What i learned....from watching Alone. šŸ˜³


HillbillyHiker said:
I kept seeing a mention of that on the forum way back when. I looked it up and what I found puzzling was there was a fire going when he tapped. Not poking fun of him, but I just didnā€™t understand. Maybe he got there and the juice wasnā€™t worth the squeeze.
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I didn't watch that episode but IIRC he lost his ferro rod and decided that the energy needed to make a bowdrill fire daily would make him uncompetitive on the show, even though he knew how to do it. So it could be that he made his first fire that way, or it could be that he used his ferro rod once before losing it.

I remember wondering about the possibility of his making flint and steel fires using the tools that he had. I've always heard that Silky saw blades (and maybe other types of saw blade by extrapolation) are easy to strike sparks from. I want to try that sometime.
 
I've watched a few seasons. It's a type of poverty porn, in my opinion. I know some folks who would certainly do well on the show and they have no interest. It's obvious to me that lifelong hunters and fishermen have the edge. After watching multiple seasons, I came up with this list:

ALONE COMMON PROBLEMS

Losing ferro rod

Shelter fire or smoke problems

Food cache vulnerabilities

Undercooking questionable food

Not making a hoop ā€œlandingā€ fish net to lift fish out of water

Fishing in too shallow a spot - gill net included

Fatigue - camp too far from food/water, etc. Log cabins are NOT the way to go.

Dumping cooking vessel - need tripod and pot hook

Dutch oven much better than open frying pan - need a lid for boiling fast - simple metal bail handle would fit in pot hook better

Over focus on one food source

Injuries from bad footing - knee/back

Edged tools are dangerous - walking with exposed edges is bad.

Getting lost in vicinity

Constipation - what plant based solutions?

Not hunting at night when game is in camp

Lack of subject knowledge - fishing in particular
 
GrainyOzarks said:
I didn't watch that episode but IIRC he lost his ferro rod and decided that the energy needed to make a bowdrill fire daily would make him uncompetitive on the show, even though he knew how to do it. So it could be that he made his first fire that way, or it could be that he used his ferro rod once before losing it.

I remember wondering about the possibility of his making flint and steel fires using the tools that he had. I've always heard that Silky saw blades (and maybe other types of saw blade by extrapolation) are easy to strike sparks from. I want to try that sometime.
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He could have also used coals to blow fresh tender to flame. Maybe wood was scarce, I dunno as Iā€™m just sitting and guessing.

People do things willy nilly sometimes. Our college program started with 33 guys and gals. 4 of us graduated. We lost several before spring break. I think sometimes people get there and itā€™s nothing like they thought it would be and so they just take off in a different direction.
 
Spitch Grizwald said:
I've watched a few seasons. It's a type of poverty porn, in my opinion. I know some folks who would certainly do well on the show and they have no interest. It's obvious to me that lifelong hunters and fishermen have the edge. After watching multiple seasons, I came up with this list:

ALONE COMMON PROBLEMS

Losing ferro rod

Shelter fire or smoke problems

Food cache vulnerabilities

Undercooking questionable food

Not making a hoop ā€œlandingā€ fish net to lift fish out of water

Fishing in too shallow a spot - gill net included

Fatigue - camp too far from food/water, etc. Log cabins are NOT the way to go.

Dumping cooking vessel - need tripod and pot hook

Dutch oven much better than open frying pan - need a lid for boiling fast - simple metal bail handle would fit in pot hook better

Over focus on one food source

Injuries from bad footing - knee/back

Edged tools are dangerous - walking with exposed edges is bad.

Getting lost in vicinity

Constipation - what plant based solutions?

Not hunting at night when game is in camp

Lack of subject knowledge - fishing in particular
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Missed one.
Burning down your shelter
 
Well all I'm saying is as long as of the ten things I'm allowed I can have a fly rod with several flys, A spinning rod with several lures, a saw. a knife, a pot , a blanket , a spool of bank line, a fero rod and most importantly a lazy boy recliner , plop me down next to the water in B C and I promise you guys they will have to pay me to leave . Ta hell with surviving. I'm going fishing
 
gohammergo said:
I'm fully aware of those threads. :) I seldom visit the media section though, and others may not either.
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Interesting, BCUSA has a vast choice of venue. If I had a curiosity on a topic I for sure wouldn't avoid that category even if its in a group that seldom or never travel in, I would seek it out. Everyone has their own way of navigation. But if you just wanted to throw stones at it they probably best to avoid it.
 
WhisperInThePine said:
I have a bit of sympathy for people who dip out in the first 24 hours

When I went into the Peace Corps, there were countless stories I heard and read of people who who snapped at the first big unfamiliar change. Then I saw it for myself. At least one person decided to quit within a few hours of our plane landing in our host country. The plane landing in host country was the first breaking point. In service training of language, cultural, emergency, and program specifics took up the next three months and a few more volunteers dropped out. During that time, we were still spending most of our days with other Americans in our training groups. Then it came time to be dropped off in our communities where we'd life for the next two years. That was the second breaking point for a lot of people. Safety nets of a familiar American community and culture were gone. We were still surrounded by other people, but they were from a different culture, and we only had the most basic language skills for communication, "My name is.../I'm hungry/I need to sleep/how do you say....?". Factor in foreign customs and behaviors and it felt extremely isolating.

Peace Corps is a massive commitment, more so than Alone. But in both cases, whatever "normal" life you have you have to put on hold. I sold my car and a lot of possessions. Others left houses with spouses or family, left their kids, and so on. It's hard to prepare for something for which you have no frame of reference. Some people just snap. A lot of us live exceedingly comfortable lives. If tomorrow you woke up isolated in a new place without your home and refrigerator, and the only possessions were 10 basic items to build a new life without help, I think most people would experience mental break of some kind. Some would forge forward, but people have their limits.

I arrived in my host country with >70 other volunteers. After 27 months, only 30 of us were left. In my Health Education program, there were 14 of us upon arrival. At the end, I was 1 of 3 HE volunteers left. There were only a handful of volunteers who I begrudged leaving. For the most part, I understood. There really wasn't a "type" who stuck it out for the whole length. Some had great towns that were welcoming and supportive, a few volunteers absolutely flourished in the adversity, some volunteers could just roll with the punches and had a level head, some hated every moment but just didn't have quit in them, and others (like me) were just as lost back in the US as we were in our host country and it made no difference either way.

That all being said... Alone is a game show and I stopped watching after the actual skills of survival and creativity stopped being shown. Once it became torture porn, I lost interest. I think the executives definitely pick persons who are emotionally or mentally unstable and doomed to fail because they need the drama for ratings. I can't support that kind of exploitation.
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Agreed; they pick whiny people. Could only watch a couple episodesā€¦
Drama queens with decent knowledge but not much mental strengthā€¦
 
Bad Little Falls said:
Interesting, BCUSA has a vast choice of venue. If I had a curiosity on a topic I for sure wouldn't avoid that category even if its in a group that seldom or never travel in, I would seek it out. Everyone has their own way of navigation. But if you just wanted to throw stones at it they probably best to avoid it.
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I'm not throwing stones at anything. I have no interest in most of the subjects discussed in the media forum. This thread wasn't meant as another discussion of the show, but rather geared more towards how a person could survive/thrive/live for an extended period of time in the wilderness alone, especially if they were well equipped rather than limited to a certain number of items.
 
DeadStandingPine said:
I may get some flak for this but here's my thoughts...

Alan Kay won season 1 by sitting in a hole and drinking water. TV executives didn't think that was very good for ratings, so they started targeting and exploiting people who are desperate, mentally ill and (optional) full of personality, and when our dearly departed friend @Pict won season 2 by eating crabs and drawing determination from God, that wasn't good enough either so they just doubled down and turned it into starvation porn, in which characters like Larry the Mouse Hunter "go insane" and then ratings go up and History Channel executives get fat paychecks.

If they were allowed more than 10 items, they would be able to 'survive' longer, more effectively, which would ruin the premise of the show: starve them out.

Also, humans are social creatures, we aren't meant to be alone. The show plainly illustrates (without necessarily meaning to) what that does to the human mind, both in the short term and long term, thus the premise of season 4, in which they paired people up. The issue of starvation persisted, of course.

I used to be very into Alone and watched up to season 5, I think, but its disingenuous premise and exploitative nature and the way in which the contestants are basically isolated and starved for the benefit of television executives and for the entertainment of couch potatoes left an increasingly bad taste in my mouth over time

I would not be surprised if, at this point, some of the content on Alone was fabricated.
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Larry mouse hunter, was he the guy with the autistic or disabled kid?
A bunch of those people on the show are not mentally stable. But I am guessing that's why they selected them, for the drama. Most of the episodes I watched were pretty sad. Either it was the people or the editing, or a combination of both.
They are not set up to actually survive at all, if they were, they'd put them there in late spring early summer, but then the show would go on for A LONG time. They are set up to cry, starve, and suffer, to me it is really sort of sad that they'd do that to themselves for some money. But that is just me.
 
HillbillyHiker said:
I kept seeing a mention of that on the forum way back when. I looked it up and what I found puzzling was there was a fire going when he tapped. Not poking fun of him, but I just didnā€™t understand. Maybe he got there and the juice wasnā€™t worth the squeeze.
Click to expand...
I hear you on that but I will say that by the time they get out there they have been away from their families and loved ones for probably close to a month ( 2-3 weeks or more ). You can be a rock star know all do all but if your not in your right headspace at the time then none of that matters. I feel that I would be big mouth of the south Billy Bob bad butt until that helicopter took off or that boat left and once reality set in I would loose my mind. Iā€™ve seen thoughts take away hope from more trained men than myself, I believe we all think we can make it to the end until itā€™s you settling in the dark on the first night. My greatest inner strength is my family but it would also be my greatest weakness and make me wana tap out. A man that lost some fingers and his nose on Mnt. Everest said that I had to go halfway around the world and almost die to realize what I had right here at home. One contestant that won spent his time making steps to his campsite and making wooden spoons so he had something to keep his mind busy, Iā€™d hope I could keep my mind occupied so I wouldnā€™t think of home.
 
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