Interview with Nathanael Watt, 26, architecture student and Ismail Haruna, 27, architectural technologist both from Nottingham for the new series of Hunted

7 January 2019

Why do you want to take part in Hunted?

Ish – There are many reasons, but the main reason is the good we will be able to do if we win. For the fun factor as well because we’ve watched the show and it’s totally different when you watch. Now we get to put what we think we should do into practice and see how we perform.

Nate – Same for me. I watch the show, I’m a fan of the show. I’d be screaming at the tele, but it’s different when you’re in it and I want to put my money where my mouth is.

How are you going to succeed. Any tactics you want to replicate or avoid?

Nate – I like the idea of avoiding large cities. Being cautious about CCTV and surveillance in really densely populated areas. So I think going down a more rural route is a good idea.

Ish – We like a good challenge and it’s just doing what you can and using what you can in order to succeed. So if that’s staying out of cities, not using a lot of transport, or just relying on the goodness of other people. Not taking hand-outs though, rather seeing how we can help other people to help us in order to be successful.

What do you think the experience of going on the run will be like?

Nate – It will be one of the craziest things we’ve done in our lives. 

Ish – Nothing like we’ve ever done before. It’ll be nerve wracking. Intimidating. It will open our eyes to different things in our lives we haven’t been through.

Nate – We are going to learn about ourselves in an incredible way. We’ll come out of here knowing our strengths and our weaknesses. Just a way higher awareness of self than you’d usually get in your day to day life.

Ish – One thing I’ve definitely realised is a life away from our phones. My generation has grown up with phones in our hands like an extra limb. So being away from that you might find so much peace because having your phone does cause anxiety.

Nate – I know for me I use my phone every day. Social media is really important for my work. So that will be a massive challenge. And being away from music – that’s going to be hard! Not being able to wake first thing in the morning and whack music on loud.

Ish – I’m not going to miss that.

How confident are you, you can stay hidden to the end

Ish – I’m not going to lie. I think we’re really confident, but I think we know too much confidence can make you overlook simple mistakes you could make. We’ll go in with confidence but we’ll stay vigilant throughout. We can’t get too overconfident

Nate – It’s not really just about staying hidden, it’s about pushing boundaries. I’m super confident we could stay hidden. But to just hide out and be boring is not in our nature. We want to push our luck and our limits. Push the boundaries and try something different. Be daring and exciting. Mischief is in our nature. Kind of what we do.

Ish – We would cause mischief if we were well planned and know how to exercise it.

Nate – It’s about doing it right our way. It wouldn’t be us to just hide out somewhere.

Ish – We want an adrenaline rush.