S09.E11: Fight, Flight or Freeze

[Quilt Fairy]

Quote

The remaining three participants continue to battle Labrador's harsh and below-freezing temperatures. 

Season finale.

Airdate: August 4, 2022.

[humbleopinion]

But wait...there's more!
Set your DVR for Alone: The Skills Challenge, a 30 minute show after the regular show.

[Tango64]

“Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you.”

And sometimes nobody even sees a bear, greatly disappointing the producers. 

[RunningMarket]

Congrats to Juan Pablo. His fasting paid off. I hope Kerrie Lee was given some whitening toothpaste when she got home - that fruit leather sure did a number on her mouth. Teimojin seems to be carrying some guilt that may be misplaced? He's upset he was busy studying to be a doctor? I'd prefer my physician put in the time, but that's just personal preference...

[Rebky]

I really enjoyed Kari Lee's optimism, love of the land, and skills. But when it got down to it, youth won out over experience. I was kind of surprised how Juan Paulo's GF looked exactly as I envisioned her. I hope they're very happy in the future.

[Quilt Fairy]

This show always seems to go out with a whimper instead of a bang.  

ETA:  The new teaser for the Frozen spin-off confirmed my original reading of the prize:  anyone who stays the full 50 days gets "their share" of the $500K, not $500K each.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Quilt Fairy

[Pine]

Most boring season ever.

[iMonrey]

Nothing against Teimojin, but we've seen his story over and over again. They come into this experience saying they're doing it for their family, and how much they want to do this for their family, and when they feel like they can't do it anymore they talk themselves into believing they have to quit because their family needs them to come home. It's just an excuse, they're just trying to justify quitting in their own mind. They really don't need to do it. If they're breaking down and feeling like they can't go on, they can just say that. They don't need to act like they're quitting because their families need them to quit and come home to them. It just sounds like a cop-out.

First time a winner wasn't featured on the first episode.

I would have put money on Karie Lee. The other two were fading fast while she was out there throwing snowballs. Maybe that's what did her in. Mad props to her, though.

When they came to do a medical check on Juan Pablo and he lifted up his shirt, he didn't even look that skinny. And why does he have no facial hair whatsoever? Genetic condition? 

I'm very happy for him, at the end of the day there was something very endearing about him. I wouldn't have thought he'd last two weeks not boiling the water but it looked like he was boiling it after it started snowing.

Quote

Most boring season ever.

Disagree, I thought it was one of the better seasons with some memorable contestants and a much more hospitable environment, game-wise. Evidenced by the fact that most of them lasted more than 40 days.

[diebartdie]

I was really pulling for kooky Karie Lee, she's very inspiring to me as I too am struggling with the idea of now I'm the oldest woman in my family. It's a strange feeling when your body is very clearly the actual chronological age you are but your mind and heart and desires are all youthful. Long live Karie Lee, I hope her wilderness school comes to fruition.

[DrewPaul2010]

9 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

This show always seems to go out with a whimper instead of a bang.  

ETA:  The new teaser for the Frozen spin-off confirmed my original reading of the prize:  anyone who stays the full 50 days gets "their share" of the $500K, not $500K each.

That's fair most contestants and maybe no one will reach 50 days.

[DrewPaul2010]

9 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

This show always seems to go out with a whimper instead of a bang.  

ETA:  The new teaser for the Frozen spin-off confirmed my original reading of the prize:  anyone who stays the full 50 days gets "their share" of the $500K, not $500K each.

I was glued to the TV wondering who was going to be last standing. Its always a war of attrition every show so no wonder the last remaining contestants are just about out of gas. Most of the contestants who took down the bigger game all got sick. Seems like the last few standing always have positive optimism. I believe Kari would have been pulled at the next check.

Juan Paulo looked like he still had a half a gallon in the tank. He had interesting tactics. Humans can go into a type of hibernation. Once the prospect of food isn't realistic its time to hunker down and burn as few a calories as possible. Of course the last few standing make it about a cause beyond themselves. I wonder when they tell the contestants how they ranked. He should have proposed on TV. That would be a new-story.

That would have been something had Kari won.

[AZChristian]

Summary of Season 9:  The contestant who drank unboiled water and chose not to eat (against the advice of all of us armchair experts) won.

[mlp]

I realized as I was watching that the final 3 were going out in the order I wanted them to.  I was really sick of listening to Teimojin talk about his mother.  I liked Kerrie Lee but I was pulling for Juan Pablo a little harder.  I sort of laughed when she was talking about approaching elderhood (or whatever she called it) when she's only 58 y/o.  My kids are just a few years younger than she is.  :)  Anyway, she did great and has no reason to ever hang her head about tapping out.

I'm very happy for Juan Pablo.  His win will be life-changing and I suspect that he will handle the money and whatever fame comes with it intelligently.  He clearly thought things through and made good decisions - even when we didn't understand them.

I always wonder if the loved one sneaking up on the winner is totally staged or maybe re-enacted.  I find it hard to believe that someone who has been totally alone for months and is used to the ambient sounds of the location and is tuned in to the sound of game or possible predators doesn't hear a creature as large as a human creeping up behind them.  Juan Pablo didn't even look surprised.

[meep.meep]

I liked that it was going to be a person of color, or a woman who won this year.  Good for Juan Paulo!

What I didn't like was that they essentially spoiled the final three in the intro scenes (the ones repeated at the beginning of each episode) because those were the only ones shown in snow.  Clearly the snow was going to come at the end, not in the middle.

[rmontro]

19 hours ago, RunningMarket said:

Teimojin seems to be carrying some guilt that may be misplaced? He's upset he was busy studying to be a doctor? I'd prefer my physician put in the time, but that's just personal preference...

Good point.  No matter what choices you make in life, there are things that going to end up being sacrificed.  There's only so much time in the day.  

I was rooting for Karie Lee, but I liked Juan Pablo too.  You sure can't say he didn't earn it.  I think he must be secretly Superman.  He didn't boil his water, he didn't have a fire for the first 62 days (!), and he fasted for something like the last two weeks.  He was the last man standing, but was still worried about being pulled by the med people.  I'm impressed with his determination, there's no way I could have done that.  Few people could, I think.  Poor Karie not having the strength to pull her bow was probably a big factor in her leaving, but I think Juan Pablo was going to win this one regardless.

It's amazing how tense this show gets when you get down to the last few segments and you know someone is going to tap out or get pulled. 

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

When they came to do a medical check on Juan Pablo and he lifted up his shirt, he didn't even look that skinny.

I noticed that too, maybe it was because of all the water he drank.  Plus his strategy was to conserve energy, and he wasn't eating, so his metabolism must have been down to nearly nothing.  I wonder how many calories he was burning a day?  I just hope this doesn't become the new model for winning, lay in a sleeping bag and starve.

[SassyCat]

(Posting this now I see myself and rmontro noticed a lot of the same things)

I am so happy for Teimojin. I had the feeling he  would be next to leave, last week, but I thought it was going to be due to his own fear of his body breaking down and long term damage. But it was discovering the deep unconditional love for mom and vowing to act upon it when he gets home. All these people did so good being alone with nothing but their own thoughts and self discovery.

Kerri Lee did so well and it was sad to see her try to pull the bows string and not have the strength to do it. That really got to her mentally and she was starved enough to not be able to fast just a few more days, but I don’t think Juan Paulo was going to let her beat him no matter what, unless pulled by the medics. 

Juan paulo and his having one thing simple to look forward to, his drinks of water, was a good way to keep his will power up and running. I see he made himself a rocket stove which I never noticed before. Now I see its because he never fired it up till this last episode! Incredible, knowing how cold it was the whole time. Good thing he had those extra cans and didn’t have to dig in the snow for another when he discovered the toxic paint one was not good. I would have made the same type of stove if I were doing this, it being the most efficient way of getting the most out of your wood. 

78 days?  He Looks amazing and no bones showing. Not a rib sticking out. He really did his homework on how to survive with nothing and used this information for the big win.

I laughed at him jumping to action when he got the call that the med team would be there in one hour. It was like people having unexpected company inform they are going to drop by and you haven’t done the dishes or vacuumed yet. Lol! His frantic water gathering, heating and drinking to get his blood and body on the plus side of the dehydration meter was just like a person scrambling to pull the place together for company.

I am so glad he won. Very deserved. All of the end three did very well. I liked this season very much, especially these last couple of episodes. 

Congratulations Juan Paul and future fiancée!

[TVbitch]

Even though I really hadn't been all season, I found myself rooting for Kerri Lee in the end. She is one tough broad, and it would have been so badass for an older lady to beat out the two young guys. Maybe people will donate a bit of money to help get her school going. 

JP was pretty adorable when he started to lose it. Good thing it ended fairly soon after that, or he might have had an accident. I do think the girlfriend sneaking up just as JP happens to be speaking about her is a "recreation." Why can't they just show us what actually happens? That's what the show is all about and having the loved one just walk up with the med people would be plenty intense and dramatic enough!  

[ChristmasJones]

I'm happy with the winner. I would have been happy with any of the final three winning. 

[Yeah No]

I predicted last week that Teimojin would be the first of the 3 to leave.  Even though I really wanted a woman to finally win I knew in my heart of hearts all along that it would be Juan Pablo.  He impressed me in just about every way.  Even though he went a little crazy at the end, he knew it and was actually pretty level headed about it.  He's an amazing guy.  He probably had at least another 10 days in him. 

His final scenes got me in the feels.  I am very happy for him and his girlfriend who may now already be his fiancé or even wife.  In thinking about what the money could do for their future together he had a lot of motivation to win this.  It chokes me up to think about it every time.  I didn't see this inspiring me so much but it did. 

A few weeks ago I got a fortune cookie that said that in order to win any kind of competition or contest one has to go a little crazy.  I thought about that and I knew that only Juan Pablo and Kari Lee had that kind of crazy in them.  Juan Pablo's crazy was strategic and tenacious.  Kari Lee's crazy was her just being her eternally optimistic self.  I thought this was one of the better seasons so far.  In spite of Juan Pablo hunkering down and not eating at the end he spun it like a sound strategy, so it didn't seem to bother anyone.  For every problem he encountered he found an ingenious solution.  And that was the ingenious solution that got him the win.

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, TVbitch said:

 JP was pretty adorable when he started to lose it.

I don't know about adorable, but he was pretty funny.  "I don't give a ____ about anything, heee".  Then he was seeing polar bears.

Why do you think the girlfriend approach was a recreation?  One thing about that kind of surprised me, when his girlfriend told him he looked so good.  To my eyes he looked so thin in the face he was like a different person.

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I thought this was one of the better seasons so far.  In spite of Juan Pablo hunkering down and not eating at the end he spun it like a sound strategy, so it didn't seem to bother anyone.  

i think the reason it wasn't boring was because Juan Pablo was so out of the box about everything.  The not boiling water, not using a fire to keep warm, hey I'll just stop eating.  Why not?  We've seen others use the hunker down strategy, but I think this is the first time we've seen anyone intentionally stop eating.

[Auntie Velvet]

My theory is that while contestants always HOPE during med checks that the noise behind them is a loved one telling them they've won, most often it's crew members filming from a different angle, or the medical people. So there's no way to know when it will really be the loved one.

As you guys have already said, it's a little tiresome (but understandable) when the ones tapping out have some grand reason for it, or they state that they've accomplished what they needed to and so "in a way, I've one." Especially Teimojin -- that "one last trick up my sleeve, guys" turned out to be walking to the helicopter instead of waiting for them to come to his shelter? Come on.

I was rooting for Kari Lee and her school, but hopefully her badassery can at least earn her additional students. I always wish that the contestants would put a few traps closer to their shelter. I know the animals might be a little more skittish near humans, but would at least give people like Kari Lee something to check when they don't have the strength to travel further or pull a bow.

Juan Pablo was pretty adorable and inventive, so I'm not mad that he won.

[Jeanne222]

Hmmm. My favorite Kerri Ann didn't win but gosh she was a ray of sunshine!  One trap and bunny stew and she might have made it!

Juan was a good winner.  He ran a good race, he kept the faith.

Re TJ all along I believed his concern for his mother was born out of her lifestyles.  Drugs? Homeless?  Something other than just not being there.

I think he went home to help her....in some way...get her life back.  MOO of course.

[Rebky]

16 hours ago, rmontro said:

Good point.  No matter what choices you make in life, there are things that going to end up being sacrificed.  There's only so much time in the day.  

I was rooting for Karie Lee, but I liked Juan Pablo too.  You sure can't say he didn't earn it.  I think he must be secretly Superman.  He didn't boil his water, he didn't have a fire for the first 62 days (!), and he fasted for something like the last two weeks.  He was the last man standing, but was still worried about being pulled by the med people.  I'm impressed with his determination, there's no way I could have done that.  Few people could, I think.  Poor Karie not having the strength to pull her bow was probably a big factor in her leaving, but I think Juan Pablo was going to win this one regardless.

It's amazing how tense this show gets when you get down to the last few segments and you know someone is going to tap out or get pulled. 

I noticed that too, maybe it was because of all the water he drank.  Plus his strategy was to conserve energy, and he wasn't eating, so his metabolism must have been down to nearly nothing.  I wonder how many calories he was burning a day?  I just hope this doesn't become the new model for winning, lay in a sleeping bag and starve.

I recently watched a recap of season 1, and that is pretty much what winner Alan Kay did at the end. He hunkered down, drank seaweed water and memorably quoted Shakespeare. He has never been surpassed as my favorite winner - and I have watched each and every season since then.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I always wonder if the loved one sneaking up on the winner is totally staged or maybe re-enacted.  I find it hard to believe that someone who has been totally alone for months and is used to the ambient sounds of the location and is tuned in to the sound of game or possible predators doesn't hear a creature as large as a human creeping up behind them.  Juan Pablo didn't even look surprised.

I would hope a show like this doesn't resort to staging or recreations like that, although I concede it's possible. But there have been plenty of times when the wife/girlfriend showed up and the reaction was inarguably genuine, so they aren't necessarily ALL staged, assuming any of them are. And I think Juan Pablo's reaction (or lack thereof) can be attributed to his overall low-key personality, he hasn't really shown much emotion all season long.  

[TVbitch]

11 hours ago, rmontro said:

Why do you think the girlfriend approach was a recreation? 

To be fair, I don't know for sure, but I did do some googling and while not much is said about it, I did find this about an earlier season...

"In his recap video comments on YouTube, Clay stated that some parts of the show were re-shot later to make it look good."

I mean, from the network's angle it IS still an entertainment show, and the winning moment is the payoff. They want clean shots and a variety of footage with a good sneak up and for him to be saying some poignant thing about her right before the big reveal. Maybe the actual reveal didn't have the right narrative, or it was convoluted, or the footage wasn't the best, or he did guess she was there ...who knows. It just (to me) looked like it had been "re-done" to be "better" TV. Personally, I would rather just see the actual moment however it plays out.  

[Tango64]

That’s disappointing to hear that Clay had said some scenes were reshot. Knowing the surprise reunions, or some of them, were staged or recreated would take away a lot from why I like the show. It’s the only “reality” show that seems genuine. 

[tljgator]

6 hours ago, TVbitch said:

I mean, from the network's angle it IS still an entertainment show, and the winning moment is the payoff.

I bet they were really, really hoping for a proposal...

[madmax]

JP was my first choice for winner back when there were 10 contestants.  Then he fell out of favor when I realized he wasn't boiling his water.  Then he moved back up, well, it was between him and Teimojin.  I really thought Teimojin had more in him.  That "one last trick" thing was really dumb.

On 8/5/2022 at 7:30 PM, SassyCat said:

78 days?  He Looks amazing and no bones showing. Not a rib sticking out. He really did his homework on how to survive with nothing and used this information for the big win.

I laughed at him jumping to action when he got the call that the med team would be there in one hour. It was like people having unexpected company inform they are going to drop by and you haven’t done the dishes or vacuumed yet. Lol! His frantic water gathering, heating and drinking to get his blood and body on the plus side of the dehydration meter was just like a person scrambling to pull the place together for company.

Mr.  Max and I said he didn't even look like he'd been starving all that time.  He looked good!  And we both laughed like hell when he started running around drinking water, then kicking snow over the fire.

I'm glad he won.  Would have been great if he proposed.  

[mlp]

15 hours ago, Auntie Velvet said:

My theory is that while contestants always HOPE during med checks that the noise behind them is a loved one telling them they've won, most often it's crew members filming from a different angle, or the medical people. So there's no way to know when it will really be the loved one.

That's a very good point.  I hope you're right.

[rmontro]

On 8/6/2022 at 9:34 AM, Auntie Velvet said:

My theory is that while contestants always HOPE during med checks that the noise behind them is a loved one telling them they've won, most often it's crew members filming from a different angle, or the medical people. So there's no way to know when it will really be the loved one..

Plus when Juan Pablo's girlfriend came up behind them, there was a crew member peaking out from behind a tree or something.  So maybe a crew member had circled behind Juan Pablo so he expected someone to be behind him.  Or maybe it was just an extra crew person escorting her to the site.  That sounds more probable, now that I think of it.

[SassyCat]

One thing that was very noticeable, was that Juan Paul kept himself so clean, not a speck of dirt on his face, or hands, well maybe a bit under his fingernails. So completely opposite from Colton of last season who’s face was never rinsed off. Juan Paul must have done daily bathing at the waters edge to stay as clean looking as he was. 

[LennieBriscoe]

I was really hoping Karie Lee would win. I was neither here nor there about JP. 

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, SassyCat said:

Juan Paul must have done daily bathing at the waters edge to stay as clean looking as he was. 

I can't figure out how he was not only clean shaven at the end but also had a perfectly nice short haircut.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I mean, from the network's angle it IS still an entertainment show, and the winning moment is the payoff. They want clean shots and a variety of footage with a good sneak up and for him to be saying some poignant thing about her right before the big reveal. Maybe the actual reveal didn't have the right narrative, or it was convoluted, or the footage wasn't the best, or he did guess she was there ...who knows. It just (to me) looked like it had been "re-done" to be "better" TV. Personally, I would rather just see the actual moment however it plays out.  

On the other hand, these are not actors, and the moment they find out they won is the "money shot." I doubt the producers want to risk spoiling the surprise and banking on the winner being a good enough actor to "act" surprised when they find out they won. I don't think it's significant that Juan Pablo was saying some poignant thing about Jessica before she walked in, I'm sure he was being asked questions and prompted to say something.

I think the types of things that are re-shot more likely have to do with hunting game or building shelters, etc., if the producers look at the footage and think it's interesting by technically unusable. 

[Blackie]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:06 AM, iMonrey said:

but it looked like he was boiling it after it started snowing

I think he said he warmed it to make it easier to drink more, I don't think his intention was to sterilize it, that ship sailed long ago. 

On 8/5/2022 at 1:17 PM, AZChristian said:

The contestant who drank unboiled water and chose not to eat (against the advice of all of us armchair experts) won.

except me, I called him from the start 😉.  Labrador is a huge, huge space with basically no people and a couple beavers, The risk from drinking unboiled water is probably very low. I bet most of the old hunters and fisherman that go into that area don't boil their drinking water.

On 8/5/2022 at 5:17 PM, meep.meep said:

I liked that it was going to be a person of color, or a woman who won this year.  Good for Juan Paulo!

And a Canadian, which means that 500$ G which is well over $600000 CDN but he will have to pay tax on it I think.

On 8/5/2022 at 4:18 PM, mlp said:

I was really sick of listening to Teimojin talk about his mother.

 me too. I started to think either she is seriously mentally ill and now he has an unrealistic goal of "saving " her  OR she has money somewhere on her side of the family and by sucking up to her he can get his $500 000 (sorry I am a cynic )

On 8/5/2022 at 4:18 PM, mlp said:

Juan Pablo didn't even look surprised.

This time it looked especially staged. Like they kept saying, "tell us more about walking on the ice"> After 78 or whatever days and they surprise show up, you must have an inkling of what is going on,

3 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

he was not only clean shaven

he doesn't grow facial hair, maybe genetically his hair doesn't grow fast either.  He went in 30lbs (I think that is what he said) overweight and with a shaved head so I am sure his GF did think he looked good now 😃

I wonder when KL's last med check was and what they said because she was pretty skinny and was prob close to getting pulled. She had a great attitude and survived basically by living her everyday lifestyle. I am glad she is ready to enter "elderhood" because she looked like she was 200 years old when she left. And people talk about Colton's fingers, what about hers???  Maybe they were permanently stained from all the berries.

I just got back from my camping trip in Northern Quebec. I was not alone but my boots weren't waterproof and my feet were for cold for 2 days 😞 I did hear a Great Horned Owl one night which was a great experience. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Blackie
spelling

[Blackie]

I just saw on JP's website that he has written a Wilderness Survival Guide that he is selling  and.....

On 8/6/2022 at 9:34 AM, Auntie Velvet said:

I was rooting for Kari Lee and her school, but hopefully her badassery can at least earn her additional students.

On 8/5/2022 at 10:47 PM, TVbitch said:

Maybe people will donate a bit of money to help get her school going. 

..... he has put a link to Karrie Lee's Go Fund Page for her school. That is a classy move.

ETA: I read on another article had he had gained 60!!! lbs before the show. That is a lot to lose.

Edited August 9, 2022 by Blackie
eta

[Blackie]

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/08/09/manitoba-wilderness-survival-game-show-alone/

gained 60 before he went in and then lost 70 lbs so I guess that is why he didn't look that skinny

Edited August 12, 2022 by Blackie
fix link