At a glance…
- Alone Australia is back for a fourth season, premiering at 7.30 pm AEST, Wednesday, 15 July 2026 on SBS.
- This season is billed as the “most brutal yet” as it switches hemispheres to the Arctic Circle.
- Some of the ten contestants have never experienced snow before, setting up this season for an epic adventure.
- WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
Alone Australia is back for another season in 2026, but there’s a twist. This season is set in the Arctic Circle, specifically in the Sápmi region, home of the Indigenous Sámi people.
Season four has already kicked off with the contestants all catching fish, avoiding bears, and building shelters. However, we’re heading into an Arctic winter, which is like nothing many of the contestants have experienced before. Temperatures can plunge to -50 degrees Celsius. Plus, some contestants even admit to having never experienced snow or ice.
Billed as “the most brutal season yet,” not everyone is going to be able to endure the conditions.
In Alone Australia, ten contestants are dropped in a remote location with a limited amount of tools and 40 kilos worth of camera equipment and left to their own devices. The aim of the game is to outlast the rest of the contestants. They do this by building shelter from the elements, hunting, fishing, or foraging for sustenance, and doing the mental work required to withstand a solitary existence in the wild. Loneliness is often the thing that gets most people to attempt this challenge.
If they reach their limit, the contestants must contact the production by walkie-talkie and say the iconic line: “I’m tapping out.” The last person standing wins $250,000.
Who has left Alone Australia 2026?
Something unexpected and maybe unprecedented (definitely on Alone Australia) happened in episode 5 of this season. One of the contestants, Arash, appeared to leave his campsite.
Arash was unsuccessful with fishing, and a reindeer herd trampled the berry bushes in his area — one of his only sources of food. Unfortunately for him, he and the rest of the contestants are not permitted to hunt the reindeer, as they are owned by local people.
Despite that, Arash is starving. At one point, he says to the camera that if it were allowed, he would have a whole butchery set up.
Later on, he turns off his camera and his microphone and appears to leave. When the medical team arrives for a random health check, they find his satellite phone, GPS tracker, and the rest of his safety equipment in his shelter. But Arash is nowhere to be seen.
The crew started searching with no result and called in Search and Rescue teams. The episode ends before we find out.
So, did Arash bolt? Or did he break the rules and hunt a reindeer to survive? We find out in episode 6 that search and rescue teams did find Arash. However, the production did not disclose where (or whether reindeer were involved). They found him “a significant distance from his camp.” But because he broke the rules and safety protocols, he was removed from the competition.
“To walk away like this…it hurts,” Arash confesses as he leaves. “But I guess the only person I can blame is myself.”
He acknowledges that his refugee experiences and natural instincts took over as his hunger grew.
“I think this experience activated a survival mode that I know the best. And when I get on that mode, rules do not matter. All I was thinking was jsut survive.”
The official “tapped-out” list
Misty, 29
Adventure Tour Guide, VIC
The Victorian adventure tour guide had a tough go in the Arctic wilderness. Initially, she was in her element. Misty shared how nature was her saving grace from a life of substance abuse.
“It was the first place I ever felt truly loved and accepted,” she said in the show. Since she overcame her addiction, she built a community of friends who support one another.
In the third episode, she said that she didn’t see the point in welcoming more trauma by staying out there alone, when she had a community waiting for her back home. So, she decided to tap out.
Lillian, 25
International Outdoor Guide, NT
Lillian came into the challenge with the confidence and know-how and heritage to get it done. However, it was not to be. Originally from Sweden, she’s now an international hiking guide around the world, including in Arctic conditions. Her love of the outdoors and her experience living through those colder conditions seemed to be her secret weapon to survive. However, Lillian opened up that she was battling mental health issues and filmed herself experiencing a panic attack. Although she missed home, in episode two we saw her enjoying the Northern Lights, and that gave her some encouragement to stay and find her “sisu”, which is a Finnish word for determination or grit.
But, after 12 days in the Arctic, she decided she was proud of how far she had come and didn’t want to go through any more mental turmoil and tapped out.
“I’ve been a lot in my head during this time,” she tells the extraction team. “I think I need to know when it’s okay to step back.”
Earlier in the episode, she shared a moment when she pushed herself to reach the peak of a mountain. It worked out that time, but she realises that that is not always the case.
“I usually keep going and going and hurt myself. I think I already have a little bit.”
She decides that her mental health is more important than the prize.
Alyce, 36
Aboriginal Community Engagement Officer, WA
Unfortunately, in the very first week, Alyce injured her hip and was pretty much immobile. I thought for sure she would tap out in one of the first episodes. But she made a full recovery! However, nature had other ideas.
When she first arrived in her area, Alyce asked the land for permission to be there. She is an expert fisherwoman; a skill she learned when she moved to the Pilbara.
“I literally got hooked,” she tells the viewers. In fact, she dyed parts of her hair so she could make colourful lures for fishing. In episode four, she demonstrates her signature lure and gives it a crack. However, the lure snags on a log, and she loses one of her precious hooks. She was also unsuccessful with her gill net as well, even when
I thought I was going to be the fishing Queen of the season,” she opens up, sharing her embarrassment. ” Not getting fish is a stab in the heart.”
She recognised that she doesn’t have bushcraft skills; fishing was her lifeline. Sadly for her, it didn’t work out. She decided she didn’t “want to play the starvation game” and tapped out.
Sia, 44
Design Project Consultant / Ultramarathon Runner, VIC
Sia came into this competition with great experiences in survival situations and also as an ultramarathon runner who once ran the Ice Ultra. However, she also came in with an existing frostbite injury.
Sadly, in episode 6, after 28 days in the wilderness, she started experiencing frostbite symptoms, and the medical team advised that could be at risk of developing a permanent injury. Sia chose to put her health first and tapped out.
I spoke with Sia after she appeared on Alone Australia, and she hoped that her appearance would inspire others, especailly Southeast Asian women and girls.
“If I could inspire just one person, I’d be happy,” she told me. ““I really hope that when they watch and see me, they see a woman who has got the courage to live life just the way she wants to live and not what society is expecting her to live.”
Dougy, 43
Electrician, WA
Dougy came into the challenge with all the skills and confidence to succeed. Sadly, he was unsuccessful with fishing, which he took hard as it was his special skill.
“My secret weapon coming into this is the skills I’ve learned as a poacher growing up in the UK; poaching fish, salmon, trout… I’m skilled in the art of creative fishing, and I think that gives me a real edge.”
On day 32, the random medical check took place. Dougy was experiencing dizzy spells and white flashes, classic signs of malnourishment. He hadn’t consumed fish in 13 days. It really shows that a lot of a person’s success can come down to luck.
He considered not sharing his symptoms with the medical team but in the end decides to be honest, including being nervous about cutting wood every time as he experiences dizzy spells.
The medical team discussed and admitted that it’s only a matter of time before he gets seriously injured.
“Medically, you’re not safe to continue,” the team tells him.
He also shares that he is 43 years old, and when his father was 43, he died of a heart attack suddenly, and he didn’t want his children to go through the same thing he went through. That’s why he told the truth. He leaves with a message for the fish: “You can come out now.”
Dylan, 35
DFV High Risk Coordinator / Search & Rescue Tracker, QLD
The one-time cheerleader, one-time military personnel and proud dad and husband officially called it quits.
Dylan’s luck took a turn…again. After having no fish for many days, he built a kayak and was finally successful. Then the snow started, and the freezing temperatures made the berries around his site sweeter. So he seemed set to win. Sadly, on day 42 he shared that he wasn’t able to sleep the night before because his back started to spasm. He has a pre-existing injury from the military which had progressed from his back to his core overnight. He shared that the next one would be a flare-up, and if it was a bad one, he would be unable to walk.
He’s here for the prize money so he and his wife can try IVF. He tries to manage the pain by chopping wood, but breaks down in tears when he realises that he might not be able to continue.
“I don’t want to go home just yet; it’s hurting, and it’s getting worse.”
He goes for a walk to help, but falls repeatedly. When he returns, he calls the extraction team and officially taps out.
“I don’t want to risk my life or well-being or sacrifice being a dad; I’m going to make the hard call, for my family,” he says. “I don’t feel ready to go, but I know it’s my time. I wanted to show Jensen what I could do. Hopefully he’ll be proud of me.”
“I can’t wait to hold my boy again”, he says through tears. His only regret is that he couldn’t stay to win the prize money.
New episodes of Alone Australia air at 7.30 pm AEST on SBS, or watch on-demand on SBS On Demand.
