Netflix’s Controversial Survival Show ‘Outlast’ Returns for Season 2: Meet the Cast

Who will survive the Alaskan wilderness? Netflix’s controversial reality series Outlast is returning for season 2 with 16 new lone-wolf survival experts. The no-holds-barred competition show, challenges contestants to last as long as possible in the wild. To win the $1 million prize, cast members must follow only one rule: They have to be part of a team. 

Outlast Season 1 aired in 2023 and featured no shortage of shocking moments, including acts of deliberate sabotage that put other players’ safety at risk. 

“This isn’t about survival, it’s about who’s the f*cking meanest,” one Outlast cast member said of the ruthless approach to the competition in the show’s first season.

Will season 2 be just as intense? We’ll have to watch to find out, but in the meantime, let’s meet the new group of survivalists who will be fighting for the massive grand prize in season 2. 

Bayardo (Bayo) Hernandez

Bayo Hernandez is a python removal expert from Florida. As a professional hunter, tracker, and trapper, he’s no stranger to survival experiences. Now, he’s ready to test whether his Miami survival skills serve him well in the Alaskan wilderness. In an Instagram post sharing news of his casting, Bayo called his Outlast experience the “epic adventure of a lifetime.”

Brendon Ash

Brendon Ash is a professional trapper from Idaho. He’s taken down coyotes, wolves, and bears in the past, and he believes that successfully hunting big game will be key to his success on Outlast. But if that strategy doesn’t work, he also has foraging skills he can put to use. As he put it on Instagram, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” But will the ruthless gameplay be too much for him?

“I’m trying to play an honest game,” he says in the trailer (via YouTube). “We’re not going to mess with anybody unless we get messed with first.”

Bri Walston

Bri Walston is an Air Force veteran from Las Vegas who is skilled at both bow hunting and fishing. She also has cold weather knowledge, having lived in Alaska for three years while she was in the military. But Outlast will be a true test of her skills. 

“If we don’t get a fire going, we’re screwed,” she says in the trailer. 

Deontre (Tre) Thomas

Deontre Thomas is a glazier and arborist from Austin, Texas. He’s been mentored by other members of the Black hunting community and has also researched how his Native American ancestors lived, giving him the knowledge to build snares and traps. He’s also a big game hunter. His goal? To be the first person on Outlast to catch a bear. 

“You only get one chance to show somebody what you’re about,” he says in the trailer. “I’m gonna do it the right way, with integrity.”

Drake Vliem

Drake Vliem is an oil field technician from Midland, Texas. This dad of four makes regular hunting trips to Wyoming. He also thinks his athletic prowess will be an asset while hunting, allowing him to build hunting blinds in trees. 

Outlast is a “raw survival competition series,” Drake wrote on Instagram, and he can’t wait  for everyone to witness his “adventure of a lifetime.”

Drew Haas

Drew Haas is a commercial helicopter pilot from Hallettsville, Texas. He believes his primitive hutning and fishing skills will give him an edge over the competition, and he thinks his mental toughness will also be an asset on his Outlast journey. 

Emily Johnston

Emily Johnston is a data analyst from Boulder, Colorado. She has experience with plant identification and building primitive shelters. Plus, she’s led and completed numerous backcountry survival courses. 

Eric Shevchenko

Eric Shevchenko is a chef and farm-to-table restaurateur from Saginaw, Michigan. When it comes to food, nothing is off the menu for Eric, whether it’s porcupines, raccoons, or snapping turtles. He has hunting skills and botanical knowledge that should serve him well in Alaska. He also has shrewd instincts that could help him outwit the competition.  

Joey DiDesidero

Joey DiDesidero works in radioactive/hazardous waste construction management and is from Benton City, Washington. He lives on a hobby farm with his family and has a passion for the outdoors and adventure thanks to his roots in the Pacific Northwest and his Chickasaw Indian heritage. He also has an eye on Outlast’s $1 million prize. 

“I’m gonna do anything to win,” he says in the trailer. 

Joseph Malbrough

Joseph Malbrough is a mechanic and outdoorsman from Lafayette, Louisiana. He’s an elite hog hunter and a sharpshooter with a bow. He can also track big and small game, has strong fishing skills, and can build primitive shelters.

Julio Laboy

Julio Laboy is a defense lawyer from Buckeye, Arizona. As an elite survivalist, he has all the tools he needs to achieve victory in Outlast, whether that’s building sturdy shelter, starting fires, or crafting weapons. He also has impressive physical strength as a former nationally ranked Master’s Olympic weight lifter. These days, he trains regularly at the Survival University in Colorado and enjoys trekking in the brutal Sonoran desert. 

Meghan Buchanan

Meghan Buchanan is a rocket scientist and adventure athlete from Vail, Colorado, who is no stranger to extreme situations. She once spent seven weeks climbing Mount Everest and has endured frostbite in Antarctica. In fact, she’s conquered all of the seven summits – the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Meghan can fish, build structures, and make fire and enjoys activities such as as polar exploration, ice climbing, and trail running.

Sammy Norris

Sammy Norris is a video creator and bushcrafter from Flag Pond, Tennessee. His talents include building shelter, crafting tools, and carving weapons. He’s also skilled at catching small game and built a primitive cabin during one of Utah’s toughest winters.  

Tina Grimm

Tina Grimm is an artist, model, and thru hiker from Simi Valley, California. Her greatest skills include a top-notch navigation ability and ability to track large and small game. Tina is also a talented firemaker and has knowledge of food storage, wild edibles, and weather patterns. But that doesn’t mean that the tough Outlast environment won’t be a challenge. 

“Alaska is very beautiful and incredibly unforgiving,” she wrote on Instagram. 

Tonia Willman

Tonia Willman is a fabricator, former mental health therapist, and archer from Molalla, Oregon. She has a combination of practical survival skills, including fire-making and field dressing, and knowledge of animals, that she plans to rely on to beat her Outlast competition. Plus she’s been through difficult situations in the past and never let them defeat her, which she thinks will help her beat the competition and win the $1 million.

Zach Owens

Zach Owens is a social media manager from Melba, Idaho. Before signing on for Outlast, he tackled 14-day moose hunts in Alaska, killed bears and elk with a recurve bow, and constructed various types of shelters. Plus, as a past MMA fighter, he’s in great physical shape, which will help in this challenge. 

Outlast Season 2 premieres Sept. 4 on Netflix. 

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.