Episode 2 of Alone Australia’s Season 2 answered one big question while raising a whole lotta new ones.

 

*Spoiler alert* Alone Australia Season 2 Episode 2 spoilers from here!

 

Here we are again, and the question is, what the hell happened to Mike?

The show left us on an almighty cliffhanger last week with Mike appearing to suffer from a heart attack. Debate raged online. Was it a panic attack? Should SBS have left us hanging? Surely he’s alive, they wouldn’t show him dying?

The quote this week was, ‘The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability.’ – Charles Darwin.

At first I thought it was a funny quote to choose, but really, adapting to the cold, to the lack of food, to the muthaflippin’ midges, that’s what’s gonna get people through.

Let’s find out what happened to Mike shall we?

Want to know about the latest season? Check out our guide to Alone Australia Season 3 for everything you need to know!

Mike

Finding Mike on the shoreline with a beacon was a good start, last we saw he wasn’t picking up his phone. And now we’ve got a timeline: his pain began at 6pm, and it’s now 10pm. I’m also starting to wonder, if this is a heart attack, it’s gotta be a pretty mild one?

They’ve gotta get him onto the boat for an ECG, and you can see in Mike’s eyes there’s a realisation that he’s tapping out. I’m not sure on the rules around medical attention, like he had probably tapped out as soon as he made that call, but there was something final about that moment.

 

I feel really bad for this dude

 

Or maybe it was the relief and gratitude that he was getting help. It doesn’t look like a heart attack, perhaps it was a panic attack, but whatever it was setting off that beacon was the right call.

Mike for sure thought he was going to die and on the balance, getting back to his kids is all that matters now.

Honestly, that was gut-wrenching to watch. My mum passed away in 2020 thanks to a horrible and rapid degenerative brain condition, she was 60 years old too. I cried during this segment in a way I haven’t for a few years now. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.

If you have the privilege of a good relationship with your parents, don’t put off seeing them, or giving them a call. Mike’s showed us just how quickly things can change.

 

Mike’s ECG came back ok and the cause of his chest pain hasn’t been confirmed

Day 3 – 9 Remain

With his big white beard Rick looks a bit older than 58, and he too is another older bloke making the most of it. And making poo jokes. Excellent.

 

Rick’s shelter seems more open than I’d expect

 

It’s interesting that Rick’s shelter doesn’t come down to the ground, it looks quite open to the elements, yet he’s focusing on insulating against the ground with ferns. Man must have a good sleeping bag.

How good’s the TikTok content? I wonder how many followers he’s pulled in from this segment?

Andreas!

Yep he gets an exclamation mark because I’m excited to finally meet this guy.

Annnd he’s turning his undies into a bag. Sick one dude hahaha.

Wait, he’s a MODEL? Is he about to ‘blue steel’ a deer to death? 

How about that *rig reveal*. Golly, is it hot in here? I do always wonder about these super ripped contestants and whether their calorie needs will be higher. Andreas says he’s bulked before, so he knows how to lose weight, but not like this. 

He’s just said ‘food’s gonna be a priority in the first couple of days’ which is at odds with other contestants who have been happy to fast while they switch gears. Food can wait.

 

That face when mum says there’s fern soup at home

 

Anyway, we’re going hunting in some of the thickest forest I’ve ever seen. And Andreas has found some chocolate bullets! Or maybe it’s Rick scat, we might never know.

But assuming it’s Red deer scat, are we gonna see our first bow and arrow shot? I’m starting to think the use of camo might be worthwhile.

That’s a great bleat Andreas. Sounds just like a baby deer. Definitely isn’t scaring the deer away.

Alas, the hunter becomes the gatherer. We’ve got berries and ferns for dinner.

 

Yikes

Krzysztof

I’m gonna have to rote learn that name like Kosciuszko aren’t I? What is it with the Polish and Zs?

I’m getting silly goofy vibes. I truly hope he’s not always like this on camera.

Krzysztof is making a solid case for himself though. He found planks of wood (they don’t look washed up?), he started a shelter right away and as an aquaculturist, I’m sure he can hook a fish.

We know that every contestant took a bow and arrow (check out the full gear list) but Krzysztof also took a saw AND an axe. For comparison, I’m pretty sure Chace only took a machete. The man is here to BUILD.

The insulation approach to his shelter seems really smart to be honest. The weather hasn’t smacked them down yet like in Season 1 of Alone Australia, some contestants might be underestimating just how bad it can get.

 

Thick walls will keep out the wind (and keep farts in)

Leanne

Jesus it’s two degrees as she sits by the fire, that’s genuinely so cold, especially if the wind picks up. Did you see she got it lit first go too? It could be the edit but I doubt it. It’s great to see a proper firepit near the shelter.

Leanne recites a beautiful poem by the founder of the Aboriginal college she went to. It’s about Australia, which must feel very far away right now, like her family. Let’s see how strong she can be. She’s talking about mob sticking together and she’s sounding a lot like Rob did in Season 1. Don’t you dare tap Leanne.

Andreas

Back to yummy fern soup. I wonder if eating something so fibrous could just make you go to the toilet more. Is the 15 calories in the soup he’s made actually worth it? Especially if he shits it all out?

Tamika

Now it’s down to one degree! Shelter construction is going to play a massive part it seems.

Tamika’s spot is cold AF as it doesn’t get any sun, so she’s going to move.

That’s smart, it’s still early in the piece at four days, better than trying to move later, which I think Michael tried to do like 25 days in last time.

When I interviewed Outback Mike from Season 1, he highlighted how Alone is ‘static’ survival, and that choosing your location is key. Tamika’s the only one who’s given us good insight into why she’s setting up where she is.

Now she’s gotta move 100kg of gear! Geez. I know camera gear is heavy but that is immense. I guess things like an axe stack the kilos on pretty quickly too.

 

Tamika with a dictionary-definition schlep

 

Does anyone feel that Tamika’s making a big deal of this move? It kind of looks like a walk along a beach. Though if I hadn’t eaten in four days, you wouldn’t catch me doing that.

Now she’s just gotta rebuild a shelter before nightfall. Brutal.

Chace

Chace is starting with fishing as it’s less effort than hunting. That’s a good cast, was there bait?

OMG it’s an eel! Petition to start calling it ‘eeling’ if people keep this up.

Even more insulting, it’s a protected Longfin eel and Chace has to set many kilos of protein free, that’s brutal.

Leanne

Leanne’s fishing too, but four days is taking its toll a bit.

I’m sorry but all this talk of missing family is getting a bit old. Sure, I’d miss my family too but this show is such a conscious choice. It seems weird to me that it would take actually sitting alone on the beach to realise that.

Woah, she didn’t bring a pic of Rob and her kids as they’d ‘make her want to go home’ but instead a pic of her parents who’ve passed away, parents who always made her feel tough.

This is the Alone special sauce isn’t it, those real emotions you get, direct to camera, after starving on a beach for four days.

 

Attack of the feels

 

Oh christ what, Leanne are you serious? Yep she’s tapping. Bloody hell. Maaan she lasted longer than Rob but I feel like she just didn’t get started. That is disappointing.

Now it’s worth mentioning that Mike’s tap may well have been a panic attack, which could be seen as a physical manifestation of the anxiety and emotional pain that Leanne was feeling. I just feel like Leanne was in control though, and not potentially in a life-threatening situation. She could’ve sat with those feelings for a little longer before leaving the show. Oh well.

Day 5 – 8 remain!

Sorry but where are Jack, Suzan, and Jason? Does not seeing them mean that they last for ages, or are they just super bad at filming?

Oh well, he’s more Chace. Does that mean he’s not going to last?

He’s fishing in the most goddamn scenic place one could be fishing, honestly.

Especially when a real life fish is pulled in on that that dry, stoney shore. Mwah. A Brown trout too. Maybe I’m underestimating this dude. He seems to be straight vibing.

Is Chace taking the eat-it-all-in-one-go approach to food? I’d say go for it at this point. Food will quickly go off here and it seems plentiful.

 

Mentally I’m here, cooking fish on a beach in NZ, completely Alone

What’s on next week?

Chace looks like he’s surrounded by deer, Jack shoots a fishing line with a bow? Someone male is covered in sandfly bites that look really, really bad. Suzan appears eating berries and complaining about a high heart rate, and Andreas might have food poisoning?

We didn’t see any shelters yet but I reckon they’re going to make a world of difference as the temperature dips below zero.

Thanks for reading and let us know what you think in the comments!

Alone Australia Recaps So Far

 

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