New TV Survival Show - Alone

upnorth said:
Hmmmm, very interesting. This reply is an eye opener. I didn't expected a lack of emotional preparation as a factor. I am the last person here to brag up supposed skills, as I was pretty ignorant and I have learned a lot from this site in the last few years. And tried to apply it out there, with mixed results. About 4-5 years ago I got way too close to being lost in the Boreal and it scared the beejezuz out of me. I remember going through flashes of fear, worry, moderate panic here and then as I was making my way out. I remember basically forcing myself to mellow out and take stock. I at least had enough sense to bring some basics with me when I went in and the cheap little pin on ball compass helped a lot. Late in the day I popped out at a farm about half a mile from were I went in, so I was grateful. My clothes were partially shredded, I walked in pouch puckering bog water at times "as a short cut", ya right. I cleared back swimmers out of my bog water and I was to the point of basically not caring about that stuff anymore. So, ok, thanks. You have fully explained what I was not seeing...the mental break down....aspect of this show. I am still put off by how quickly some of those guys jammed, but at least it is a little more understandable now.
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The presence of a second person can have that effect too. My girlfriend and I tried to go down to this beach down a hill at Ecola state park. What was a perfectly reasonable hike the last time I was there was now a muddy slip and slide. About halfway down we realized we had passed the point of no return. There was no going back up the hill. Very steep! Panic started to set in then. And it was because I brought her there and I was responsible for getting her out. I was a wreck with the thought of "what did I get us into?" But we pressed on...because that was the only option. We finally were able to butt slide to the bottom. Yes full on fanny to the mud. :D Avoiding broken points of branches aimed at our heads at the end and steepest part. Once we got to the beach I took stock. Even though it was low tide there was no way off the beach. The sea ahead or the impassable hill behind. Sea it was! We rock scrambled and waded through waist high sea water to get around the rock out cropping and on to the adjacent beach. There we found a European couple out for a hike on the beach. Just ya know, a leisurely stroll. We approached them muddy and wet from the waist down. "Umm...hey! How did you get down here?" Turns out there was another path way out and around which we later took back. We spent some time on that beach before we left resting on my red casualty blanket for our clothes to dry. In addition, we finished the glass growler of blackberry microbrew I was carrying and made out a little. My WIFE and I now refer to it as death date. ;)
 
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They're doing exactly what I was hoping they wouldn't with the show. The days are getting glossed over, they're not even bothering to show you at least a little activity from each guy each day. Days 8-14 were pretty much just focused on Lucas and his canoe build.
 
bore said:
Just got the feeling watching his video.. Could be wrong it's happened before
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Ah, someone in the comments mentions that he sounded like he tapped in the video too, Mitch's reply was that he filmed the video at 4 am and was trying not to wake his wife and daughter and that his daughters mouse was running on it's wheel driving him nuts while he was trying to record.

Who knows...
 
I am enjoying the show and see that everyone that has tapped out has been defeated by what I had anticipated and that is the mental game.

No matter what the endeavor the mental battle is the first that has to be won after that most things are a breeze. Everyone can do physically far more than they believe possible but first they have to have the proper mindset.

Heck, a person could still be in the running and probably the winner if he just sat humped up and consumed enough rain water to stay hydrated. Yes one of those that tapped out had a little bellyache but he sure perked up when he got on the boat and you could tell he was defeated mentally prior to being "sick."

My opinion is that the winner in this needs little to no survival skill or superior physical strengths. What the winner does need is the ability to control his mindset. He either needs the will to stay in the game and that is either going to come from being motivated to take home the money or to be mentally competitive by just not considering giving up. He is going to win by living in the moment not bouncing around from the past what ifs, future failures and what is happening in his former world.

The environment is helping to defeat them mentally by being consistently damp and raining. Anyone who has been shut in for days when it has been overcast and gloomy knows its effect on mood. Add low visibility and everything being soggy and there is a tendency toward depression. Also, the presence of predators and the long nights mentally weaken those who are susceptible to fear and things that go bump in the night or lurk under the bed.

Most modern people suffer from extreme stress from being alone with their selves and their thoughts. How many can stand being alone at home without a radio, TV, cell phone, etc? Most cannot drive down the road without the radio or talking on the cell phone.

Few people have the ability to live inside their head for any length of time.
 
Is it any more mentally challenging than a soldier headed for war? If you have never been there it is pretty hard.
Even though I had my tank crew, I was still forcing myself to stay focused. I guess it would be different being alone. Because I had my crew's life's to consider and a job to do it kept my mind busy.
Alan seems to be the only one with enough mental toughness to win. I'd like too see the kid get it though.
 
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Some folks only ever live in their heads... lol. Good post SR... I share the same position.
 
Yes, Stray's point is very important. I think Cody Lundin mentions technology in his books. Just what will you do when your kids start crying for the iPad?

Don't have kids yet, but for myself it is reading. My iPhone is very convenient for fall and winter camping when it's dark for 11-13 hours. If I've been very busy I can sleep much of that for a few days, but then being able to read until ten or so is really nice.

It's probably a good idea for anyone training survival skills to consider the things that are used as a sort of connection out of the woods which makes them feel less alone. Cell phones, that meal your girlfriend cooked, the video camera for youtube. There is a huge social media aspect for a lot of people today where they are essentially performing. And in a survival situation you would be instantly cut off, much like culture shock.

I think this hit a lot of people hard. They instantly realised that this was not an easy place to show off skills, and suddenly they were thrown into a situation where they couldn't put on a performance but actually had to do practical tasks where skill could not be shown off so much, and their neutrality with the environment was the primary task.

Lucas showed this well on the latest episode. He doesn't seem to be a performer for social media, but he has the 'go big or go home' attitude. I think he's made some pretty crucial mistakes with this, but I definitely respect his approach. And the highs and lows he has experienced suggest that he is really only performing for himself, he has a higher goal to achieve, and any of the guys with this mindset will offset that woods shock, or the shock of being alone, or at least be able to counteract it better.

There's a little too much crying going on, but it does make it very clear how a technologically dependent world can lead to a sort of madness when people suddenly realise they are no longer connected. Very few people today ever confront being alone, and that's why they're all becoming so emotional.
 
I will make that a point to learn how to build a decent shelter. 10 days and the size of the shelters they have seems really small....... eat, rest and build.....keep yourself busy. And not one person has tried to Fish......WHY???? but I guess it's easy to say for the guy who also loves The Walking Dead and thinks he will be alright too....LOL! Rock on Guys! love the Show! and Forum!!
 
NYCFLY said:
I will make that a point to learn how to build a decent shelter. 10 days and the size of the shelters they have seems really small....... eat, rest and build.....keep yourself busy. And not one person has tried to Fish......WHY???? but I guess it's easy to say for the guy who also loves The Walking Dead and thinks he will be alright too....LOL! Rock on Guys! love the Show! and Forum!!
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A small shelter retains body heat better.
It seemed like at least one of the guys had a nice roof extension out front of his shelter; another guy last episode found a pallet that he plans on using as a front porch.

I think we will see more additions onto shelters as the show progresses, if only due to keeping themselves occupied.

Some fishing may have happened...one guy already caught a good sized fish in a net.
In order to keep it short enough in length, things get edited out...there may have been some unsuccessful fishing cut from the show.

I'm enjoying the show so far. :)
 
Yeah.. I saw Mitch use the Net and while looking at the River I was wishing for my 9wt. Fly Rod! Saw the Pallet too! I'm just wondering how many episodes are there and how much longer till the end. I hope to see more additions to the shelter.....I'm just getting anxious and would like to see some good ol' ingenuity to just me leave speechless. Also really worried for the guys out there with those Predators! even though we saw Mitch on a recent video that shows us he is OK.
 
sh00ter01 said:
They're doing exactly what I was hoping they wouldn't with the show. The days are getting glossed over, they're not even bothering to show you at least a little activity from each guy each day. Days 8-14 were pretty much just focused on Lucas and his canoe build.
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Yeah I agree. I love the show but this episode was probably my least favorite. Six days is a long time to basically just ignore all the guys except for Lucas. I would have liked to seen more fishing/hunting, even if it was unsuccessful. That canoe build was pretty cool though I must admit and you gotta give Lucas a lot of credit for constructing that thing with just an axe and a knife, especially in those conditions.
 
The canoe was a sweet thing. Mitch did the raft and moved camp to a better spot and caught the Fish. From Sun up to Sun down they are scouting. they are not showing none of that.... and when they come back from a commercial....a recap of the last 3-4 minutes. it's like they have nothing else to show.
 
The recaps aren't necessary for me. It's like reading a book (lets say on a kindle), going to sleep, and picking it up the next day to have a summary done of what happened during the last reading session.

I think the canoe was a sweet idea and I think it was done for his own sake to keep busy and provide options. I would be a bit nervous going too far from shore on that thing.
 
jonnyt16 said:
Yeah I agree. I love the show but this episode was probably my least favorite. Six days is a long time to basically just ignore all the guys except for Lucas. I would have liked to seen more fishing/hunting, even if it was unsuccessful. That canoe build was pretty cool though I must admit and you gotta give Lucas a lot of credit for constructing that thing with just an axe and a knife, especially in those conditions.
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I don't mean to take away from Lucas's success in building his canoe, hope my comment didn't come across like that.

It was more along the lines of, if you turned on the show halfway through without any prior knowledge of said show, you'd think it was about just one guy building a canoe in the woods...


I'm with you, show me more of the day in, day out tasks these guys are doing (even if it's simple as fishing, setting nets, collecting firewood, etc.). They're obviously not sitting on their asses for a week waiting for Lucas to finish his canoe to then start doing stuff again for the cameras.
 
sh00ter01 said:
I don't mean to take away from Lucas's success in building his canoe, hope my comment didn't come across like that.
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It didn't. I was just sharing my personal musings.


sh00ter01 said:
I'm with you, show me more of the day in, day out tasks these guys are doing (even if it's simple as fishing, setting nets, collecting firewood, etc.). They're obviously not sitting on their asses for a week waiting for Lucas to finish his canoe to then start doing stuff again for the cameras.
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Yeah I found it strange that the producers/editors decided to skip over all the other guys for those six days. I mean, I'm sure the other guys accomplished something during that time period, right? I'm also kinda hoping from here on out they start showing more of the daily tasks like you mentioned and a little less of all the "emotional breakdown" talks. I do understand though that the mental aspect is huge and the producers are trying to capture as much of it as they can but sometimes it seems like it takes too big a chunk of the show. Still a great program though.
 
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