New TV Survival Show - Alone

Those kitties can jump really high. Especially when...

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I feel bad for Josh (the first to tap out). His many days of wondering and camping in the bush for pleasure and fun (perhaps with his gun in his gunbelt hanging by his hips) didn't psychologically prepare him for this survival in the wild without his gun. Was he just unlucky to be dropped off in an area where wild bears are so close to him? His years of police work dealing with criminals "acting like wild animals" also did not prepare him for these real wild animals.

I'm still wondering how the other contestants would have responded or reacted if there were bears or cougars so close to their drop-off locations and stalked them.

What could have Josh done to remedy his situation? Should he move away from that location before setting up tent?

What are his options for defense against the wild animals?

Would his situation be better if he was able to make fire after he set his shelter up?

Oh my! This show is really interesting.
 
He could have tried banging on his pot and making some noise. It's not like staying real quiet helps at that point. They know you're there.

Fire would have been a huge morale booster and kept the curious locals a bit farther back.
 
I feel for Josh as well. It can be very intimidating to be that close to a bear and her cubs. Though I would feel even worse for the guy who finds a cougar or wolves in his vicinity. I'm not familiar with the rules or the area enough to give solid solutions, but having spent time, alone, in black bear/wolf country I would suggest cutting yourself a clear path and sticking to it. Black bear mothers are nowhere near as protective as brown bear moms. You let them know exactly where you are(and where you'll be) and they'll keep clear. The bear wandering into his camp was doing a bit of threat assessment, IMO. The priority would have been setting up a site that announced your presence while respecting their's. Animals are not stupid. Give them reasonable leeway and they'll opt out of any confrontation. There are always exceptions, though.

Now, That said... I have little direct experience with wolves and cougars. Wolves scare the crap out of me and I've only ever been face to face with one. Cougars are freakin' ninja killers and aside from painting eyes on the back of my head and rubber-necking 24/7... I got nothin'.

I FOR SURE would have taken the bow and arrows... or at least the slingshot.

Nothing but respect for these guys....
 
I get the feeling that those getting longer viewer exposure in the early episodes are those early tap outs. The producers needed to bring the drama of each tap out to the viewers. That's how they're going to build the interest up for the stronger left overs and for the show. However, I'm going to miss a lot of details on the psyche, ways and means of the stronger participants. I wanted to see how they choose their camp site, how they build their fire, have their drinking water, how they hunt and cooked their food. I wanted to see how they used their chosen tools and if they built another tool or implements with local materials.

Is this show a contest of will and skills to survive alone in the wilderness, and not just a contest of psyche? I hope they show the participants' strong will as well as their wilderness survival skills and not just the drama of danger of being alone in the wilds.

Still interesting so far and excited for the next episodes to show survival methods used by the participants.
 
Well it seems the players all have the textbook and technical skills down.

Now it becomes all about the psyche and not getting hurt.

For an overall winner I'm looking at players in their late 40s.
 
Danke42 said:
Fire would have been a huge morale booster and kept the curious locals a bit farther back.
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For sure.

Back in 2010 when I entered the ESEE Knives mega-contest (which I totally lost :D), one of the people that was going to compete dropped out due to coyotes being in the area.

Where I was at, I heard packs of coyotes howling at each other, and one wolf (we get the very occasional one down here).

So, I threw a bit more wood on the fire, made an extra spear, and enjoyed some fire-roasted sausages. :)

Fire keeps the demons at bay...as a psychological boost, nothing can beat it. :thumbup:
You get a sense of what our caveman ancestors must have felt once fire was mastered.
 
It seemed that Mitch was the only one able to gather shell foods and start a fire (on the second night).

He did not include tarp in his ten tools and I'm interested on how he put up his shelter.

Did he make his shelter floor above ground? How much daylight time did they have from drop-off to the time it became dark? How did they prioritize their goals upon drop-off?

How are they going to recharge the camera batteries?
 
2d_edge said:
It seemed that Mitch was the only one able to gather shell foods and start a fire (on the second night).
But others also list "emergency rations" in their list of 10 things.

He did not include tarp in his ten tools and I'm interested on how he put up his shelter.
On his YT, he's fairly adept at creating shelter from nature.

Did he make his shelter floor above ground? How much daylight time did they have from drop-off to the time it became dark? How did they prioritize their goals upon drop-off?
Many of us in the NE do [I know I do]. Two thick logs about 6" diam. from left-to-right at head and foot end...smaller branches [about 1-2" in diameter] the length of the body - all lashed together into a platform. Lay leaves/pine branches/plant matter under the platform for insulation....
and if memory serves, they were dropped off early in the day....like 0900-ish?

...and I'm not certain about 'prioritizing their goals'

How are they going to recharge the camera batteries?
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solar panels?
 
Danke42 said:
Well it seems the players all have the textbook and technical skills down.

Now it becomes all about the psyche and not getting hurt.

For an overall winner I'm looking at players in their late 40s.
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I am not sure we saw that... We didn't see much in terms of foraging, trapping, and getting drinking water, maybe I missed something. In fact, we only saw one person get fire right away...

Like you I am excited to see what happens next and I am not judging anyone...
 
Will be interesting to see what they have been up to. As for the bears they were looking for food not to eat the guy. More like large racoons. Grizzlies would have been a little different I'd be sleeping up in a tree:)
 
Smokinape said:
I am not sure we saw that... We didn't see much in terms of foraging, trapping, and getting drinking water, maybe I missed something. In fact, we only saw one person get fire right away...

Like you I am excited to see what happens next and I am not judging anyone...
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That's from reading their bios. You'd have to suspect the show ran tryouts to make sure they weeded out candidates that looked good but had weak ability. If they all tapped out on the first night it would have been an expensive flop.
 
Danke42 said:
That's from reading their bios. You'd have to suspect the show ran tryouts to make sure they weeded out candidates that looked good but had weak ability. If they all tapped out on the first night it would have been an expensive flop.
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I expect they picked across the spectrum as it would be better ratings.
 
Once a week they rallied at their drop off point for medicinal and to re-supply with batteries. They had a 60# Pelican case full of camera gear and batteries. They could have as many batteries as they wanted and they could not repurpose either the batteries or medical supplies.

Canvas tarps were used to wrap and store the camera gear prior to launch. Each person was given this tarp in addition to any tarp they took along as one of their ten items. So everyone had at least one tarp, some two.
 
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Once a week they rallied at their drop off point for medicinal and to re-supply with batteries.
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So, they have at least once a week contact with the production crew for replenishment of batteries. I guess they were also supplied with blank memory cards for the camera and hand-over to the prod. crew their video full memory cards.
 
2d_edge said:
So, they have at least once a week contact with the production crew for replenishment of batteries. I guess they were also supplied with blank memory cards for the camera and hand-over to the prod. crew their video full memory cards.
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Yup, commonly called dead drops is how most production crews handle remote location filming.

Looks like the retainer is starting to lift on these guys talking about their time on the show:

[video=youtube;iz1Ve-5UQQY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz1Ve-5UQQY[/video]

[video=youtube;aYjQEARnSVk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYjQEARnSVk[/video]
 
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The guy who tapped out on day 2 seemed really phobic about large animals. I don't mean that in a judgmental way at all. We've all got our phobias:) He was talking about them the whole time. That said, I've not spent much time in bear country and may have freaked out worse. I have spent a lot of time alone in very remote mountain lion country day and night, even camping with a buddy at times. Coyotes are just cool to hear at night and never bothered me. Had a lion once come in really, really close to camp and scream. It's a horrible sound, like a demon from hell. I'm surprised I didn't mess my sleeping bag! It was tense for awhile, but we drifted off to sleep. We were armed and that probably helped (in our minds anyway, maybe not so much help in real life). We weren't even in a tent.

The African system is called a "Boma". They surround their shelters with thorn bushes and thorny limbs. It seems effective enough for me to try it if I were on that show. Even just a makeshift fence without thorns that would fall and make noise would be comforting.
 
Mitch Mitchell posted his farewell video on Oct 14, 2014 and a recent video in a Alone Premier Party with his family and friends.
That's about 7 months from Oct 2014 to May 2015. Did he tap out before 7 months?

The same thing with Joe Robinet and Wayne Russell, did they last in the wild no more than 7 months?

Is the competition still on with participants still in the wild?
 
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