Ever since first premiered in 2022, viewers have shared their suspicions that the Channel 10 reality show is “totally fake” and “scripted”. While the series features a highly skilled group of Hunters attempting to locate and capture pairs of everyday Australians acting as Fugitives, social media users have cast doubt on how “real” the experience is. For example, how can the Hunters access the ‘CCTV footage’? How can they hack into car systems to track the Fugitives? And how are the camera operators not obvious giveaways to their locations? With ’s third season currently underway, Chief Hunter Reece Dewar has responded to rumours that the series is “fake” and explained how the filming process actually works.
The TV personality, who spent 23 years with the Australian Defence Force in training and operational deployment, asserts to that the reality show is “as real as we can make it given the parameters we have”. “I wouldn’t be part of the show if it wasn’t realistic, and I dare say other investigators and Hunters wouldn't be as well,” he shares. “We treat it as real as we possibly can.
We've got law enforcement professionals, intelligence professionals, Special Operations personnel from the Australian Defence Force. They're all part of this show, and that makes it so much more real for us that we are actually hunting live Fugitives.” Reece explains that while some elements of the show like CCTV footage are simulated - which was clearly stated at the beginning of season three - the Hunters “replicate the powers of the state that any law enforcement agency in Australia would have”.
“We have an umpire above us, an Assistant Deputy Commissioner who makes sure that we abide by the rules and regulations,” he details. “Just like affecting any type of search, whether it's a device or residence or anything like that, we have to go through a warrant type process where we have to request those things. And then once we get approval, then we can act on it.
“So that's as real as you can get it without, obviously, a live law enforcement crime being committed.” As for the camera operators following the contestants around, which viewers have labelled an 'obvious plot hole’ in the series, Reece points out that he isn’t focused on locating them. “We aren't physically able to track the cameramen or the shooting producers.
We're not allowed to do that, and I make it a point that we don’t,” he says. “I’m not after the cameraman, I'm after the Fugitives, and that's all I focus on. “We have to make the TV show that way, we have to have shoot producers out there with the Fugitives.
They're doing it hard, don’t worry about that, but that's as real as we can make it.”.
