One of just three teams remaining on the run, Joe White and Akec Makur Chuot seemed like easy pickings to the Hunters from the beginning. But the duo managed to slip away and barely popped up on their radar right until the pointy-end of the run. The pair also had three close calls, each more hilarious than the last, where they manged to evade capture.
"It was one of those life adventures that I recommend people do only once," Akec told 10 Play, laughing. "I don't recommend doing it more than once... [but] it was good to get out of my comfort zone."
"It was just one of the wildest adventures I've been on," Joe agreed. "As a comedian, we travel everywhere and sleep on couches, floors, in people's garages just to make it to the net gig so this really brought back some memories."
With Joe's extensive network of comedians across Victoria, former AFLW player Akec had ties to the footy community, but the pair admitted that during the course of their time on the run they actually relied mostly on strangers.
"We had maybe 68 people help us and, out of those, I'd say probably 60 were strangers and eight were friends of ours," Joe said. "Just to walk up to strangers and for them to welcome us into their house, let us sleep on their beds, it was an incredible experiment to be part of and -- like Akec said -- for me to do once and that's it," he laughed.
While some teams struggle with being cut off from their everyday lives and families, Joe struggled with being away from the limelight and during their time as fugitives he was still craving the spotlight, leading to one of the tensest moments in the season. With the Hunters catching on to rumours that Joe might appear at a comedy club, they surrounded the club and even had Hunters incognito waiting in the audience in case he got on stage.
"Almost three weeks on the run and no comedy gigs? It was like I was missing a part of myself," he explained, "I was looking for ways to do a set and I was like, 'Please Akec, just five or ten minutes?' She was like, 'It's going to cost us $100,000' so eventually I was like, fine you're right.
"When Akec picked me to be her partner my loyalty was to her first and then to comedy second so I trusted her and said okay, we won't do it."
Later, by sheer coincidence, the pair were being driven down a road when they saw Hunters swarm a bus and capture Shelli and Ondeane.
"We were just minding our own business, I was talking about how I should be a detective," Akec recalled, "We just saw the Hunters, and it made us realise that we really have to be mindful."
"My jaw dropped," Joe added. "I couldn't believe it, I thought this is how we go out. As crazy as it sounds, in my head I was thinking how many Hunters are out there looking for us? One million?"
Their final close call came in the form of absolute luxury. After camping for a few days, Akec and Joe returned to the city and decided that the best course of action was to use some of the cash from the bank heist for a massage.
The transaction pinged HQ to a location, and to the friend that they had been staying with. But according to Joe, "That message was not the catalyst for our capture, it was a friend of ours that was.
"That massage was needed, it strengthened us and cracked us back into shape so we could continue to go for another few days," he said. "There was no capture that came because of the massage so I'm not regretting it.
"People who say a massage is not worth $100,000 have not had a Thai massage," he laughed.
"Honestly it was so worth it," Akec agreed. "At the end of the day, that's how you play the game! You have to bring the game to them, it's like when you're playing football, if you're losing you don't just lay down. You have to play the game out. That's what we had to do with the Hunters."
Unfortunately, the Hunters were too hot on their heels and had started narrowing in on their contacts, ultimately arriving at the house they were staying at.
"It was pretty scary but we weren't going down without a fight," Akec said, revealing that the entire time they had been on the run Joe was adamant that they would have to jump a fence.
"Every house we went to I'd be like, 'If the Hunters come we can jump this fence,'" Joe said. "Akec would be like, 'Are you crazy? I'm not doing that.' When the Hunters actually did come she was like, 'Let me step on you!' she just stepped on me, climbed over and I was like oh shit, wait for me!"
"There was $100,000 on the line," Akec laughed.
Trying to split up, giving Joe the cash, Akec wanted to be a decoy sprinting down the road trying to draw the Hunters away from the house so Joe could get away. Unfortunately, soon after she was captured, he was found and the pair's time on the run came to an end.
"We got the bronze and that's better than Raygun, that's all I can say about that," Joe joked.
"I think the Hunters saw a comedian and a former athlete and underestimated us," Akec said. "I'm so proud of how far we went, it was quite special and I was so proud of us."
"It was around 17 days on the run and obviously they don't show everything that happened in 17 days but we slept on floors, I had a dog piss on me at one stage and couldn't wash it off," Joe said.
"Imagine sleeping in a tent with dog piss, it's hot in there, imagine the smell. we had to use the toilet at campsites. It felt like I was back to being a refugee again, it was terrible!
"When they caught me, you could see the smile on my face because I was like, 'This is not a capture, this is a rescue! Take me to my missus, please!'"
Hunted continues 7.00 pm Sunday on 10 and 10 Play.
