Three unlikely strangers: a self-confessed control freak, a rugged rugby-playing bloke terrified of spiders, and an outdoor adventurer rapidly losing his sight face the unknown in the hostile Queensland outback.

Patrina lords over the airwaves on her popular Christchurch breakfast radio show but behind the microphone there's a control freak who desperately wants to break free from routine.

Greg is a young adventure sports enthusiast whose life-changing 21st birthday present was the news that he would lose his sight by the time that he's 30.

Alf is an extroverted Auckland account manager and a big Harley-riding lug who takes to life with zeal … unless it involves spiders, when he's reduced to cold sweats and nausea.

Each applied to NOW to test their limits.

The trio will make their way to Brisbane where they'll be dropped on their own into the outback. "Where the bloody hell are we?" will be the first question as they test their personal boundaries to the max. Surviving overnight in the outback with just a swag and the company of lizards, rocks (and worst of all for Alf) deadly spiders, butt-busting endurance horse rides, and desert climbs, are amongst the outback obstacles they'll be up against.

Facing adversity, Alf, Patrina and Greg will need to help each other out to find what they're looking for: racing the clock to reward Greg with a visual memory to literally cherish for a lifetime. To make it through this extreme walkabout, Greg will have to confront his failing vision, Patrina will have to learn to lose control, and Alf will need to make some eight-legged friends.

From the freezing work floors to the South Island high country, and the arenas where our top athletes compete, we searched the country for New Zealand's 6 toughest men. In a back-breaking 72 hour challenge, No Opportunity Wasted gave them the chance to battle it out for the No.1 spot.

Each of these 6 can credibly claim to be there: an ex-Kiwis league hard-man who has knocked down Inga-the-winger in the boxing ring, a trans-Atlantic rowing race winner and champion surf-boater, a horse wrangling Southern man who dragged all 70kg of the truant sheep Shrek down the mountainside, an ex-Mr New Zealand Bodybuilder, a giant Maori kick-boxing freezing worker from the Waikato, and a NZ world champ rowing rep...

Who has the spirit to step up to the pantheon of Kiwi legends occupied by the likes of Sir Ed Hillary, Pinetree Meads, Buck Shelford, Jerry Collins, Richie McCaw, the '72 rowing eight. Are these NOW challengers in their league?

Each will be tested for their strength, endurance and agility, but ultimately mental toughness will separate the tough from the toughest. These guys have to be prepared to prove they are up for anything; that they're absolutely fearless in the face of situations that would cause any ordinary male to collapse into the couch. Hearts, lungs, muscles and smarts will be tested to the max.

Make-or-break challenges that take in agriculture, rugby, labouring, the rugged outdoors and the boxing arena have been designed to break body and mind, leaving only one man standing. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be crowned New Zealand's toughest man.

The Kiwiana Car Rally brings 10 complete strangers together in a 72 hour journey from Taupo to Hokitika. Based on international car rally rules these unlikely challengers are paired up in 5 Skodas, picking up clues, as they race south on state highway 1.

With the clock ticking they must complete distinctly Kiwi challenges along the way (gumboot throwing, chasing sheep, convert a goal at Westpac Trust Stadium hunt for the elusive moa), search for Kiwiana kitsch (teaspoons, t-shirts and stuffed kiwis), consume local delicacies (raw paua, cray from Kaikoura, trout from Turangi). Slower teams will be left behind as they make their way south in the Skodas towards a constitution-testing wildfood eat-off on the West Coast.

Mixing 'Goodbye Porkpie', with the great NZ road trip and a traditional Rally, 10 unlikely strangers will celebrate the pure for-the-hell-of-it Kiwi spirit.

Phil helps 3 everyday Kiwis who're terrified to live life NOW through a series of increasingly demanding physical and mental challenges. In just 72 hours he'll attempt to take them from the couch to the record books helping them face their fears and ultimately get them to live NOW.

Katie is an outwardly together Canterbury TV host who is hounded by irrational fears holding her back in life (phobias of flying and water and even … chicken: "I have avid fears about so many bizarre things. I even have a fear of eating chicken that somebody else has cooked.").

Raymond has survived a tough South Auckland upbringing to pick himself up, and now works as a manager at Hubbards Cereal Factory, but in the process he has created a safe haven for himself and shut himself away from the world.

Cara, a 31-year-old part-time school teacher, wife and mother of three, the eldest of four kids, has been in a mothering role since the age of 11 and had her first baby at 19. She's lost her confidence, feels trapped and is desperate to find herself again. "Some days I just feel like a mouse on a wheel."

All three applied to No Opportunity Wasted to break fee and change the way they live their lives. Using NOW shock treatment the challengers will attempt to pull 5-Gs in an aerobatic plane, scale vertical cliffs, skydive from 15,000 feet, traverse high above the wild Shotover River and leap into the record books with a world record bungy.