S09.E06: The Weasel

[Quilt Fairy]

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As the participants close in on the first thirty days, the lack of food and the desire to go home grows ever stronger in Labrador. The competitors continue to make each opportunity for food count, while the need for preservation has one getting creative. As a predator seeks to steal a survivalist’s recent catch, they are forced to go on the offensive.

Airdate: June 30, 2022.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Quilt Fairy

[iMonrey]

No Adam, no Karie Lee. I know I'm beating a dead horse here but this is a 90 minute show and there are only seven people. Do they get paid by the episode or something? You can't tell me they couldn't find five minutes to check in on these two people. I could have done without seeing Teimojin brush his teeth, or the long tribute to Terry's mother.

Speaking of the latter, if I were a betting man, I'd say Terry is getting a winner's edit. I didn't remember he caught a beaver too, seems like almost everyone is going to get one at some point. Notice how filthy Terry's fingernails are. I realize hygiene isn't what it should be out there in the wilderness but think of how dirty these people's hands are. Everything the put in their mouths is contaminated with whatever is on their hands. It's a wonder more of them don't tap out sick.

Jessie continues to build something that looks like it should be on HGTV. I think she may have a touch of OCD, by her own admission.

So emergency response can take up to an hour? It took four hours to reach Benji last week. I imagine if they are tapping out and not in an emergency they come by boat, whereas if it's life threatening they come by chopper. Still, that's a long time to wait if it's really serious.

Juan Pablo's fish head jello soup looked absolutely disgusting.

[AZChristian]

Maybe Adam and Karie Lee aren't filming anything worth watching.  Surely the folks who come to do the med check and replace camera batteries and memory cards are allowed to tell them to do more filming???

I can almost imagine Jessie turning Hodge Podge Lodge into a VRBO when her time on the show is done.  LOL.

[HurricaneVal]

It was nice to see Jessie and Teimojin in last night's episode.  We learned some stuff.  Jessie packed on 30 pounds in preparation for this, which is always a good idea, and some of the others mentioned doing that as well, but it seemed like only a few pounds.  I see now that her strategy was to concentrate on shelter building and use up those fat reserves while doing so, then turn her attention to getting food.  Apparently so she can hunker down in her cozy home, eating by the fire?  I still think her shelter is at least twice as large as it needs to be, maybe even three times the size as it needs to be.  Any homeowner in a cold climate will tell you that's a lot of space to heat up and keep warm.  Unless her strategy is to fill up half of it with stored dry firewood, she's going to wish she had smaller ambitions.

I know the shelter/food priorities balance is really key in this game.  I think the best balance is to do a hasty but good temporary shelter while the weather is relatively warm, plan and strategize a more permanent and sturdy shelter for when the weather turns.  Perhaps that takes the form of a whole new shelter, or perhaps that means transforming and improving the hasty shelter.  In the meantime.....food, food, food.  Gather wild fruits, nuts, vegetables and other edibles and devise some sort of storage system.  Fish, fish, fish, as much as you can.  Use the guts for bait as you trap, trap, trap.  Hunt quail, squirrels, rabbits....whatever you can find while you're fishing and trapping.  Build a smokehouse so you can preserve most of the fish and game you're getting. 

The problem is the turning weather doesn't just mean you need a warm shelter in place before it is too late, it also means that the fish start seeking deeper water, and stop hanging out close to shore, small game hides away or flat out hibernates.  So if you concentrate on shelter thing, thinking you'll do the food thing later, "later" may come too late and there's no way to catch up.  This is where Jessie is, and where Igor would have been.  Unless she's got some sort of honey hole of a fishing or trapping spot, I think she's screwed.

This is the point in the game where everyone is getting lonely, we heard a LOT of talk of family and loved ones left behind.  Hell, Terry had an entire segment dedicated to his mother!  I didn't like Terry in the beginning, but he's growing on me.  Then he did that whole bit dedicated to his mother and I thought "Uh-oh...."  Juan Pablo is straight up in it for the money, because he feels inadequate in some way?  He didn't seem as crazy this episode as he was on the last episode, but his single minded goal of the prize at the end will either carry him through, or break him.

I literally laughed at Teimojin building two shelters in the time that Jessica built one.  In apex predator country, you really, really, really don't want to have food smells lingering around where you're sleeping and most vulnerable.

I am disappointed nobody is building a boat.  Every season I mock the person who builds a boat because it ultimately proves to be unstable and impractical.  Fishing from an unstable boat never seems to turn out well.  Or, rather, sometimes it "turns" out well!

[mlp]

I think Jessie is kind of flaky but I was impressed with her fire pit.  She's going to end up in trouble though for the reasons stated above.  

Juan Pablo is totally clean shaven a month in.  So is Teimojin except for his mustache.  How are they doing that?  I wouldn't think anyone would choose a razor as one of their items because of limited usefulness but I don't think a man could get such a smooth shave with something homemade.  

I don't understand why the film editors keep using the same background shots over and over.  Surely they had lots to work with.  They made it look like a tree with fungi growing on the side was in two different locations when it was the same shot of the same tree.

[SassyCat]

I do wish they would show more of the building of the shelters instead of the kills and the processing of them. They seem to be concentrating too much on making us watch the bloody animal body scenes. I wish the poor little white weasel was quicker than the arrow. It was not more than a few mouthfuls but would have been better as a cute little visitor to the campsite where a few morsels tossed his way would be worth more than gold, for the cute companionship and breaking up of the monotomy of being ALONE. 
Jessies huge mansion in the woods will be too hard to heat. I’d like to see the inside of that shelter. She still has a long way to go to outfit the interior of it with whatever kind of stove or fireplace she intends to use, plus bed, and cozying it up with more insulation. It is a nice touch to have that front porch with the tarp awning she has. 
Theres one guy there... I am STILL not familiar by name all these contestants, but is it Tom?... who started out looking mighty thin. Whoever that is, I don’t think he’ll make it too long before he gets pulled for low BMI.

[iMonrey]

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Unless she's got some sort of honey hole of a fishing or trapping spot, I think she's screwed.

Yeah, I don't fancy Jessie's chances of making it much further. They're all going to have a much harder time finding fish or game when it turns colder, but she's not even doing well now. 

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Maybe Adam and Karie Lee aren't filming anything worth watching.

Except that Adam was sick in the last episode, so I half expected him to tap out this week because I figured the show probably didn't want two people tapping out for the same reason in the same episode. Also, Karie Lee is quite the "character." Hard to believe she wasn't featured because there was no interesting footage. Plus, the show keeps jumping around in the timeline anyway. I really don't understand why the show only features five people per episode.

[Jeanne222]

I think the woman decided to build a comfortable shelter using the 30 lbs she put on. 
If she’s as good at finding food as she is at building she’ll be fine. 
Women like to be comfortable in whatever they are calling home. That little porch overhang should be nice come cold, snowy, windy winter.   She can store her firewood there. 

[AZChristian]

4 hours ago, mlp said:

Juan Pablo is totally clean shaven a month in.  So is Teimojin except for his mustache.  How are they doing that?  I wouldn't think anyone would choose a razor as one of their items because of limited usefulness but I don't think a man could get such a smooth shave with something homemade.  

Hispanic and Asian men GENERALLY do not have as much facial hair as Caucasian men.  These two gentleman are possibly not "clean shaven" . . . they may have some stubble, but not as much as what we've seen on the other male contestants.

[madmax]

4 hours ago, mlp said:

Juan Pablo is totally clean shaven a month in.  So is Teimojin except for his mustache.  How are they doing that?  I wouldn't think anyone would choose a razor as one of their items because of limited usefulness but I don't think a man could get such a smooth shave with something homemade.  

Some ethnicities do not grow facial hair at the rate of Caucasians.  Our family has quite a bit of Hispanic heritage and two of my brothers could never grow any type of facial hair.  Two could grow moustaches only.

8 hours ago, iMonrey said:

 Notice how filthy Terry's fingernails are. I realize hygiene isn't what it should be out there in the wilderness but think of how dirty these people's hands are. Everything the put in their mouths is contaminated with whatever is on their hands. It's a wonder more of them don't tap out sick.

Remember Colton's from last season?  Terry reminds me of him in so many ways.  The dirty hands, his voice, his closeness to his mother.

I think Jessie bit off more than she could chew with that massive shelter.  It took over 30 days to get it done and it doesn't, to me, look as good as some that were whipped up in 10 days.  That's a lot of space to heat, which means twice as much firewood.  She could store it inside, which would help it dry better, but unless she starts getting a lot more protein, she won't be around long.

Not all of Terry's jerky looked done.  I saw lots of pink in some of that.  Hope he put those pieces back on the smoker.

Juan Pablo's fish head stew looked disgusting.  I hope he heated it back up before he ate it.  And was it the next day he found the grouse he hit?  Would the meat still be edible?  Of course, he doesn't boil his water, so maybe he doesn't care.

Tom (?) and the beaver...If you wouldn't have taken the shot any other time, or you wanted to wait for it to come on shore, then don't take the shot!!  Although, I don't think he mortally wounded it.  Maybe grazed it.  

[HurricaneVal]

20 minutes ago, madmax said:

Remember Colton's from last season?  Terry reminds me of him in so many ways.  The dirty hands, his voice, his closeness to his mother.

OMG!  That is so true!  Yikes....

[humbleopinion]

For a hot second thought Terry would burst out in tears over missing his Mama...

Terry verbally reminds himself to smile for the camera....pause...creepy grin.....

Teimojin's annoying whining about having so much student debt from medical school.....waah waah..

Dude, at least you have the skills to knock down that debt by working your butt off for the next 10 years and stop playing Jeremiah Johnson.

[DrewPaul2010]

7 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I am disappointed nobody is building a boat.  Every season I mock the person who builds a boat because it ultimately proves to be unstable and impractical.  Fishing from an unstable boat never seems to turn out well.  Or, rather, sometimes it "turns" out well!

Someone built a boat last season and had some success...didn't tip in it probably would have killed him. The man who made a small dock is having success so its not without merit.

[mlp]

2 hours ago, madmax said:

Some ethnicities do not grow facial hair at the rate of Caucasians.  Our family has quite a bit of Hispanic heritage and two of my brothers could never grow any type of facial hair.  Two could grow moustaches only.

That must be it.  My daughter-in-law is Mexican and the boys, now grown men, have heavy beards so I didn't think of that.

[Yeah No]

Speaking of the facial hair, when Igor tapped out his mustache was still perfectly groomed and I was wondering how he achieved that.  I don't keep track of what they're allowed to bring but is it possible that they bring tools with them that can serve "double duty" like knives, etc?

I agree, @mlp, that Jessie is a flake, but I often feel that way about the women on this show.  I somehow don't think building the Taj Mahal of shelters was worth the 30 lbs. and 30 days it took to build it especially at the expense of finding food.  She didn't need one half that size.  These people that are averaging a pound a day of loss already while the wildlife is relatively plentiful are going to continue to lose at that rate or worse if they can't find enough food going forward.  And with the colder weather coming, food will become more scarce.  It looks to me inevitable that a lot of them are going to be pulled around the same time because of that weight loss unless they do something radical and find food.

At first I found Terry's speech about his mother touching, but then he went on just a little too long about it and I ended up feeling like it was mildly creepy.

When Juan Pablo started talking about missing his partner I was worried he was going to tap out like so many do when they start talking about missing loved ones, but thankfully he lived up to my expectations of him and didn't give into it.  He's made of tougher stuff and I admire that.  Teimojin is also impressing me and despite the mildly creepy yet touching speech, so is Terry.  These are people that are able to handle being alone for long periods AND have the skills necessary to go the distance.  I'm actually starting to enjoy the season because of that. 

I'm just not in love with the choice of editing this season.  I actually didn't remember much about Terry because seeing these people is so spotty at best.  I have never had that feeling so far into a season and know it's because they leave people out for weeks and then come back to them like we're all supposed to remember exactly what they were doing two weeks ago.  It messes with the continuity in my brain. 

[madmax]

12 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

Terry verbally reminds himself to smile for the camera....pause...creepy grin.....

Shit, I forgot about that!  And at the end of the speech, a creepy smile at the camera.  He's got some weirdo vibes going.

[iMonrey]

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I think Jessie bit off more than she could chew with that massive shelter.  It took over 30 days to get it done and it doesn't, to me, look as good as some that were whipped up in 10 days.

It only took Tom five days to put together that reinforced dugout (the one he built into the side of a hill). That's damned impressive. Considering Jessie's vast experience as a SERE specialist in the military, I'd love to hear from someone she trained and what they think of what she's doing out there. It's hard to believe someone so skilled as a survivalist would make such a rookie mistake.

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These are people that are able to handle being alone for long periods AND have the skills necessary to go the distance.  I'm actually starting to enjoy the season because of that. 

This is turning out to be one of my favorites seasons - partly because of the people, but also the new location. It's a much better fit for this show, seems like more plentiful game and wildlife. We'll see how it goes when it starts to snow though. 

[rmontro]

On 7/1/2022 at 11:05 AM, iMonrey said:

No Adam, no Karie Lee. I know I'm beating a dead horse here but this is a 90 minute show and there are only seven people. Do they get paid by the episode or something? You can't tell me they couldn't find five minutes to check in on these two people. I could have done without seeing Teimojin brush his teeth, or the long tribute to Terry's mother.

Speaking of the latter, if I were a betting man, I'd say Terry is getting a winner's edit.

Interesting, I found myself wondering if Terry was the winner too when watching this episode.  

You may be on to something about paying them by the episode.  Cut a few people out every episode and they save themselves some money.   I never could stand watching people brush their teeth, they do this so often on all kinds of TV shows, it really annoys me.

On 7/1/2022 at 2:47 PM, mlp said:

 Juan Pablo is totally clean shaven a month in.  So is Teimojin except for his mustache.  How are they doing that?  I wouldn't think anyone would choose a razor as one of their items because of limited usefulness but I don't think a man could get such a smooth shave with something homemade.  

I've been wondering if they provide everybody with a razor, just to let them look more presentable for the camera.

I'm not even sure why Juan Pablo shot the weasel, he seemed immediately regretful.  Did he shoot it in a moment of anger because it tried to grab his grouse?

[LittleIggy]

Juan Pablo can go eff himself for killing that beautiful little weasel. Bastard! 😡 There was no reason for that. I want to see him tap ASAP.

[mlp]

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

'm not even sure why Juan Pablo shot the weasel, he seemed immediately regretful.  Did he shoot it in a moment of anger because it tried to grab his grouse?

I wondered myself as he didn't sound like he planned to eat it.  I also wondered why the episode was named "The Weasel" when it got less than 5 minutes air time in a 90 minute show.  A better name would have been "Mommy Dearest."  :)

[Blackie]

On 7/1/2022 at 2:47 PM, mlp said:

Juan Pablo is totally clean shaven a month in.  So is Teimojin except for his mustache.

I think their genetic heritages are such that they don't grow a lot of facial hair. (I now see others have also replied the same)

On 7/1/2022 at 8:43 PM, humbleopinion said:

Teimojin's annoying whining about having so much student debt from medical school.....waah waah.

I was  wondering if he could have stayed in the Canadian Forces and had them pay for some/part of his medical school. I don't mind the guy and think he has a good chance, but his medical training will prevent him from pushing into the danger zone that some people may push themselves in to.

I think they are not showing everyone because maybe the others are just starving haha! I am interested in how they process their meat etc, more interesting then previous seasons where everyone is just starving. Jesse is starving but I guess she built an "interesting" shelter in the mean  time. Terry reminds me too much of Roland, he has a good chance of winning. Although Roland didn't give his mother speech until the end , so maybe that means Terry will be gone next week?

On 7/1/2022 at 7:49 PM, madmax said:

Remember Colton's from last season?  Terry reminds me of him in so many ways.  The dirty hands, his voice, his closeness to his mother.

  Adam reminds me of Colton...  lives with his parents, wants to buy his mom new teeth.

  I still think Juan Pablo can win except everyone is going o hate him now because of the weasel. If you can eat squirrel and mice I don't know why you couldn't eat a weasel. Although I think they have stinky glands so maybe that is a problem. He could use the organs for bait, I don't think it will be wasted. 

ETA: Roland killed the wolverine to protect his meat cache, although he ate it he didn't really need the extra food because he had lots of musk ox. The weasel would have been a threat to JP's food stores for sure. It is not illegal to hunt weasels so it is unfortunate that he killed the weasel without really a plan in mind for it. But I don't judge him morally for it because I'm sure he will make use of as much of it as he can.

Edited July 4, 2022 by Blackie
eta

[rmontro]

6 hours ago, Blackie said:

I still think Juan Pablo can win except everyone is going o hate him now because of the weasel. If you can eat squirrel and mice I don't know why you couldn't eat a weasel. Although I think they have stinky glands so maybe that is a problem. He could use the organs for bait, I don't think it will be wasted. 

The odd thing is Juan Pablo said "I didn't mean to hit it" after he shot the weasel.  I don't really believe that though, because the arrow appeared to go through it dead center.  I can believe he didn't intend to eat it, but that was no warning shot.  

Maybe "The Weasel" was the right title for this episode after all, because the weasel has gotten a good deal of the discussion here.  Maybe they even thought it was going to be more controversial than it was.

[Blackie]

I just did some reading about eating weasel.

Firstly, not kosher, so there is that.

They are CARNIVORES, they are voracious hunters and killers of other animals even ones bigger then themselves. Sometimes they don't kill their prey with one bite and they have to keep biting it until it dies . (Nature is not always kind and beautiful)

You can eat the meat but it would probably taste really really bad. But they are in the same general family as wolverine and Roland ate the wolverine so we will see what JP does with it.

[Jeanne222]

Re the Weasel I remember  Tom Oar and his wife Nancy on another Alaska show Mountain Men.   He trapped a Weasel / Ermine and did great things with it.  He cleaned and mounted the head on something or other and used the skin.  He sells a lot of things over on Etsy.

I wonder if this is what he will do.