After a week of being on the side of a hunter, Stathi Vamvoulidis managed to reclaim the cash and delivered some not-so-sweet revenge.
Hunted Australia winner Stathi Vamvoulidis has shared the story of how his once real-life encounter with hunting helped him seal victory on the show.
Talking to the Toni and Ryan Podcast, Stathi revealed an alleged thief had once stolen $10,000 cash from his home.
But, playing on the side of a hunter and tracking down the thief himself, Stathi was able to reclaim the stolen cash and enact some sickening revenge of his own.
He revealed the story after Toni Lodge suggested he could play a ‘Hunter’ in a new season of the hit Channel 10 show, prompting Stathi to explain he had a background in doing so, albeit in odd circumstances.
He said:
“There was this one time that I had $10,000 stolen from me.
“So, I closed a bank account and I withdrew $10,000 from this bank account, and I was going to take it to my other bank but I had a barber appointment in the mean time.”
Stathi said he had put the cash into his backpack, but upon finishing his appointment, it became apparent the bag was switched with another customer who had a bag with a similar style and seemingly mistook the bag to be his own.
He said the barber quickly called the other customer to reveal the mistake, and the customer agreed to return to the barbershop within a few minutes.
Stathi said:
“This was 5pm… [But then it’s] quarter-past five, five-thirty, quarter-to-six…
“It gets to 6pm, and he comes into the barber store with my backpack.
“He hands over my backpack and the first thing I do is open this zip and look where the cash was… Empty.
“And I just said, ‘Oh, I think there was something in here’, and he goes, ‘Nah, this is how I found the backpack’.”
Stathi then reveals his approach was unconventional from here:
“I looked him in the eyes and I said, ‘I’m so sorry mate, I’m losing my mind, it’s been a long day, there was nothing in there. Enjoy, have a great day, bless ya’.
“And then he left, but what he didn’t know, was that in the hour I was in the barber shop I went through all of his identity documents, because I had his bag.
“I needed to have a Plan B, and Plan C, and Plan D.
“In addition to having his info I needed him to be so complacent, and think that I was absolutely insane, because if he was onto me he would have either left it at a mate’s place, stashed it, or done something.”
Stathi said he then spent the next week surveilling the man’s residence, to understand his movements and who visited the home, in seek of the money stolen from him.
After confirming his movements and understanding he always left his bedroom window open, Stathi entered the property.
He said:
“I literally entered and opened his desk draw and my ANZ envelope was in the top drawer, with the same elastic bands.
“So then I took my cash back.”
But it was his final act of revenge that shocked the team of Toni and Ryan.
Stathi said the morning of entering the residence, he had eaten food that didn’t sit well with him.
With Toni and Ryan quickly realising what he had done, Stathi revealed he had “shat in his bed”.
“In his bed, I lifted the doona cover!”
Toni then described Stathi’s behaviour as psychotic, saying his story left her speechless.
Ryan Dunn said the story made him realise not just anyone can compete on Hunted Australia.
Stathi jointly won the first season of the competition alongside Rob Harneiss.
The series has proven to be a success for Channel 10, and applications for season two are already underway.
You can listen to the full Toni and Ryan podcast with Stathi below.
