diebartdie

I'm really surprised so many people are thinking this season was somehow staged. It is very comparable to other seasons in that what might look to us, the audience like some miraculous discovery was actually the product of some poor shlub editing thousands of hours of BORING BORING BULLSHIT into something that might be entertaining. So there's that. Now, add in obvious starvation and all the weird tricks that can play on your mind and viola, you suddenly have grown men CHASING grizzle bears knowing they are forbidden to hunt the thing anyway. You have grown women eating something obviously ROTTING knowing that might actually cause very serious physical damage. Add hypothermia + starvation and you have a grown woman make bad decision after bad decision until she literally has to be carried out. Seriously, honestly compare the state of these contestants to any other season. This season contestants are dropping FAST due to possibly the shittiest site ever. The conclusions I'm drawing are: #1 The producers of this show have decided people don't watch this show to be spiritually uplifted, they watch this show to get off on people suffering. #2 The producers really went out of their way to ensure the maximum suffering while nestled in maximum beauty (gotta give them credit for that at least). #3 This season is shockingly different from the previous seasons and IMO will turn off more viewers than it will attract.

I agree iMonrey. Compare this season to season 3. Season 3 was a joy to watch, even though people on that season also ended up starving, on the way to starvation so much creativity was unleashed, so much beauty was appreciated, so many emotions were freely expressed it was almost spiritual just watching it on tv! This season is just harsh, gross, unpleasant and not uplifting.

Colter is absolutely disgusting to look at, I imagine he smells like a bear and that's why no bears are around him any more. He did take that one skinny dip back in episode 1 or 2 but otherwise, he just seems to be reveling in his grossness. "Bathing" has been something highlighted in previous seasons. For instance, in season 5 (I think), they had teams. One of the teams was an opposite sex married couple who made a point of describing n camera one of their items was a big bar of soap. Theresa....is a fool. That first fish she found, probably ok if she cooked the hell out of it. That second one she found...yeah that's going to take her out real quick. I am now pulling for Biko (I was pulling for Theresa). Clay...should not be surprised when he gets home and his wife decides a divorce is best for herself and the kids, he is just too reckless.

Back in the early seasons, the first episode was always devoted to showing sort of all the prep that happens before the show really starts. They would show the "boot camp" where all the contestants (and I think "second string" contestants in case any of the "primary" cast failed during boot camp) demonstrated their various skills as well as got educated about the area they were in as well as various regulations, etc. They would go into pretty good detail showing that the production staff was scouting the area months before show time, picking all the "roughly equal" camp spots, ensuring they were truly isolated and also setting up base camp. From what they showed, nothing was close to anything else. They also showed how they taught the contestants to set up various types of shots with their cameras ("ok, set a camera down, walk away, now walk towards the camera, ok that's the shot"). They showed how the producers picked up all the recordings, broken cameras and spent batteries (and then replenishing those) at med checks. On multiple occasions contestants have burned down their shelters and then needed to tap but producers were unable to get to the contestant until many hours later, in at least one instance, a contestant had to spend the entire night completely exposed in sub-freezing temperature due to it being impossible to get to that contestant at night. The very worst instance though had to have been in either season 1 or 2 when a contestant was very nearly attacked by a bear. The producers knew they were HOURS away from this contestant and they also knew the contestant had moved very far from where his original camp had been, the producers had no real idea where this contestant actually was. After that season the producers implemented the rule that all contestants must have that gps enabled phone on them at all times as well as the flotation device whenever they are in the water AND YET this season we've seen many instances where contestants are NOT adhering to this rule which is very worrying. If I hadn't watched this show from the first season (and hadn't re-watched the first three seasons as many times as I have), I would never believe these people are really all that alone. I accept that things change and maybe this season is all bullshit but I really think it is just as raw as it seems.

geophagy -- the eating of earth

So the bear situation is getting even worse, even more dangerous. Rose is so lucky that grizzle bear (hat tip Biko) decided she wasn't worth the effort. That was utterly terrifying for me, safe at home in my recliner! I can not imagine how awful it would be to be in that situation for real. Theresa getting lost was like Greg getting lost in season 3 and Ive often wondered about that. How do these people manage to NOT get lost without a compass? That is something I would not be able to deal with, I get lost walking around the block. Theresa deciding to swim that raft out there might've been a great idea if the lines hadn't got tangled on her ankle. She is incredibly lucky.

At this rate, I wonder if anyone will even make it to the 45 day mark? Just because Clay managed to kill a deer does not mean he will be able to KEEP all that meat, the "grizzle bears" (hat tip Biko) will destroy anything between them and whatever the heck they want, especially meat.

Why did Nate wait so long to build a fishing rod? Why did he wait so long to build a fish net? Why are the hunting and fishing regulations so strict in this gods forsaken hell hole? (No gill nets?!?!?!?!? That explains all the fish traps) Speaking of fish traps, Colton's trap looked like a work of art. Speaking of art, Theresa's shelter is very nice, Im glad she sorted out the fireplace situation but Im getting really stressed out wondering about her food situation, we've not seen her do anything food related. Speaking of food, I feel really bad for all those tiny, juvenile fish they keep catching, surprised there isnt a fishing regulation stipulating minimum fish length and weight. Speaking of weight, 30 pounds of meat from 130 pound animal seems suspect. I swear, last season Roland killed that 300 pound musk ox and clearly harvested about 298 pounds of everything even SLIGHTLY edible off that thing and he had to hike further, in the snow and ice for his kill. Speaking of kill, I'm feeling bad for Rose, she needs to be killing some deer or something, she's getting depressed. Good call Nate, no reason to wreck your health for this (or any) show. I hope, moving forward (if there is another season of this show), contestants enter the competition at a "healthy chubby" weight after seriously training themselves to subsist of marginal foods or jsut at the very least, DON'T come on this show already under-weight. I dont think we've seen this fast a drop off in contestants in many seasons (looking at Wikipedia, the first and second season's had this high level of attrition).

Only last season was "100 days = $1,000,000", every other season has been $500,000 for whomever stays the longest.

Dreadlock guy REALLY has an inferiority complex! I was sitting here watching the show when all of a sudden, he's ranting about how the audience (me) is judging him. Dude, Im not judging you or anyone else on this show, at least not until the season is over and I see how everything played out. I would want to leave if the ground erupted with hornets as well! I didn't see anything he was doing as "a failure", he was struggling as much as anyone is in this shitty place they've dropped everyone. I hate this season, TPTB really went out of their way to pick the absolute worst, absolutely most beautiful place possible. Tiny wiry woman starving to the point she's under 100lbs after just 3 weeks?!? What I want to know is, what the ever loving fuck are all those bears eating?!? There HAS to be a LOT of stuff to eat to support such a thriving bear community, the humans should be able to tap into that BUT THEN AGAIN, grizzlies. Fucking GRIZZLIES within just steps of Biko's shelter, wtf. Not only have they dropped everyone in a seeming food desert BUT also bears behind every tree, bush, rock, puddle, discarded sock, pile of hornet grass, MUTHEREFFING BEARS. Is anyone else just getting freeked out by this season or is it just me?

OK, this season was a MESS but we all pretty much expected it to be, right? I suppose TPTB could have done something really cool like, recast Kate + keep Javicia as Ryan but have Ryan be Nightwing. Let Kate angst over being so rich and out of touch with the common people while Ryan gets to be the gritty, woman of the streets, saving lives and opening minds to the oppression all around all of us. That actually might've worked but instead we got what we got. I'm really torn because I freeking LOVE Ryan's Batwoman and love what SHE represents and I love the "found family" aspect but hell, I admit it kind of didnt really work. I mean, Mary was, as always, perfect and I could see Mary meeting and being best friends with Ryan. Luke though...I found it interesting that he character got so muddled when he's not related to Kate at all. I'm still puzzled by Luke's storyline this season. Sophie, sadly, got the stupidest storyline. I agree with whomever said Sophie shoulda just hopped n the back of Kate's bike and ridden on out of town with her gal. What the hell is she going to do moving forward? Alice's story was bonkers bannanapants and whew boy, psycho-lesbian drama alert! All of that just was such a gobblygook mess...I'd like to see Alice get her shit together and somehow become an anti-hero that helps our heroes and I'd like to see FAR LESS of her moving forward (a little of a good thing goes a long way and she is damn good). Bye Jacob, I hope Dugray Scott earned some nice pay checks and found it fitting his final scene was him LITERALLY phoning it in, bless him. Whatever, I love the new Batwoman. She is beautiful and fun and funny and passionate and interesting and actually looks like she has some muscles, like she actually kick a little ass unlike Ruby who always looked like an underdeveloped 12 year old boy flailing about. Was all the social commentary too much? I dont know, I feel like the show was trying to draw attention to things we as a society desperately NEED to pay attention to and do the work required to make things better for EVERYBODY so I didn't find it to be "too much", just a little hokey from time to time. Last thing I'm going to say is this: this show will fail due to racism. Actually, no, that'snot right. I should have said it like this: Racism will destroy this show.

Fowler also was walking the equivalent of up an 8 story building several times per day in order to build his shelter so no, he wasn't lugging heavy timber or giant rocks, but still, his shelter was elaborate and beautiful. Crafty people tend to last the longest, the greater the creativity one has, the greater the likelihood one can think one's way out of a bear filled problem. Boring, fat slug men also tend to last a long time, moldering in their "shelters" being boring. Give me Callie in Patagonia or Fowler or Roland or anyone who goes out there and shows ingenuity, shows creativity, opens their hearts to the experience and then lets us, undeserving as we may be, see that vulnerability. That's what I watch the show for anyway, not the starvation, not the boring fat dudes in boring "shelters", not the boring fat dudes that tap on day 1 due to spotting a wolf/bear/wolverine/a bunch a trees. The Patagonia season was the best specifically due to the high level of creativity shown by multiple contestants that season.

Fowler in season 3 (?) had a beautiful woven shelter that was incredible, he won. Roland expended a buttload of calories building rockhouse, he won.

He wasn't drunk, he was full. was very full.

Sara is Sara, Mick said as much. Y'all are acting like this big, dumb, lovable show is suddenly NOT dumb? Like it suddenly has well thought out, intricate plot line that make sense? Come ON, this is THE LEGENDS and it is dumb and Beebo be praised for it! Sara is Sara, just love her and move on with the story.

Looks to me the only way any of them would get saved from a grizzly attack would be if a mountain lion happened to also be nearby and the mountain lion pounced on the participant first. Another way a participant would be saved from the grizzly attack would be if another grizzly happened along at the same time and it decided to attack the first grizzly. Another way a participant would be saved from a grizzly attack would be if a sudden avalanche happened and it swept either the bear or the participant out into the water. Finally, I think the producers of the show would be able to save a participant if they happened to be visiting the participant at the same time as the grizzly. Now everybody would be fucked if the producers visited at the same time as both grizzlies AND the mountain lion and the avalanche but damn, if anyone managed to keep filming through all of that, it would be amazing. At the beginning of the episode, I thought Jorden would win. Now I have no idea (but secretly think Rose might go very far)

They are not letting him or anyone else do that. All contestants are required to wear the provided emergency flotation device (life vest when they do things like go out on a weird boat like that. The only one I can remember not doing that was Mitch back in season 1, but that was season 1 and many lessons were learned) and carry the emergency phone (at all times). https://elementbushcraft.com/alone-survival-gear-list-and-prohibited-items/

People like to believe being obese will help them survive longer on this show but that's not really how human bodies work. A person would do far better if they chose to survive for a year as if they were on Alone BEFORE they ever even audition for the show (and maintain that lifestyle in the lead up to the actual filming). That way, your body would be used to draining every bit of nutrition from every morsel of food you ate. You would be much less likely to starve and more importantly, if you had conditioned yourself for such a harsh existence, when you were actually on the show and things did get very, very hard, with conditioning you would be far less likely to experience the intense cravings starvation brings as well as the attendant psychological effects. It would be a very fine line though. I mean, you'd have to be completely used to subsisting on very little but it does you no good to go on that show already scrawny. Lean and mean and conditioned to subsist on marginal food sources is the smarter way to go (I think) (and Im a fat couch potato)

Foxes. They were not allowed to kill foxes while at Great Slave lake.

Bilko even said he was "filtering all the grit" with his teeth! AND he mentioned wiggly things! Dude must believe his stomach can conquer all. Good luck Bilko, may the heavy metal gods protect you!

Well to be fair, Biko was not piercing his nose, he already had a nose piercing, he was just shoving the bone through an already established piercing. I was far more disturbed by his drinking that nasty rain water. It wasn't the first time we've seen a contestant do that but it is such a stupid thing to do. ALWAYS boil your water!

My god, I laughed and laughed! That was something no one under a certain age would get at all. Well, they might get the idea of someone's back going out like that but if you really know, that was just amazing. Also, do none of the people currently on the Waver rider know Mick is an accomplished novelist? A romance novelist at that, why wouldn't he have a strong vocabulary? Nate at least should've remembered that. Anyway, Im pretty sure Mick is thinking he's met his real life Garima (too bad she's probably Gary's wife)

Agree to all this and want to add, seems like everyone would be on board with the idea of eating horses once they were no longer useful as a conveyance or as a pack animal. That's a lot of meat is what Im saying. Plus, the hide is extremely useful. Really all parts of the animal would be super useful. Whatever, these people live in a magical world where 20 years into the ZA there are still brightly colored clothes available in everyone's sizes down at the never looted mall. Also sturdy, machine made hiking boots. Even make up. Clothes on raggedy, decaying zombies stay intact forever, it's the magical land of abundance! Gasoline that never goes bad. People with just basic first aid training + a few hours watching "M.A.S.H" back in the day are all you need in order to successfully complete gut surgery after a point black shot from a sawed off shot-gun!

Actually, I think the article was pretty clear as to why he left. #1 he remarked that he was "not a kid anymore", that clearly indicates he's less interested in such physically demanding work. #2 he remarked he was feeling antsy in the role, that clearly indicates he felt his creativity was not getting the type of workout it needs to stay fresh and vital. He was not willing to just keep getting that steady paycheck (unlike Melissa McCarthy and Norman Reedus or Lennie James). So basically, he was bored and feeling physically worn out. Good for him for valuing his creativity and physical well being over this show.