S10.E06: King's Gambit

[Quilt Fairy]

Quote

A sudden shift in weather tests the strength of the survivalist's shelters, as well as their resolve; unable to  exit their shelters, one survivalist carves out creative ways to pass the time while another struggles....

Air date: July 13, 2023

[iMonrey]

Up to day 30, no tap-outs this week.

Not liking Melanie's chances here, she seems to be subsisting on berries and lichen. I guess she did try to fish but didn't have much luck. It makes me wonder how long she tried, though. Wyatt, Mikey and Alan seem to be having pretty good luck with fishing. Get a load of that huge pike Wyatt caught. Is the fishing just better in some spots than others? Or did people like Melanie and Cade try to fish for an hour then give up?

What is that white ground covering I see? At first I thought it had snowed. Is that what the lichen is?

LOL on Taz making a chess board.

This is the second story we've gotten about a parent who didn't appreciate their kid. I'm sensing a trend. I wonder if that's a motivating force to do this sort of thing. Like they have an extra need to prove themselves.

We see the same pattern every season. Once winter sets in there's no more fish and no more game and it's just who can last the longest without food. I'm sure it's specifically designed to keep the season shorter but I wish they'd drop the people off earlier in the summer. If it didn't always come down to a starvation contest it would be more within the true spirit of who could withstand the Alone part the longest.

[Blackie]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Is that what the lichen is?

 

yes

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not liking Melanie's chances here

 

I call BS on Melanie"s secret recording, just like I called BS on Cade loosing his quiver and arrows.

 

Bobby Hull spent his whole off seasons chopping wood, that is how he stayed in shape, so Wyatt was on to something there with his kid lol!

BTW Wyatt really starting to look like a caveman.

The last scenes with Alan I could barely hear what he was saying, I wish they would have put subtitles.

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Is the fishing just better in some spots than others? Or did people like Melanie and Cade try to fish for an hour then give up?

 

Like Mikey said, some is luck but it does require a lot of time, patience and perseverance so maybe some are lacking in that.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Blackie
grammer and spacing

[AZChristian]

26 minutes ago, Blackie said:

The last scenes with Alan I could barely hear what he was saying, I wish they would have put subtitles.

I have closed captions on for everything.  Have you tried to find the episode online?  It was still available on my Cox cable, so here's everything he said in his last scene.  Does this answer your questions?

Here I am again smoking fish.  That seems to be what I do these days.  This is the second day in a row with crappy rainy weather, and I'm going to keep smoking this fish because they're still too moist.  Yeah, I can't screw up this food source.  I can't let it go bad.  If I over-smoke it, I over-smoke it.  I'm really worried about those fish getting moldy or rotting or something.  If I could go back in time, I probably would have sliced them into thinner pieces.  But it's too late.  More time in the smoker. 

Probably too windy to cast, but forgot about an idea I had for a new lure.  I'm gonna make that right now.  So this is Lake Trout Baby Number One, and it's getting kid of tired.  Parachute cord is getting all tangled.  I doesn't have that nice flowy wave any more, so I'll I'll probably repair Trout Baby Number One, but right now I'm making Lake Trout Baby Two.  And it's gonna be better.  Alright, let's start boring. 

The longer I stay here, I feel, the more I am settling here.  Man, this bark really looks like fish skin.  That's awesome.  I'm just thinking more about what I need to do next to stay longer.  That storm sucked.  Sitting so long in one spot affects impacts my mind negatively.  It's getting cold.  There's this emotion that I feel out here.  It's hard to explain, but it's almost like pain in your chest.  I want to see my family.  And I miss them a lot.  I miss my wife right now.  I like to talk to her and tell her about my adventures and all the stuff I've been doing.  My mishaps, my successes.  Lake Trout Baby Two.  It's got some huge improvements.  It's got stringer hook extraoidinaire.  Both facing in opposite directions.  So I'm gonna do a couple of casts because you can't catch fish if you're not casting.  (Goes to water and starts fishing) 

Lots of people are away from their families for times.  But very rarely you can't talk to them, you know?  Definitely a little less windy, thank God.  Lake Trout Baby Two, show me your stuff.  Oh.  You can't call them.  That's the weird thing.  Come on.  Not being able to call and say, How's it going?  Yeah, this is what I did today.   How are you?  Everything okay?  Can't do that.  That's what messes with you a bit.  Got one.  Lost it by the shore.  That's really frustrating.  How did he get off?  I had constant pressure on him, man, constant pressure.  Losing my (bleep) mind man.  Maybe they're staring to bite now.  Let's get another one.  There's a lot as stake here.  I need food, and my smoker is not smoking.  I'm burning up inside right now.  Take a deep breath.  Burning up inside.  Got one.  NO!  Oh (bleep).  What the (bleep) is going on?  I don't believe this.  Holy (bleep).  (groans)  This might be the most frustrated I've felt.  Let's go.  Oh look, there's another fish I just lost.  Wow. 

Yep, that's the night.  That's the night tonight.  That is the night.I've never had such bad fishing luck in all my life.  These strikes today they, they're going to haunt me.  It could be the difference.  Landing these and not landing these could be the difference.

(I may have missed a few bleeps.)

[Blackie]

wow @AZChristian thanks for writing that all out when I just could have gone back and rewatched it with closed caps. I was just kind of surprised they let that go with such bad audio, I think his mike was under his hoody. Usually they put subtitles when there is bad audio.

 

Also I forgot to mention that Mickey's letter was a beautiful momento, good for him.

[rmontro]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm sure it's specifically designed to keep the season shorter but I wish they'd drop the people off earlier in the summer.

I don't think they can do that because probably if you gave some people a sporting chance they could stay out there forever, and then where would we be?  Or maybe they could drop them off in the summer and choose the winner on some sort of scoring system on who is best prepared for winter.  That eliminates the people who cop out, er, tap out because they're lonely though.

I thought it was a little dirty of the History Channel to sow Melanie's "secret SD card" message to her husband, if that was a real thing.  I certainly didn't need to see anything so personal in order to feel entertained.

That smoker looked just like Taz's design, I kept expecting it to burn down.

[iMonrey]

13 hours ago, rmontro said:

I thought it was a little dirty of the History Channel to sow Melanie's "secret SD card" message to her husband, if that was a real thing.  I certainly didn't need to see anything so personal in order to feel entertained.

I didn't get this part. Melanie asked for that footage not to be aired? Because it was private for her fiance (not husband)? Then how did she expect him to see it? And anyway she'd have been home by the time it aired anyway. This didn't make any sense to me.

[AZChristian]

20 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I didn't get this part. Melanie asked for that footage not to be aired? Because it was private for her fiance (not husband)? Then how did she expect him to see it? And anyway she'd have been home by the time it aired anyway. This didn't make any sense to me.

If I heard correctly . . . She had a separate SD card that she was going to give to her fiance when she got home so he could see the level of her loneliness, etc.  Production found out about it, and pointed out that it was forbidden in her contract to have secret footage.  

I think there was a better option:  Don't let her have the SD card, but don't air it.  This was something that she meant to be private, and I don't think she would have wanted to show that emotion ("weakness") as part of the show.  She just wouldn't have filmed those scenes.

[Blackie]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I didn't get this part.

 

They do all their videos on SD cards so she planned to hide this one and just give it to her husband but the rules state that they have to turn in all the SD cards. Which is why I call BS on it. I'm sure she knew ALL the rules and her speech was just a little to choreographed and convenient for me  "I can't show weakness to the camera etc etc".  I am cynical I guess but I think she knew exactly what would go down when she made that video.

[mlp]

I have no sympathy for Melanie.  She had to know the rules going in and she tried to break them by being sneaky.  Maybe she thought she could cry pitifully and the producers would sympathize and let her get away with it.  I have no idea but I hope she leaves next.

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, Blackie said:

They do all their videos on SD cards so she planned to hide this one and just give it to her husband but the rules state that they have to turn in all the SD cards. Which is why I call BS on it.

It seems a little suspicious.  But really, all Melanie had to do was to say she lost the SD card, like Cade lost his arrows.  What are they going to do about it?  I guess they could disqualify her, but that seems kind of drastic.

[meep.meep]

On 7/14/2023 at 8:09 AM, iMonrey said:

We see the same pattern every season. Once winter sets in there's no more fish and no more game and it's just who can last the longest without food. I'm sure it's specifically designed to keep the season shorter but I wish they'd drop the people off earlier in the summer. If it didn't always come down to a starvation contest it would be more within the true spirit of who could withstand the Alone part the longest.

Plenty of people have managed to get game once winter sets in.  Woniya and her trap line come to mind.  "It's a two rabbit day!"

They don't drop them off earlier because of black flies and mosquitoes.

Did Taz smoke the meat that went bad, or just put it up in his cache?

[Blackie]

19 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

They don't drop them off earlier because of black flies and mosquitoes.

 

This is the show I want to see, ALONE Northern Ontario Black Fly Season 😆

contestants have to weave their own bug nets

Good Luck!!

[Blackie]

3 hours ago, mlp said:

She had to know the rules going in and she tried to break them by being sneaky

 

I guess I'm the only one that thinks she wanted the video to be aired.  It is a good way to make sure you get screen time. Either she is being sneaky or manipulative, neither I enjoy. I prefer authentic hoser Wyatt 😜

[madmax]

I'm still expecting Mikey to be the next tap out.  Talks an awful lot about famiily, plus now there's the no sleep thing.  Really cute letter tho.  "I'll read this one to you, but not the rest."  Dug his dice.

Melanie's "secret" SD card seems kind of manipulative to me as well.  Especially how she said she played to the camera to be "up" all the time.

Nice chess set by Taz.  Someone else did a whole bunch of games and stuff, but ended up tapping due to loneliness, I think.

Poor Alan.  I still think if his smoker works, he has a chance to go far.

I hope Wyatt takes it all.  He seems so down to earth.

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, meep.meep said:

They don't drop them off earlier because of black flies and mosquitoes.

At least that would be a fresh set of problems.  

"Here we have a nice black fly and mosquito soup".  😝

 

 

3 hours ago, madmax said:

Poor Alan.  I still think if his smoker works, he has a chance to go far. 

Is that they guy who made the new lure, and he kept losing fish off the hook?  I kept wondering if there was some design flaw at play that didn't result in the fish fully taking the hook.

[iMonrey]

15 hours ago, madmax said:

I'm still expecting Mikey to be the next tap out.  Talks an awful lot about famiily, plus now there's the no sleep thing.  Really cute letter tho.  "I'll read this one to you, but not the rest."  Dug his dice.

I'm starting to look at Mikey as a possible dark horse in this race. He does seem the most likely to go out of who's left but it's been that way since Day 1 and he's still there. 

[DrewPaul2010]

21 hours ago, mlp said:

I have no sympathy for Melanie.  She had to know the rules going in and she tried to break them by being sneaky.  Maybe she thought she could cry pitifully and the producers would sympathize and let her get away with it.  I have no idea but I hope she leaves next.

Imagine if she won and they disqualified her. But we don't have to worry she can't last much longer.

[TVbitch]

Where was Melanie gonna hide that SD card when she came out? Don't they thoroughly search the exiting contestants stuff? I was having "prison inmate hiding places" thoughts! 😬

[rmontro]

5 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Where was Melanie gonna hide that SD card when she came out? Don't they thoroughly search the exiting contestants stuff? I was having "prison inmate hiding places" thoughts! 😬

I doubt they go to that extreme.  An SD card is pretty small.  You could probably stash it in a hole in your coat, or even palm it.

[Yeah No]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:49 PM, Blackie said:

wow @AZChristian thanks for writing that all out when I just could have gone back and rewatched it with closed caps. I was just kind of surprised they let that go with such bad audio, I think his mike was under his hoody. Usually they put subtitles when there is bad audio.

I always have the closed captioning on when I watch this and some other reality shows where there's often muffled dialog.  Also I find that they tend to put subtitles when I don't need them it and don't put it when I do!

On 7/15/2023 at 8:19 PM, madmax said:

Melanie's "secret" SD card seems kind of manipulative to me as well.  Especially how she said she played to the camera to be "up" all the time.

Yeah, I agree, but even if so I don't think the show looks great either.  OK, it's in the contract that they can air whatever they want, but if she really didn't want them to air something that might humiliate her it would be the nicer thing to do not to air it.

[rmontro]

11 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Yeah, I agree, but even if so I don't think the show looks great either.  OK, it's in the contract that they can air whatever they want, but if she really didn't want them to air something that might humiliate her it would be the nicer thing to do not to air it.

If there's any truth to the whole scenario, I think what probably most likely happened is that she later decided "At the time I wanted this private, but go ahead and air it if you want".  I'd like to hear her comments on it.