S08.E01: The Hunted

[madmax]

 

On 6/4/2021 at 8:36 PM, Cobb Salad said:

Matt survived by himself for around 20 days on his Africa XL experience so I’d agree of any of the Naked and Afraid people he could do it.  Maybe #2 would be Bulent who from his behavior during last year’s XL made me think he would be better on Alone instead.  

Ooh, Bulent is a great choice!  He is much better alone.

On 6/4/2021 at 9:27 PM, AZChristian said:

Jeff would do it in a heartbeat.  They are given a big camera, a trail camera and two go-pro cameras.  And he wouldn't have to share screen time with anyone from his own camp.  After all, THIS IS WHAT HE LIVES FOR!!!!

I would just hope that at the end, the score would be Grizzly - 1 and Jeff - 0.  I really can't stand him.  LOL.

After watching the last XL, I don't think he could do it.  He needs the validation from other people on the challenge.  But I wouldn't mind that end score.  😄

[Melina22]

On 6/4/2021 at 1:40 PM, AZChristian said:

DISCLAIMER:  I've only spent two nights in a tent in my life, and the only thing worse than the first night was the second night. 

I hear you! Although I did once tent for a week with my 4 kids, and it rained the whole time. So I'm not a total marshmallow. But I would NEVER EVER camp anywhere with grizzlies, ever since my college friend's brother and his girlfriend were attacked and killed by grizzlies while sleeping in their tent. 

Then I saw the movie Grizzly Man. 😱 I think I'd rather take my chances with a shark. I honestly don't know how the contestants get a second of sleep. 

I'm pleased they brought back Nicky. If anyone understands what the contestants are facing, it's her. I'll bet she can make a very accurate assessment of who has the skills to make it to the end, but obviously she won't be sharing that with us. 

I don't know if Biko has the skills, but that extra weight is like gold in this game. Ironic, really, because not a lot of skilled, dedicated outdoorspeople are obese. Yet you almost have to be to last through the winter. Or chubby, at least. Time will tell. 

So to sum up, I'm excited for this season, terrified of the grizzlies, and hope it's not just nonstop suffering, starving and medical emergencies. (Even though they're exciting.) 

[Blackie]

9 hours ago, Melina22 said:

I honestly don't know how the contestants get a second of sleep. 

 

with the Grizzlies I wouldn't be able to sleep at night, with the cougars I wouldn't be able to walk around during the day!

[Blackie]

21 hours ago, cowgirlwen said:

I can't imagine there would be any fat on a lean big cat like that, but protein is protein.  I understand that may bother some viewers, but legal game = food, and may make a $500k difference! 

 

I honestly didn't think you could eat a cougar but google says it is white meat and tasted like pork or turkey but could be very tough. Also apparently Southern BC is a premier destination for big cat hunting. I was Ok before with hunting on the show for animals more typical for eating, (rabbits, moose, musk ox) but I don't think I am going to want to watch someone shoot an arrow at a cat that they chased up a tree. 

[diebartdie]

10 hours ago, Melina22 said:

I don't know if Biko has the skills, but that extra weight is like gold in this game. Ironic, really, because not a lot of skilled, dedicated outdoorspeople are obese. Yet you almost have to be to last through the winter. Or chubby, at least. Time will tell.

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)

[Melina22]

7 minutes ago, diebartdie said:

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)

You could be right. But once there's almost no food at all, a fat layer to live off of would be useful. 

Last night I watched a video by a man who was on a Survivor type reality show. He was the very definition of lean and mean having spent the previous year biking around the world. He says he really wished he'd focused on bulking up before the show, because he ended up almost skeletal, at times literally falling over from lack of calories. 

To be honest, as much as I enjoy these survival shows, I do not enjoy watching people slowly starve, possibly with long term harm being done to their bodies. I wish they could receive a minimal amount of rations, so we could focus on the more interesting aspects of survival. (I feel the same about Survivor, a show I love, although in recent years they do seem to be providing a very small amount of food.) 

[ProfCrash]

I think there is a difference between having been lean and mean and adding bulk to prepare for survival mode and being overweight/obese. There are people who won this show partly because they had more bulk and could last longer once it got to the starvation waiting game but those people also had the skills to build a good shelter and feed themselves for long enough to get to the portion of the game were extra bulk mattered. I am guessing that those folks added weight before the show after being at a healthier weight before the show. 

I think that people who were overweight before the show and are less skilled are not going to make it to the starvation waiting game. Sam knew what he was doing, even if he choose the most boring strategy ever. He did enough to get to the point where the waiting game mattered. In his first season, the winner did just enough more to outlast Sam. In his second season, Sam did enough and was able to win the waiting game partly because of his extra bulk. 

Biko seems to have some skills. He knew how to make a crude forge and how to make a knife of sorts in the woods. He was doing a decent job of building his camp. His camp looked to be in the middle ground of the 5 that we saw. He could be better positioned than we think. He does not scream "winner" to me, mainly because he doesn't look like someone who spends a ton of time surviving, based on his band and music. I would think he should go longer than Rose who I picture glamping a lot more than surviving. 

[mellyf]

2 hours ago, Blackie said:

 

with the Grizzlies I wouldn't be able to sleep at night, with the cougars I wouldn't be able to walk around during the day!

The same for me! I remember years ago (when my husband and I and kids) actually used to camp. We'd spent several nights camping at Yellowstone, with many warnings, precautions, etc about wildlife. On our way home, we went through the Bighorn Mountains and camped one more night at a little roadside camping spot. It was along a small river/creek that was was actually very noisy w/ the rushing water. Neither my husband or I slept a wink because we both knew we wouldn't be able to hear the grizzly before it came crashing into our tent!

Love this show, btw. I've been watching since Season 1, but missed Season 7 because Hulu decided to only allow streaming of Alone if you subscribed to Hulu Live. I was tempted, but passed. This season I have Philo.

[Blackie]

I camp in Ontario where there may be black bears, that is bad enough. Just once I camped in Jasper National Park, backpacking, on a trail with a grizzly warning. Didn't sleep a wink, didn't help that it went down to 2 degrees C and snowed overnight. We hiked out the next day. A few weeks later a women was killed by a grizzly a little farther up that trail. Yikes! I have seen a grizzly from my car north of Banff, beautiful animal when you are in a car :).

ETA: To get on topic of the show:  Once I was hiking and camping in northern Ontario and literally ate my weight in blueberries and I didn't get sick, I have never heard of the berries she was eating.

When was this filmed, last summer/fall? I forgot they were under COVID protocol until I saw the medic with a mask on.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Blackie
eta to be on topic

[Melina22]

12 minutes ago, Blackie said:

Didn't sleep a wink, didn't help that it went down to 2 degrees C and snowed overnight. We hiked out the next day. A few weeks later a women was killed by a grizzly a little farther up that trail. Yikes!

Terrifying! I know that for me, grizzlies are going to be like ghosts this season, always on my mind as I watch, haunting every scene even when l can't see them. (I wish I could go back and unwatch Grizzly Man). 

Still, I don't think they would have filmed this season in a location where there was an extremely high likelihood of grizzlies eating the contestants. I'm curious to know what steps they took to minimize this possibility. 

[AZChristian]

I HAVE to share this joke, heard often on shore excursions from cruise ships in Alaska.

The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.

They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.

Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.

It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.

Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.

[Blackie]

Also the joke is if you are hiking and see a cougar.... its too late!!

That is why I can't believe he saw one the first day (or first few days I wasn't keeping track). Also it was so camoflauged I couldn't see it at all. (prob harder to see on the camera)

[madmax]

7 hours ago, Melina22 said:

Last night I watched a video by a man who was on a Survivor type reality show. He was the very definition of lean and mean having spent the previous year biking around the world. He says he really wished he'd focused on bulking up before the show, because he ended up almost skeletal, at times literally falling over from lack of calories. 

Remember Dave from season 3?  He had lots of food stockpiled and was afraid to eat it.  He looked like a skeleton when they pulled him out.

7 hours ago, Melina22 said:

To be honest, as much as I enjoy these survival shows, I do not enjoy watching people slowly starve, possibly with long term harm being done to their bodies. I wish they could receive a minimal amount of rations, so we could focus on the more interesting aspects of survival. (I feel the same about Survivor, a show I love, although in recent years they do seem to be providing a very small amount of food.) 

They have the option of including food rations in their 10 items.  I believe only 2 of the contestants this time included food rations in their 10 items.

[Melina22]

18 minutes ago, madmax said:

Remember Dave from season 3?  He had lots of food stockpiled and was afraid to eat it.  He looked like a skeleton when they pulled him out.

That was very disturbing. He developed some kind of scary eating disorder, starving while surrounded by food. That was not fun to watch! 

[humbleopinion]

24 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

That was very disturbing. He developed some kind of scary eating disorder, starving while surrounded by food. That was not fun to watch! 

Yes, Dave had to be dragged out of his dark sooty shelter when his weight dropped to scary low...

Kicking and screaming that he had plenty of food...Look! I have lots of fish!

Unfortunately, he could NOT bring himself to eat his stores of dried fish to keep his weight up and keep him in the contest...

48 minutes ago, madmax said:

  I believe only 2 of the contestants this time included food rations in their 10 items.

Tim had a food ration as one of his items.

Wonder which from the list he chose.

 

[Chit Chat]

11 hours ago, Melina22 said:

To be honest, as much as I enjoy these survival shows, I do not enjoy watching people slowly starve, possibly with long term harm being done to their bodies.

I wish they weren't in such harsh weather conditions, but alas, that's part of the "survival" aspect.  I'd rather see them out scavenging and hunting rather than sitting in their shelters freezing to death.  I'd learn more survival tips if they could spend more time outside of their shelters and showing us their survival skills.  Of course Roland didn't let the cold weather stop him.  He was pretty amazing to watch.  

[Melina22]

 

1 hour ago, ChitChat said:

Of course Roland didn't let the cold weather stop him.  He was pretty amazing to watch

None of the people who do well on this show are what I would consider "average" people. Some are very eccentric, some seem oblivious to pain and discomfort, others never seem to be afraid of anything. I don't think I know anyone in my own life who could make it for more than a day or two on Alone. 

My fear when I started watching the show was that they were going to throw totally unqualified people into terrible conditions. I do appreciate how unusually skilled, tough and knowledgeable most of these people are. In this episode, not one person tapped out when realizing that they'd be stuck in the wilderness with grizzlies and cougars. 

[ProfCrash]

Can you imagine some of the contestants from season 1 or 2 in this environment? People were tapping then for all sorts of ridiculous reasons. Imagine the numbers if there had been bears and mountain lions. 

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

Yes, Dave had to be dragged out of his dark sooty shelter when his weight dropped to scary low...

Kicking and screaming that he had plenty of food...Look! I have lots of fish!

Unfortunately, he could NOT bring himself to eat his stores of dried fish to keep his weight up and keep him in the contest...

I think Dave was suffering from some sort of starvation psychosis.

[Yeah No]

16 hours ago, diebartdie said:

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)

I don't know that a person wouldn't continue losing weight on this show at a similar rate as an obese person even if they had prepared for it in this way beforehand.  This show puts them in a "desert island situation" that is not real life.  Some of them get dropped in tough areas where there are few food alternatives and they can't really move around that much in order to find a better location.  Also even at best there are few vegetable/carb alternatives in these environments.  It is mostly a protein diet and not even a high fat one, which is another reason they keep losing weight so rapidly.  You would have to eat a LOT of protein to counteract that - that's why low carb diets work!  There is only so much you can prepare for.  The rest of it is dependent on your environment.

ETA:  Also when you enter starvation mode you burn fat first, then muscle.  If you have a lot of fat to burn you can "live" off that and not be any worse off for it.  If you have less fat to burn you will start burning muscle sooner and that is less desirable.  

Edited June 9, 2021 by Yeah No

[Melina22]

6 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

This show puts them in a "desert island situation" that is not real life

This is so true. There's a reason these areas have no people. Some of them can't support life long term. Even Roland with all his skill and toughness might not have made it through the winter. 

[rmontro]

On 6/8/2021 at 9:59 PM, ProfCrash said:

Can you imagine some of the contestants from season 1 or 2 in this environment? People were tapping then for all sorts of ridiculous reasons. Imagine the numbers if there had been bears and mountain lions. 

You wouldn't have gotten me off the helicopter.  If you could get me on it in the first place.  Of course I didn't sign up for the show.

[Tango64]

On 6/8/2021 at 5:33 PM, humbleopinion said:

Tim had a food ration as one of his items.

Wonder which from the list he chose.

 

What are their options? Is there a link with info on the rules, what can they take, etc.?

[humbleopinion]

https://www.history.com/shows/alone/cast

Just click on the specific cast member and you can see their list of ten.

https://www.history.com/shows/alone/articles/gear-list

They have a gear list to choose...

Tim's lure  idea just got silver/shiny toothbrushes banned in the future....

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by humbleopinion

[Chit Chat]

On 6/8/2021 at 8:49 PM, Melina22 said:

My fear when I started watching the show was that they were going to throw totally unqualified people into terrible conditions. I do appreciate how unusually skilled, tough and knowledgeable most of these people are.

I think the last season had the most qualified group of people I've seen on this show.  There have been a number of individuals in each season who were really good, but I thought that casting did a better job of getting more qualified folks as a group overall.   One of my favorites will always be Carleigh Fairchild.  I still think she's pretty awesome. 

[madmax]

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

 One of my favorites will always be Carleigh Fairchild.  I still think she's pretty awesome. 

I loved Carleigh.  Was so upset during her redemption.

[OoogleEyes]

Biko and the Bone sounds like a 70's soft (porn) rock band. 

I didn't know that this was back, so I'm playing catch up. Everyone already said what I was thinking, but I just had to get my bad joke in. 

[LennieBriscoe]

On 6/6/2021 at 6:39 PM, Jeanne222 said:

My friends husband just returned from bear hunting up in Alaska!  They had the meat processed and shipped home on the plane!

The head to be mounted and the skin being processed.

I don’t like to see any animals killed. It just makes me sad. So even though he was using all of the bear it still died. 

There is such a huge new population in Alaska so I’m sure the bears are being run out like the deer here. 

No place to hide!  😔 

Yeah, no for me! After seeing that scene of the white worms crawling through the bear "scat," I would imagine them all through the bear meat and wouldn't eat a morsel of it! 

That's why God made grocery stores. 😁

[qtpye]

2 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Yeah, no for me! After seeing that scene of the white worms crawling through the bear "scat," I would imagine them all through the bear meat and wouldn't eat a morsel of it! 

That's why God made grocery stores. 😁

Yes, it really shows how beautiful and brutal nature can be and most of us are not prepared to live this kind of life.

I like nature but never could live like many of these people live. I do admire their skills

[jackjill89]

On 6/8/2021 at 12:06 PM, Melina22 said:

Terrifying! I know that for me, grizzlies are going to be like ghosts this season, always on my mind as I watch, haunting every scene even when l can't see them. (I wish I could go back and unwatch Grizzly Man). 

Still, I don't think they would have filmed this season in a location where there was an extremely high likelihood of grizzlies eating the contestants. I'm curious to know what steps they took to minimize this possibility. 

Speaking of Grizzly Man... Matt from the tropics reminds me a bit of Timothy Treadwell...

[DropTheSoap]

On 6/4/2021 at 9:26 PM, rainsmom said:

The comment I stupidly deleted about getting used to fasting before going on the show  

I’ve wondered this, also. 
 

I can see putting on weight, but preparing for the hunger also makes sense. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by DropTheSoap
Stupidly deleted what I was quoting.

[dranelittle]

On 6/4/2021 at 8:18 AM, ProfCrash said:

Seriously, allowing a contestant to participate when their heart is only functioning at 35%? Are you kidding me? That was a recipe for disaster. I am shocked they didn't have a medical camp on his site because they were playing with fire.

Nikki said that she was talking to him when he had been released from the hospital so I am guessing he was there for more then just a quick check up but who knows. I doubt it was a heart attack, I can't see him talking to Nikki by the camp fire calmly if he had another heart attack. He was clearly in pain at camp. I suspect that his anxiety only made that worse.

https://thecinemaholic.com/alone-season-8-everything-we-know-2 

The page above lists all the contestants.

On the plus side: I love that we are seeing bears and mountain lions on day one. The Contestants had better be paying attention because damn are the big predators there. I am going to get some of these names wrong but I think I have them matched to the right personalities.

Not sure how I feel about Rose. She seems to be slow in getting her camp together and making decisions. She hunts a lot but not so certain she has the long term survival chops. Her getting sick from the few berries that she ate was concerning.

Clay was the one who shot the bird on day one? Hopefully he is able to harvest and store a bunch of those mushrooms. He saw the mountain lion and thought about hunting it, that takes some balls. He seems to have the skills to survive but hasn't really worked on a shelter yet. that surprises me.

Biko should be interesting. I appreciate the overalls so that we don't get butt crack. Not sure I appreciate the signing but I suspect that we will get a good amount of it. He has the weight to win the show if he can pair that with a solid shelter and at least some food gathering.

Was Matt the hippie? I think that was Matt. Not sure about him. I didn't see him accomplish much of anything or really show any type of skill that made me think he was in this for the long haul.

Do you know how many calories you need every day to not lose weight?  3500 for a big, man, active all day out in the cold. Do you know how many calories are in a lb of mushrooms? ONE lousy hundred calories.  it costs more calories to gather most plant foods than  you get back! Doig so is a waste of time, other than for cambium and berries.  You can always burn the wood after you strip off the bark, ya know.