Hunted Australia’s Rob and Stathi win the series and take home $100,000 in prize money

Rob Harneiss and Stathi Vamvoulidis have won Hunted Australia. 

In the nail-biting season finale on Tuesday the two men were whisked away in a red helicopter on a beach in Inverloch after hunters failed to get catch them. 

Rob was first on the aircraft with Stathi having just minutes left to join him in order to take the $100,000 prize money. 

Rob made a quick blitz to the awaiting helicopter after getting to the site via car. 

Stathi opted to try to blend in with locals before making a break for it.  

Rob was elated as he made it to the helicopter taking a dig at the people who claimed he couldn’t do it. 

‘That heavy-set boy won. And he beat you. I put a lot of time and effort into planning for this,’ Michael said. 

‘The strategy for me was hiding in plain sight, not acting like a Fugitive, decoying, dressing up,’ he added. 

Michael added that most people said he couldn’t even run from the hunters, let alone win the season.

Stathi was equally impressed with his skills as he made it to the helicopter, with the hunters failing to catch him.    

‘It’s taught me a lot about myself, my resilience. Not many people know how this feels. Oh, mate. The paranoia, the stress, the anxiety,’ he said of the experience. 

‘Not knowing who was on your back. Being on the run, it was exhausting. And when the physical exhaustion coupled with the mental exhaustion,’ he added.

He said there were a lot of moments he questioned if he could do it. 

Rob’s partner Jake was unfortunately captured during the finale with him not making it to the helicopter for extraction. 

Both Rob and Stathi said they would split the prize money with their captured teammates, meaning each will walk away with $25,000. 

Stathi said he would be using the money for IVF to start a family. 

The show proved to be rating success for Ten with plenty of viewers tuning in to watch the show. 

The clearly disappointed hunters looked-on in shock after the escape before congratulating their own efforts. 

‘To get within seconds was so disappointing,’ Chief David Craig said. 

‘Sixteen fugitives around Victoria in three weeks, fantastic effort,’ he added.