Kings of the Wild - Season 1

First aired: 10/6/2015 6 episodes

Episodes

1. Mexico - River Canyon

Aired: 10/6/2015

New Zealand hunter Josh James and British chef Matt Tebbutt travel to Copper Canyon in Northern Mexico. Five times bigger than the Grand Canyon, it's one of the most spectacular natural landscapes in the world, but also one of the harshest. They will be dropped into the remote wilderness and will test themselves against nature, taking only the bare minimum of a kit. Josh has a bow and arrow, a slingshot, machete and fish hooks, while Matt has just a cooking pot, knife and water bottle. Using these basic tools they hunt and forage for everything they need to survive for seven long days and nights. Their aim is not just to survive, but to eat the very best food they can. Matt finds an unfamiliar Mexican agave and does his best to turn it into a mouth-watering meal. Josh goes hunting for the Canyon's famous wild turkeys and even manages to snare a raccoon, but disaster strikes when Matt begins cooking.

2. Bulgaria - Mountains

Aired: 10/13/2015

Kiwi hunter Josh James and British chef Matt Tebbutt travel to the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria, Southern Europe. Dropped off by helicopter, they're left alone to survive in the middle of thousands of square kilometres of ancient woodland. It's one of the most remote, untouched and unforgiving forests in the world. Matt quickly puts his foraging skills to the test and finds some edible mushrooms and plants, and soon learns how to catch trout in a stream using just his bare hands. Meanwhile, Josh goes on a two-day hunt on a trail that's home to some of the forest's famous deer.

3. Borneo - Mangrove Swamp

Aired: 10/20/2015

Kiwi hunter Josh James and British chef Matt Tebbutt are dropped in Borneo's Kinabatangan River, surrounded by one of the most dramatic mangrove swamps in the world. This remote and complex ecosystem is home to many exotic animals; monkeys, tropical birds, deer, badgers and porcupines live alongside poisonous snakes and saltwater crocodiles. The swamp is claustrophobic and unfamiliar, and the team's relationship becomes tense when Josh loses Matt's only cooking pot in the river. Repeated hunting failures leave the men exhausted, but hunger forces them to adapt to the harsh terrain and start thinking like the locals.

4. Mexico - Misty Forrest

Aired: 10/27/2015

New Zealand hunter Josh James and British chef Matt Tebbutt travel to a remote and impenetrable cloud forest in southern Mexico. Making the most of what this beautiful, yet foreboding place has to offer, Matt and Josh test their skills to the limit. Their first priority is finding a flat clearing to make a camp. Matt's early success in producing a gourmet freshwater crab soup is soon forgotten as the forest turns out to be a hard place to find food. After failing to snare a wild boar, they have to change tack and spend their last reserves of energy building an elaborate bamboo trap. If it works, they will have the wild feast that they have been waiting for.

5. Finnland - Polar Circle

Aired: 11/3/2015

Kiwi hunter Josh James and British chef Matt Tebbutt travel to Kuusamo in Northern Finland, a dreadful icy wilderness on the Baltic Coast, used as an extreme training ground for the world's top Special Forces soldiers. It's so cold here that the sea freezes. Josh and Matt are determined to not just survive here, but to live like kings for the next seven days. With deep snow, treacherous ice, brutal temperatures and no obvious food sources, this punishing place is about to push these two men beyond the limit of anything they have ever experienced. Matt struggles to forage for any edible food growing under the thick snow cover, and although Josh spots some animal trails, poor visibility and extreme cold are hindering his hunting efforts. In their desperation to eat, Matt is forced to make porridge from tree bark. This is survival at its most extreme.

6. Malasia - Tropical Island

Aired: 11/10/2015

Kiwi hunter Josh James and British chef Matt Tebbutt are on the ultimate wild adventure - a deserted island off the coast of Malaysia. Matt sets out to forage for the wild plants and fruits that suffuse the flavours of South East Asia; Josh is after big game fish in the surrounding seas. They're determined to eat like kings with only their basic kit. The island is covered in dense, inhospitable jungle and a lack of fish forces them to build a makeshift raft to search further offshore. Strong winds and currents make navigating hazardous and their survival hangs in the balance.