TLDR: Nero Buys, 40, from regional New South Wales, served seven years in the Australian Army as a Fitter Machinist and Armourer attached to the Special Air Service Regiment, including a 2010 Afghanistan deployment.
When his wife became pregnant he left the military immediately and spent eight years as a stay-at-home father and homeschooling his son.
He co-founded NaturePost, a children’s outdoor subscription program, and completed two Canadian boreal winter seasons guiding before being selected for Alone Season 13.
Alone has a complicated relationship with military veterans. Special forces backgrounds read well in promotional materials, but on the show itself they often correlate with early tap-outs.
The combat mindset, identify the threat, neutralize it, move on, is poorly suited to a competition that rewards patience, stillness, and the willingness to sit with discomfort for weeks at a time without resolution.
Nero Buys is a different case. He has the military background, but he also spent eight years after it doing something that requires entirely different skills: raising a child, homeschooling him, being present every day without a mission or a structure or a rank to define himself by.
That combination is unusual, and it may be exactly what Alone requires.
Before the Military
Buys grew up in rural New South Wales, the kind of upbringing that produces a preference for working with his hands over sitting in a classroom.
His parents insisted he secure a formal trade qualification before doing anything else, so he trained and qualified as a boilermaker and welder.
That background in metallurgy, structural fabrication, and thermal properties would later prove useful in ways nobody anticipated.
He also developed a long-term interest in archery, competing in regional 3D Archery Association of Australia events in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.
Seven Years in the Australian Army
Buys enlisted in the Australian Army and served seven years as a Fitter Machinist and Armourer within the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
In 2010 he deployed to Afghanistan.
His official biography describes him as having served within the Special Air Service Regiment, which is accurate but requires context.
He served in a technical support capacity attached to the SASR, maintaining and repairing advanced weapons systems.
He was not a badged SASR trooper who completed the unit’s primary selection course, one of the most demanding military programs in the world. That distinction matters for an honest assessment of what he brings to the competition.
What his attachment to the SASR did provide was sustained exposure to the unit’s operational standards, its emphasis on mental stamina over brute force, and its institutional culture of unconventional problem-solving and emotional maturity.
That exposure is not nothing.
Eight Years as a Stay-at-Home Father
When Buys learned his wife Jen was pregnant, he left the military immediately. The next eight years he spent as his son Lockie’s primary caregiver and homeschooling parent.
It was during this domestic period that he discovered bushcraft, initially looking for outdoor activities the family could share together.
His natural aptitude led to an opportunity to teach at one of Australia’s top bushcraft and survival schools. He eventually left that position in mid-2023 because it required too much time away from his family, and co-founded NaturePost with Jen instead.
NaturePost is a monthly subscription program for children, delivering physical educational packages including a narrative letter written by Buys and illustrated by Jen, an information card on a specific outdoor skill, and a piece of quality gear.
Over twelve months, subscribers assemble a complete backpack of practical outdoor equipment.
The program is priced at $14.99 AUD per month and operates from the family’s home near Stanthorpe on the New South Wales and Queensland border.
Two Canadian Winters Before the Show
Shortly after launching NaturePost, Jen booked Buys on a winter expedition to Northern Ontario with Kielyn and Dave Marrone of Lure of the North.
A three-week trip extended to three and a half months when the Marrones, impressed by his competence, invited him to stay as an assistant guide. His family joined him in Ontario for the extended stay.
He returned for a second consecutive Canadian winter season in 2025.
These two back-to-back seasons in the boreal sub-Arctic gave him verified cold-weather experience that most Australian bushcrafters lack, bridging the gap between his hot-climate background and the specific demands of an Arctic competition.
His Season 13 Strategy
Buys was dropped at a lakeside location called Grassy Point in the Richardson Mountains. His most discussed gear decision was replacing the standard folding saw with salt.
The rationale is physiological rather than sentimental. Long-term starvation and reliance on snowmelt water depletes sodium levels, leading to muscle cramping, cognitive decline, and heart arrhythmias.
Salt provides a direct electrolyte buffer against these effects. He retained a heavy-duty felling axe, reasoning that his experience with Australian hardwoods gave him sufficient wood-processing capability without a saw.
He also customized his axe before the drop, crafting a leather collar for the handle, securing it with synthetic sinew and waterproofing it with a blend of beeswax and oil to protect against over-strike damage in wet conditions.
As of Episode 4, Buys remains active in the competition. He has accumulated 25 minutes of screen time demonstrating a measured, methodical approach.
He is collaborating with Alone Season 11 runner-up Dub Paetz on weekly Q&A recap videos on Paetz’s YouTube channel @dubgonewild, addressing viewer questions while adhering strictly to non-disclosure agreements about outcomes.
For the full Season 13 cast, see our Season 13 hub.
Nero Buys and Alone Season 13: Frequently Asked Questions
Was Nero Buys in the SASR special forces?
Nero Buys served in the Australian Army for seven years as a Fitter Machinist and Armourer attached to the Special Air Service Regiment, including a 2010 Afghanistan deployment. He served in a technical support capacity maintaining weapons systems rather than as a badged SASR trooper who completed the unit’s primary selection course.
Why did Nero Buys swap his saw for salt on Alone?
Buys replaced the standard folding saw with salt to prevent the electrolyte depletion that causes muscle cramping, cognitive decline, and heart arrhythmias during long-term starvation and reliance on snowmelt water. He retained a heavy-duty felling axe as his primary wood-processing tool.
What is NaturePost, Nero Buys’ outdoor program?
NaturePost is a monthly outdoor subscription program for children co-founded by Nero Buys and his wife Jen. Each monthly package contains a physical narrative letter written by Nero and illustrated by Jen, an educational outdoor skills card, and a piece of quality gear. Over 12 months, subscribers assemble a complete backpack of practical outdoor equipment.
