Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright appears in new Sky documentary about his time in NT prison

He went from a Netflix star to one of the Northern Territory’s highest profile inmates. Now, he is ready to speak out.

Television star Matt Wright rose to prominence with his reality show Outback Wrangler, which followed him and his two mates Jono and Willow as they relocated crocodiles in the Northern Territory.

His Netflix dreams sadly collapsed in February 2022 when a helicopter crash in the Top End claimed the life of his co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson.

Following the incident, Mr Wright — who owned the chopper — faced a number of charges relating to the crash’s aftermath.

The tourism operator was later found guilty in August 2025 of two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice over the incident. He was sentenced to a five-month non-parole period behind bars.

Two months after walking free from the correctional facility, the Outback Wrangler has finally spoken out about his time in jail.

In a new investigation aired by Sky News, the celebrity crocodile wrangler said the 14-bed protective wing where he was incarcerated was also home to sex offenders, former police officers, a Hell’s Angel bikie, and some “funny, odd guys”.

The Nightly previously confirmed the star had been placed in the Complex Behavioural Unit, also known as sector 20, within the Darwin Correctional Centre.

“There’s one fella serving . . . he’s been in there for 42 years. He’s like the Hannibal Lecter, he did horrible, horrible stuff,” he said about his former inmate.

“The thing is that we’re all in the same place, doing the same thing. No one really wants to step out of line because then you get moved out of there to worse places.”

The 47-year-old told viewers that he was plagued by severe sleep deprivation through his months-long sentence, with the star comparing the experience to the 1993 movie Groundhog Day.

One of the most “confronting” aspects of Wright’s incarceration, however, was the impact his sentence had on his children.

Wright and his wife had two children, seven-year-old Banjo and four-year-old Dusty — with the couple welcoming their third child Sterling just days before Wright’s release.

The Outback Wrangler said on one of his family’s visit that his oldest child bluntly told him that his orange jumpsuit made him look like a “clown”.

He lamented having to watch his four-year-old daughter hit her growth milestones through a piece of visitor’s glass.

Upon his release, he said son Banjo was devastated to learn that they couldn’t enjoy outdoor adventures together due to Wright’s electronic monitoring bracelet.

The 47-year-old also took an opportunity during the program to criticise the state of the Northern Territory correctional services, with the Netflix star saying that the system was a revolving door that “turns low-level offenders into hardened criminals”.

“The system there needs to be brought to light — how bad the system is there and how overcrowded it is,” he said.

The Northern Territory has the second-highest rate of incarceration in the world, only being beaten by gang violence hotspot El Salvador.

The Territory boasts an incarceration rate five times the Australian national average.

Matt Wright also revealed that he thinks of his late co-star Willow every single day.

Willow’s widow Danielle Wilson has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against Wright and his company Helibrook over her husband’s death.

Although Mr Wright was found innocent of causing the fatal crash, it is understood Mrs Wilson is seeking damages for personal injury and loss of her husband’s income from the TV star.

The Outback Wrangler is also facing two separate lawsuit about a 2023 airboat crash that investigators determined was caused by his company Top End Safari Camp’s negligence.

While the star has yet to speak on the airboat suits, it has been confirmed that he will represent himself in the upcoming civil proceedings from Mrs Wilson.