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An Alone Australia contestant suffered a medical emergency in the New Zealand wilderness during the season two launch of the brutal reality series.
The grueling show sees 10 survivalists dropped in the wilderness on New Zealand’s South Island, where they must outlast their competition for the chance to win $250,000.
The program has been billed as the most brutal and authentic reality series in history as the contestants are left alone in the wild and must film themselves.
And its second series got off to a very tense start on Wednesday as one competitor suffered a shocking medical emergency.
60-year-old resilience coach Mike from NSW, who is the eldest of the cast, started experiencing chest pains while he tried to build a fire for the night.
The former Waratahs player and rugby union coach started panting and wheezing as he tried to light the kindling for his campfire.
He commented on how quickly the ambient temperature of the South Island lakeside forest was dropping as he came to terms with living in the wild climate.
Mike then started sputtering and coughing before struggling to hold himself upright between two trees in an unsettling moment.
Later that night, Mike was in so much agony that he used the emergency satellite phone to call in the show’s medical team, who race across the lake to his aid.
The first episode, which aired on SBS, ended on a cliffhanger with the medical team dashing to reach Mike as it remains to be seen if he will continue in the competition.
Elsewhere in the episode, the other survivalists attempted to get their bearings in the new environment as they were scattered around the New Zealand wilderness.
Leanne, 41, a Barkandji woman from Mildura, found the dampness of the landscape very different to the dry, red earth’ of her own country as she adjusted to the climes.
Vegetarian Tamika, 51, also speculated about how long she could last in the wild while remaining true to her ‘plant-based’ ethics.
She admitted that it might become necessary to eat meat but said she would prefer not to kill an animal that rears its young, electing to start with eating fish.
The other survivalists who settled into their first night in the wild also included personal trainer Andreas, 42, and Defence Force engineer Chace, 27.
Joining them was wild game hunter, Jack, 55, youth worker Jason, 36, aquaculturalist Krzyasztof, 39, and former SAS soldier Rick, 59, who decided to take a dip in the icy cold water of the lake after his first night alone.
The first season of Alone Australia made headlines last year after it became the SBS network’s most watched original series ever.
Based on a US format, the Aussie version, which saw its first season filmed in Tasmania, scored more than a million viewers for half of its 11 episodes.
The season one finale saw Gina Chick crowned the series winner, after braving the elements to survive in the grueling wilderness for a staggering 67 days.
Alone Australia is currently available to stream exclusively on SBS on Demand.
