S04.E02: Hell on Earth

[Drogo]

As teammates set up camp, hikers find the Vancouver Island terrain to be more treacherous when on the move, as it beats one pair into submission, while another endures a devastating accident.

[dgpolo]

This looks like it's going to be the shortest season ever!

[zibnchy]

OK, so no more casting of children. Though, I have to say I felt bad for Logan. Just the defeated look in his eyes.

Brooke and her husband for the win. Her shelter is nice.

Edited June 23, 2017 by zibnchy

[MostlyContent]

Yes, *note to producers*, 19 seems to be too darn young.  

Jesse and Shannon are the team I like, but that fall at the end does not look good. 

[PaperTree]

I still can't keep everybody's name and team straight.

That limpet looked really disgusting.

This is a good gig for a budding videographer.  Smart way to navigate around that lake.

I don't like when these fathers want to impose their own dreams on their kids.  You should be supporting their dreams no matter what they are.  I get that whole "I wanna see my boy grow up" thing, but it's not all about you, Dad.  I was lucky, my dad didn't do that to me; much.  I also never really had the "I gotta make daddy proud" thing, once I was, like, 10.

Chopper surprise!  Logan bails.  LOL.  The kid looked kind of shaky last week, so not a big surprise.  Dad put up a brave front.

Putting on a cold, wet T-shirt is harsh.

Brooke's palace gets a renovation.  Interesting fireplace construction.  If hubby gets there, I can see them lasting a long time.

Brody "hiking in hell".  He finds the beach, and has to go over that mountain.  Couldn't he kind of follow the shoreline, keeping an eye on the mountain since he should know his brother is on the beach?  Or does he know this?  Either way, that terrain is miserable to traverse.

Nice find on the future crab trap.  Jesse finds the beach.  That's some nice lumber resource there.  Shannon's a klutz foreshadowing.....?  

Bummer. He loses his bait and tangles his line.  Big score on the fish in the gill net!

Boiled slug.  Mm Mm Good!  I am so grateful I don't have to kill my dinner every day. 

Good idea setting up the jug markers.  That looks like a decent location from what I can see.  Tough it out Jesse.

It would be hard to know how far you have traveled.  I guess after 4 or 5 days it would be time to start yelling.

Oh no!  Not another slip and fall evacuation.  It's only Day 5.  This could get really boring with so few teams.

[OoogleEyes]

"I thought it'd be easier" has to be the LAMEST excuse to tap out, Logan. Has he never watched this show? 

[zibnchy]

Last week Logan's dad (names are hard) said something like "I want to watch my son turn into a man, well what I consider a man." I have a feeling Logan was only doing this for his dad. Poor kid probably just wants dad's approval. The lengths we humans will go to to get our parent's approval are long.

But this is not a show about that, so no more children, OK?

I'm surprised but I kind of like the red headed brothers. They seem like a strong team and they seem to have pretty good attitudes. That will probably change next week.

Edited June 23, 2017 by zibnchy
needed that comma

[roamyn]

2 minutes ago, OoogleEyes said:

"I thought it'd be easier" has to be the LAMEST excuse to tap out, Logan. Has he never watched this show? 

I got the impression from the very first episode that he was only doing it for his Dad, and that his heart & mind were not into it.

Shannon's building a Logan cabin!  And a crab catch.  I just hope he's okay.  He's one of my picks from the start.

Brooke built one hell of a shelter, complete w/a sturdy fire pit & chimney!  I'm tons more impressed by her than anyone else so far - even w/the soap.

Red haired idiot brothers still proving to be idiots & braggarts.  Esp the one down at the site.  And did the hiker not see S1?  You have to cook the slime off, according to Julia...er Alan.

we still haven't seen the other father/son, who are my ultimate pick to win.

[mlp]

I really like Jesse and Shannon and now it looks like Shannon's seriously injured.  I hope his leg isn't broken.  I'm afraid he may be the stretcher case we saw in a preview last week.  

Brooke has real skills.  So far, I like her and her husband both.

I still don't understand where the hikers' cameras are.  There were more shots taken from the side as they walked along.  When one of them was putting mushrooms in his bag, the camera showed him full face and using both hands so he wasn't holding it out.   And there was one shot of Jesse hiking along the rocky area that showed him from a long distance.  He couldn't have been holding that camera in any way.  It doesn't seem probable that production has planted cameras on trees along the way in hopes the hikers will pass by so I can't figure it out.

[LittleIggy]

I'm tired of the hiking. I think that was a bad idea on the producers part. I was right about the dad having travelled only .3 of a mile. Bet he'll never let his son forget the tapping out.

Brooke's fireplace was awesome. That lady has chops!

What happened to the guy at the end? Did he fall or collapse?

[MostlyContent]

49 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Did he fall or collapse?

I *think* he slipped and fell, although with production tricks, who knows?  I hope he's okay as they're my favorites (so far), but it sure didn't look good.  

Could someone who knows more about 'tepee chimneys' please enlighten me?   Brooke's fire looked so cheery and comforting, but it was very small.   Will she only be able to have small fires in order not to burn her wooden chimney, or will she just keep replacing the drying poles with damp ones?  Or maybe this is just a temporary thing?  

Well, we found out the answer to the 'how many hunting items' confusion caused by the lack of proof-reading on the History site.  They can choose more than one hunting item each, but they can't both choose the same one.  Shannon had a gill net and hooks and line, and Jesse has a bow and arrow.  

[humbleopinion]

Shannon cannot walk and film at the same time.

His footing and balance is shaky, adding talking and filming...it was a fall waiting to happen.

Shannon should be using a walking stick to help him across the rocks and use the tripod to film.

Brody tweaked his knee with miscalculated drop and is frustrated knowing tomorrow's hike will be as tough as today's...bet he is missing his 10 month baby

Need both these teams to stay in competition to keep it interesting.

Edited June 23, 2017 by humbleopinion

[GreyBunny]

Louisiana guy:  *thousand yard stare* "Only the dead can know peace from this horror."

Alaska guy:  "Salal slide! WHEEEEEE!"

[rmontro]

Logan taps out and dad Alex only travels 0.3 miles.  Not an impressive outing.  Guess the bear scared the kid, certainly ruined his night's sleep.  You could see the disappointment in Alex's eyes, in spite of what he said.

Interesting that Jesse called Shannon a klutz, and low and behold Shannon takes a fall.  The episode description here called it a "devastating accident", but I can't put too much stock in that.  Also interesting that Shannon said he thought he heard someone yelling.  Could he have heard Jesse yelling from five miles away?

I think the Whipples might have gotten a favorable drop since they're the only married couple.  All Dave really has to do is follow the coastline and he should find Brook eventually.   Some of the hikers were dropped off inland and have to trudge through the forest.  Although Brook seems to be plagued by wolves.  If she keeps a fire going, she might be easier to spot by the smoke.

[roamyn]

9 minutes ago, rmontro said:

Interesting that Jesse called Shannon a klutz, and low and behold Shannon takes a fall.  The episode description here called it a "devastating accident", but I can't put too much stock in that.  Also interesting that Shannon said he thought he heard someone yelling.  Could he have heard Jesse yelling from five miles away?

I think the Whipples might have gotten a favorable drop since they're the only married couple.  All Dave really has to do is follow the coastline and he should find Brook eventually.   Some of the hikers were dropped off inland and have to trudge through the forest.  Although Brook seems to be plagued by wolves.  If she keeps a fire going, she might be easier to spot by the smoke.

 

Jesse was only a mile away at that point.  It was right b4 Shannon fell, because I commented to my husband, what a shame that Jesse's almost there if they have to pull out.

Shannon almost sounded desperate when talking abt the prize and his family.  Being a commercial fisherman and subsistence provider is hard.  But I like that he talked abt the hardship the families have to make while the Alonesters are gone.

Good point abt the smoke.  I wonder if it will attract any other hikers, other than Dave.

[cooksdelight]

7 hours ago, mlp said:

I still don't understand where the hikers' cameras are.  There were more shots taken from the side as they walked along.  When one of them was putting mushrooms in his bag, the camera showed him full face and using both hands so he wasn't holding it out.   And there was one shot of Jesse hiking along the rocky area that showed him from a long distance.  He couldn't have been holding that camera in any way.  It doesn't seem probable that production has planted cameras on trees along the way in hopes the hikers will pass by so I can't figure it out.

They have a small tripod to sit the camera on to show them doing things without that shaky selfie stick. The camera work thus far is pretty frantic.

I think the minimum age for this needs to be 30. Stat. 

Quote

Could he have heard Jesse yelling from five miles away?

Jesse was 1 mile away when he hollered.

I'm wondering how many of the hikers, if any, picked the 5 lbs. of food? That would be the smartest thing...right?  Logan had some food he was using as a pillow, wouldn't it have benefited his father more than him?

As usual, lots of stupid stuff so far and it's costing teams.

[ProfCrash]

I am really hating this season. Two extraordinarily wussy tap outs. At least the first one you could argue there was a serious ankle injury, Logan just did not want to be there and his Dad did not seem to pick up on his Sons complete and utter lack of interest in this venture. Actually, Dad might of caught on and that is why he did the hike. Logan would have tapped out even sooner if he had to do the hike.

Loving Brooke. I almost forgot about the soap but at this point she is going to be building a full bathroom, complete with running water, and the soap is going to make more sense. She has built a sturdy shelter with a fire place in four days? Damn, that takes some serious skill.

I like Shannon and his brother. I hope that Shannon is fine. I think he heard his brother but it was pretty faint.

[cooksdelight]

By the time her husband gets there, she'll have a TV up and running, an exercise room complete with workout equipment and build a boat with a navigation system.

Edited June 23, 2017 by cooksdelight

[PaperTree]

44 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

Logan just did not want to be there and his Dad did not seem to pick up on his Sons complete and utter lack of interest in this venture.

The entire casting process didn't seem to pick up on his lack of interest either.  I can't believe this kid fooled everybody to think he was into this.  That would take some serious acting skills to pull off, I think.  Or they were all in on this "make him a man" story line.  Ick.

[ClareWalks]

9 hours ago, mlp said:

I still don't understand where the hikers' cameras are.  There were more shots taken from the side as they walked along.  When one of them was putting mushrooms in his bag, the camera showed him full face and using both hands so he wasn't holding it out.  

I'm guessing they have a variety of mounts (like shoulder, arm, and head mounts) for a GoPro-type camera, plus they have tripods for stationary cameras. It's not that confusing since the camera, if moving, is always quite close to their bodies.

[ProfCrash]

Les Stroud used to show how he set up his camera to take his shots. He did more set up, take images of his walking, go back and get cameras then these folks do but I am sure that they were schooled in setting up the camera to show them doing things like harvesting mushrooms.

[dgpolo]

1 hour ago, ProfCrash said:

I like Shannon and his brother. I hope that Shannon is fine. I think he heard his brother but it was pretty faint.

He didn't seem to yell back very loudly, they should have practiced those 'coo-eee' type yells.

[cooksdelight]

Or the Gomer Pyle yell.... "Hooty-Hoooooo!!"

[humbleopinion]

Whistles travel far and a good way to communicate long distances...yodeling too, but that is more Lucas'style.

Brooding Brody needs to lighten up...this was the adventure that was advertised.

Alex wanted this too much and railroaded Logan, who went along with his dad's dream until the bear came sniffing around. 

Shannon is a grumpy old man for someone 44 years old, he looks and acts 60+...he is not the new Alan.

Brothers Baird are our new Alan...showing us their senses of humor.

Casualty Count:

Forger Brothers

Outdoors Dad/Bushcrafter Son

Wounded:

Brody Wilkes:Tweaked Knee

Shannon Bosdell: Hard fall on rocks, status: tune in next week

[holly4755]

I think there was a misjudgement of the younger members - As I recall Sam on season 1 was in his very early 20's and survived alone with a lot of courage.  This year, the younger members probably had their doubts cloaked because of the enthusiasm of their partners,  it is easy when you are talking with family to thin, Yeah I can do it, but no they can't. 

this hike seems to be killing these guys and yet they are the determined ones. 

[Whyyouneedaname]

I am not liking this year so far, maybe when the teams get together it will be better. 

[cooksdelight]

When they get together, it's going to be a situation where one may want to leave and it's up to the other one to convince them to stay. Psychological warfare. Which may be what production had in mind all along.

[dgpolo]

Did they show Logan tapping out? last week or this week? If not, why not? I thought that was odd.

[humbleopinion]

When you look at the footage of Alex coming to Logan...Logan shows no emotion or facial movement so perhaps his tap out was underwhelming and bone dry.

Hopefully, if it was emotional it may be shown later in an  "unseen scenes" cut of a repeat.

Edited June 23, 2017 by humbleopinion

[riverheightsnancy]

30 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

Did they show Logan tapping out? last week or this week? If not, why not? I thought that was odd.

He probably didn't record it.  I think they would have shown it, if there was anything. So, I stand corrected, my Mainers, did not do so well. I agree that the youngins seem to be a consistent weak link. Still team Brooke (she is awesome) and the team with one part Maine (Skowhegan).  Jessie, I think. I have to say that the previews for the season, definitely spoil who actually make it to their partners. They really shouldn't show those. I was blindsided by the tap out. I like to be surprised, so I am staying away from the "here's what happens next week thing".  I think that the season will still be interesting, I think that Brooke will have to contend with those wolves though. Can they kill them? Can you eat one? 

[HurricaneVal]

I certainly hope that when Brooke's husband shows up, he's appropriately impressed by the shelter.  I'm worried, though, that he'll show up and immediately start criticizing it and dismantling it to build it to his specifications.   I don't have enough of a sense of their relationship to gauge if they're supportive of each other, or if the husband will be jealous of her mad skilz.  I've met "wilderness couples" who very much have that dynamic--the husband must be the bestest of the best, and the wife is along as the helper.  To be fair, those couples I've seen with that dynamic are the more survivalist oriented types of wilderness folks.  Those couples who are more like hippies with a "enjoy and become one with nature" motivation tend to be more like equal partners.

I would hope that the producers didn't cast the show to highlight those sorts of contentious interpersonal dynamics, but I have to say that with what we've seen from the father/son pairing that just tapped out, that dynamic was pretty obvious, and would easily prove to be bad news for a long term stay.   As we saw.  One of the brothers partnerships (I forget which one, these are early days) is showing a few overly competitive cracks--and they haven't even met up yet!  I will be really disappointed if the producers cast the show with partnerships that would create conflict, or what they think will be good TV.  It isn't. 

I watch Big Brother to see people implode.  I watch Alone to see people succeed. 

Edited June 23, 2017 by HurricaneVal
I wasn't done with my thought...

[roamyn]

3 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

 

Brothers Baird are our new Alan...showing us their senses of humor

Uh... no.  They might have humor, but they seem to be braggarts.

One couldn't even get a limpet out of its shell (or off the rocks), the other didn't know how to remove the slime from a slug.

And, I've yet to hear them do a Julia Child impression.

[Quilt Fairy]

13 minutes ago, roamyn said:

One couldn't even get a limpet out of its shell (or off the rocks), the other didn't know how to remove the slime from a slug.

Speaking of which, Ted says he picked his knife specifically because it can remove limpets from rocks, then goes on to show that it really can't (or at least it can't with him as the user).  Then he mentions that, by the by, he's never actually eaten a limpet.  So how does he know what the knife can do?  Do we think he got sold a load of BS from the Limpet Knife Store?

 

I am happy to see that so far we haven't heard any warnings about Red Tide.  Is that just a season to season problem? (As in, some seasons it's a problem and some seasons it's not?)

 

Who's the guy who said he's a videographer, adventurer and "content creator" ?  And WTF is a "content creator"?

Edited June 23, 2017 by Quilt Fairy

[simplyme]

Man, I'm hoping Shannon is okay. I was really starting to like the guy. His brother, too.

I'm hoping the Baird brothers get off my screen fairly soon. I can't verbalize why, but they bug me. Well, part of it is that I think they're playing to the cameras (yes, I know it's a slug. You don't need to say it 42 times like a five-year-old. I actually knew the name for it, too, as opposed to calling it "rain forest slug."). The other part is that I think they think they know more than they do. 

Brody and his brother (Charles?) haven't made much of an impression, other than that Brody is definitely a flatlander. Around here we call those hills, Brody. Yeah, they're a pita, but they sure aren't what we'd consider mountains. And no, we don't have mountains here. That said, I can't navigate very well at all in completely flat areas. I'm like, "Where are the geographic landmarks?" So I understand Brody being intimidated by a big hill in crappy hiking conditions, even if I slightly mock his concept of a mountain.

I'm really liking Brooke and Dave. They both seem extremely competent and calm but have a sense of humor that shows up occasionally in the off comment.

19 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Who's the guy who said he's a videographer, adventurer and "content creator" ?  And WTF is a "content creator"?

I think that was Jim. It was definitely a Baird. "Content creator" is generally jargon for "I create and put stuff up on the Internetz." People who use it outside of resumes and board meetings tend to be pretentious, imo. Technically, we're ALL content creators. Many of us are digital ones. All of us who have posted on this board have created digital content. I'm sure Jim means he creates particularly wonderful, meaningful, and artistic digital content, though. *eyeroll*

ETA: I do find it interesting both tapouts were done by the camper, not the hiker, and should Shannon have to leave due to injury, that will be three teams where the medievac/quit occurred on the camping end. I was expecting hikers to go down first given the terrain.

Edited June 23, 2017 by simplyme

[pagooey]

Quote

The episode description here called it a "devastating accident", but I can't put too much stock in that.

I read that too, and the entire time Shannon was carving away at plastic detritus to make his crab trap, I was in a full-body cringe waiting for him to sever his own thumb.  We've seen multiple, vivid blade mishaps over the previous seasons, so I'm primed! A slip-and-fall was almost a letdown...although I like Shannon and his brother, and so the "devastating" cliffhanger is making me sad.

Logan, I just feel sorry for. News flash, Pops: at 19, he already is A Man, whatever the mold you're trying to cram him into. The blacksmith brothers from last week probably bitched each other out in the helicopter and got over it, but I have a gloomy sense that Dad's disappointment is going to cling to Logan for a long, long time. 

And I'm still pretty sure Team Ginger Giant is gonna kill each other once they're in a confined shelter together, bickering and farting. 

[mlp]

Thanks for the input on cameras and tripods.  I hadn't thought about them having to constantly move a tripod along.  That must be absolutely maddening when just keeping their balance in that terrain is a challenge.  

However, that doesn't explain the long shot of Jesse which showed him from a distance and actually appeared to have been taken from across the lake.  It was very brief so maybe I missed something but I can't imagine that he set up a tripod that far away and then went back.

[cooksdelight]

@mlp, your question about Jesse intriged me so I went back and watched his portion. He slid down the hill, reached the beach of the ocean with all the wood lying everywhere. Next thing we see is him from far away, walking along the rocky shore, wondering how he's going to reach Shannon by walking along the beachfront. Then he finally walks up to the camera, and continues on to cuss at the fact he's going to have to go uphill through the woods.

I cannot believe he was so dedicated to getting good footage of himself that he set up the camera on a tripod, walked all the way back along the rocks, then turned around and walked back to the camera. If so, give him an Emmy for cinematography. 

In other words, I'm with you now. What the hell???

[meep.meep]

Too bad about Logan tapping out.  I doubt he got any sleep what with the bear (?) putzing around his tent all night.  The young guy during the first season was 22, and he was the runner up.  

Kudos to the production team for fixing their shaded relief map of North America to remove the large triangular mountain range running through the middle of the continent.  Like through Illinois and Indiana.  Drove me crazy.

[HurricaneVal]

Didn't his family also have a publishing company, which may be a vanity press (online or hardcopy) created so their precious boy could "work" and provide content for their "publications."

I really don't know, but their home footage showing the parent's house implied that they're wealthy.  Now, they could be wealthy because of their successful publishing concerns, or they could be wealthy and providing a publishing concern to indulge their children.  I really don't know.

 

As for the arduous trek...  I wonder if production tested it out in a different season when the salal wasn't so exuberant?   Because it should have been obvious if they tested it under the present conditions that ten miles was too far to bushwhack cross-country.  Or maybe each placement was carefully selected because there is an "easy" way, but our intrepid hikers didn't find it?  Kind of like how fuckingLarry didn't find his sweet homestead spot until late in the game?  It was there the whole time, and production probably assumed that's where he'd build his shelter, but he went the hard way instead.  I'll bet for every emplacement area, there's one ideal campsite.  Brooke found hers right away.  Maybe it isn't as obvious for the other teams.  Remember fuckingLarry went all uphill and around that way before he realized that if he walked the flat portion of his site around the curve of the shore he'd come to his shangri-la.

[MaraJadeSharpie]

1 hour ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Who's the guy who said he's a videographer, adventurer and "content creator" ?  And WTF is a "content creator"?

A fancy way of saying he creates YouTube videos. Or something similar. Haha.

[MaraJadeSharpie]

1 hour ago, simplyme said:

I'm hoping the Baird brothers get off my screen fairly soon. I can't verbalize why, but they bug me.

Same here. Something about the clips showing them at home gave me the impression they are spoiled by their parents. And they act like it. They also do not seem very knowledgeable. Actually almost nobody does this season.

 

1 hour ago, simplyme said:

Brody and his brother (Charles?) haven't made much of an impression, other than that Brody is definitely a flatlander. Around here we call those hills, Brody. Yeah, they're a pita, but they sure aren't what we'd consider mountains.

I will defend Brody and his "mountain" only because I live in Louisiana, below sea level. To us simple flatlander folk, that there is a mountain. ;)

Edited June 23, 2017 by MaraJadeSharpie

[TVbitch]

Did they show Logan at all this episode before the tap? If not, can someone refresh me on what trauma he suffered last episode? His tap was probably 1 part dad delusion and 1 part millennial malaise.  

I feel for the hikers. It is pretty dangerous and slow going to hike when you cannot see the ground. Not sure what this adds except they are hoping for some tear inducing reunions. 

[cooksdelight]

@TVbitch, Logan got skeered by a big ol' bear in the woods. The kid was using his food pack as a pillow. I guess he was afraid it would eat his head in the process.

No, nothing of Logan until Daddy got there.

[pagooey]

Quote

As for the arduous trek...  I wonder if production tested it out in a different season when the salal wasn't so exuberant?   Because it should have been obvious if they tested it under the present conditions that ten miles was too far to bushwhack cross-country.  Or maybe each placement was carefully selected because there is an "easy" way, but our intrepid hikers didn't find it? 

Good thoughts! I would love to know more about the production side of things for this show in particular, since we're given to believe that any and all manipulation of the placements and personalities has to be done before the drop-offs. The lack of artifice is why I watch it. 

I also wonder if, a few days in, production started to panic when folks were tapping out left and right. All their crafty presumed enhancements, washing right out to sea!

[roamyn]

1 hour ago, MaraJadeSharpie said:

Same here. Something about the clips showing them at home gave me the impression they are spoiled by their parents. And they act like it. They also do not seem very knowledgeable. Actually almost nobody does this season.

 

We haven't seen one father/son duo yet.  The son has a degree in something w/survival.

 I liked them during the 1st episode, and Brooke/Dave seem to have skills and common sense.  I would say that Shannon/Jesse have skills, esp considering heir background & line of work.

[DNOMAD]

17 hours ago, mlp said:

I really like Jesse and Shannon and now it looks like Shannon's seriously injured.  I hope his leg isn't broken.  I'm afraid he may be the stretcher case we saw in a preview last week.  

Brooke has real skills.  So far, I like her and her husband both.

I still don't understand where the hikers' cameras are.  There were more shots taken from the side as they walked along.  When one of them was putting mushrooms in his bag, the camera showed him full face and using both hands so he wasn't holding it out.   And there was one shot of Jesse hiking along the rocky area that showed him from a long distance.  He couldn't have been holding that camera in any way.  It doesn't seem probable that production has planted cameras on trees along the way in hopes the hikers will pass by so I can't figure it out.

hiker places cam then backtracks and footage is edited,saw that on behind the scenes of "survivorman"

[OoogleEyes]

22 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

Whistles travel far and a good way to communicate long distances...

Yep. My husband had a particular whistle. If the Ooogleboys and I got separated from him at an amusement park, fair, fest or even the mall, we'd hear that distinctive whistle and we'd stop in our tracks. Our ears would perk up like Border Collies, looking around.... heh, good times 

Edited June 24, 2017 by OoogleEyes

[MostlyContent]

5 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Do we think he got sold a load of BS from the Limpet Knife Store?

HA!!!!!!   

That scene was hilarious!

[humbleopinion]

The Baird brother,Ted who gill netted the 5 fish is the publisher.

The Baird Brother Slug Eater, Jim wants to use the prize money to be an adventurer and videographer full time.

[zibnchy]

10 hours ago, holly4755 said:

As I recall Sam on season 1 was in his very early 20's and survived alone with a lot of courage.

Sam struck me as more mature than an average 22 year old. He was married with a baby on the way.That will force someone to grow up. Neither of this year's 19 year olds struck me as at all mature. The first one (long hair, name? Josh?) still had some of his baby fat, esp in his face (I thought he was cute). Poor Logan just seemed hurt and miserable. I wanted to cook him a nice meal and give him a puppy to pet.

Let me put it this way - I'm old, somewhat overweight, out of shape, and cranky all the time. I could have outlasted either of those boys simply by gutting it out (unless I ended up in a bear's gut) simply because I have the experience to know what I can gut out (a lot).

Minimum age of 30? That could work. Also I think they should have backup teams ready to insert if one team taps out in, say, the first 3 hours. (Honestly, he wasn't even out there long enough to need to take a pee outdoors. Maybe he just really didn't want to pee outside.) Seriously, the first day? Give the replacement team a penalty of some kind (time? 3 hours?).

If we lose 3 of 7 teams in the first 5-6 days it doesn't bode well for this experiment. I'm also with the folks who find the hiking boring. But I find Brooke kind of fascinating and so this season might turn into "At Home With Brooke". Episode 4: Brooke adds a second bedroom (for visitors) to the shelter.