Staying on track! ALIA'S SURVIVOR INSTINCT

The reality star can hold her own in any scary situation - even being held hostage

- Elisabeth Easther

Dr Alia Bojilova is a registered psychologist, a former New Zealand Defence Force Army Officer and, most recently, she has added author to her list of accomplishments, following the publication of her book The Resilience Toolkit.

She will also be familiar to viewers of Tracked, the popular TV show on Three, which follows teams of two from around the world as they navigate challenges in the South Island wilderness while being pursued by highly skilled military combatants.

As for Alia’s own story, it began in Eastern Europe. “I was raised in an exuberant Bulgarian family where my father was a pilot in the Bulgarian defence force. When he turned 47, he decided to go to New Zealand for a hang-gliding competition, which was the start of my family’s New Zealand adventure.”

Soon, the family decided to make Aotearoa their home, but arriving in Christchurch aged 17 wasn’t easy for Alia because she had practically no English.

“The language barrier was very challenging,” she recalls. “In Bulgaria, I was a confident communicator. Someone who was proud to express my thoughts effectively, and I didn’t like being misunderstood or seen as lacking, so my struggle to communicate motivated me to absorb English as quickly as possible.”