Home and Away: Kyle Shilling previews must-watch ‘cliffhanger' in camping trip gone wrong

It’s not everyday a TV actor is handed a script with a “cliffhanger” play plays on both senses of the word.

For Home and Away’s Kyle Shilling — who stars as Mali on the long-running Channel 7 series — the life-or-death sequence is set to play out from Monday, also playing on his real life love of the outdoors and survival skills learned over years growing up in the bush.

After Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) wins an adventure park package at a surf club fundraiser, he invites along mates Mali and Tane (Ethan Browne), as well as brother-in-law Levi (Tristan Gorey) for a spirited getaway far from Summer Bay’s golden shores.

Filmed in NSW’s picturesque Blue Mountains, the new landscape presents fresh challenges, and lurking danger.

“We haven’t had a story line like this before. So when they told me that I’m going to have the opportunity to be a part of this, I was pretty pumped up,” Shilling told The West Australian.

Zip line, archery, and laser tag spark a rivalry between the boys, before a raising of the stakes sees a life hang in the balance.

After more than three years on the hit soap as a beach-dwelling surfboard-shaper, Shilling said a key indicator it would not be an ordinary week at work were the extra safety measures.

“When you have a safety coordinator there, you know things are getting quite serious,” he said.

“When we were doing all the zip line stuff, I hadn’t climbed up something that high in a long time, and so they’re attaching you to all these things, and they’re double checking the knots, and they’re just like, ‘All right, mate, you’re good to go’.

“And at the end of the day, you’ve got to put your trust in them, so it’s quite daunting at times.”

Revealing some scenes required up to two hours to film, Shilling claimed one running sequence was shot six times and left him unable to lift his legs.

“I’m laying there on the ground going, ‘I quit. I’m done’. I was absolutely exhausted,” he recalled.

The Indigenous actor has spent time with Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, where he enjoyed days hunting and strengthening his sense of cultural belonging.

Nowadays, Shilling gets his hands and tyres dirty four-wheel driving, and sets up camp for several nights at a time when his schedule permits.

But how much his real life survival skills rubbed off on his character remains to be seen.

What he could offer fans were tips for an authentic camping trip away.

Shilling’s advice: Don’t over pack, allow plenty of time for cooking and fishing, and go somewhere you can’t access phone reception or internet. Asked if his compass might soon point west, the actor said he could imagine driving across the Nullarbor to Exmouth where a mate had extended an open invitation.

“I’d love to just set up camp on a beach every night, and then get out on the boat throughout the day and just go fishing all day, and then get back to camp and cook up what we’ve caught,” he said.

Home and Away’s must-watch event week starts 7pm Monday on Seven and 7plus.