S09.E05: The Land Giveth...

[Quilt Fairy]

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The participants continue to look for new ways to hunt but also preserve their food sources; one survivalist leans heavily on a taxing shelter build while another pauses for some much needed sustenance.

Airdate: June 23, 2022

Edited June 24, 2022 by Quilt Fairy

[iMonrey]

No Terry or Tiemojin. It's a 90 minute show and there are only eight people. I don't see why each can't be covered. Neither Karie Lee nor Jessie were doing much of anything, I wish I knew what random method they use to choose who to feature.

You would think Jessie, the former Air Force survival instructor, would know better than to waste so much energy building such an elaborate structure. If she were teaching cadets how to survive in the wilderness would she advise them to build a huge "hodgepodge lodge" like that? I think her skill set is geared more toward temporary survival, until the rescue plane comes. 

Benji's more sensible teepee didn't save him from Giardia, though. Guess he should have been more careful with that beaver meat. Adam is the one who caught the rabbit - I wonder if that's what made him sick. He did say it looked like the meat was starting to turn. Too bad he couldn't teach Benji how to make that restorative tea. We'll see if holds up next week. Also: Adam's mom needs new teeth?

I'm shocked Juan Pablo hasn't gotten sick by now if he's not boiling his drinking water. It also sounds like he got stuck with a lousy spot, no squirrels or grouse. Good thinking on the dock though. Since he only ate three of the six fish he caught how does he plan to preserve the other three? Or can he cook them and then save them? It doesn't look like he built anything to smoke them with.

Tom's shelter looked pretty elaborate, kind of like a reinforced dugout, but it seems like he put it together pretty quickly. Maybe he can give Jessie a few tips.

Wow, it took the rescue squad four hours to reach Benji after he called in. Imagine if he was really on death's door. He might not have made it. One down, six more to go. I still think Adam has the best temperament to outlast the others, although Terry and Tom have good skill sets. Tiemojin too.

[HurricaneVal]

I can't believe Juan Pablo is drinking the water straight, without boiling it first.  He's the one with the actual freaking stove, made from that cache of tin cans, for crying out loud!  There's a reason it is called "beaver fever" and we know there are beavers there.  It doesn't seem like he has much small game, that's for sure.  I wonder if that big pile of cans is indicative that his territory was once the site of a big hunting camp, and the local animals have learned to avoid it because of the human stink.  That was a huge pile of cans he found, some of them quite big, so that was either a lot of hunters/fishermen camping there for a while, or one guy there for a long time.  Juan Pablo was starting to get a little batty there, all about how he wasn't in a competition, he was just there to subsist and survive, and he will never tap out because that isn't an option.  Maybe that's his coping mechanism: make up this lost or castaway character in his mind, to make it more about survival and less about competition and prize money.  Not a bad strategy, if that's what it is, but hopefully he doesn't fall so far into that delusion that he forgets he has the radio and the emergency button.  At least there's the daily check ins and medical visits, so if he really starts to go around the bend and starts to starve himself, then he'll get pulled.  I hope when production comes to swap out batteries and SD cards, the footage is assessed for mental stability and not just viewability.

I was getting confused between Adam and Benji last night.  There was just so much moaning and groaning and gagging and intestinal distress in the episode so that it all kind of ran together.  What a miserable four hours that must have been, waiting for pick up.

I'm disappointed in not seeing much of Tiemojin.  He and Jessica are my favorites, but Jessica certainly isn't getting a winner's edit.  And I can't tell what sort of edit Tiemojin is getting except for "invisible."  Jessica's "Hodgepodge Lodge" is easily twice as big as it should be.  Either she got too stuck in the "plan for long term survival" and was thinking about what would be comfortable for the long term, or she let the contours of the embankment she's using as part of her shelter dictate the size of the shelter.  Since she talked a lot about that when she was first designing it, I suspect that's what happened.  She was trying to utilize the embankment as two sides of her shelter minimize the amount of work she needed to do, but in doing so, actually increased the width of it, so she's got nearly as much wood cutting and log hauling and lifting and tying as if she built all sides of a smaller shelter from wood.  And I think she's starting to figure that out now.  Just like the last guy though, she's not rethinking and scaling back her design.  She's fixated on an impossible goal now.

[humbleopinion]

Benj- Thank you for never me eating beaver.

The parting shot of a beaver eating a branch while Benji was boating away after tapping was a nice touch.

[iMonrey]

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What a miserable four hours that must have been, waiting for pick up.

I don't imagine the four-hour trip back to base camp was any picnic either. I hope they brought him some Pepto Bismol or something.

[madmax]

I don't understand why these people are building such huge shelters.  Igor, Jessie,  and was it Benji building the teepee like thing that looked HUGE.  More space means more heat means more firewood, not to mention the time to build it.

All that beaver meat Benji had is now going to waste.  And I don't know how much I would trust that fat in a dugout log.  But what do I know?

Juan Pablo said he never boils his water.  Could be that his stomach is hardened to the bugs if he's been doing it all his life.  Hope he smoked those fish for later.  The fish won't be there forever.  As long as he doesn't end up like David.

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

No Terry or Tiemojin. It's a 90 minute show and there are only eight people. I don't see why each can't be covered. Neither Karie Lee nor Jessie were doing much of anything, I wish I knew what random method they use to choose who to feature.

Seriously, 90 minutes and you can only show a few?  Give everyone at least one or two segments.

[Blackie]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

t's a 90 minute show an

Is it?  I just watch on my DVR and never looked at the length of the show, although I was thinking it was going on pretty long.

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Tom's shelter looked pretty elaborate

His fireplace was beautiful

6 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

The parting shot of a beaver eating a branch while Benji was boating away after tapping was a nice touch.

Revenge of the beaver!!  Yes Benji had some skills and good luck with the hunting but you can't control how the body will cope with the introduction of new parasites. I think that is why Juan Pablo may have some advantage.

I wonder if Benji got to take the beaver pelt home with him. Maybe they take the rest of the meat home as well so not to waste it, or maybe they don't want to risk it and through it in the bush for the bears and fox.

53 minutes ago, madmax said:

Juan Pablo said he never boils his water.  Could be that his stomach is hardened to the bugs if he's been doing it all his life.

I believe so,

9 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I can't believe Juan Pablo is drinking the water straight, without boiling it first.

Juan Pablo grew up in Mexico and never had clean water and never drinks boiled water. He probably has some amount of immunity. I said before my money is on him.  He knows how to really suffer, he grew up in Mexico and now lives in Manitoba where there are 2 seasons, winter and mosquito season😆 He has already done a prolonged winter survival. Now that he is able to get fish, I am betting on him.

ETA: wow Adam is good with his bow, I think it would be so hard to shoot a squirrel with an arrow.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Blackie
eta

[Yeah No]

The editing is really weird this season.  I'm still finding it hard to keep track of who is who and that's despite them showing fewer people.  Usually by now I have everyone straight but they go weeks without showing people and by the time we see them again I need a refresher. 

There was one segue that was confusing.  I wasn't sure if they were moving to a different person or still on Benji.  I thought maybe I blinked and didn't see the name.  But I think it was still him even though we weren't seeing his face at that point and his identity wasn't obvious from the content.  Maybe they don't have the quality of video to show us this season so they're doing the best they can but whatever is happening it's not very satisfying.  When we saw Jessie and Karie Lee it was at least two weeks since we'd seen them last.  And maybe it's me but it didn't look like there was much progress made by Jessie on her shelter.  Had only a few days passed in "real time" even though we're seeing it two weeks later?  It's really hard for me to keep track of that this season and I never felt that way before with this show.

Juan Pablo may have grown used to parasites in Mexico but he is in a very different part of the continent right now and I'm concerned that he may one day encounter a parasite he's not used to and that will take him out.  I hope not.

I was unclear about how Benji got sick on the beaver.  Did he not cook it enough?  Had it or the fat gone a little off?  The little pop up said something about how you can still get sick from beaver even if it's cooked.  I don't know if I read that right but that really confused me.  

[humbleopinion]

Benji self diagnosed himself with giardiasis most likely when he was processing the beaver he contaminated the meat with feces from the lack of soap and clean running water to wash his hands and knife.

You could tell by the editing he was getting set up to tap by tooting his horn and being too self congratulatory on his ability to procure food...fishing, grouse, The Beav (nod to Leave It to Beaver)

Could have done with less body camera sound track of him heaving out his guts to the point you could hear his stomach turning inside out on to itself...

[humbleopinion]

Anyone else liking Adam's creativity with his translucent white checked pattern tarp....roof, window treatment, flap door and crafty bag to hold his bedside cranberries?

Very IKEA.

First quotable quote of the season, courtesy of Adam is "Mama needs new teeth" replacing the old saying "Mama needs new shoes."

[Blackie]

5 hours ago, Yeah No said:

The editing is really weird this season.  I'm still finding it hard to keep track of who is who and that's despite them showing fewer people.  Usually by now I have everyone straight but they go weeks without showing people and by the time we see them again I need a refresher. 

I am so happy that this is the year I decided to write out a cheat sheet for myself to follow along with. Especially since we go whole episodes or more without seeing someone.

5 hours ago, Yeah No said:

There was one segue that was confusing.  I wasn't sure if they were moving to a different person or still on Benji.  I thought maybe I blinked and didn't see the name.  But I think it was still him even though we weren't seeing his face at that point and his identity wasn't obvious from the content. 

. I was especially confusing have Adam being sick at night then cut to someone doing Qi Qong  exercises in the morning with an upset stomach. I guess I missed where they said that was Benji so I thought it was Adam, until he said he thought he was sick from eating such a big protein meal.

5 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I was unclear about how Benji got sick on the beaver.  D

I don't know if you get symptoms of giardiasis that soon. I thought if you drank infected water camping you would get the symptoms weeks later when you are already home. Maybe it is different if you have a high exposure from the meat. But it is more probable that he infected himself earlier from processing the beaver or from the water. Or maybe he is having a gall bladder attack from eating all that fat. I would like to hear his final diagnosis.

3 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

Anyone else liking Adam's creativity with his translucent white checked pattern tarp....roof, window treatment, flap door and crafty bag to hold his bedside cranberries?

Very IKEA.

First quotable quote of the season, courtesy of Adam is "Mama needs new teeth" replacing the old saying "Mama needs new shoes."

Ya where do you get a tarp like that ! I want one. I was sure hoping he didn't tap out because he had such a nice shelter. He doesn't seem to have his own family, just his parents. 

ETA : YES! I just asked Dr Google and symptoms of giardiasis don't generally start for 1-2 weeks after infection so I don't think it was that particular meal that did it. It is so hard to tell from the timeline how long after killing the beaver that was. I hope we get a follow up so we can learn his diagnosis.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Blackie
eta and corrections

[Rebky]

12 hours ago, madmax said:

I don't understand why these people are building such huge shelters.  Igor, Jessie,  and was it Benji building the teepee like thing that looked HUGE.  More space means more heat means more firewood, not to mention the time to build it.

All that beaver meat Benji had is now going to waste.  And I don't know how much I would trust that fat in a dugout log.  But what do I know?

Juan Pablo said he never boils his water.  Could be that his stomach is hardened to the bugs if he's been doing it all his life.  Hope he smoked those fish for later.  The fish won't be there forever.  As long as he doesn't end up like David.

Seriously, 90 minutes and you can only show a few?  Give everyone at least one or two segments.

Igor was building our love shack. Alas, twas not to be *sob*

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, Blackie said:

I don't know if you get symptoms of giardiasis that soon. 

ETA : YES! I just asked Dr Google and symptoms of giardiasis don't generally start for 1-2 weeks after infection so I don't think it was that particular meal that did it. 

Thanks for checking on the incubation period of giardiasis.  Looked (and sounded) like he may have had plain old food poisoning.  I got that from eating undercooked chicken at a restaurant, and it took less than 48 hours for me to be as sick as Benji.  The pain was so bad that I told the doctor, "The last time I had this much pain in my abdomen, I at least got a baby out of the ordeal."

After seeing the episode, I think the famous quote on the screen at the beginning  should have been "Pride goeth before a fall."

[iMonrey]

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I don't understand why these people are building such huge shelters.  Igor, Jessie,  and was it Benji building the teepee like thing that looked HUGE.

This is what separates the people with real skills to do this kind of thing from people who just play at it. Most of the past winners got by with very rudimentary shelters, little more than a tent and a sleeping bag. The ones that spend enormous amounts of energy on elaborate shelters don't tend to last long. They are here for the wrong reason, IMO, or else don't have a realistic idea of what this will be like.

(Benji actually constructed a very sensible teepee. It was Tom who had a more elaborate shelter, although editing suggested he threw it together rather quickly.)

I really enjoyed Adam's little drive-up window.

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Juan Pablo grew up in Mexico and never had clean water and never drinks boiled water. He probably has some amount of immunity.

Can you have immunity to parasites, though? And, if so, all of them? I don't know. I have a feeling this is what's going to do him in.

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I am so happy that this is the year I decided to write out a cheat sheet for myself to follow along with. Especially since we go whole episodes or more without seeing someone.

I always do that, and yes it helps. A lot of the participants tend to be very similar, both physically and temperamentally. I mean, you have to figure the type of people who'd want to try something like this are going to have very similar personality types and backgrounds.

Edited June 25, 2022 by iMonrey

[Rebky]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

This is what separates the people with real skills to do this kind of thing from people who just play at it. Most of the past winners got by with very rudimentary shelters, little more than a tent and a sleeping bag. The ones that spend enormous amounts of energy on elaborate shelters don't tend to last long. They are here for the wrong reason, IMO, or else don't have a realistic idea of what this will be like.

(Benji actually constructed a very sensible teepee. It was Tom who had a more elaborate shelter, although editing suggested he threw it together rather quickly.)

I really enjoyed Adam's little drive-up window.

Can you have immunity to parasites, though? And, if so, all of them? I don't know. I have a feeling this is what's going to do him in.

I always do that, and yes it helps. A lot of the participants tend to be very similar, both physically and temperamentally. I mean, you have to figure the type of people who'd want to try something like this are going to have very similar personality types and backgrounds.

My first thought was, "I will have a grilled beaver's tail, no condiments, double salt and pepper. With ranch sauce if you have it".

[Tango64]

I don’t have any problem with hunting on this show or otherwise, but I could do with fewer comments about the squirrel families being sad for one another as they’re picked off one by one. 

[diebartdie]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

This is what separates the people with real skills to do this kind of thing from people who just play at it. Most of the past winners got by with very rudimentary shelters, little more than a tent and a sleeping bag. The ones that spend enormous amounts of energy on elaborate shelters don't tend to last long.

Except for Roland who built Rock House.

[madmax]

2 hours ago, diebartdie said:

Except for Roland who built Rock House.

Even Rock House wasn't huge, tho.  He used the existing rock and built onto it.  He didn't build a massive shelter like Igor and  Jessie.

[rmontro]

On 6/24/2022 at 11:16 AM, iMonrey said:

No Terry or Tiemojin. It's a 90 minute show and there are only eight people. I don't see why each can't be covered. 

How can we be treated to a half hour of Benji being nauseas and vomiting if the feature more people?  Tonight on a very special Alone...

The weird thing is some episodes are an hour, and this is what they choose to pad it with?  At least I can't blame Benji for tapping out.

[GreyBunny]

When Juan Pablo was talking about his cast iron stomach, I thought for sure he’d be the one to get sick since we heard puking in the previews and being hardy to Mexican bugs is no guarantee a Labrador bug won’t get him. Alas, it was Benji (who had good odds up until then) and Drive-Thru Adam with their tag-team puke-a-thon. At least the latter had some tea and a lighter case and he got better. Poor Benji, he probably got it while mucking about near the beaver dam.

I love that the contestants name their forts: Rock House, Hodgepodge Lodge…

The best structure that balances protection from the elements and reserving energy to build seems to be a teepee with a fireplace and an above-ground bed. Small enough to heat but large enough to move around and work on indoor projects if the weather is bad. Igor way overdid it and HPL has too many weird rooms.

Nice dock, I hope he doesn’t get dizzy from the lack of calories and fall in.

Edited June 26, 2022 by GreyBunny

[mlp]

15 hours ago, rmontro said:

The weird thing is some episodes are an hour, and this is what they choose to pad it with?

I've also noticed that we keep seeing some of the nature shots over and over.  You'd think the editors had more footage than they knew what to do with and wouldn't have to repeat.  Now that I think about it, the same has been true on previous seasons.

[Yeah No]

On 6/25/2022 at 6:53 AM, Blackie said:

I am so happy that this is the year I decided to write out a cheat sheet for myself to follow along with. Especially since we go whole episodes or more without seeing someone.

I usually keep a web page open with their photos, names and short bios in the first few weeks.  Somehow I haven't been doing that this season.  They flash their names on the screen so fast that sometimes I have to back it up to catch who it is.  And these days I have a bad attitude about having to do that.  I don't remember it going by that fast in previous seasons.

10 hours ago, GreyBunny said:

When Juan Pablo was talking about his cast iron stomach, I thought for sure he’d be the one to get sick since we heard puking in the previews and being hardy to Mexican bugs is no guarantee a Labrador bug won’t get him.

I've been thinking this too, that there are likely a few different bugs in the far Northeast than there are in Mexico.  If "Gringos" get "Montezuma's Revenge" when we drink their water there's no reason not to think that one day he might run across a bug to which he's not immune.

[rmontro]

4 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I usually keep a web page open with their photos, names and short bios in the first few weeks.  Somehow I haven't been doing that this season.  They flash their names on the screen so fast that sometimes I have to back it up to catch who it is.  And these days I have a bad attitude about having to do that.  I don't remember it going by that fast in previous seasons.

That's the type of thing that drives me crazy about watching Pawn Stars, which has those information pop ups at the bottom of the screen.  I'll be watching and listening, and then one of those boxes will pop up, and I'll be "Wait, what was that?", and my OCD makes me back up to see what it says.  

Learning the names is kind of like that.  Also, I want to know what day it is for some reason ("Day 24 7 p,m.").  I know a few of the names.  I learned Benji this week.  Oops, he's gone.  Oh well.

[Blackie]

52 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I've been thinking this too, that there are likely a few different bugs in the far Northeast than there are in Mexico.  If "Gringos" get "Montezuma's Revenge" when we drink their water there's no reason not to think that one day he might run across a bug to which he's not immune.

Its not so much that he is "immune" it is that he has been exposed to a more variety of bacteria and parasites in his life so his gut flora will be more diverse and his immune system not so likely to "freak" out if it encounters something different. Violent vomiting and diarrhea is our immune system going into over drive to get something out of our body. If he encounters something new, maybe he will just have low grade symptoms that he can deal with better. I used to work in a parasitology lab and sometimes we would get samples from people who just arrived from other countries and they had ALL the parasites. And presumably they were walking around just fine. Maybe in the long term they aren't fine but they aren't violently puking their guts out.

I could absolutely be wrong, but for now I'm still team JP

[Yeah No]

13 hours ago, Blackie said:

Its not so much that he is "immune" it is that he has been exposed to a more variety of bacteria and parasites in his life so his gut flora will be more diverse and his immune system not so likely to "freak" out if it encounters something different. Violent vomiting and diarrhea is our immune system going into over drive to get something out of our body. If he encounters something new, maybe he will just have low grade symptoms that he can deal with better. I used to work in a parasitology lab and sometimes we would get samples from people who just arrived from other countries and they had ALL the parasites. And presumably they were walking around just fine. Maybe in the long term they aren't fine but they aren't violently puking their guts out.

I could absolutely be wrong, but for now I'm still team JP

Those people arriving from other countries, were they drinking our tap water or raw water in the wild?  I would think there's worse stuff in raw water.  I don't know, I was always taught that it's a matter of encountering bacteria and viruses one has never encountered before to become sick even if one has been exposed to a lot of things.  All it takes is one that's not like anything he's been exposed to before.  At best it's a gamble and one I wouldn't want to make.  People underestimate the Northeast but we have our toxic shit up here that no one is immune to.  For example, although rare, hantavirus from mouse poop can be fatal.  Even if he didn't get that sick there can be lifelong effects from having had something.  Also, even Mexicans often don't drink their own tap water and if they do they often regularly get sick on it, or so I've read over and over again.  We'll see what happens!  

Edited June 27, 2022 by Yeah No

[AZChristian]

I suspect the "I have a stronger stomach because I've been drinking bad water for years" is a hint that he's going to be taken out by drinking unboiled water.  Just my opinion.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

I suspect the "I have a stronger stomach because I've been drinking bad water for years" is a hint that he's going to be taken out by drinking unboiled water.  Just my opinion.

Yup, I agree!

[humbleopinion]

Alone editors love the self fulfilling prophesy clip....and throwing it at the tapper's face as they boat away.....

Beji flippantly chattering how ahead of the game he was and saying only illness or injury will take him out....

Welp, it was barfing his stomach out and the squirts that did him in.

JP's luck with stanky water has just been jinxed by his saying to the camera that he is not worried about Labrador water.

Could his energy be lower? Or is he just droll?
Talking sounds painful for him... 

[dbell1]

Ahh Benji, you spend a few episodes talking about viewers who don’t wake up every morning sharpening their axes or watching tv instead of being rugged. Guess what? None of us would be scraping fat off a dead animal pelt days after it’s killed. Common sense. 

Very impressed with Adam. He went looking for nature’s remedies. 

Why would someone with a stove NOT boil water? 😬 
 

[iMonrey]

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Why would someone with a stove NOT boil water? 😬 
 

And his excuse is that it's a waste of his time and energy but how much time/energy does that really take? I just think he's overconfident that untreated water will have no ill affect on him. 

[LittleIggy]

On 6/24/2022 at 3:28 PM, humbleopinion said:

The parting shot of a beaver eating a branch while Benji was boating away after tapping was a nice touch.

I loved that! The beaver was like “So long, murderer!” Benji’s hubris bit him in the butt. 

[LittleIggy]

Please quit shoving the poor dead squirrels up close to the camera. 😬 Like bear 💩, I don’t have to see it over and over.