Alone

[Lush]

I think a different location would keep the show fresh and i would not be surprised one bit if they went to the opposite extreme from cold and wet to hot and dry

Hopefully they dont't introduce any game elements in the following
seasons. I like the fact that there is nothing more to the show then
surviving/bushcraft. They don't know how the other contestants are
doing. No communication between them. Like the show sais: "alone".
This is one of the things that (for me at least) makes the show
interesting; "What happens to a person in isolation"?

When I watch the series I feel like I am getting updates from ppl. that
like to share their experiences with me. From ppl. that like to get their
little ups and downs off their chest.. Like to get it all out.. I know how
difficult it can be to have no one around to share your experiences with;
it makes you experience everything so much more intense..

I hope the next series is in Alaska or similar...

Does anyone know when the next episode is aired?

 

[GGTBod]

Same here i like the format as it is and any game type element would spoil that, at first i wasn't keen on the emotional pour outs to camera being shown in the edit of the footage they were handing in as i was wanting to see more bushcraft and the little things they were doing day to day to get by, then i watched a clip of Brant (on History channel website) talking with the rescue team and he was telling them the hardest part was having the camera there as it was like having a companion there who does nothing but listen and you can't help but open up to it and this made it all the more difficult as instead of suppressing your emotions and bottling it up you were there on the line right in touch with every little up and down, the rescue crew were surprised at this as when forming the show they thought having the camera would make being alone easier. many times i have sat there waiting for one of them to name their camera and then just cross the line of insanity and talk to it as if it were a silent sentient companion, draw a smiley face on the lens in their own blood and start calling it Wilson or Man Friday or something, my vote was on Alan going down that route first after he was quoting Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven.

The Alone aspect is the hardest part especially for those who have left small children at home.

Next episode is Thursday night 10pm eastern

 

[dewi]

Not sure if the show would be workable in a hot and dry climate... the hunt for water would be interesting, but with that comes the lack of wildlife, plants etc.

Somewhere cold would add that extra element, such as they are experiencing in the latest episode. Everything becomes harder, a fire is more of an essential but getting the blighter started will be much harder... the drop off rate in the first 7 days would be similar to this series I think.

Totally agree about them keeping it clean... no sensational game elements and I'd be happier if they cut down on the drama a bit. I'm sure climbing a tree to cut off a branch could be perceived as dangerous, but blimey they made a meal of it... dramatic music, the whole shebang. The drama is in the natural progression of surviving... I found it fascinating to watch Alan setting his fish traps, watching Sam setting up his dead fall traps and seeing Lucas building his weird and wonderful shelter. When it comes to Mitch though, either they're purposely cutting out the good stuff or he's what I'd affectionately call a donker. Other than when he made a raft to get across to the other shoreline, nothing interesting has come from him... although he didn't tap out at the sight of wildlife just a few feet from his shelter which is pretty brave... not sure I would have wanted to stay so close to a cougar.

Laughed out loud when I read the Wilson comment Bod... I thought the very same thing when Lucas started singing. Had visions of him making a straw man and offering it cups of nettle tea and a sing song!

 

[GGTBod]

Been in the bush too long this is my two note song hahahaha i thought that was Lucas snapping too

 

[Lush]

When Sam said: "I am not above eating mice", I could not help having a good laugh! By the looks of his face he realized at the same time he was saying it how insane it sounded to the ppl. that are sitting on the couch with tappa's, hahaha (I would eat a mouse any time if I would go through all the work for a few grams of lean meat btw.. I rather fish instead of setting traps for rodents).

 

[Harvestman]

Not your primary concern when in a survival situation, but rodents are pretty good disease vectors, and in particular eating mice is a good way to pick up internal parasites like tapeworm.

 

[GGTBod]

Sam said in the footage he recorded after getting one of the mice he said "Well that's one mouse who isn't getting to Disney Land" but the editing crew mustave decided this was not being aired

 

[Robson Valley]

Well, come on over and give it a whirl. I expect(?) that me and OldJimbo can set you out right quick.
Jim's on the coast, I'm inland. Take your plick. The "Alone" show had an on-call, rapid-extraction team for when the poo
hit the fan.. ... They were watching, you can bet on that.

 

[Lush]

...Well, come on over and give it a whirl. I expect(?) that me and OldJimbo can set you out right quick.

...not sure what you mean. Might be my bad though. Please expain if you like?

 

[Robson Valley]

You're most welcome to try either or both coastal conditions or interior conditions here in the mountains, or on the plateau inbetween.
Mild climate and an abundance of food could be good reasons for the choice of coastal location for that series.

I was 20km out of the village, up in the Holmes River valley, yesterday. Practically all of the edible berries are done for the year,
divided between the bears, the birds and the squirrels. It's a very short window of opportunity. Looking around, I don't believe I'd last long
on a steady diet of rose hips!

First Nations came in here for the salmon runs but that should be done in another couple of weeks. Must harvest and preserve as much as possible.
Other than that, there's little reason to try to live paleolithic here.

 

[OldJimbo]

So far as I know no-one has ever stayed on a beach going hungry before, except the Wortman family after their boat sank. There's the book, "Almost Too Late" by Elmo Wortman and a neat Ray Mears show about the family's ordeal.

Anyway while there are lots of ideas about how people with minimal gear and no food would make out, up to now they have just been ideas because you'd have to be insane to try what the guys on "Alone" are doing without a huge incentive AND an emergency plan with lots of backup. So no matter what stuff is left out of the show, it is important. Despite all of the "I could be out here for a year" comments, my estimate was 60 - 70 days. If it goes beyond that then I'll happily be proven wrong! If they'd have arrived earlier with huge salmon runs, then they could well have lasted a year staying at the beach. At this point if I was one of them and allowed to, then I'd be heading up streams looking for spawning salmon, some of which last into late December. Here salmon enter creeks in vast numbers and coho spawn in tiny creeks and so are easily speared. Unfortunately that's highly illegal, except in real survival situations. In the end, if the heavy pounding rain of the kind that lasts weeks comes, then that will put a rapid end to things, given their lack of food stores and shelters.

For all the things I've picked up over the years about the coast, I wouldn't attempt what those guys are doing. While the predator aspect aspect has been overblown, there is a real danger from a slip with an axe or some other accident caused by inattention due to cold and malnutrition.

Yep the show is not exactly giving a good overview of what exactly is in place and happening, but we can still learn some stuff from it.

 

[Robson Valley]

Nice summary. My very first, knee-jerk thought when I first heard about the concept for the series and the location was: "get out of the rain."
Even the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island was built for the aid of ship-wrecked sailors to simply "get out of there."

 

[Fraxinus]

I have managed to watch 8 episodes on the tube and have had moments of " I wouldn't do that, that is daft, where's your fire?" and " that is cool, good thinking, learnt something there" so it has held my attention.
I don't really care who wins because it will be about mental fortitude rather than skills at this point (though a dash of good luck might help)
What I would love to see is a show where they also have a skilled local first nation/indigenous tribes person doing the same thing as a balance point, a kind of the old way v the modern.
The show concept is pretty good but the editing could be tweaked to give a more rounded overview.

Rob.

 

[dewi]

No survival programme is going to suit us all, but this one is a ruddy close contender.

I've been watching or should I say rewatching the Ray Mears series and while its enjoyable, it doesn't beat the big fella showing you an icicle in his shelter!

Somehow, in a weird way, the History Channel has managed what those before have failed at... they've produced a series that shows enough of the hard work and failures to allow you to imagine. That. I think, is what its all about... imagining what you'd do. Easy to sit at home and pick fault, but being there... I'd be Sam I think. I'd be living off the odd mouse and pining for home. But I'd be whinging like the last person in line at the annual sales of my favourite shop. I'd be making Sam look good by crying every two minutes... then I'd be having hallucinations about coffee.

Really looking forward to seeing the end of it all for this series... be fascinating to see who wins, but more over, who walks out with their head held high. That should be the 4 thats left... they should all have their heads held high.

 

[Robson Valley]

Oh Gawd! Did you have to mention coffee?
Coffee contains brain cells. I'd be dismembered without it.

 

[OldJimbo]

Nice summary. My very first, knee-jerk thought when I first heard about the concept for the series and the location was: "get out of the rain."
Even the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island was built for the aid of ship-wrecked sailors to simply "get out of there."

And any sensible person not having a good reason to be there would be wondering exactly what the fastest way out is! The hard core hikers who do the WCT other than in summer want the spectacular scenery during storms, but they have food, high tech tents and clothing - and they want to cover the trail in short order. With dry clothing due to tents and stoves and constant walking exercise, hiking is a lot different to what these guys are doing.

I've spent a lot of time in all seasons on our local beaches, because they're easy to get to in winter and I like to watch the wildlife and changes. The most notable thing you realize from over-nights in summer is that while you go to the beach in summer clothing to escape heat, it sure gets cold at night! My grand-daughter and I would spend late afternoons on the beach and return home around 2-3AM after watching meteor showers. I'd carry a big pack with heavy clothing for night. Other seasons are far more extreme. While the last show made a lot of some low temps and frost - but clear sky, the real killer is driving sleet which dampens everything, and sucks out warmth more than really cold but drier places. Move even a mile inland and you have snow with little wind which is easy to deal with, but the beach and back up to 200M is tough. With any high wind, it hits the trees near the beach first so some are always falling.
While people live close to salt-water, they do so in a sheltered spot, and after clearing all the trees that are going to fall on their houses otherwise.

So there isn't a lot of experience of living on beaches in improvised shelters for very good reasons...

 

[Robson Valley]

"get out of the rain." You ever had earthworms crawling into your tent to get out of the west coast rain? My GF of that day and time was NOT impressed.
Franz Boas, the late anthropologist, recorded that some Haida houses were 40' x 100' with 14+' tops. The biggest house board that he ever measured was 14' tall, 36" wide and 1" thick = a single split western red cedar shake. Temps? Yeah, freeze and fry. Even here in the interior today, top was about 33C, low will be 6-7C.

The snow here buries everything, even the Ravens have trouble finding road kill until the cats dig it all out again. Cats. As in Cougars, Lynx & Bobcats.
-25C or deep snow or both , I put out some bread crusts and dog food for the Ravens. Biggest dump was last Dec = 36" at my place, 44" down the street.

 

[Stevie777]

No show this week..?

 

[Badger74]

It was on in USA last night. It's been discussed on BCUSA. It wasn't on the history channel website this morning when I looked.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[rik_uk3]

"get out of the rain." You ever had earthworms crawling into your tent to get out of the west coast rain? My GF of that day and time was NOT impressed.
Franz Boas, the late anthropologist, recorded that some Haida houses were 40' x 100' with 14+' tops. The biggest house board that he ever measured was 14' tall, 36" wide and 1" thick = a single split western red cedar shake. Temps? Yeah, freeze and fry. Even here in the interior today, top was about 33C, low will be 6-7C.

The snow here buries everything, even the Ravens have trouble finding road kill until the cats dig it all out again. Cats. As in Cougars, Lynx & Bobcats.
-25C or deep snow or both , I put out some bread crusts and dog food for the Ravens. Biggest dump was last Dec = 36" at my place, 44" down the street.

Winters and summers seem to go to extremes. A guy I talk to from time to time was up in Inuvik for a couple of years and winters could be Brrrrrrrrr cold, he's now moved to Yellowknife. He has a young family and they have been 'hot tenting' since they were toddlers though now walking youngsters.