Outback Opal Hunters

Outback Opal Hunters is an Australian factual television show which follows opal miners across various sites in the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. The series is produced by Prospero Productions and began on the Discovery Channel on 8 February 2018. The series has been a ratings success and has been broadcast in over 100 countries including the United Kingdom and United States.

Outback Opal Hunters
Outback Opal Hunters title card
Genre	Factual
Narrated by	Luke Hewitt
Opening theme	"Money" by Ash Grunwald
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of series	9
No. of episodes	81
Production
Executive producers	Darren Chau Rob Holloway
Producer	Prospero Productions
Cinematography	Miles Brotherson Riaan Laubscher Mark Hooper Ben Canon Mike Hoath Ian Withnall
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	Discovery Channel
Release	8 February 2018 (2018-02-08) – present
Related
Aussie Gold Hunters

The eighth season concluded on 12 May 2022.

Premise

The series follows opal miners in various locations of Australia as they strive to reach their individually set season target (measured in Australian dollars).

Production

In August 2017 it was announced Discovery had commissioned Outback Opal Hunters, a factual series from Prospero Productions which follows opal miners across New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD) and Coober Pedy, South Australia (SA).^[1] The eight episode first season premiered on 8 February 2018.^[2] In September 2018 it was announced the series had been renewed for a 13 episode second season which would expand into Western Australia (WA).^[3] The second season which was filmed in Lightning Ridge (NSW), Opalton (QLD), Coober Pedy (SA) and Laverton (WA) premiered on 31 January 2019.^[4] The third season consisting of eight episodes was filmed across Lightning Ridge (NSW), Opalton (QLD), Laverton (WA), White Cliffs (NSW), Sheepyard (NSW) and Mintabie (SA). The season premiered on 17 October 2019.^[5][6] Season four which consisted of 12 episodes premiered on 6 February 2020.^[7] The fifth season premiered on 8 October 2020.^[8] In December 2020 it was initially reported as part of Foxtel's 2021 Upfronts the series would return for its sixth season on 11 February 2021.^[9] However, the season in fact premiered a week earlier on 4 February 2021.^[10] The seventh season premiered on 7 October 2021.^[11] The 12 episode eighth season premiered on 24 February 2022.^[12]

Cast

Name	Nickname	Location	Seasons
			1	2[3][4]	3[5]	4[7]	5[8]	6[13]	7	8[12]
Justin Lang	The Rookies	Coober Pedy, SA	Main		Does not appear
Daniel Becker			Main		Does not appear
Kelly Tishler	The Opal Queen	Lightning Ridge, NSW	Main		Does not appear			Guest	Does not appear
Mark Tishler			Does not appear	Main	Does not appear
Dwayne Hanrahan			Does not appear	Main	Does not appear
Aaron Grotjahn	Various[a]	Opalton, QLD	Main						Does not appear
Ron Selig			Does not appear			Main			Does not appear
Col Duff	Various[b]	Opalton, QLD	Main				Does not appear	Main	Does not appear
Greg Geran	Various[c]	Opalton, QLD	Main		Does not appear			Main	Does not appear
Stoney Cain	The Geran Gang	Opalton, QLD	Does not appear					Main	Does not appear
Margie Geran			Does not appear					Main	Does not appear
Peter Cooke	Various[d]	Lightning Ridge, NSW	Main						Does not appear
Mick Cooke			Main		Does not appear
Sam Westra			Does not appear	Main					Does not appear
Adam Piromanski, Cassidy Ricketts, Peter Piromanski, and Vikki Piromanski	The Fire Crew	Western Australia	Does not appear	Main		Does not appear
Rod Manning and Les Walsh	The Bushmen	Sheepyard, NSW	Does not appear		Main
Carl Grice and Mary McMillan	The Brits	White Cliffs, NSW	Does not appear		Main		Does not appear
Jaymin Sullivan, Noah McDonough and James ‘JC’ Caruana	The Young Guns	White Cliffs, NSW	Does not appear		Main
Rodney Pearse	The Tunnel Rats	Mintabie, SA (seasons 3-4) Grawin, NSW (season 6)	Does not appear		Main		Does not appear
Bayden Pearse			Does not appear		Main		Does not appear	Main		Does not appear
Elisa Grobe			Does not appear		Main		Does not appear	Main		Does not appear
Gavan McFarlan, Connie McFarlan and Teagan McFarlan	—	Lightning Ridge, NSW	Does not appear			Main	Does not appear
Chris Cheal	The Cheals	Lightning Ridge, NSW	Does not appear			Main
Oscar Cheal			Does not appear			Main
Farren Lamb			Does not appear			Main		Does not appear	Main
Rory Cheal			Does not appear				Main
Paul Coon	The Blacklighters	Coober Pedy, SA	Does not appear				Main
Mark I’Anson			Does not appear				Main
John Nassar			Does not appear				Main
Xavier Montgomery			Does not appear						Main
Greg Scully, Scott Stevens	The Bishop	Coober Pedy, SA	Does not appear					Main
Isaac Andreou	Opal Whisperers	Yowah, QLD	Does not appear					Main
Sofia Andreou		Does not appear					Main
Chris Daff		Does not appear					Main	Does not appear
Micky Taranto, Joe Taranto, Jack Taranto, Viviane Taranto, and Natasha Owen	The Tarantos	Opalton, QLD	Does not appear						Main
Joe Kalmar, Angel Dempsey, and Juan Vasco	The Misfits	Andamooka, SA	Does not appear						Main
Leif Tanzer, Colin 'Cozza' Kathagen and Matthew 'Matt' Kathagen	The Mooka Boys	Andamooka, SA	Does not appear							Main

1. For seasons one and two, Col Duff, Aaron Grotjahn and Greg Geran were featured as a team called Col's Crew. After Duff departed the team, the crew was referred to as the Boulder Boys.
2. Col Duff initially starred in the first two seasons of the series as part of Col's Crew. He then appeared independently for seasons three and four, was absent from season five, and then returned in season six as part of The Geran Gang.
3. Greg Geran initially starred in the first two seasons of the series as part of Col's Crew. In season six Geran returned to the series in a team called The Geran Gang.
4. For seasons one and two the team was nicknamed The Cooke Brothers. Following the departure of Mick Cooke in season two, the team was later nicknamed The Bros for seasons three and four before dropping the nickname in season five.

Episodes

Series overview

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
1	8		8 February 2018 (2018-02-08)	29 March 2018 (2018-03-29)
2	13		21 January 2019 (2019-01-21)	25 April 2019 (2019-04-25)
3	8		17 October 2019 (2019-10-17)	5 December 2019 (2019-12-05)
4	12		6 February 2020 (2020-02-06)	23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
5	8		8 October 2020 (2020-10-08)	26 November 2020 (2020-11-26)
6	12		4 February 2021 (2021-02-04)	22 April 2021 (2021-04-22)
7	8		7 October 2021 (2021-10-07)	25 November 2021 (2021-11-25)
8	12		24 February 2022 (2022-02-24)	12 May 2022 (2022-05-12)

Season 1 (2018)

Outback Opal Hunters season one episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
1	1	"Opal Fever"	8 February 2018 (2018-02-08)	71,000[14]
2	2	"The Sky is Falling"	15 February 2018 (2018-02-15)	73,000[15]
3	3	"The Legend Returns"	22 February 2018 (2018-02-22)	69,000[16]
4	4	"Attack of the Cacti"	1 March 2018 (2018-03-01)	75,000[17]
5	5	"Brother vs. Brother"	8 March 2018 (2018-03-08)	71,000[18]
6	6	"Rookies are the Bomb"	15 March 2018 (2018-03-15)	53,000[19]
7	7	"Cave-Ins and Explosions"	22 March 2018 (2018-03-22)	41,000[20]
8	8	"Aerial Opal Shopping"	29 March 2018 (2018-03-29)	43,000[21]

Season 2 (2019)

Outback Opal Hunters season two episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
9	1	"Rookie Mistakes"	31 January 2019 (2019-01-31)	37,000[22]
10	2	"Wild Wild West"	7 February 2019 (2019-02-07)	38,000[23]
11	3	"Going Under"	14 February 2019 (2019-02-14)	41,000[24]
12	4	"Risky Business"	21 February 2019 (2019-02-21)	60,000[25]
13	5	"Hot Hot Hot"	28 February 2019 (2019-02-28)	52,000[26]
14	6	"Machine Mayhem"	7 March 2019 (2019-03-07)	54,000[27]
15	7	"Against All Odds"	14 March 2019 (2019-03-14)	N/A
16	8	"Blue Fire Opal or Bust"	21 March 2019 (2019-03-21)	47,000[28]
17	9	"Race Against Time"	28 March 2019 (2019-03-28)	35,000[29]
18	10	"Desperate Times, Desperate Measures"	4 April 2019 (2019-04-04)	45,000[30]
19	11	"Battling Back"	11 April 2019 (2019-04-11)	44,000[31]
20	12	"Make or Break"	18 April 2019 (2019-04-18)	38,000[32]
21	13	"Last Chance"	25 April 2019 (2019-04-25)	50,000[33]

Season 3 (2019)

Outback Opal Hunters season three episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
22	1	"Episode 1"	17 October 2019 (2019-10-17)	63,000[34]
23	2	"Episode 2"	24 October 2019 (2019-10-24)	67,000[35]
24	3	"Episode 3"	31 October 2019 (2019-10-31)	60,000[36]
25	4	"Episode 4"	7 November 2019 (2019-11-07)	62,000[37]
26	5	"Episode 5"	14 November 2019 (2019-11-14)	62,000[38]
27	6	"Episode 6"	21 November 2019 (2019-11-21)	59,000[39]
28	7	"Episode 7"	28 November 2019 (2019-11-28)	68,000[40]
29	8	"Episode 8"	5 December 2019 (2019-12-05)	59,000[41]

Season 4 (2020)

Outback Opal Hunters season four episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
30	1	"Episode 1"	6 February 2020 (2020-02-06)	45,000[42]
31	2	"Episode 2"	13 February 2020 (2020-02-13)	56,000[43]
32	3	"Episode 3"	20 February 2020 (2020-02-20)	66,000[44]
33	4	"Episode 4"	27 February 2020 (2020-02-27)	71,000[45]
34	5	"Episode 5"	5 March 2020 (2020-03-05)	55,000[46]
35	6	"Episode 6"	12 March 2020 (2020-03-12)	52,000[47]
36	7	"Episode 7"	19 March 2020 (2020-03-19)	49,000[48]
37	8	"Episode 8"	26 March 2020 (2020-03-26)	60,000[49]
38	9	"Episode 9"	2 April 2020 (2020-04-02)	62,000[50]
39	10	"Episode 10"	9 April 2020 (2020-04-09)	75,000[51]
40	11	"Episode 11"	16 April 2020 (2020-04-16)	99,000[52]
41	12	"Episode 12"	23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)	95,000[53]

Season 5 (2020)

Outback Opal Hunters season five episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
42	1	"Episode 1"	8 October 2020 (2020-10-08)	58,000[54]
43	2	"Episode 2"	15 October 2020 (2020-10-15)	54,000[55]
44	3	"Episode 3"	22 October 2020 (2020-10-22)	58,000[56]
45	4	"Episode 4"	29 October 2020 (2020-10-29)	55,000[57]
46	5	"Episode 5"	5 November 2020 (2020-11-05)	50,000[58]
47	6	"Episode 6"	12 November 2020 (2020-11-12)	71,000[59]
48	7	"Episode 7"	19 November 2020 (2020-11-19)	73,000[60]
49	8	"Episode 8"	26 November 2020 (2020-11-26)	69,000[61]

Season 6 (2021)

Outback Opal Hunters season six episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
50	1	"Episode 1"	4 February 2021 (2021-02-04)	75,000[62]
51	2	"Episode 2"	11 February 2021 (2021-02-11)	56,000[63]
52	3	"Episode 3"	18 February 2021 (2021-02-18)	73,000[64]
53	4	"Episode 4"	25 February 2021 (2021-02-25)	60,000[65]
54	5	"Episode 5"	4 March 2021 (2021-03-04)	65,000[66]
55	6	"Episode 6"	11 March 2021 (2021-03-11)	59,000[67]
56	7	"Episode 7"	18 March 2021 (2021-03-18)	69,000[68]
57	8	"Episode 8"	25 March 2021 (2021-03-25)	59,000[69]
58	9	"Episode 9"	1 April 2021 (2021-04-01)	62,000[70]
59	10	"Episode 10"	8 April 2021 (2021-04-08)	55,000[71]
60	11	"Episode 11"	15 April 2021 (2021-04-15)	55,000[72]
61	12	"Episode 12"	22 April 2021 (2021-04-22)	71,000[73]

Season 7 (2021)

Outback Opal Hunters season seven episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
62	1	"Episode 1"	7 October 2021 (2021-10-07)	60,000[74]
63	2	"Episode 2"	14 October 2021 (2021-10-14)	69,000[75]
64	3	"Episode 3"	21 October 2021 (2021-10-21)	54,000[76]
65	4	"Episode 4"	28 October 2021 (2021-10-28)	62,000[77]
66	5	"Episode 5"	4 November 2021 (2021-11-04)	53,000[78]
67	6	"Episode 6"	11 November 2021 (2021-11-11)	55,000[79]
68	7	"Episode 7"	18 November 2021 (2021-11-18)	50,000[80]
69	8	"Episode 8"	25 November 2021 (2021-11-25)	45,000[81]

Season 8 (2022)

Outback Opal Hunters season eight episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original release date	Australia viewers
70	1	"Episode 1"	24 February 2022 (2022-02-24)	46,000[82]
71	2	"Episode 2"	3 March 2022 (2022-03-03)	27,000[83]
72	3	"Episode 3"	10 March 2022 (2022-03-10)	N/A
73	4	"Episode 4"	17 March 2022 (2022-03-17)	31,000[84]
74	5	"Episode 5"	24 March 2022 (2022-03-24)	38,000[85]
75	6	"Episode 6"	31 March 2022 (2022-03-31)	44,000[86]
76	7	"Episode 7"	7 April 2022 (2022-04-07)	39,000[87]
77	8	"Episode 8"	14 April 2022 (2022-04-14)	44,000[88]
78	9	"Episode 9"	21 April 2022 (2022-04-21)	43,000[89]
79	10	"Episode 10"	28 April 2022 (2022-04-28)	38,000[90]
80	11	"Episode 11"	5 May 2022 (2022-05-05)	36,000[91]
81	12	"Episode 12"	12 May 2022 (2022-05-12)	60,000[92]

Broadcast

As of May 2020 the series has been broadcast in over 100 countries, including in the United Kingdom on Quest, and in the United States on Discovery Channel.^[93]

Reception

Ratings

The series has been a domestic and international ratings success. Executive producer Darren Chau, speaking with Mediaweek in May 2020 said, "Aussie Gold Hunters has been the #1 factual series on Foxtel for the last three successive years. Outback Opal Hunters is right behind it." Additionally he said in the United Kingdom "Outback Opal Hunters is top five on Quest", and in the United States it airs on the Discovery Channel where it premiered in November 2019 "so successful they immediately rolled into season two" and it airs "on the channel's biggest night of the week".^[93]

Accolades

The series was nominated for Best Documentary Series at the Screen Producers Australia Awards in 2018.^[94]

See also

• Australia portal
• Television portal

Australian resource extraction television

• Aussie Gold Hunters
• Aussie Lobster Men

Gemstone mining television

• Jade Fever, jade extraction in Canada