----- Alone Australia premieres with a double episode on Wednesday 29 March at 7.30pm, exclusively on SBS and . Single episodes continue weekly until 24 May, when a double-episode finale will air. will release teacher resources to accompany the series. Alone seasons 1–8 are now streaming . -----
While most of us shudder at the thought of being stranded in the Tasmanian wilderness in the middle of winter – alone – without a plate of food to eat in sight, a group of nature lovers have chosen to endure possible starvation and loneliness for a chance to win $250,000.
The new SBS series sees 10 survivalists completely isolated from the world and each other, stripped of all possessions and the modern kitchen facilities we use to feed ourselves every day. There are no scripts, camera crews, engineered challenges or food provisions. Participants document their experience on film themselves. All they can eat is the wild food surrounding them in nature.
To survive, the contestants need to eat enough food to prevent hunger from setting in. They’ll also need to consume the right balance of nutrients to have enough energy to keep battling the conditions and prevent sickness.
Dehydration is the biggest risk to add to anyone who's doing exercise for long periods of time.
Accredited Practising Dietitian, , says the quantity of food each person needs to eat correlates to the amount of physical activity or exercise they do each day. Contestants who trek throughout their allocated area a lot or expend energy in other ways will need more food and water than those who do less physical work.
“Your energy [food] needs are going to be higher when you’re doing things that are more physically demanding,” states Austin, chief health officer at . “It will also be the same with your protein needs and carbohydrates.”
Austin adds that it’s critical for people in the wilderness to be aware of their fluid requirements. “Dehydration is the biggest risk faced by anyone who is doing exercise for long periods.”
As states online, our bodies are made up of around 60 per cent water. When we become dehydrated, our blood volume decreases so it becomes harder to maintain blood pressure and blood flow. This puts pressure on our cardiovascular system and speeds up fatigue.
“To survive, the body needs both water and electrolytes,” Austin adds. “You can get electrolytes from your food – sodium and potassium in particular. If you’re doing a reasonable amount of exercise like an athlete, you would need food that has some sodium in it.”
Is there really enough to eat?
But here’s the issue if you’re a contestant on the show: out in the Tasmanian wilderness, there are no shops to visit to stock up on electrolyte tablets or recognisable fruit and vegetables that you know for sure contain electrolytes. So how are participants expected to eat enough food to get the nutrients they need?
Tasmanian Aboriginal consultant to the show, says contestants should eat the nutritious wild food available in nature. “There is lots of food available where the contestants are,” Hodge tells SBS. “It’s the kind of plant foods that our [Indigenous ancestors] have eaten for thousands of generations.”
She conducted an audit of the plants that exist on the sites where Alone Australia contestants lived, before filming. “There were about 130 plants in that area that could be used for food and medicine across the 10 sites where contestants lived.”
The most abundant food at the time was coffee berries (coprosma species), which are a small orange translucent fruit that’s a little bit smaller than a pea.
At the time of the audit, there were lots of ferns, grasses, seeds and reeds for the survivors to source food and water.
“The most abundant food at the time was coffee berries (coprosma species), which are a small orange translucent fruit that’s a little bit smaller than a pea. When the plants are in fruit, there are copious amounts and they were in season during the time of filming. The berries are full of vitamin C and natural sugars.”
Hodge adds that beyond plants, contestants could have supplemented their diet with additional vitamins and minerals by eating wild animals. “Wallabies and possums are a staple food for Aboriginal people. Then there is food from the rivers like eels.”
These coffee berries found in Tasmanian wilderness could help 'Alone' participants to keep their vitamin C levels steady. Source: Supplied by Trish Hodge
Even though the Tasmanian wild is abundant in foods, not every survivalist will be successful in sourcing it. Hodge says it’s realistic to assume some people will not cope well and may not eat enough.
“There are also plants in our environment that can kill you if you pick the wrong ones or don't process them properly. Sourcing food would be a big challenge influencing a person’s ability to survive out there. Participating is not something any contestant should go into lightly. It would be very easy to go hungry.”
As humans, we are not designed to be alone.
Beyond food, there’s the mental challenge of being ‘alone’: hence the theme of the show.
Hodge explains that even though Indigenous people have lived off the land for centuries, they have long existed as part of a connected community. “They did not live alone. We need our families around us.”
She says family members shared various food duties like hunting or cooking. People also came together to eat and celebrate.
“As humans, we are not designed to be alone. It would be pretty hard to survive on your own in the wild. It will be a big mental challenge for the contestants.”
Watch the series trailer here:
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