taking a lunch break.

Lunch break.

Sun's there.

I reckon midday is probably about when I get to that tree.

So when I line up the sun, I use hand angles. So the sun basically moves that

far, 15 degrees an hour.

So it's about 40 minutes from that finger to that finger.

In 40 minutes' time, it'll be 12 o'clock.

Or you can just look at your watch.

But I don't have a watch.

I mean, I feel disappointed that I haven't got any food yet.

But I sure as hell have been trying.

I've been working my butt off a whole range of different ways.

All right, I'll take this thing for a test run.

You made a fishing rod?

Yes.

Come on, fishies.

Set a trap.

And just see how much pressure it takes to get through.

Great.

I've made the kayak.

Come on, fish.

It's not that hard.

Come to papa.

Nothing is working, Eddie.

I'm just about to go up and check my trap.

I'm really hungry.

I'm just losing weight by the week.

It is rapidly going down.

And I've got to be honest, I'm feeling fatigued.

Man.

I just want to get a patty melon.

I need some food.

Okay, I'm approaching the central live trapping area.

Nothing's touched the trap.

And I'm about to go through the motions that I've gone through for, I think,

eight days now, where I look on here and there's no movement.

Oh, you bugger.

Is that a wallaby?

So he's sitting on the log.

What are you doing?

He just stepped over the log.

He's sniffing the edge of... Now

he's in the tripwire.

He just took a step.

Oh, dude!

Bastard. He jumped. So, I've got to watch that again.

So, he jumps down.

There he is.

Damn it.

I do not understand how he melted through the tripwire. The tripwire's

still there. I can see it. And I don't get that.

So close.

There's no points for close. It's just, it's all or nothing.

I've got to get some food.

Okay, so I've just spent the rainy Arvo cleaning up my shelter.

Thought it'd be a good time to show you around.

So this is my nest. It's where I sleep.

I'm very, very pleased with this. Three logs across the bottom and then a log

going lengthways and then heaps of little logs.

Then I whacked a heap of moss to make it nice and soft and reeds for insulation

and warmth.

At the end of my bed, I have my shoe rack.

Over here we have my fire preparation zone so that I can

start my fires nice and easily.

All the different sizes, all the different kindling.

This is where I hang my ferro rod so I never lose it.

And this is a cute little bit of paracord that I had and I've been tying

little knots in it for every day. So we've got one, two, three.

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

Holy shit!

Whoop!

I

guess

I've been thinking about what areas of survival I'd like to improve and the

main one is getting more food.

Got a few plants here and there and then... where I caught an eel but yeah

I'd definitely like to bolster that and so maybe I'll have a scratch around and

try and find a few worms.

I think getting worms is the actual key to being successful at my fishing.

Digging for worms, digging for worms.

Because I think that's the best bait that's around.

I feel like worms are, like, gold.

I've been searching for worms, I think, and bugs, like, every day and not having

any luck.

Worm, a worm, a worm!

Motherfucking worm!

Little fatty.

Hey, worm.

Yeah, boy.

Two worms, two worms.

Look at that fat boy.

There's the other half.

This is worm central.

Another one. Three worms.

I got the worms.

Yes.

In you go. I'm sorry.

It's really important for me to get protein so that I can stay out here

longer. Gonna get some eels.

Gonna get some eels.

You know, it's a huge part of the survival game and the long-term survival

is getting food so that you can sustain yourself.

Eel fishing's a go-go tomorrow.

So

I'd

spend my time dreaming about party pies, like lots and lots and lots of party

pies.

pizzas with like massive topping and cheesy crust.

I just came so close to getting a patty melon this morning.

So I gotta figure out how the patty melon got through the tripwire without

setting it off.

So we're gonna go and test it and this is my patty melon substitute.

to get meat.

And really it's I'll make patty melons which are my best chance of

bulk meat.

All right the trip line goes between there

and that white thing bashed into the ground there.

It goes along there. So I'm just going to chuck in my little pretend paddy

melon, stand back and see what happens.

All right.

Here goes.

Yeah, it worked a treat.

Kind of driving me crazy as to how he got through it.

Oh, I tell you what, if I got a patty melon, it might be so good.

Now I've got to untangle it all.

Good morning and welcome to day 14.

Love it.

14 notches in the belt.

If that's my belt, what's holding up my pants?

Am I wearing any pants?

Okay, it's our second Sunday out here in the wild.

And as part of surviving, thriving in these kind of tough

environments, it's important to have routine.

As a Christian, church is part of Sunday routine as well.

This week, we've got Amazing Grace.

And I don't have a beautiful voice to most people.

But as God's child, my voice is beautiful to him.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now am

found. Was blind, but now...

I see.

So being a Christian, my faith will help me with this experience.

I had a little bit of success finding some plants to eat.

But you can't stay out here forever unless you start catching critters and

eating them.

I hope to finish the possum trap today. It would be awesome if I do.

It's already started to take shape.

So that's the plan.

Starts to get meat back on the menu.

So lashing it together is next, and then door and trigger.

Getting exciting.

I worked as a vet for many years, and I've trapped feral cats.

If I can trap cats, I can trap possums.

So I'm going to build...

A cat trap with a flap door.

Yep, it's raining now.

The hardest thing is the starvation and the isolation.

It's so difficult to survive out here. I need everything to go perfectly if I'm

going to be the last one standing.

The thing is, I have a never-give-up personality.

My strengths are perseverance, intelligence and problem-solving.

Okay. It all comes up easy.

It's all sitting shut.

As tight as it goes, yeah.

It'll be possum sometime next week for sure, I reckon.

I'm pretty confident.

It's day 15, feeling pretty good today.

I've just come down, doing my eel fishing, you know, got to be in it to

win it. So I've got my two lines in and I'm pretty hungry,

but I'm feeling pretty positive. 15 is a big number.

Oh, my line, hang on.

You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

you, you, you,

you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

Okay.

Don't fucking lose it, Katie.

All right, um... Yes!

Yeah, baby!

An eel!

Oh, my God.

Holy moly.

Wow, it's bigger than the one I caught before.

Oh, now I've got to eat it.

The last time. I caught a gill and ate it.

So gross.

Okay, let's put it out of its misery.

As an ecologist, someone who's worked hard to protect the environment, I feel

so much empathy for everything, you know?

Don't go anywhere, mate.

Come back, come back, come back.

I'm so sorry, but...

I've got to eat you now, mate.

It's dead.

That's horrible. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry, mate.

Holy shit.

Another eel.

All right.

I'm just going to start by cutting the head off.

So I'm going to cut it, clean it, skin it.

I'll keep that for later.

It can be bait or something.

Woo.

Gross.

It's looking pretty good.

Okay, I'm gonna use this ash, put on its body, try and make it less slippery.

Okay, let's have a go at this.

Yes. Yeah,

baby.

Woo, eel skin.

Okay.

Shit, yeah.

Okay, eel time.

I'm going to give these guys a fry up.

I hope it just makes them taste a little bit nicer.

Yeah, baby.

It's all really good fats and protein for me.

Just like salmon night.

Elsie's parents always have salmon night. I think on a Monday too.

All right.

That'll do.

All right, let's eat some eel.

Let's eat some eel.

You're going to love it, Katie. You're going to love it.

I'm going to start with a big chunk.

Quite pleasant

really.

I want to give this a red hot shot.

I'm learning so much about myself.

I'm actually enjoying it.

Thank goodness.

Ultimately, the main heart of what I'm trying to do is be a better mum for

Juno.

You giggled.

That tastes just like crayfish.

That's pretty good.

I've been thinking lots about my mum when I'm out here.

I try to draw strength from her.

My mum died when I was 19, which was obviously very tragic.

My mum was such a gutsy go-getter, feminist.

She would have been the best grandma.

I think she'd be proud of all I've achieved.

Hmm.

Certainly tastes better than day three.

Hmm.

Yum.

It's just those...

tail ends that are super oily that turn my stomach a little bit.

That's an oily bit.

Don't bum it up.

That's hard.

I don't know what to do about those bits.

I think I need a rest.

Yes, and this is the med check.

Can I grab an arm and do your blood pressure please?

Are you getting light-headed at all when you move around?

No.

See

what

you're weighing?

I'll go face backwards.

What are you eating?

Pretty much nothing since you got here.

You can drop a note.

So ends another day.

Like many others.

Still haven't got any food.

I was gonna head up and look at the trout but I haven't heard any clunker.

of the weight falling down the trap and I did hear just a thump thump of a paddy

melon before so I don't want to go and spook one if they're about to go through

the trap so I'll just go in the morning.

Yeah it's such a difficult place to get food.

Hurt me, Tom.

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I'm just about to check the trap.

I'm not holding much hope that something's in it.

All right.

No action, it looks like.

Oh, there is action.

It's been set off.

What happened?

How did I?

I don't know. I'm very, very interested to look at what the camera shows.

What

the

hell is that?

Chewing at the rope.

Goes under the trip wire.

They're all so smart.

Has a chew at the trigger mechanism.

Bloody hell.

So that thing would have left its scent all over the place.

So maybe the paddymelons are going to be giving this place a white birth for a

little bit.

It just unfortunately means that now I'm going to have to wait a few more days

until the paddymelons summon up the courage to go through here again.

So, yeah, it's pretty frustrating.

Just look at that beauty.

There she is.

Makes me so happy having your platypus just come to visit every day.

Can you hear me singing to you?

Can you hear me singing?

Can you hear me singing to you?

I don't think she liked me singing to her

The day has come.

I am heading out to actually look for food.

I want to stay for 90 days.

I need food.

The sausage was not a resounding success.

I vomited quite spectacularly. I'm going to go find something I can eat. I want

to go up this creek and see if I can find a big old fern.

Well a young old fern.

I can get the middle out of it and have some carbohydrates tonight, which would

be very welcome.

Oh, there's a little tree fern up there, amazing.

I keep forgetting that I haven't really eaten anything.

I think, oh yes, I'll just charge up that hill.

Oh no, I won't.

I'm not charging anywhere.

I wasn't sure how my body would go out here.

I'm 52.

I mean, that's not young.

I've been slow all day.

My muscles are heavy.

I have very little energy.

I'm sorry, Tree.

There's the centre heart piece.

That's the edible bit.

But it's so tanniny.

There's no way I can eat that.

Yes, it is.

What I'm going to do is boil them.

And then once the tannins are leached out, I think this could be some good

starch.

Look how much tannin has already just come out of that.

Actually, that's almost edible.

I found food.

Yay.

But it's not much.

I certainly worked hard for it.

I definitely reckon I burnt...

more calories than I'm going to get out of that little tree fern heart.

But I'm going to need some protein and fat soon. I'm going to need to catch a

fish or a wallaby or an eel.

I do have a fairly well-developed predator inside.

I need food, I'll hunt.

Okay, the possum trap is finished.

Locking log sits on top.

So we just need a possum to wander past and decide it wants to go in there.

We really need some meat so that we can stay out here hopefully the longest.

The door slipped back there.

It's gonna be a gap.

here that they might be able to get out of so I might just get even two bits of

timber laid out on top.

It's so close to finished you just need to make it so the door doesn't pull

forward or pull into the trap when the figure weights on it.

The saw just tapped me in the knee there.

Just check it's not bleeding.

Feels like it could be.

Three little sore teeth marks.

There's almost nothing, but it could still get infected and send me home.

So you know what was on that blade?

Over my career as a vet, I've seen lots of small puncture wounds become filthy

abscesses.

So they're the three teeth blades, and I think it really just

touched them, just that their teeth are so pointy that...

two or three millimeter cut he knows how deep they went.

I think putting chlorhexidine on it's going to help very much because then

you're going to get the surface.

Try and scrub it as deep as we can.

I think that's about as good as we can do.

If it gets infected, could be the end, that'd be a bummer.

Feeling very frustrated.

Just over nicking that knee with the saw.

Just hit the wall all of a sudden,

hey?

But there won't be any quitting.

I promised myself I wouldn't quit.

My faith in God will encourage me to keep going.

Dear God, please bless me with a possum in the next week or two.

Some big meat catch.

It will be a huge boost to my morale.

Amen.

I had a good night.

Dreaming of fish all night. Dreaming of fish and fishing.

Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.

I have very little energy.

So I need to catch food. I need to catch fish.

I'm just watching my lines. There's nothing pinging.

Oh, I see.

I see.

There she is.

That's a sign. That's my bird.

That's a good omen.

It's kind of cool feeling my hunter come on.

It's a really different way of being. My senses sharpen and everything comes into

very clear focus.

I got a fish.

Holy shit, I got a fish.

Here we go.

Ha, gotcha.

Oh, my God.

I got a fish.

Oh, you little beauty.

I got a fish.

Oh, I got a fish. I'm eating fish for breakfast. Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my God, my first real food in 20 days.

I'm going to cook it all up in the pan so that I do not lose

one.

bit of juice or fat or anything.

Fried fish skin fat.

Oh my god, I'm so excited.

Doesn't need to cook for long.

Salt please.

Don't mind if I do.

Salted trout, holy shitballs.

Alright,

I reckon that's just about done.

That

is

the most tender, exquisite flavour.

Oh, my goodness.

Food in my belly.

That's such an amazing feeling.

Even if it's days until I catch another fish, just to know that I can catch a

fish here, game changer.

It's just that deeper level of being at home here, being able to feed myself so

that I can just basically stay as long as I want.

Oh.

Oh, my God.

Right.

Day 20, no food.

Each time I've tried something here, I've spent a fair bit of effort and

nothing works.

And I've got some set lines out in the water.

Right.

That'll do it. But no so many fish.

Stop playing hard to get.

For me to win this, I have to get stuff.

It rained most of the night.

It's really muddy, harder to get to the riverbank, harder to land a fish too.

This line looks a bit tighter than it was before.

This line was slack before.

Now it's tight.

There comes the little bugger.

Shit!

Shit! There's a bloody eel on it.

Come this way little bugger.

Shit! Okay, I need a net.

I need a landing area.

How well's he hooked?

I've never actually caught a freshwater eel. I don't know how slimy they are. I

know that they're supposed to be very slimy.

He's well hooked. I want to drag him up on that area over there, but the line's

not long enough.

All right, kick.

Shit, now it's caught around this bloody thing.

All right, I might cut the line.

Fuck.

Tunchy business.

This feels wrong, but it's going to prevent me from dragging it out in a

poor spot.

All right, I'm going to keep this in my teeth.

Oh, no, he's caught around a bloody log. He's got to be fucking shitting me.

Get off, you bastard.

Okay, log can... Oh, okay, he's off the log.

I lost it.

Shit.

Fuck.

Shit.

Beauty. Got to get food, got to get food, got to get food.

I want to win.

I am quite competitive. If someone dangles $250,000 in front of your face,

you're sort of like, oh, yeah. Let's keep going.

I can win this.

Oh, wow.

So many wallaby prints.

I've got a system that can work and I can procure food, which is the game.

If you or someone you know needs support, contact Lifeline 13 11 14.

Text 0477 13 11 14.

Lifeline.org.au.

Beyond Blue.

1300 224 636.

Beyondblue.org.au.

Open Arms.

Veterans and Families Counselling.

1800 011 046.

Openarms.gov.au.