‘It was horrible. It was glorious’: Alone – the most gruelling show on TV – comes to Australia

‘People are getting as close to touching the void as they can – and there is nothing between you and them, no producer, no narrator’ … Alone Australia’s cast. Photograph: Narelle Portanier

It takes a special kind of person to want to be on the survival series Alone. Who would voluntarily go to the coldest, wildest, remotest parts of the world to see who can survive the longest with no company, no food, barely any equipment and 70kg of camera gear to film it all yourself?

Answer: people like Gina. The 52-year-old bushcraft teacher, who lives off-grid in a tiny shack with no running water or power in New South Wales (“The front door doesn’t close, so the possum gets in and trashes everything”), is one of the 10 contestants on Alone Australia, the country’s first take on the reality television global hit.