Hours after being announced as the first winner of the Australian iteration of global hit series Alone, Gina Chick was ready to head back to a wilderness somewhere at a moment’s notice.
Despite the mud, rain, lack of human contact, she loved it.
Although she can’t reapply for a second series of the SBS juggernaut – which was attracting a daily viewing audience in excess of one million – Chick shared with The New Daily her two secret weapons for surviving an incredible 67 days in the freezing, muddy Tasmanian wilderness.
“Rather than taking a sleeping bag, I made a coat using 40 possum pelts and took that in as part of my clothing allowance,” she said.
In terms of warmth, it didn’t save her life, but it gave her “connection … comfort and magic”.
“I stitched that together and every stitch was a prayer, not in a religious way, but stitching my intent and commitment into that coat … every time I wrapped myself in that coat, I was wrapping myself in part of me.”
The other weapon in her arsenal was an emotional one.
“Joy … I played every possible moment and brought an attitude of child-like wonder to every second … I didn’t suffer. I had a ball out there,” Chick said.
Tweet from @SBS
Runaway success
Although Alone Australia has finished, an SBS spokeswoman told The New Daily it was “currently exploring the possibility of a second season” after the first season was the network’s highest-rating series so far in 2023.
“Alone is a smash hit around the world [premiering in 2015] and Alone Australia is now the most successful original commission in SBS history.”
The spokeswoman said SBS and production partner ITV Studios Australia were looking at a second season but had “no further information to share at this stage”.
Basking in the success of the first season, SBS director of television Kathryn Fink said the show has “captured the public imagination”.
“More than half of the episodes have now had a total TV audience of more than one million viewers, with much of that being driven by SBS On Demand,” Ms Fink said.
“This is such a unique, multi-faceted and compelling show, and in an era where the battle for capturing the attention of audiences with new formats is so fierce, SBS is incredibly proud of how Alone Australia is proving to be a standout new hit series for Australian audiences.”
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Fish, worms and no dark days
Chick, described as a re-wilding facilitator, is no stranger to roughing it.
A bushcraft teacher who lives off-grid in a tiny shack with no running water or power in New South Wales, she had barely worn shoes over the past decade and put on 19 kilograms to get her through freezing conditions and an unpredictable diet.
She and another nine contestants (she was the oldest) were dropped into the wilds of the Tasmanian winter with kilos of recording equipment and 10 items (from an approved list) last year.
Aside from medical check-ins, they had no social contact while in the bush. They had to build a shelter, make a fire, and find food and water.
Some thrived, some clearly struggled.
Associate Professor at the School of Psychology at the University of NSW, Lisa A Williams wrote that “emotional experiences” were likely to have a role in pushing some contestants to endure longer.
“Awe is linked to a variety of beneficial outcomes, including higher self-reported wellbeing, physical health, critical thinking and humility,” she said in a first-person piece in TND last month about what makes a winner.
Chick thrived.
“I had some beautiful, intense emotional moments. For example, when I was grieving my daughter who died almost 10 years ago, but I wouldn’t call that dark, that was grief and grief rolls through.
“I have enough experience to know that there’s a beautiful catharsis that comes with that.
“It’s one of those things, like childbirth, that looks terrible from the outside but from the inside is a very different experience.”
‘Hate the mud’
She said she had “a wrestling match with mud that intensified” and drove her to saying out loud: “I hate the mud.”
“It was relentless, I was tripping over it. It would suck me down. I lost all my grace. My hands were black. I’d get a fish and then face-plant into the water and mud.
“In the last week, when the rain kept me trapped, I wanted to kick the door down and go outside somewhere.”
What kept her alive?
Fish, eels, a wallaby, coffee berries, wood grubs, worms and grasses, although she was “spectacularly sick” after eating a plant called a saw-sedge.
“It resulted in a technicolour yawn on national television,” she said.
After being told on set during a regular medical check-up that she had won after lasting 67 days (and her nearest opponent tapped out for medical reasons), she “lost her mind”.
“I was jumping around, freaking out. Lots of hugs and crying.”
She feels like a million dollars, full of pride, walks away with $250,000 and admits she’d “go out there again and dance in the moss and eat some worms”.
All 11 episodes of Alone Australia and Alone Australia: The Reunion streaming exclusively on SBS and SBS On Demand
