'Alone Australia' Season 3: The top 4 reflect on their experience in the wilderness

SBS Australia

23-05-2025

The cast of Alone Australia season 3. Credit: Alone Australia reunion The following article contains spoilers for who makes the top 4 of Alone Australia season 3. The time has come to find out who makes it to the end of this year's season of Alone Australia . Who will succumb to the cold? Who will fall to hunger? Who will manage to snag victory in their basket trap? Only Corinne, Muzza, Shay and Tom remain, and the end is getting closer and closer. With just two episodes left, we asked the four remaining Alone Australia survivalists to reflect on their time in the wilderness. Who will make it to the end? Find out in the nail-biting finale. The following interviews are in alphabetical order, and do not reflect the final positions of the top four.
An only child, raised in the rural highlands of Scotland, now an adult living alone on 10 acres of suburban bushland in the south of Tasmania, Corinne is not one to be intimidated by the cold, the wet or the isolation. With a deep passion for bushcraft, she thrives on play with natural materials, crafting utensils, baskets, and traps, but foraging is her true survival forte. It was her fascination with foraging that led her to start and grow a successful bush food business, which she recently sold to pay off her home and focus on her dream of off-grid living. The biggest challenge for Corinne, however, was something she did not expect. "The toughest part was coming home. The noise and overstimulation. Everything was just... too much! Sounds, flavours, people, traffic, social media," she said. "My stomach struggled to handle dairy, sugar and artificial ingredients. I caught the flu and due to my weakened immune system the simple flu just absolutely smashed me! "I had so much work, overdue bills and life chores to catch up on! Life doesn't pause and wait for you just because you go out bush for a few months. And, of course, friends, clients and colleagues had no idea what I had gone through and I couldn't share it with anyone. They had continued their lives as normal and had no idea. It was quite an overwhelming and lonely experience." While in the wilderness, Corinne said she was constantly surprising herself, and pushed through every challenge with a positive attitude. The one thing she learnt from the experience? Gratitude. Gratitude for hot running water, for a microwave, for a leech-free bed. But most of all, for the people around her that she left behind to take on the Alone Australia challenge. "It makes you re-prioritise what is actually important in life," she said. "Life can be so stressful and complicated; work, paying bills, mortgage, social pressures and expectations, cost of living crisis, family. In a way, we are all in a survival situation, getting swept up in the whirlwind of life and we forget to just slow down, breathe and connect with ourselves. "It's difficult to just put your work and personal life on pause for an indefinite amount of time with no explanation of what your are doing and where you are going. I didn't expect to be out there for so long and I had to put a lot of trust in others to keep my alibi going at my work and home. The big question: will Corinne be able to make it to the very end? Find out in the Alone Australia double-episode finale Wednesday 4 June at 7:30pm.
Muzza might be the oldest participant ever on Alone Australia , but at '63 years young,' he's quick to remind everyone that age is just a number. With the fitness and strength to match his adventurous spirit, this professional bushman and gifted storyteller has captured the hearts of Alone Australia viewers from the very first moment he appeared on screen. Reflecting on his experience in the Tasmanian wilderness, Muzza said that going in, he knew his own strengths and weaknesses well, so for him, there were no surprises, only challenges. "Going through starvation was mentally and physically cruel! When your body has run out of fat and it starts to eat itself, your mind goes into some sort of survival phase, and you cannot think of anything but feeding yourself," he said. "The thought of cutting my own arm off and cooking it up crossed my mind." Despite how confronting the hunger was, Muzza said he would "love to do it again", but would focus more on the filming and content side of things. After all, an audience of fans are watching every moment. "My advice would be to anyone contemplating doing Alone , just do it! Don't kid yourself of what you are capable of, be yourself, the good the bad the ugly. You don't have to have all the skills, as necessity will teach you. Like doing a tough long distance hike, it's 90% in your head and 10% in your legs," he said. Coming out of the Alone wilderness, Muzza said he learnt a few skills that he can now apply to the real world, mostly from watching the pattern of birds. "A couple of tiny birds used to come to my shelter about 20 minutes before a storm front came, and if I saw black cockatoos flying west, it coincided with a day or two of better weather," he said. He said this also gave him a better awareness of how First Nations peoples navigated the land, and used patterns recognised in nature to predict weather events. Can Muzza's body withstand an unforgiving Tasmanian winter and make it right to the very end? Find out in the Alone Australia double-episode finale Wednesday 4 June at 7:30pm.
Shay, a shy and soft-spoken North Island New Zealander, has always felt more at home in nature than anywhere else. A possum trapper since 16, he spends many days deep in the bush hunting for meat and fur to support his family. Living mostly off wild animals — venison, possum, wallaby, hedgehog, and rabbits — Shay and his wife prioritise sustainable, wild food. In recent years, Shay has shared his knowledge of New Zealand's flora, fauna, and bush food on his YouTube channel , enjoying the process of documenting his adventures. Shay's advice for anyone looking to take on the Alone Australia challenge? Prepare yourself for everything coming your way. "Go bush for a week with no food and no phone, books or other distractions," he said. " Alone will never be easy but understanding how hard it will be is a great help, you'll know how to prepare if you have a good feel for what you have just signed up for!" Much like fellow Alone Australia contestant Corinne, Shay noted how gratitude was something he will take with him from his time in the wilderness. "More gratitude for everyday life," he said. "Knowing how lucky I am to live where I do and have the family I have. "I was surprised how much gratitude I had for the little things like dry socks, particularly during the hard times." The one thing Shay would do differently? Change one of his starting items. "I would take a clear tarp as one of my items and would practice primitive live capture traps back home before I left," he said. With his slight frame and difficulty maintaining weight, could this be the Achilles' heel that tests the resilience of this otherwise capable bushman? Find out in the Alone Australia double-episode finale Wednesday 4 June at 7:30pm.
Tom lives a lifestyle grounded in self-sufficiency, nurturing his family with homegrown fruits, vegetables, foraged foods, and wild game — from small catches to larger hunts. A trained ecologist, he is currently an at-home-dad who also works as a zoo educator and runs his own nature education business, leading guided safaris and creating engaging content for councils across Sydney. An expert in trapping, plant and insect identification as well as foraging, Tom has refined his skills through years of study and practice. Fishing, a lifelong passion, is where he truly excels, having mastered various techniques across all water types. Born without his right hand due to symbrachydactyly, Tom has confronted challenges head-on, adapting to life with and without prosthetics. His exceptional adaptability shines through in his mastery of activities like rock climbing, building, hunting, swimming, kayaking, horseback riding, and fishing — all skilfully executed. "Like many of us, I've become my own biggest armchair critic. Watching the documentary back, it's hard not to yell at the screen 'why on earth didn't you do that?' but, then I pause," he said. "I remember how special my time was, how much I learned, and I remind myself to be kind, especially to the version of me who showed up, day after day, and gave it everything. If I had the chance to do it again, I'd craft fish traps and build my shelter closer to the water's edge where I could monitor my lines around the clock." Overcoming multiple challenges throughout the season, Tom said the hardest one of all was in the name of the game: being 'Alone'. "That's the hardest part. Sure, hunger gnaws at you and the mental battle to push it aside is real, but at the core, we all need human connection. When a doctor in his 60s gives you goosebumps just by placing a stethoscope on your chest not from cold, but from his genuine warmth, you feel it deeply. "Not a single day passed without thoughts of the heroes back home. My partner, family, and friends came together in my absence, and their encouragement echoed in my mind. They were always with me and that kept me sane. "When I longed for community and family, I turned to the natural world around me. In that solitude, I found peace and awe. The smallest details became profound — the birdsong in the trees, the tiny spiders weaving delicate webs in the gaps of my shelter, everything had me focused. I became part of the wildlife. I stayed curious, and that curiosity kept me out there." Will Tom cope with the isolation and separation from his family to make it to the end? Find out in the Alone Australia double-episode finale Wednesday 4 June at 7:30pm. The final two episodes of Alone Australia will premiere on Wednesday 4 June at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on SBS (Local Time) and SBS On Demand (AEST) and culminate at 9.30pm with Alone Australia: The Reunion exclusively on SBS On Demand. The reunion episode is also airing on SBS on Thursday 11 June at 7.30pm. All twelve episodes of season 3 will be available with subtitles in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese and Korean, and with audio description for blind or vision-impaired audiences.
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