After a gruelling 76 days in the Tasmanian wilderness, the winner of Alone Australia 2025 has been revealed.
Professional trapper Shay Williamson, who hails from New Zealand, outlasted his nine competitors with ease.
He follows in the footsteps of 2024 winner Krzysztof Wojtkowski, who lasted 64 days, and Gina Chick, who won in 2023 after 67 days in the wild.
As he was nearing the end of his experience, Shay confessed to producers that he believed he would be able to survive the wilderness alone for more than 60 days – a target he was ultimately able to exceed.
Upon discovering he was the last survivor left during a routine medical check, where his wife surprised him, he had a feeling she was there, but did not want to believe it at first.
“Seeing her was a relief… hard to describe, it was a pretty glorious moment,” he exclusively told New Idea the morning after the season three finale aired.
Already accustomed to spending months alone in the bush in New Zealand, or hunting and going without food for a week, he said he knew it was not going to be easy.
While he lasted the longest, his time in the competition didn’t come without his challenges – despite establishing a sturdy shelter, he had to dismantle it and relocate it when torrential rain flooded the lake.
Even though he caught 23 fish, 14 eels, and even one pademelon, fishing was also not an easy task. To stay as healthy as he could, he also ate 1100 worms for the first few weeks when fishing didn’t initially go as well as he’d hoped.
“I thought of envisioning it going really quite good at the start, I thought I’d hit the ground running, and I envisioned it being really difficult and gritty at the end,” he explained to New Idea. “Whereas for me, my journey went the opposite way.”
The hopes of winning $250,000 were at the forefront of his mind and helped him justify being away from his family for so long.
Even though he was truly alone, Shay went into the experience with his wife and daughters at the front of his mind. He told New Idea that in those 76 days, he only missed his family and food, and the experience made him appreciate the “little things”.
“Thinking about getting home to them, I felt lucky while I was out there to think about that,” he said.
As time went on, he also lost weight, and the loneliness took a toll on his mental health.
But, he said, the sacrifices were worth it for the ones he loved.
“$250,000 is life-changing for our family,” he said in Tasmania when he found out he won. “It took 76 days, but I did it, now I get to go home.”
Most of the money will be dedicated to his family’s mortgage.
