Joan Z

The Lewis House on the map is the British billionaire's house, Joe Lewis. He owns the whole Escondido Lake and from what I read, he filled the lake with trout which would explains all the trouts the contestants caught. From what we know, Dave and Fowler (and maybe Callie too) caught quite a lot of fish so if it's correct that the contestants dropped on those 3 lakes, Fowler's, Dave's and Callie's spots on the map are probably correct. Megan and Carleigh probably placed farther west or on another lake since they seems to be struggling with fishing. Greg is probably on the east side of Lake Montes cause he mentioned a stream when he built the raft. There's a stream on the east side of Lake Montes, in between Lake Montes and Lake Escondido.

Here it is http://www.pbase.com/jimthode/image/164740596/original Callie posted this in response to a post about the map. So I guess some parts of the map are correct Isn't salt is part of emergency ration? It's not included in the 10 items and every contestants have it.

Is it the map on BCUSA you're talking about? If yes, then Callie said its incorrect.

I left out "on clear day" in previous post - Callie said she can see tiny trail of smoke in the distance on clear day. The terrain of VI and Patagonia is different. I believe contestants from past seasons were placed much farther apart from each other and they were separated by mountains and body of water.

Not exactly loser lodge since I'm sure Fowler stayed there too. Good points. If red meat isn't part of the refeeding diet, I wonder what would happen if they caught big game like boar after 2+ months of starvation. If normal diet is dangerous at that point, does the crew monitor what the contestants are eating and how do they monitor it? Do they ask the contestants during med check what they've been eating or what they caught/trapped?

Jami (Fowler's wife) posted this on Fowler's diet after the show And then Fowler posted this

Carleigh's friend said she choked up watching reunion and it's been 6 months since the filming ended. I don't blame her, it must be tough when you want it so bad but was taken away when you got so close. Callie can see smoke in the distance but she didn't know there were 4 left until after she tap out. Talking about lack of food and malnourished, I think the show would never go past 3 or 4 months long unless they make some changes like the 10 tools, location or the season they're filming.

As much as I want to choose Fowler, he lacks plants knowledge and I don't want to risk eating poisonous plants. So it come down to Megan or Callie. Both great at foraging but Callie have awesome shelter. Megan's shelter may not be as comfy as Callie's but she seems to know more about trapping. Callie did say that she's not a hunter. So I'd probably go for Megan. The BCUSA forum? Here ya go http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/alone-season-3.182829/page-36 Sometimes it's great to read their comments since they obviously knows a lot about bushcraft and survival. Their comments there are pretty civilized too. Many Alone contestants have posted there. Fowler and David (@Pict) are pretty active there. Callie and Meghan (@Ecologic) have posted there few times. Sam, Joe and Dustin used to be active there too. For those who are wondering, Fowler's BMI during the final med check was 21, still a long way to go to drop to 17 so I think it's the right call to pull Carleigh cause unless she caught a boar or geese or tons of fish, no way she can beat Fowler.

On History's website, there's a blog post from each contestant -http://www.history.com/shows/alone/blog it's like a post-mortem of their journey based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I only read the blog post wrote by the top 5. My favorite blog post is Megan. I love how her post is organized and numbered like she was writing college assignment or thesis lol. But seriously, her post is very insightful and gives me new perspective on their journey. She didn't get much airtime so I know very little about her and feel disconnected from her. But now after reading that, I like and respect her. She explained why she didn't build an elaborate shelter and she also mentioned that she had her period an hour before drop off. Yikes! That sucks. When I'm on my period, I'm always hungry and my body ache all over so with the lack of food, trying to adapt to new and foreign environment, build shelter, find firewood, find food, I know I won't last a day. Not that I have the skills to be on the show =p With the lack of food and nutrition, their pms must be pretty bad - something that men on the show doesn't have to deal with. mad respect for her and the rest of the women on the show. She also mentioned the steep hill she have to climb when foraging and stuffs she made/build that were never shown on the show. I got a feeling that being a biologist/forester, her films were mostly consist of educational stuffs that the producer find it too boring hence the little airtime she got. Someone on BCUSA quoted a snippet of Megan's blog post on History's website but it's very different than what I just read. I think the one I read is probably the latest one. Here is the snippet of the old post I got from BCUSA Then Megan posted this on that forum Interesting. Among the top 5, two of them want to leave on a high note instead of leaving in medical distress (Callie and Megan) and then we have Dave and Carleigh who were the opposite. It makes you think of how do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be remembered leaving on a high note like Callie (healed her spider bites on her own and remember the awesome meal she had the day before she tap-out?!) and Megan (caught a lot of fish and foraging) or do you want to be remembered like Greg, Dave and Carleigh? People will remember Greg and Dave as the guys who made bad decisions and Carleigh who was literally leaving on a stretcher. I respect both sides though - the leaving-on-a-high-note (Callie and Megan) and the win-or-die-trying (Dave and Carleigh). Another post by Megan on BCUSA

The crew informed the contestants about the med check in the morning but I think they didn't tell exactly when they will come, could be in the morning, afternoon or evening. But I see your point - she can hear the boat coming

Actually when Callie said they (crew/prod team) check for everything, she was talking about applicants who are bashing the show. The prod team isn't impressed by that. She said bashing the show or boasting about how you can do better than past contestants are not gonna help you get selected. That's what I was wondering - do the prod team check for the bashing/boasting in the application video or do they check for the applicants social media in case they have ever talk sh*t about the show. You're welcome! Dave did go to hospital. He even wrote in his fb post that he didn't realize how bad his condition was until he looked in the mirror at the hospital. So they definitely didn't lie about that. It's just that we don't know how long he was hospitalized. Probably few days then he stayed at the base camp for few days with Callie. Oh in the video Callie also said they were given stipend. David (last year's winner) also had talked about the same thing more than once in other forum. So I guess this show doesn't mind they talk about it as long as they don't disclose the exact amount. Callie said it's a lot but it doesn't make them rich or anything. If I remember correctly, she said the payment was weekly basis.

I'm watching the recording of Callie's live session of Facebook. You guys can watch it here Be warned that it's almost an hour and a half long lol. I recommend watching it, it's pretty informative cause she answered a lot of questions I've been wondering about. If you don't have time to watch it then I will point out some things she said that I find interesting. -By day 60 she had lost 25lbs. she can see multiple fires (from other contestants) across the lake and my take from what she said was that it basically came down to health. If I heard correctly, she said something like, she knows she can't maintain good health and be the last standing (I might misinterpreted what she said though). She said she want to leave on a high note instead of leaving on a stretcher and she was glad she made the decision to tap-out when she found out there are 4 contestants left. The doctor told her she came really close to severe organ damage if she lost more weight. Before I watch this video, I kinda thought her reason to tap-out sounds like a bunch of BS (it's easy for me to criticize with full belly in the comfort of home =P) but now, I feel like after the spider bite incident she kinda lost the drive to win. The spider bite and the lack of calorie probably made her realize it's not worth to risk her health. -She had the spider bites longer than what was shown. she had it for about a month. Her spider bites are healing up but still painful to touch. -Some people thought she was throwing shade at Randy when she built the sauna and did the fake tap-out but they have only watched 3 episodes of season 2 when they left which means she didn't get to see the episode when Randy tap-out. -The medical check-ups were not consistent but the contestants were informed the morning of the check-up day with a pre-programmed message on the yellow brick phone. The longest they went without check-up was 20 days (mid season). The check-ups were done after 7, 12, 12, 20 days. Then they started having more check-ups towards the end. The med check went for about 10-20 minutes which seems pretty long to me. It's interesting that she said at first, she was excited about med check because of the human contact but then she kinda dread it. David (last year's winner) said the same thing about med check - he's used to having no human contact and then, when the crew left for med check, he basically have to reset himself mentally. -They have morning check-ins where the crew would send a pre-programmed message on the phone and the contestants have to reply with a pre-programmed message i.e. okay or not okay <---Well, that's totally new to me (and to everyone I guess). -"The editors have probably heard more about me and my life than anybody ever except myself..." What?! Why do I feel like we barely see her talking about her life?! So does that means she talked about it but the editors didn't show it to us?! "Cheers editors, keep that stuffs under wraps." Oh, so I guess she had 'that talk' with the editors. I get it if she's not comfortable sharing her personal life but now she makes me even more curious. Nosy, I know! -When they're dropped off, they were told where their boundaries on the left and right but they can go as far back into the mountain as they want. They had a GPS where the crew monitor their location 24/7 and they'll be warned if they ever get close to other contestant. If they bumped into each other, they must call the crew immediately. When that happened, if only one contestant called but the other contestant doesn't, then they're out. I don't know if she meant both contestants or only the contestant who doesn't make the call are out. -They're supplied 50 batteries for the camera and 5 battery banks to charge headlamp and camera. -Dave and Callie were out a day apart so they spent the week together (they spent most of the time in the kitchen cooking and eating). She tapped out on Aug 1st and went back home 8 days later. I guess the 8 days were for recovery? -They had psychology check halfway through (I wish she had talked more about that). -She brought 5lbs of pemmican and 5lbs of lentils. She smoked some fish (which they never showed). She rationed her food for long term and she wished she had eaten more of it in the beginning. -When she made the tap-out call, she requested for a toast with butter and black tea. When she first reached 'base camp', she had hamburger patty with ton of salt, garlic, cheese, bread and gelato. She mentioned that at first, she was taking it slow but then for about a month, she would wake up in the middle of the night and shoving food. She was bloated and gained her weight back really fast so she had alternative therapy to get her mind out of the starvation mode and feel safe again. She also mentioned later in the video that it took her about a month to get used to being around people again. During the reunion show, when I heard that it took Carleigh 5 months to recover, I was wondering about the involvement of the production in the recovery post-show. How involve were they or how long did they 'take care' of the contestants after the show? Or was it 'once you're home, you're on your own'? Cause I'm sure the starvation and isolation took a toll on the contestants - mentally and it could take them some time to readapt to their normal life. -When asked about women's period, she said they were given stuffs for that. I guess she meant they were given supplies of tampon?! -When the crew selecting contestants for the show, they actually check everything. Not sure what she meant by that. Do they check for all the criteria (as in personality and skills) or they check their social media (fb, twitter, etc)? Cause she did mentioned that they aren't impressed with people who are applying for the show and talk crap about the show. -There are times when she can see boat in the distance but sometimes the boat came just to swap battery pack (they leave the batteries in a drybag on the beach for the crew to swap out) or taking shots of the mountains, etc. But she can see the helicopter flew by on day 8 when Zach cut himself and that's the time when she cried while sitting on her chair by the beach (the scene never made it to the show but they did show it in the intro). -Dave found an old Gaucho campsite which explains all the stuffs he found (teapot, grill, wire). The gaucho used to run their cows in the area so that explains all the cow skeletons. -She didn't have much rations left when she tapped out. She basically live hand-to-mouth at that point. (when she said hand to mouth, it remind me of someone's comment here about Randy's hand-to-mouse living last year lol) -She explained her 'royal WE'! lol. She said she got a lot of positive and negative comments on that. Phew! Can't believe I watched the whole an hour and a half of that video =P

I see why some people think it's unfair for Carleigh. But that doesn't mean Fowler had it easy. I think Carleigh caught less fish than Fowler but she had rations. Fowler may have caught more fish than Carleigh but he didn't bring extra rations. He only had one ration (emergency ration that was given to all contestant and not included in the 10 item but if I'm not mistaken that ration consist of flour and salt so idk how much that helped him in terms of calorie). Plus, he had the terrain disadvantage. He basically climbed 8 storey of terrain everyday. He also built more stuffs than Carleigh which means he burnt more calorie as well. And being a man, he naturally burn more calorie when idle than woman.

Hey, who is slicing onions? Stop it! *wipe tears* =P Darn it, ALONE! YOU GOT ME! I cried 3 times watching the final episode when they pulled Carleigh out and she burst into tears, when Fowler reunite with his wife and when Fowler reunite with his daughter. His daughter is so cute and adorable! For a moment, I was pulling for Megan but when I saw a boat with what looks like only 2 crews in it, I knew someone tapped out. She probably would be able to pull through a lil longer if it wasn't because of the toothache. Still, to be in top 3 is something she can definitely be proud of! and not to mention, beating so many guys! When Carleigh talked about worrying getting pulled out for medical reason, then they showed back and forth Carleigh and Fowler getting medical check-up, I was like, noooooo they're gonna pull someone out! When Carleigh took her sweater off for weigh in...WOW! She's skinny!!! I was kinda neutral towards Carleigh (let's be honest, she's not Callie and Fowler, in terms of personality) but there are times when I was rooting for her and felt really bad when they have to pull her out. When Fowler called himself a twig and then they flashback to his day 1...man, what a difference! Fowler had the advantage of the 11th item which is body fat whereas Carleigh, not so much. When Fowler said, "I never do yoga. Don't need my man card revoked." Uh oh man and their yoga-is-for-women or yoga-isn't-masculine thought. Anyway, YES! FINALLY! A contestant that I'm rooting for and predicted to win since episode 1 actually WON! remember last year so many people including me predicted Larry and David not gonna last long and they ended up in the top 2?! LOL! The producers should come up with a different way to surprise the winner for next seasons. Now everyone know if you're getting interviewed during medical check, that means you won! They've been doing the same trick for 3 seasons now. When Alan, David and Fowler reunited with their wife and daughter, am I the only one waited for the wife/daughter to say something like, "Jeez, you're stinky!" haha =P Patagonia is so beautiful and we got some nice shots this season. The shots when Carleigh fishing during sunset, the shots when Callie visited her favorite spots and this episode, we got a nice shot of Fowler sitting at his dock with beautiful reflection of the mountain on the lake. When did they taped the reunion? Everyone have been gaining some weight! Good to see them back to their normal weight. Really proud of the women this season, they put the men (particularly whatshisname-the first-to-tapout, Zach the-cranky-axe-boy and Dan-the-lazy-survivalist *eyeroll*) to shame. Greg! I just noticed his beautiful eyes! lol those bloopers of clumsy-Greg are funny! Haha megan "it's like dragging a dead body. Not that I've dragged a dead body." I wish they would show more of these funny moments on the show! Was the scene when Megan talked about her minimalist strategy made it to the show? Cause I don't remember watching it but then I also missed the scene when she shaved her leg. If they didn't show it, then it's kinda questionable why they didn't show it cause when it comes to Dan, they basically focus on his lazy strategy. I laughed a little when they showed the clip of Dan saying, "People don't like my strategy, f*** them!" and then they showed Callie's face. Haha! I wonder what was she thinking. I'd like to think Callie thinking, "Yeah f*** you, Dan." lol. When it's Callie's turn, they close up to Dan. lol sneaky cameraman/producer!

Dave wrote a post about the show on his Facebook, you can read it here: He mentioned how many foods he have left when they pulled him out Here is the list of rations that they can choose: 1 ration is 5lbs. I don't know how the rations work but from Dave's post, I guess they can mixed the choices in a ration? i.e: 5lbs of a ration consists of 1lb of peanuts and raisins 1lb of flour, 1lb beans, 1lb of duck fat, 1lb of salt. Dave said he had 2lbs of wild mushrooms. Were those mushrooms from the ration or from foraging? If the mushrooms were from foraging, then that means he had 4lbs of ration left. He brought 2 rations so he had eaten about 6lbs of ration in about 2.5 months. He also said he caught 36 fish total so that's 72 fish fillets. So in 2.5 months he ate 30 fish fillets (15 fish in total). Jeez, no wonder he's so skinny! Callie said the editing was pretty accurate but my take on Dave's post is it wasn't. I think the editing is probably different for each contestants. Callie seems to be the editor's and producer's favorite so maybe they put more effort in the editing to accurately portray Callie's experience. Honestly I feel like they put more effort into editing Callie's and Fowler's clips cause for me, we barely see much of the other contestants. Maybe that's just me though. So that confirms it...they do get paid. Anyway, Dave's chess set was beautiful. I wish he would show more of the stuffs he carved/made during the show!