Matt Allwood wants to be the first Indigenous winner of Alone Australia Season Three

For most contestants, their first night sleeping rough in the wilds while filming Alone Australia is a daunting experience.

But not for WA contestant Matt Allwood: he slept like a baby … mostly because he didn’t have one in his bed!

“To be honest, the first night, it was actually kind of nice to get a good night’s sleep without getting woken up by the kids,” says the 31-year-old Indigenous Youth Worker, who was living in Broome, Western Australia, with his partner and two small children when he found out he’d been cast in the third season of SBS’ hit survivalist show.

“We usually get midnight visits (from the kids), so the first night I probably had one of the best night’s sleep I have had in a long time!”

For Allwood, who audiences may recognise from his career playing 17 NRL games for the Canberra Raiders and NZ Warriors, competing in the gruelling contest was the realisation of a dream — and something of a family tradition.

“My brother actually did season two,” he explains.

“His name is Jason Allwood, and (after he did the show), I thought, ‘If he did it, I can do it!’ and then I applied, went through the (audition) process, and next minute … I’m on there giving it a crack!”

Season three of the Australian series sees contestants back in “the unpredictable and unforgiving” wilds of the West Coast Ranges of Tasmania (Lutruwita). Ten survivalists are tasked with pushing themselves to the limit, to survive for as long as possible “alone, totally isolated and with zero contact from the outside world” for a chance to walk away with $250,000.

There are no camera crews and the contestants must document their time in the wild — needless to say, it’s a gruelling experience.

Allwood, who identifies as a Yanyuwa, Waanyi/Garawa man, grew up on a cattle station in New South Wales, and has spent the past few years after his playing career travelling the country.

Highly skilled in traditional practices like goanna hunting, spearing stingrays, fishing in the shallows and pig hunting with a “nulla-nulla” (a traditional Australian Aboriginal hardwood club or hunting stick), he’s been hunting and fishing since he was a kid and his TikTok page is full of videos of his adventures with his young family.

Allwood says it’s always been his dream to walk away as the first Indigenous winner of Alone Australia.

“It’s definitely a big reason as to why I went in to do this experience and this challenge,” he explains.

“Because I just thought how amazing it would be to be the first Indigenous Australian to win and have that title.

“The work I do in the space I do it in — I am looking after teenage Aboriginal boys and helping them through high school and into employment — we always try to inspire them, and give them the motivation to be the best versions of themselves.

“So to be able to have something to really showcase as an example of being comfortable being uncomfortable, of stepping outside that comfort box, is something that I thought would be pretty cool.”

Should Allwood win, he says he would use the prize money to buy a caravan so that he and his young family can continue their adventures across the country.

“We have this mentality to be as nomadic as possible and give the kids as rich an upbringing as possible, and to go to as many areas as possible,” he explains.

“We are back in New South Wales at the moment, looking at our next way point, and (figuring out) where we want to go.”

But if he’s to get that far, he’ll have his work cut out for him. While we can’t give anything away, we can tell you this: season three is shaping up to be one of the toughest yet, with unforgiving weather — they filmed during a particularly brutal winter — and difficult terrain throwing up all sorts of obstacles for the contestants.

Described as a “season of firsts”, this time around sees five women take part, bringing gender parity in the game for the first time, while one participant becomes the first to grab the title of the oldest player in the series’ history, aged 63.

It all added up to the experience of a lifetime for Allwood.

“I don’t even have words to describe it: it was an incredible experience that I am super grateful to have had,” he says.

Alone Australia Season Three premieres with a double episode on Wednesday March 26 at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand.