Fun run for Hunted’s Cath & Kel

Cath McCallig & Kelly Nash were determined to go out of Hunted, defiantly Thelma & Louise-style, friends to the end.

Alas, it happened much sooner than both had hoped, caught by the ground hunters in the very first episode.

The lifelong friends, both of whom have theatrical backgrounds, were counting on a series of disguises to conceal their tracks, but pre-show “Where’s Wally” photos posted to socials soon alerted the Hunted team to their close associates and to a house in Prahran where they were resting up.

As it turns out, it was their kids who posted the images, without turning off comments.

“We thought that we’d be better at this because we don’t have much of a digital life,” Cath tells TV Tonight. “We thought that maybe actually not being digitally as obvious in the world we might stand a chance, but clearly didn’t!

“We’re not super tech savvy like our kids, and all the young people who were other fugitives. We saw how young they were when we got on the boat. ‘Oh god, clearly we’re the elders here!’ That might have been our downfall.

“We thought maybe we could fly under the radar, digitally. But also, and this is a fairly extreme way of doing it, I wanted to kind of experiment with that idea that you do become a bit invisible as a middle aged woman.

“It was a way of sort of saying how invisible we are, except that we didn’t really get a chance to test it out. But it would have been interesting just to be able to sort of hide in plain sight as it were.”

L to R: Cath McCallig & Kelly Nash

They also had elaborate plans involving wigs, costumes, boats, holiday homes and friends ready to help cover their tracks, but their movements from Docklands to Port Melbourne, Portarlington and Prahran were tense.

“We thought it would be fun to sail part of our escape route from one part of the bay to another,” Kelly reveals.

“We have some friends with holiday houses too that had kindly given those up. We really wanted to get to Sorrento to my neighbour’s house down there,” Cath adds.

“I think that’s probably the most disappointing part, letting down the people who were prepared to come and help us!” Kelly explains.

“We did relax because that was our third day on the run. We had four ‘pre-plans’ for that day but they fell down. So we were desperate and I think when we got to Georgina’s house, a friend and a colleague, we just relaxed and we let our guard down.

“We were just exhausted from being ‘on’ the whole, it was only three days. So God knows how the other people can do it.”

“Until you’re in that situation you really don’t know,” agrees Cath. “We were lying in bed on the second night in a caravan saying, ‘Imagine if this was something we had to do to protect ourselves and / or our children as victims of domestic violence. We’re lucky we’re not in that situation. How hard it must be for them to hide, because clearly, it’s really hard.”

“And pretty easy to be found,” adds Kelly.

Both underwent an extensive audition process to join Hunted, before handing over essential information to producers.

“It’s pretty much everything,” Kelly acknowledges. “Passwords to all your emails, you hand over your phone, you hand over your digital life basically. It’s all in their hands and they can use it, however they like.

“There’s a lot of preparation and a psychologist is involved and they need to have a really good sense that you’re up for the challenge, I suppose.

“Rigorous is how I would describe it.”

Despite bombing out early, both enjoyed the experience and only learned how they were caught through media interviews and watching the episode screen last night.

“Yes, it’s a reality show. But there’s no nastiness,” says Cath. “I mean, the other contestants -not that we’re allowed to chat- were kind and lovely. Every one of them is beautiful. There was no sense of competition. It was all supportive.

“It was us working against the Hunters, I suppose. We weren’t against the other fugitives,” says Kelly.

“We loved the other teams, they’re gorgeous!” adds Cath.

Both are pragmatic about having fun post-lockdown in a TV show where the prize is secondary to challenging themselves.

“We’re mums and wives, so life is pretty predictable when you get to your 50s. To do something a bit out of the ordinary, a little bit of fun and a bit wacky and crazy -why not? Playing a grown up version of Hide and Seek sounds like so much fun,” says Cath.

Kelly adds, “We’d love to do it again, knowing what we know now! But next time turn the comments off!”

Hunted continues 7:30pm Tuesday & Wednesday on 10.