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Old 06-09-2023, 09:19 AM   #1
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Default Alone [spoilers after episode airs]

Let's try a thread for this show. It's probably the best true reality show, where the contestants have very little outside contact. I love seeing the creativity, but sometimes the lack of food can make the show a bit slow. I like the seasons where there is lots to hunt.


I haven't seen the first episode, so I'll be back when I have, but watch "Before the Drop" if you can catch it, it's a good intro.
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Old 06-09-2023, 12:22 PM   #2
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I love this show! I like to watch it with some pizza or ice cream while these people starve and eat slugs or whatever.
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Old 06-09-2023, 01:32 PM   #3
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Seeing these people go without food for so long and still survive inspired me to drastically cut back on what I ate last year on an effort to lose some weight. I gave myself one year to eat no more than 1500 calories a day and stuck to it pretty religiously and ended up losing 80lbs during 2022. I know it’s probably not what doctors would recommend but it worked, I’m still alive, and the weight has stayed off because I got so used to consuming less that my eating habits have been permanently altered.
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Old 06-09-2023, 01:49 PM   #4
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I love this show! I like to watch it with some pizza or ice cream while these people starve and eat slugs or whatever.
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Old 06-09-2023, 01:53 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Fuzz View Post
Let's try a thread for this show. It's probably the best true reality show, where the contestants have very little outside contact. I love seeing the creativity, but sometimes the lack of food can make the show a bit slow. I like the seasons where there is lots to hunt.


I haven't seen the first episode, so I'll be back when I have, but watch "Before the Drop" if you can catch it, it's a good intro.
I watched the first two or three seasons.

One of the good yet bad things about it is due to sudden and rapid attrition due to bad luck. Lose a tool, literal danger because the contestant was being stalked by a predator (no weapons), rapid mental health deterioration, injury etc. I'm glad they sorted it out with returning contestants in later seasons, but I haven't watched those yet.

The first few seasons where the moisture levels were so high that the ability to make fire was a serious challenge while being pummeled constantly by rain, was also interesting to see, but I'm also glad they got rid of that problem after the first few seasons because it kinda wasn't fun to watch over and over. It certainly is a very interesting case study. The attribute where they are not notified about the other contestants dropping out is also under the radar interesting. It's literally just a group of these individuals against themselves.

It's definitely a fun watch for something that's almost completely unscripted. It helps to replace fully or partial scripted stuff like Mantracker or Les Stroud's survivor man. I often think of the book, "The Hatchet" when I was watching the series, but they seemingly have less resources than the situation in the book.

I also highly recommend watching it in the dark with an immersive set up like surround sound/headphones and large screen. This series plus the Alpinist were the two where the sounds and camera work really help to give extra appreciation to the craft and situation these people are in.
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Old 06-09-2023, 04:29 PM   #6
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One thing I forgot, is that this show was better when it was just random people who wanted to give it a shot. Having all the professionals just isn't as interesting in a lot of ways.
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Old 06-11-2023, 07:09 PM   #7
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One thing I forgot, is that this show was better when it was just random people who wanted to give it a shot. Having all the professionals just isn't as interesting in a lot of ways.

Season 10 will feature James “Wyatt” Black (50), a business owner from Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada; Cade Cole (28), a professional hunting guide from Crowheart, Wyoming; Lee Ray DeWilde (59), a pilot from Huslia, Alaska; Mikey Helton (31), a carpenter from Rome, Georgia; and Luke Joseph Olsen (39), an entrepreneur and glass artist from Maui, Hawaii.
The new season also stars Jodi Rose (45), owner of Wild River Tables from Worland, Wyoming; Ann Rosenquist (56), an off-grid organic farmer from Northern Wisconsin, Melanie Sawyer (54), a living history teacher and founder of Wild Foods from Essex County, New York; Alan Tenta (52), a high school teacher from Columbia Valley, BC, Canada; and Tarcisio “Tax” Ramos Dos Santos (35), a direct support professional, musician, and homesteader, from Becket, Massachusetts and Sergipe, Brazil.
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Old 06-12-2023, 07:57 AM   #8
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Mentioned this in the broader TV thread...


I know you can find this on their site, but I would love if they spent time outlining what each person is choosing to pack, and how they make those calls. Really would set up the season.
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Old 06-14-2023, 10:52 AM   #9
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I got really worried when the one lady started building a log cabin. Rarely do those ever get completed with the attitude of "shelter first, food later".

And a big oof to Cade for losing his arrows.

I like that this season actually has food to acquire. It's more interesting than the starvation seasons.
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Old 06-14-2023, 10:56 AM   #10
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Mentioned this in the broader TV thread...


I know you can find this on their site, but I would love if they spent time outlining what each person is choosing to pack, and how they make those calls. Really would set up the season.
I couldn't find the list on the site, but I did find this! I think it is what you are looking for.



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Old 06-15-2023, 12:32 PM   #11
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Just got caught up on the first 2 episodes. Very happy they expanded the "Before the Drop" segment into exploring the behind the scenes stuff they do to prep for the season. Always wanted a deeper look into how they operate.

Food already seems more plentiful than previous seasons. The two people who have tried fishing are seeing results, and it looks like there is lots of game roaming around. It would be nice to see a bit more of a marathon season where we have multiple people pushing 80 or 90 days and it becomes about will instead of starvation.

My favorite part of the series is shelter construction, and so far only one participant is starting with a long-term shelter approach. Cade losing his entire quiver of arrows is devastating. With a wife and young child at home, which always spells doom for contestants, I would say his days are limited. I also snickered when he said it wasn't a contest of starvation, as if he hadn't watched any of the previous 9 seasons.

My first impression choice is Wyatt to win. I'm probably picking him just because I like his personality and approach, but he's my early bet. I think he can conquer the mental game. If Lee can stay dry on his raft I think he's got a hell of a shot, but the guy is already skin and bones. A few more people seem to have packed on a gut to start off, something that has worked in the past for a few folks.

Good start.
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Old 06-16-2023, 08:07 AM   #12
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Just got caught up on the first 2 episodes. Very happy they expanded the "Before the Drop" segment into exploring the behind the scenes stuff they do to prep for the season. Always wanted a deeper look into how they operate.

Food already seems more plentiful than previous seasons. The two people who have tried fishing are seeing results, and it looks like there is lots of game roaming around. It would be nice to see a bit more of a marathon season where we have multiple people pushing 80 or 90 days and it becomes about will instead of starvation.

My favorite part of the series is shelter construction, and so far only one participant is starting with a long-term shelter approach. Cade losing his entire quiver of arrows is devastating. With a wife and young child at home, which always spells doom for contestants, I would say his days are limited. I also snickered when he said it wasn't a contest of starvation, as if he hadn't watched any of the previous 9 seasons.

My first impression choice is Wyatt to win. I'm probably picking him just because I like his personality and approach, but he's my early bet. I think he can conquer the mental game. If Lee can stay dry on his raft I think he's got a hell of a shot, but the guy is already skin and bones. A few more people seem to have packed on a gut to start off, something that has worked in the past for a few folks.

Good start.
I'm not completely up to speed with every season of Alone, but I really liked that Luke brought a block of salt. Simple, but important. Electrolytes as he says, you can a bit of flavour to your food which would help with the mental side and you could use as bait if you really wanted - animals love them a good salt lick. Not sure if anyone else has brought salt in prior seasons, but I like it. I'm picking salty Luke.
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Old 06-16-2023, 09:08 AM   #13
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The one thing I find hard about this show sometimes is that many of the folks are quite desperate for the money. It's a show that attracts people that live with very little income, and the money is not just life changing, but at times they seem quite desperate for it. In this season you have examples of a guy who needs the money so his son can get therapy for his autism, and another guy who needs the money so that his kids can be with him.

So it's way beyond a typical game show or even Survivor in terms of how badly they need this money. Stakes are way higher.

I guess that's compelling but hard not to feel badly for some of these folks.
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Old 06-22-2023, 09:29 PM   #14
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So far Cade has lost all his arrows and tried to burn down his island. But he has out lasted Lee and Ann.
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Old 06-23-2023, 04:29 PM   #15
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The one thing I find hard about this show sometimes is that many of the folks are quite desperate for the money. It's a show that attracts people that live with very little income, and the money is not just life changing, but at times they seem quite desperate for it. In this season you have examples of a guy who needs the money so his son can get therapy for his autism, and another guy who needs the money so that his kids can be with him.

So it's way beyond a typical game show or even Survivor in terms of how badly they need this money. Stakes are way higher.

I guess that's compelling but hard not to feel badly for some of these folks.
In the first season, IIRC, one of the most desperate guys ended up in second place. The first place guy seemed like he didn't need it. It made me wish that the second place guy could get something as part of a pot. There's always been a bunch of randos that seemed desperate for the prize money vs being happy for the prize money. I think one of the reasons for this is that many of these contestants had extreme survival as part of their regular activities already. To them, this game show was an extension of themselves and a means to an end towards something else relating to their lives. This is different to people going on a game show to show off as part of an egotistical part of their lives (ie: American Gladiator, physical 100 etc.).

Someone mentioned that the earlier seasons were nobodies. I mean, they were not high profile, sure. But most of them had to prove a minimum level of aptitude to get on the show. IIRC, they had training camps to weed out the dummies. Almost all of the earlier contestants had some reason and some of them desperate for being on the show.

They also had some serious problems in at least the first season so they started resolving those on the fly. I think one guy had to sweat it out for like 6-8 hours when there was a potential life threatening situation in the first season. In the second and retribution seasons, you started having people drop out for the most stupid of reasons like losing a flint or getting a tool stuck in your hand. While it was still "wild" (pardon the pun) that people were dropping out for these reasons, it was part of the raw original ethos of the show.

I think the original seasons had a strict policy of what could be brought on the attempts. It was kinda weird that some of them had only basic pocket knives and other dudes brought full on saws. A few guys were worried about not having a gun and season one was one of the few situations where I think it's legitimate that they have a gun on hand for cougars and bears. In one retribution season, you'd assume a multitool would have been brought by everyone, but it didn't seem allowed because everyone was running around with large fixed blades. A multi-tool would have kept at least one contestant from quitting early as that tool would have kept a simple error from a minor injury to major issue because the contestant couldn't remove the item out of their hand without a tool. I haven't seen the new stuff yet, but the salt lick must be a new option based on removal of restrictions, but maybe there's also some type of pioneer calibre technology ethos that restricts what can be brought that I am unaware of.

To be fair, there is some type of purity in their formula. This allows part of this to be viewed as a game show, but also a case study on the effects of extreme survival in the wilderness from many aspects including mental health.
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Old 06-24-2023, 08:43 AM   #16
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When Lee started on the full log cabin I yelled "No! You fool!" My wife picked him to win. I was super happy to see my dude make a Teepee. So quick and low effort.
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Old 06-24-2023, 09:18 AM   #17
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Yeah that was a brutal decision by him given how lean he was going in.
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Old 06-24-2023, 01:52 PM   #18
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I couldn't find the list on the site, but I did find this! I think it is what you are looking for.



Huh, who knew you could take food?! Melanie taking emergency rations as one of her items. Looked like rice and dried fruit/jerky(?). Surprised more haven't done this...it looked like enough to get her through a week at least. Save that for when you're desperate. Beats a bar of soap...between that and losing his arrows/almost starting a forest fire Cade seems like a bit of a dope.

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Old 06-24-2023, 11:11 PM   #19
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Re: Cade

He seems like a pretty competent fellow and a keen hunter. While losing his quiver was avoidable, it's a pretty random accident. Like the poor guy that let his flint roll into the fire on another season. Lighting roots on fire when he could have built the fire by the shore in the first place is weird.

I wonder if it's a testament to how quickly hunger and desperation can lead to poor decision making. Same with Ann and Lee blowing themselves up building a shelter.
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Old 06-25-2023, 03:52 PM   #20
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I didn't like Cade that much because he was Mr. "I'm here to hunt" guy, and I think that's just one part of this show, so I was annoyed by him. I had a small sense of schadenfreude when he lost his quiver, but he won my respect when he not only crafted his own arrows, but made them well enough to use and actually make a kill. Anyone that can do that deserves to be there at the end.
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