Alone Australia star hits back at major fan complaint: 'Dangerous'

When the second season of Alone Australia launched, fans called out one major flaw (in their eyes)—that this season is shot in New Zealand instead of Australia. However, Chace Leitch, who tapped out of the show after ten days on Wednesday night's episode to be with his pregnant partner, has hit back at the major complaint.

"So f***ing dumb this s**t isn't actually IN Australia," one angry viewer wrote on X. "Sadly, producers are fixated on cold environments. Send them to the Kimberley in the middle of summer with the threat of crocodiles & cyclones, let's make #AloneAustralia our own brand, with unique challenges!"

When it was first announced that the show would be shot in New Zealand, Reddit users shared their surprise.

"I was hoping for the Kimberly in the wet season," one user said, with another responding, "Contending with the croc threat would have been interesting."

"I mean Alone US has been filmed in Canada, Argentina and Mongolia," one user pointed out.

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Joseph Maxwell, head of unscripted programs at SBS told The Guardian last year that the main reason for choosing New Zealand was to allow the contestants to do more hunting.

"We absolutely loved the innovation we saw in Tasmania, but there’s some pretty strict hunting regulations there."

"By choosing New Zealand, we’re able to introduce bows and arrows, which brings in whole new strategies and skill sets," he added.

'Dangerous'

Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle, Chace responded to those calls by fans, saying that having the show somewhere hot like the Kimberley would be "dangerous".

"I'd love that," he tells us. "But the problem with that is that it comes with its own risks because heat illness is something that can happen very, very quickly. And, you know, getting a doctor out every seven days is OK in a cold climate, because you can monitor a decline, but in the heat, it can happen very, very quickly. And without someone by your side, it can be a dangerous situation very fast and you don't have the mental capacity to know that you're in trouble until it's too late, and you'll die quickly."

He adds, "So, that's the problem with Australia and the heat, I'd love it, because that's where I grew up, in the tropics and the heat and stuff like that, however, it's a different kettle of fish, especially with the crocodiles and the venomous snakes and the venomous plants and things like that – it's a very dangerous, dangerous place up there."

When asked where he believes would be a great location to shoot the show, Chace responds, "The Victorian High Country would be excellent, lots more people – all the contestants really, were very comfortable with Victorian High Country, and then even south of Western Australia is another beautiful place, but problem is is having that much space to yourself, where you're not going to have external people coming in. I think where we did it was a smart decision to be made by ITV, for sure."

Alone Australia is 'absolutely' harder than the American version

Chace also revealed that he believes the Australian version is much harder than the American version, and he believes he could have lasted longer on the US show.

He tells us he believes he could have potentially lasted double the amount of time on the show if he didn't have such a strong pull to be with his pregnant partner (spoiler alert: he now has a beautiful baby girl).

Chace explains that in Australia and New Zealand, you won't find people chopping down trees to make their shelters, because they want to leave the land the same way they found it.

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"Absolutely," he says when asked if the American version is easier than the Australian version. "I've seen it a million times, [viewers] are like, 'How come you didn't make rock cabins? Or how come you didn't dig a massive hole on the ground and make a chimney and stuff like this?' Because you just can't do that here, I can't be out there ripping up the forest, it's just not what we do.

"It's not who I am. I wouldn't do it anyways, even if I was allowed to, because it's just not what you do. And the best thing to do is be able to look over your shoulder and say, I don't think anyone was ever here – it was just me and I didn't really impact anything."

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