After the first three episodes of Hunted Australia baffled fans, hunter Ben Owen has finally explained the behind-the-scenes reasoning for the show’s most confusing (alleged) plot holes.
Hunted Australia premiered on Sunday July 17, with fans immediately taking to social media to question how the hunters had access to CCTV and why they weren’t just looking for people running around with camera crews following close behind.
Speaking to TV Tonight, Ben – who first appeared on Hunted UK – revealed their headquarters aims to create a simulated version of what an intelligence office setting would be like IRL.
Hunter Ben Owen Reveals How HQ Gets Access to Private CCTV Footage on Hunted Australia
“As it explains on Episode One, there is a covert camera operator with the fugitives,” Ben told the publication and wow, he really is a charmer.
Ben went on to mansplain that the hunters are only provided with the footage at certain times and don’t have 24-hour access.
“I’m not sure I can give you the exact mechanics of how it works from the ground back into production. But what I can say is it’s simulating, replicating real life.
“If our fugitive gets on a train, we as Hunters have to confirm that there is CCTV on the train before we request it. If we don’t request it, we don’t get it,” he said. So you can’t get access to CCTV footage that doesn’t exist? Shocker.
“So once again, it’s completely fair as to how they simulate it,” Ben added, stressing that they weren’t given access to private CCTV footage “for free”. Cheers, mate.
Hunted Australia’s Ben Own Claims The Camera Crew Following Fugitives Doesn’t Give Hunters an Advantage
Ben reckoned it was too difficult to spot the dudes chasing behind people running for their lives with a “whacking great big camera” (his words).
“If you think of the size and the ground that we’ve got to cover if we’re in the right place at the right time, and we happen to see their camera operator, I think we’ve done pretty well,” he said.
“They’re named covert camera operators for a reason… They will be blending into the background and making sure they’re out of the way.”
He explained camera operators often have to hide when they spot hunters. This explains the shaky cam whenever we see a fugitive get caught!
Ben also confirmed the HQ team “would never use any production assets to the benefit of the hunt”.
Hunter Ben Owen Breaks Down How Hunters “Hack” Into Fugitives’ Phones
From an audience perspective, the “hacking” we’ve seen from the Hunted HQ could be compared to some light Instagram stalking. But Ben claimed there was a lot more skill behind the scenes of Hunted Australia.
“I’m not sure I’m allowed to say how far back [in time] we have access to, but certainly when the fugitives sign up for the show, again, we want to simulate it. So it’s completely accurate to what would happen in the real world,” he said.
Ben explained law enforcement would often search through fugitives’ banking history, often “back for years”, so a lot of the work the Hunted Australia hackers do behind the scenes aims to mimic the process of gaining that information.
“In the banking history over the last two or three months, in the lead up to the run, was there equipment bought? It gives us an incredible amount of information to stitch that jigsaw puzzle together.”
The Hunted Australia fugitives voluntarily gave up their devices, but Ben explained law enforcement would have to submit “subpoenas and warrants” to phone providers IRL.
Well, there you have it!
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