Viewers mock ‘Hunters’ as Hunted returns for second season

Ten’s enjoyably ridiculous cat-and-mouse show Hunted returned last night – and viewers are more on the side of the fugitives than ever.

Season two of Hunted debuted on Ten on Monday night, and it remains one of our most enjoyable local reality TV shows – so long as you can suspend your disbelief.

Pursued by Ground Hunters and a team of investigators at “Hunter HQ”, pairs of “fugitive” contestants are dropped in the middle of Melbourne and have to try and evade capture – for 21 days. Last the whole time, and they’ll share in the $100,000 prize pool.

Watching Monday’s premiere, the same familiar question from last season sprung up on social media: How are you supposed to evade detection when there’s a camera crew following your every move?

And once more, viewers seem to be firmly on the side of the fugitives rather than those at Hunter HQ, with one faux-pas from an investigator making some question whether they really are “an elite team of investigators with military, police and cybersecurity backgrounds”.

Nerdy gamer duo Ben and Callum had set some online traps for the Hunters, knowing that they’d do a sweep of their computers and social media accounts. Ben had left an email in his inbox with a link to download malicious software, in the hopes the investigators would click it.

Investigator Steph is taking it all VERY personally.

If clicked, the malware could give Ben remote access to the investigators’ computers, thereby giving him a full view of how they were progressing in their search for him.

“I really want to get this guy now – he’s such an egotistical prick,” investigator Steph fumed when she found the dodgy link, declaring she was now “taking in personally”.

She then reported her discovery to a colleague, telling her she found “malware” in Ben’s email account.

The colleague’s response?

“What’s that?”

Again, we’re told this is an “an elite team of investigators with military, police and cybersecurity backgrounds”. And yet one member of the team didn’t know what “malware” was?

'What's Malware' ? 🙄#HuntedAU

— 😷 Frothy ▶️ (@Frothy_boy) July 17, 2023

Concerned about the woman who didn't know what malware was... #HuntedAU

— Chaerin (@PistachioDonut) July 17, 2023

The chick who has taken it personally needs to stand in the corner with the chick who doesn’t know what Malware is..#HuntedAU

— KrisSchiffter (@krissyschiffter) July 17, 2023

Later in the episode, Cath and Kel (not Day-Knight, sadly) became the first contestants to be eliminated this season, after their hide-out at a friend’s house was surrounded by Hunters.

Hunted deputy investigator Ben Owen.

But – and again, suspension of disbelief is required while watching this show – the pair didn’t stay put inside the house, instead attempting to make a dash for freedom and running right into the arms of the Hunters waiting outside. All that when they could’ve just … not answered the door and hid behind the sofa?

If they can’t enter the house why would you leave
ridiculous #huntedau

— Sally (@SallyGearing) July 17, 2023

Just stay in the f*cking house, they can't break in!! #HuntedAU

— Dan Bennett (@DanMBennett) July 17, 2023

Stay in the house. They have no legal right to barge in... #huntedau

— Mauricio Arlegui (@MauriArlegui) July 17, 2023

Hunted continues on Ten tonight, with nine pairs of fugitives still in the game.

The show’s 2022 Australian premiere was a ratings hit for Ten, and also generated much debate from viewers about what exactly on the show is real and what isn’t.

Some scenes last season seemed to stretch credulity: We saw the investigators apparently watching live, crystal clear vision from inside a remote country ATM as one of the contestants hastily withdrew money.

Elsewhere, the investigators “hack into the telematics” of a car contestants were using, to track where it’s going.

As one viewer quipped on Twitter at the time: “I find it hard to believe Channel 10 can get live CCTV out of a country ATM and telematics out of a random Nissan, but can’t put on-demand and rewind functionality into Paramount+.”

Originally published as Viewers mock ‘Hunters’ as Hunted returns for second season