| Genre: | Factual |
| Narrated: | Luke Hewitt |
| Opentheme: | "Money" by Ash Grunwald |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 9 |
| Num Episodes: | 81 |
| List Episodes: |
|
| Producer: | Prospero Productions |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Network: | Discovery Channel |
| Last Aired: | present |
| Related: | Aussie Gold 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.
The eighth season concluded on 12 May 2022.
The series follows opal miners in various locations of Australia as they strive to reach their individually set season target (measured in Australian dollars).
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]
| Name | Nickname | Location | Seasons | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6[13] | 7 | 8 | |||
| Justin Lang | The Rookies | Coober Pedy, SA | colspan="6" | |||||||
| Daniel Becker | colspan="6" | |||||||||
| Kelly Tishler | The Opal Queen | Lightning Ridge, NSW | colspan="2" | |||||||
| Mark Tishler | colspan="6" | |||||||||
| Dwayne Hanrahan | colspan="6" | |||||||||
| Aaron Grotjahn | Various | colspan="2" | ||||||||
| Ron Selig | colspan="2" | |||||||||
| Col Duff | Various | Opalton, QLD | colspan="2" | |||||||
| Greg Geran | Various | Opalton, QLD | colspan="2" | |||||||
| Stoney Cain | The Geran Gang | Opalton, QLD | colspan="2" | |||||||
| Margie Geran | colspan="2" | |||||||||
| Peter Cooke | Various | Lightning Ridge, NSW | colspan="2" | |||||||
| Mick Cooke | colspan="6" | |||||||||
| Sam Westra | colspan="2" | |||||||||
| Adam Piromanski, Cassidy Ricketts, Peter Piromanski, and Vikki Piromanski | The Fire Crew | Western Australia | colspan="5" | |||||||
| Rod Manning and Les Walsh | The Bushmen | Sheepyard, NSW | colspan="6" | |||||||
| Carl Grice and Mary McMillan | The Brits | White Cliffs, NSW | colspan="4" | |||||||
| Jaymin Sullivan, Noah McDonough and James ‘JC’ Caruana | The Young Guns | White Cliffs, NSW | colspan="6 " | |||||||
| Rodney Pearse | The Tunnel Rats | Mintabie, SA (seasons 3-4) Grawin, NSW (season 6) | colspan="4" | |||||||
| Bayden Pearse | ||||||||||
| Elisa Grobe | ||||||||||
| Gavan McFarlan, Connie McFarlan and Teagan McFarlan | Lightning Ridge, NSW | colspan="4" | ||||||||
| scope"row" | Chris Cheal | The Cheals | Lightning Ridge, NSW | colspan="5" | ||||||
| Oscar Cheal | colspan="5" | |||||||||
| Farren Lamb | colspan="2" | |||||||||
| Rory Cheal | colspan="4" | |||||||||
| Paul Coon | The Blacklighters | Coober Pedy, SA | colspan="4" | |||||||
| Mark I’Anson | colspan="4" | |||||||||
| John Nassar | colspan="4" | |||||||||
| Xavier Montgomery | colspan="2" | |||||||||
| Greg Scully, Scott Stevens | The Bishop | Coober Pedy, SA | colspan="3" | |||||||
| Isaac Andreou | Opal Whisperers | Yowah, QLD | colspan="3" | |||||||
| Sofia Andreou | colspan="3" | |||||||||
| Chris Daff | colspan="2" | |||||||||
| Micky Taranto, Joe Taranto, Jack Taranto, Viviane Taranto, and Natasha Owen | The Tarantos | Opalton, QLD | colspan="2" | |||||||
| Joe Kalmar, Angel Dempsey, and Juan Vasco | The Misfits | Andamooka, SA | colspan="2" | |||||||
| Leif Tanzer, Colin 'Cozza' Kathagen and Matthew 'Matt' Kathagen | The Mooka Boys | Andamooka, SA | ||||||||
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.[14]
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".[14]
The series was nominated for Best Documentary Series at the Screen Producers Australia Awards in 2018.[15]