S11.E04: Legacy

[Quilt Fairy]

Quote

As the survivalists enter the second week of the competition, new challenges and opportunities arise while they battle to maintain focus.

Air date: July 11, 2024

[Quilt Fairy]

Dusty, no!  I would have bet money on you staying longer than 10 days.

[Kelda Feegle]

I wonder how long they are allowed to go without having a bm before they get pulled, if they aren't experiencing pain that is.

[madmax]

I had Dusty on my short list to win.  Sucks tho, to have stomach and bowel troubles, especially out there.

I knew the food caches would be an issue.  Poor William, but DAMN, how talented to catch those birds like that!

Those burns looked nasty on Jake.  How the hell is he going to keep that clean?

[Yeah No]

I really felt sorry for Dusty but I also wondered what he could have done to "move things along" so to speak. Berries are high in fiber and would tend to help that problem. Too bad he didn't think of that sooner. Although the burning in the stomach made me wonder what else is going on. For some people going without food for too long makes their stomachs overly acidic which can cause that. If he could have paced himself with little bits of food every few hours, like berries and other plant-based foods that might not have happened.

[SassyCat]

I remember when a previous winner, Sam, was having the same problem. I think he also was up to 10 days, maybe more… could have been a day or so less. I can’t remember how many days it was, but it was very concerning.

He scraped the inner layer off the bark of pine trees which he had heard did the trick of moving things along. I don’t remember if he made a tea out of it, or if he just ate the fibrous scrapings, but after 2 or 3 days of using this method, he finally got things moving along down there. I do think he just ate the stuff after boiling it a bit.

He did the show twice. I can’t remember if it was his first go-round this happened, or the second time, where he ended up winning the 500k.

[meep.meep]

I think Sam came in 2nd his first go around and then won in his second season.

I wish they would give us some feedback on the medical tap outs/extractions.  Not gory details but "Dusty was treated for a bowel obstruction and has fully recovered" type of info.  The producers want us to care about the contestants, and we do wonder what actually happened to them.

[diebartdie]

3 hours ago, SassyCat said:

I remember when <SNIP>, was having the same problem. <SNIP>

So it was actually a contestant named Jessie. He was starving AND had not had any bowel movements when he decided to eat "cambium", the thin layer between the bark and the tree (if it was an animal, this would be the layer of fat between the skin and the muscle).

After 2 or 3 days of eating this stuff, he was in even WORSE shape and had to tap.

[SassyCat]

2 hours ago, diebartdie said:

So it was actually a contestant named Jessie. He was starving AND had not had any bowel movements when he decided to eat "cambium", the thin layer between the bark and the tree (if it was an animal, this would be the layer of fat between the skin and the muscle).

After 2 or 3 days of eating this stuff, he was in even WORSE shape and had to tap.

Oh wow.. thanks for clarifying that it was NOT Sam, but Jessie who ate the inner bark to get things moving. I thought it was a strange way to try and unblock yourself by eating wood fiber which seems pretty hard to digest and more of a blocking type of material to be using. 

I really do think I recall Sam also experiencing no bm’s for quite a while where he was worried he would have to tap, and then one day he was all smiles saying he finally did what a bear usually does in the woods. Then he went on to win. I think it happened on his second attempt on the show. 

[Quilt Fairy]

7 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I wish they would give us some feedback on the medical tap outs/extractions.  Not gory details but "Dusty was treated for a bowel obstruction and has fully recovered" type of info.  The producers want us to care about the contestants, and we do wonder what actually happened to them.

I think they tend to save this kind of stuff for the after-show they have post finale. 

25 minutes ago, SassyCat said:

I thought it was a strange way to try and unblock yourself by eating wood fiber which seems pretty hard to digest and more of a blocking type of material to be using. 

I don't know about wood fiber specifically but fiber in general is what you need to keep regular.  Metamucil and Citrucel, for example, contain fiber.  It's because it's not digestible that your bowels move it along.

Edited July 14 by Quilt Fairy

[Hasseltine]

On 7/12/2024 at 8:22 AM, Kelda Feegle said:

I wonder how long they are allowed to go without having a bm before they get pulled, if they aren't experiencing pain that is.

I have been listening to the official Alone podcast. Callie (season 3 contestant) said she was constipated for 21+ days. The wiki page shows a non-medical related reason for her tap out. I think it must depend on if there are other symptoms like burning/burping that Dusty had. 

[Quilt Fairy]

5 hours ago, Hasseltine said:

I think it must depend on if there are other symptoms like burning/burping that Dusty had

Yes.  I once went on an extremely low-calorie diet (back when those were in fashion) and the doctor explaining it said "Little in, little out."   These folks are eating very little, and apart from what they're foraging, it's almost all protein.  Without some fiber to add bulk, they're not going to have many bowel movements. I'm not a doctor, so I can't comment on whether that's inherently unhealthy, it's more a matter of how uncomfortable it makes you feel.  The pain Dusty was experiencing does point to at least reflux or an ulcer, hopefully nothing worse. 

It's interesting to me that at the prep camp they were presumably eating 3 meals a day, so even if they had a BM right before they left camp they should have had at least one more 1-3 days into their Alone experience. 

I think Dusty, for all his woodsman skills, was probably the most unsophisticated of this group, and most likely to feel anxiety at leaving his family.  Compare him to Timber, who grew up in a similar environment, but seems to have gotten himself an advanced education and a job that takes him and his family around the world. 

 

 

[madmax]

On 7/13/2024 at 2:05 PM, meep.meep said:

I think Sam came in 2nd his first go around and then won in his second season.

Exactly.  I was so happy Sam won in his second go 'round, because I did really like him, even though I liked Alan, season one winner, the best.  I'd love to see another second chance season.

On 7/13/2024 at 9:06 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

I think they tend to save this kind of stuff for the after-show they have post finale. 

Unfortunately, they haven't had those for a while.  If they aren't going to have those, then they should give us an update as @meep.meep suggested.

On 7/15/2024 at 3:23 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

I think Dusty, for all his woodsman skills, was probably the most unsophisticated of this group, and most likely to feel anxiety at leaving his family. 

I didn't think of it that way, it actually makes sense.  I thought he had the guts (pardon the pun) to go all the way, but I didn't take into account what leaving the family may have done to him.

Edited July 21 by madmax
to add another thought

[HurricaneVal]

I can't remember his name, but there was a contestant on Survivor who had to go out on a medical because he'd eaten too much red meat at a BBQ reward and got really constipated.  The two women who were on the same BBQ reward with him tried to get him to eat some grilled veggies or some salad, but he was all about the steak, steak, steak.  With a side of ribs.

He acknowledged during his leaving that it was embarrassing to go out that way, but he couldn't help it, and he should have listened to the girls.

You see this sort of thing over and over on Alone.  Man sources protein, man thumps chest in triumph, man grills protein over an open flame, letting valuable nutrients go up in smoke, and valuable fats drip into the fire.  Far more efficient, nutritious, and effective would be to stew the protein, bones and all, drink all the broth, and eat the solids.  Bonus points if you find wild onions or garlic or herbs to flavor the soup and give a little fiber and nutrition.