It’s a decision she has never regretted, because – more than 12 years later – the 39-year-old now proudly calls Tasmania home, and is also representing the state as a contestant in the newest season of reality survival TV series Alone Australia.

The show is now in its third season, which is being hailed as the “most daring season yet” and is said to be “wilder, tougher and more extreme than ever”.

It features 10 survivalists who are dropped off alone into separate areas of the unpredictable and unforgiving landscape of Tasmania’s remote West Coast wilderness, where they must deal with the forces of nature, hunger and loneliness in an attempt to be the last person standing and win $250,000.

The contestants have limited survival equipment and live in basic shelters that they build themselves, while also catching rainwater and hunting for their own food, all with zero contact from the outside world.

With no camera crew, each participant must document their own survival using a series of stand-alone and body-worn cameras as they fight to stay warm, dry, fed and alive for as long as possible.

They may “tap out” and end their journey at any time by making a call via satellite phone, and must also stay healthy or risk being removed if they don’t pass medical check-ins.

Previous seasons have attracted contestants with a wealth of professional outdoor experience – from rewilding facilitators and wildlife officers to wilderness and hunting guides, as well as people with extensive military and bushcraft experience.

And while Ooms went into the show with no formal experience, the food safety consultant says she felt a childhood of foraging – combined with a willingness to learn and a stubbornness that makes her fiercely self-reliant – ensured she was well-equipped for tackling the wilds of her adopted home state.

Ooms spent the first half of her childhood in a low socio-economic region of inner-city Glasgow, before moving to the highlands when she was about 10.

She has fond memories of her home, nestled in the foothills of mountains, with a river beside the house where she and her parents would catch salmon.

“My dad taught me foraging,’’ Ooms recalls.

“He taught me how to identify mushrooms. And there were hazelnuts and walnuts next to the house, growing wild, and all the berries – it’s really easy to forage in Europe.’’

This interest in foraging continued into adulthood – Ooms actually once ran a native foods business in Tasmania, which involved travelling all over the state between February and June, in agreement with landowners, to harvest 10 tonnes of pepperberries a year.

“I was always in high altitude, cold areas, and it was damp a lot of the time we were harvesting, I’d be away for a week at a time,’’ Ooms says.

“So being out in the Tassie bush under a tarp is not unfamiliar for me.’’

Ooms enjoys bushwalking and other outdoor activities but admits she’s “not your typical survivalist” and spent time “learning from the university of YouTube” to gain the skills she’d need to craft utensils, baskets, fish traps and shelters before appearing on Alone Australia.

“I enjoy learning,’’ she says.

“I enjoy practical skills. It’s nice having something tangible to look at and say ‘I made that’.

All the information is so easily available, it’s all out there. Anyone can do what I did, it just takes practising those skills.’’

She went into the show knowing how to butcher a carcass and tan a hide, but there was one challenge she was yet to face – taking an animal’s life.

Still, the only child – who grew up comfortably spending time on her own – went into the show hopeful that her independence, determination and positive outlook would serve her well.

“I’m not your typical survival specialist,’’ she says when being introduced on the show, where she can be seen rubbing eyeliner made from charcoal on her face.

“But I think the fact that I’ve not been trained as such will allow me to be a bit more creative in finding solutions which I think is going to be an advantage for me to win.’’

Ooms also reveals that her mum died at the age of 46 – not that much older than Ooms is now – and says that inspires her to “live life to the full”.

“I just like to give things a crack,’’ she says.

SBS Head of Unscripted, Joseph Maxwell, says the resilience of the 10 participants in the 12 episodes of season three is “extraordinary” and their “unfiltered, raw stories are filled with surprise, insight and drama” which makes for “gripping TV.”

Meanwhile ITV Studios Australia’s chief content officer, Beth Hart, describes this season of Alone Australia as “the most addictive yet”.

Screen Tasmania Executive Manager, Alex Sangston, describes Alone Australia as an “incredible” series and says, Screen Tasmania was proud to host the production of season three, which was the first project to receive Screen Tasmania’s new Island Screen Incentive.

The financial incentive is designed to attract non-Tasmanian screen productions to the film in the state in a bid to boost the Tasmanian economy, drive employment and skill development and showcase our landscape to the rest of the world.

Season one of Alone Australia was filmed in Tasmania and then season two was filmed on the south island of New Zealand, with producers returning to Tasmania for season three. Filming was undertaken last winter in the picturesque yet challenging West Coast Range.

“Our landscapes, lifestyle, production crews and the stories of our island are waiting to be further discovered, and we’re delighted to have ITV Studios and SBS back on our shores to do exactly that,’’ Sangston says.

“We’re particularly excited by the production’s engagement with Palawa cultural practice and stories; audiences around the world are going to learn a great deal about our first people and the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community.”

Despite appearing on television, Ooms admits she actually doesn’t watch a lot of TV.

However, she had seen the US version of Alone before applying to appear on the Australian spin-off.

“I don’t really watch TV much at all,’’ she reveals.

“And I can’t stand reality TV shows. But this one seemed really authentic. It was real people, showing their real skills – it wasn’t like a lot of other artificial crap that is on TV. I was really into it, watching the US episodes. I thought ‘Yeah, I can last longer than these people’. I know everyone thinks that when they’re sitting in their armchair, but I thought ‘I reckon I can’.

So she decided to apply.

“I just thought ‘Why not? It will be fun, it will be an experience, it will be something a bit different and a good challenge for myself’,’’ she says.

“Also I’ve never pushed myself in that kind of situation before. How much do you know about yourself until you’ve gone through suffering? I thought it would be an interesting learning experience, learning about myself and how far I can go and what my limits are. And it was good, it was great.’’

Season one of Alone Australia was won by Gina Chick, from NSW, who survived 67 days alone in the Tasmanian wilderness, making her only the second female, and oldest contestant in the history of Alone worldwide, to win the show at age 52.

The second season was won by 39-year-old Victorian aquaculturist Krysztof Wojtkowski, who survived 64 days alone in New Zealand without eating meat.

Of course the true challenge of Alone isn’t just physical – it’s mental. With only their thoughts for company, the participants’ emotional resilience is tested like never before.

Simply being selected for the show is an achievement in itself, and season three is the first season to feature five women, bringing gender equality to the line-up of 10 contestants.

“I didn’t really go in with any expectations,’’ Ooms says.

“I think maybe if you have some formal experience you have some expectations you put on yourself. I honestly didn’t know how long I’d last ... but not having that pressure and expectation meant it was quite easy to go in. I just went in with the mindset of ‘let’s see what happens’. And it was actually really fun. I think more than anything, the thing that helped me was the mindset, just that lightheartedness and optimism. Because you can have all the skills in the world and all the knowledge in world but if you’re a misery guts you’re not going to want to get out of bed, no matter how good you are.’’

Another driving factor for Ooms was the $250,000 in prize money.

She would love to bring her elderly father from Scotland to live in Tasmania.

And with a parent visa costing about $50,000, Ooms says $250,000 would be a “massive help” in this process.

As the owner of a heritage cottage on 4ha at Montrose – which was once home to Tasmanian bushranger Martin Cash – the money would also help Ooms with maintaining the house which she describes as a “lifelong project”.

She says the money would also help bring her one step closer to realising her ultimate dream of becoming a mother and starting a family, and says her Alone Australia experience marks what she hopes will be her final solo adventure.

“I want to start a family and I just want to make sure I am in a situation where I’m able to comfortably provide the best life I possible could,’’ she says.

As someone who has now spent time alone, surviving in the wilds of Tasmania’s remote wilderness, it is strange to think that Ooms once had no idea that Tasmania even existed.

But she is certainly glad she made the decision to book a flight to explore a tiny, unknown island at the bottom of the world.

“I travelled the world and lived in a few different places and Australia was just part of my travels,’’ Ooms explains.

“I knew nothing about Tassie, I didn’t know it existed until I arrived in Australia.

“But I heard they were needing help for the Dunalley bushfires.’’

She spent her first few months in Tasmania based out of the bushfire relief centre at Sorell, travelling to Dunalley each day to help rebuild fences for farmers and bury dead animals.

She enjoyed the opportunity to give back, while seeing a different part of Australia and a different way of life, but she also formed a connection with the Tasmanian community.

She later worked at a mussel factory, in Triabunna, as a quality assurance and compliance manager and was sponsored to stay in the state.

“I never intended to stay in Australia,’’ admits Ooms, who at that time was planning to continue her travels in New Zealand and Asia.

“Australia was just one of the many places I planned to travel. When my employer said they’d sponsor me, I thought it would be nice to get another passport ... I thought I’d get my passport and continue travelling.’’

But she didn’t factor in just how much Tasmania would capture her heart, or how much her “beautiful network of friends” and her “gorgeous little cottage” would come to mean to her.

“Tasmania was just so beautiful and I wasn’t quite done with the place,’’ she says.

“And I’ve been here since – I haven’t felt the desire or need to go anywhere else.’’ •

Season 3 of Alone Australia begins with a double episode on Wednesday, March 26, at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand. sbs.com.au