TOLMIE is no stranger to harbouring fugitives with a history of bushrangers trying to avoid capture, but newlyweds Luke and Ben Vasiliou recently brought a taste of reality TV to the high country where the locals embraced them.
Chanel 10’s “Hunted Australia” is promoted as the ultimate cat and mouse game which tracks nine pairs of ordinary Australians called fugitives as they evade a team of professional hunters on a mission to catch them.
Last week's episode featured the high country filming from earlier this year.
While the good folk of Tolmie did not snitch on the couple from Langwarrin, the next camp site location at Healesville was compromised and ended in a dramatic fashion with dogs and drones ending the chase.
Locals Jo Arrowsmith and her son William spotted Luke and Ben at the Tolmie sports ground during a Sunday night gathering of 25 people at the on-site social club earlier this year.
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This led to mother and son having a tiny part on “Hunted” during last week’s screening where they farewelled the pair of fugitives.
Jo explains what happened after Luke and Ben were spotted in Tolmie.
“A couple of the fellas invited them over and we fed them up with burgers from the Horseless Cart,” she said.
“Friends went and grabbed them blankets, pillows, towels for a shower and a block of chocolate.
“They had lost most of their gear when almost captured earlier and only had a cheap tent and a couple of Frozen kids sleeping bags."
Jo and William headed back to the sports ground the following day.
They had organised to pick up Ben and Luke and take them to the Arrowsmith home where they were able to work for $50 cash.
“I think the rules let them do this once a week for cash or accommodation,” said Jo.
“We had Ben and Luke putting up a temporary fence for the chickens, cleaning out all the chook poop, then catching each individual chicken to powder them and Vaseline their legs (mite protection)."
Other jobs included helping with the horses and spray painting a new set of IKEA shelves before a dinner of home cooked pizza and a night in a caravan in the shed.
The couple were offered a lift by the Arrowsmiths who were travelling to Melbourne the next day.
According to Jo the plan was to drop them near Woori Yallock at possible camp spots within tight time restrictions.
However, setting up cameras and filming at Tolmie took up a lot of time, said Jo, which meant that Luke and Ben had to be dropped off in Healesville instead.
Watching the eventual capture of Ben on “Hunted” Jo said her family were “gutted”.
Hopes that Luke would manage to evade capture were dashed when, despite making a run for it, an aggressive sniffer dog tracked him down.
While Ben was disappointed that they did not win, the pair who won many fans during the show and with their online antics, are keen to do another TV show.
However, Ben wanted to pass on a massive thank you to Jo's family, and the whole Tolmie community.
"I was upset our time with you all didn’t get much air time," said Ben.
"You saved our butts.
"And kept us warm and our bellies full.
"Please pass on our thanks to everyone.
"We can’t wait to come back and visit."
For Tolmie’s Jo and William Arrowsmith, it was a brief moment of on air fame but an encounter that they will remember for a long time.
