Australian campers, survivalists and reality TV fans are all in for a treat, with SBS announcing the launch of an Australian version of Alone, the international hit that sees contestants compete to survive the longest in remote locations.
SBS announced the new show on Monday as part of their 2022 programming slate. The show will follow the format of the American original, in which 10 people spread out over challenging terrain, taking only 10 items with them from an approved list. Contestants are left to film themselves and are never told how many others are still in the game, until one person remains.
Casting for the first season opens on Monday, with a TV advertisement asking: “Do you have what it takes to protect yourself, feed yourself and stay alive in total isolation? Can you survive in the Australian wilderness alone?”
SBS’s head of documentaries, Joseph Maxwell, said Alone was the most popular factual series on the channel’s streaming service, SBS On Demand, which now has more than 10 million registered users.
“I’m slightly nervous how many applications will come in, due to [Alone’s] popularity,” Maxwell said. “It’s literally broken every record there is. We were aware that sitting on our shelf was this thing that was getting extraordinary engagement, so it made total sense to make an Australian version.
“It’s been really exciting to start plotting – what would that look like, where would that be, how are we going to do it? It’s a terrifying show, it’s quite a scary idea.”
Maxwell said SBS would be looking for contestants who could demonstrate advanced survival skills and an aptitude for filming, and who came from a range of cultural backgrounds, particularly Indigenous Australians.
“There is no point someone going in there if they haven’t got the basic skills. You do need people with a certain resilience – the great thing is, you can’t predict that. And we really want to ensure cultural diversity, First Nations representation and also women as well,” he said.
“I think [First Nations knowledge] is integral to the show. We’re always on First Nations land. And I think one of the things Alone has done quite usefully, with some of the First Nations Canadian stories, is effortlessly thread in that acknowledgment of the lands we’re on, that there might be certain customs or traditions that we’re able to inform people about.”
A location for the show is yet to be finalised, but Maxwell said scouts were looking for cold locations to allow them to start filming in June, in Australia’s winter. The show will air in early 2023.
“We’ve got some frontrunners,” he said. “You need to make sure there’s no line of sight [between camps], you need to make sure it’s a very large area. We are so lucky with Australia that we’ve got that space. We need to ensure that there’s no roads, there’s not little huts, do as much as we can to make sure they are fully isolated, day and night.”
SBS could not confirm the prize money, but said it would be “life changing”.
The original Alone, where the winner takes home US$500,000, has been syndicated around the world. Danish and Norwegian versions have launched as well.
Monday’s announcement also confirmed the launch of a sixth free-to-air SBS channel, SBS WorldWatch, which will provide news in more than 35 languages, in May 2022. SBS said it will broadcast the Fifa World Cup in Qatar in November, and the first ever Tour de France Femmes – the much-awaited women’s Tour de France.
Other shows announced included 200 more episodes of Adam Liaw’s The Cook Up, a new documentary on sexual consent hosted by Jess Hill called Yes, No, Maybe, and original drama Safe Home, from Offspring creator Imogen Banks, about a woman whose life gets turned upside down when she begins working at a women’s legal centre.
SBS also confirmed the return of the Australia version of hit genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are?, with Matt Moran, Paula Duncan and Myf Warhurst among the celebrities exploring their family trees on the show’s 13th season.
