S04.E05: Double or Nothing

[Drogo]

Reunited teams dive into the difficult task of surviving together and feeding two people. Meanwhile, the final hiker's brutal mountain climb could dash his hopes of ever making it to camp.

[OoogleEyes]

Jim's probably mighty disappointed when he reached the non-camp Ted has built.

"Octopushead" Heh..

Awww,  the Whipples are adorable. So is Sam and Dad.

[dgpolo]

Are the campsites farther away this time because of the hike? I don't remember them being 24 miles away from each other.

Damn, I just remembered, the guy that was building the crab trap with the found crate tapped out. I wanted to see how that was going to work.

That boat is going to sink.

If there are only four teams why can't we see each of them instead of only two? And who's the fourth team, I think I've forgotten.

Jim/Ted; Brooke/Dave; Sam/Pete and ?

[OoogleEyes]

The other brothers, Shannon and Jesse?

[riverheightsnancy]

One of the Baird brother to the other: "You're an idiot!"

Me at home: "You're BOTH idiots!"

OMG! Other than Brooke, all of these camps look like amateur hour in the backyard. Lucas, Jose, Fowler (and the girl from last year with the cool shelter), must be laughing. What some people from prior seasons made was artisan quality. That Baird brother (I don't care enough to remember who is who), puts up a tarp in the air, and you have a "shelter". That is very unsafe and will have to be changed. His boat is a joke. Brooke and Dave all the way. It is theirs to lose in my opinion. 

Edited July 14, 2017 by riverheightsnancy

[Quilt Fairy]

9 minutes ago, OoogleEyes said:

The other brothers, Shannon and Jesse?

Brody and Chris.

[roamyn]

The editing monkeys have been out already.

We were led to believe that Pete didn't have a shelter, but he actually did.  And they were able to build a wall on the backend, with only a saw.

The Whipples are clearly the favorites, but Sam/Pete rose up much higher tonight.

Only one scene w/Brody & Chris.

The Baird brothers are still idiots.  When they each- separately-stated that they hoped the other brother had tons of food, I was cackling.  But they just might kill one another, before they starve.

Edited July 14, 2017 by roamyn

[LittleIggy]

Brooke mad a kick ass shelter by herself! Woman power! I couldn't look when she rung the curtain down on that duck. Yes, it was literally a sitting duck so she gave it a quick death, but I can't watch things like that! 

[mlp]

I'm still having trouble comprehending where the camera is in some cases.  The red-haired hiker was struggling to make it up the hill.  Some shots were just of his hands and arms grabbing for handholds but there were also shots of his whole self.  I don't believe he could possibly have set up a tripod somewhere as he was clambering uphill and he was using both hands.  Where was the camera?

Did Dave say he has asthma?  He must be well-controlled if he can do a strenuous hike.  I wonder if he was allowed to take along an albuterol inhaler just in case. The rescue teams are too far away to be of much help if he is in serious respiratory distress.

[cooksdelight]

Yes, Dave has asthma. I have to believe anyone who takes regular medication is able to take it with them, or have it doled out when they do their weekly medical checks. They have a medical tent out of sight on Survivor, because one woman I know who was on birth control pills had to go there each day to get hers.

The brothers are going to kill each other. I don't enjoy watching people bicker so I am probably going to have to mute them whenever they are on.

Sam and Pete are doing much better than I expected without the axe. But dad got dizzy, not a good sign. They are catching fish, but I'm wondering why Sam doesn't use the rock method that Dave uses, if he has a degree in fisheries. 

I'm really pissed off that the big scream from Brooke was only her catching a fish. Yeah, I'd be pissed too if I ran all the way over only to find her jumping up and down for joy. But then again, Dave is a nice guy who clearly loves her immensely and it only made him want to stop cutting firewood and fish beside her.

Things are going too well for Brooke and Dave. I see a black cloud hovering somewhere.... at the rate these people are going, whoever said they might all stay 45 days was probably correct. We're at day 13 and the brothers are already bickering, we've barely seen the southern brothers, and Pete is having dizzy spells.

[ProfCrash]

I have asthma and rarely use my inhaler. Like once in every two years. When I need it, I need it, so I have one at work, in my gym bag and at home. And when I need it, I normally need it for a month or so. My asthma is normally triggered by allergies that get out of control or if I get a gnarly cold. It is technically exercise induced asthma but my hiking, playing tennis, playing softball and working out in the gym have not triggered an attack in about 15 years. For some folks the asthma will be triggered by something else and you don't need meds. It sounds like Dave's is a bit more serious then that, since Brooke mentioned it. Or they could be concerned that the increased activity combined with a decline in food could cause his asthma to be more of an issue. My husband has been known to pack an extra inhaler when we go hiking because he knows I can sometimes forget to bring it since I rarely use it.

Sam and Pete are n pretty good shape but will need to massively increase their water consumption and food consumption. Sam flat out said he was dehydrated from the hike and Pete's dizziness could very well be from dehydration. We have not heard or seen that they have any issue with water but then why is at least one of them dehydrated?

I am going to be shocked if we make it past 30 days. We have 4 teams left on day 13. Dave and Brook have a great shelter and Sam and Pete have a start on a good shelter. Pete had the basic structure but they did not start adding the walls and the like until Sam got there. It does not seem to be as well built and developed as Brooke's. I am not sure that they have a fireplace in it. The brothers are invisible or annoying.

Just uggghhhh

[rmontro]

We finally found something Brooke isn't good at:  cooking.  That duck was charred!

I had to laugh when they first showed Ted's shelter.  A propped up stick with the tarp draped over it.  He waited until the day before his brother got there to start building something more substantial?  These campers have been mind boggling.

Edited July 15, 2017 by rmontro

[cooksdelight]

Does every one of you laugh when we see the disclaimer about them being professional survivalists? :)

[Tracer34]

Professional survivalists?  Maybe Brooke and Dave, but the other 3 teams seem more like Wannabes than Reallyare.

I very much didn't need to see the duck-neck-stomping.

And I was a bit confused about the aroma from the duck smoking attracting bears.  Whether they cooked inside the shelter or outside of it, wouldn't there be drifting smells?

Aaaaand --- coming right up, another professional survivalist team plants their tent too close to the water.  I think I've seen this before.

[cooksdelight]

That poor duck looked up to her as if to say "are you going to help me?"

No, I'm going to have you for dinner. I'd have a hard time doing that, but if I were hungry as they probably are, all bets are off.

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, cooksdelight said:

Does every one of you laugh when we see the disclaimer about them being professional survivalists? :)

That is an interesting choice of words.  Certainly not all the contestants are making a living out of being survivalists.  I guess that if they are earning money surviving on TV, that makes them professional survivalists.

32 minutes ago, Tracer34 said:

And I was a bit confused about the aroma from the duck smoking attracting bears.  Whether they cooked inside the shelter or outside of it, wouldn't there be drifting smells?

If the food is in your tent though, it is enticing the bears to come snoop around right in your tent.  The recommendation is to have a cooking area separate from your shelter area.  Alan did this,, IIRC.

Has anyone else noted that they've never showed us Sam telling his father about losing the axe?

Edited July 14, 2017 by rmontro

[Donny Brook]

So the Baird brothers haven't eaten in days and the thing they do with clam and oysters it smash them up for crab bait?

Am I missing something here?

[cooksdelight]

55 minutes ago, rmontro said:

Has anyone else noted that they've never showed us Sam telling his father about losing the axe?

I was sooooo waiting for that. Bummer we saw nothing.

And yes, cooking inside your tent is stupid. They'll find out the hard way, perhaps.

40 minutes ago, Donny Brook said:

So the Baird brothers haven't eaten in days and the thing they do with clam and oysters it smash them up for crab bait?

Am I missing something here?

No, they're idiots. Certainly not professional survivalists.

[ClareWalks]

Brooke owning and butchering her own chickens is a big advantage. I admired how nonchalantly she killed that wounded duck. I would be an emotional wreck having to do that, which would be just another difficulty to deal with. There is something to be said for being able to kill these animals for food without feeling weepy or guilty about it.

I saw that Dumbass Giant Ginger's cut before it even happened. I was like "oh shit, ANOTHER IDIOT who can't use a knife, yup, there he goes, he cut himself."

[Quilt Fairy]

I think it just says "trained survivalists", not "professional" ones.

Remember we still have 2 sets of brothers, so just saying "the brothers" isn't enough to identify who you mean.  Last night we saw plenty of the Ginger Bros ("You're an idiot!" "No, you're an idiot!" "Well, you've got a fat ass!") and hardly any of the Swamp Bros ("I don't think we're going to have a good time here.")

Edited July 14, 2017 by Quilt Fairy

[ProfCrash]

On the duck, they were right. That duck was going to be someone's dinner, why not theirs? I was a bit turned off by the twitching after it was killed. I knew everything that they put on the screen and it still freaked me out. And yeah, the cut was obvious. Let's work with sharp tools at night and then let's whittle towards the body and not away from the body. Idiot. I learned in Girl Scouts that you had a whittling circle so no one got hurt while you were working and always keep the blade pointed away from your body.

I just can't understand how the cast the people that they did. I am guessing that the Patagonia season was insanely expensive so that they are aiming for no more then 30 days with as few teams as possible.

[ethalfrida]

First, I think the show has fallen into the "let's get more ratings" trap. Or either these are the only people who were suitable for the this season. They all sounded promising in the premiere but now not so much.

Then the duck didn't bother me at all. I used to watch my grandmother kill chickens for dinner. She'd wring their necks and then it would run around the yard a bit. I was neither alarmed or amused. Just couldn't wait for dinner. She made the best fried chicken! So I was envious of that duck somewhat. I just don't know about a lame one that may have had decay on or in its body. Then, I am wondering how you overcook a duck to the point it is chewy. A duck is mostly fat and the only chewy parts are the little parts of the wings and the lower legs.

[pagooey]

I'm amused that I myself found the duck dispatch unsettling, because I'm a meat eater and none of the other hunting/killing at a distance has bothered me on this show. Maybe having to look it in the eye was the uncomfortable part? Or the knowledge that it was too injured or ill to resist? Brook at least handled it with a calm quickness, which I respect. (Then she cooked it like my grandmother, who worried about worms/germs/parasites/assorted invisible dangers and thus cooked the bejesus out of everything, always. I was an adult before I ever encountered a nice medium-rare steak.)

The Ginger Bros are absolutely going to come to blows. I'm guessing it's 50/50 odds that they roll around pummeling each other and knock down their whole shelter tarp on a stick in the process. And I haven't been camping since Girl Scouts either, some thirtymumble years ago, and I still know not to carve towards myself, ya dumbass. I suppose they're comic relief, if you can tolerate their "no, YOU are, dude" conversational stylings. 

I'm still just not feeling it, with the pairings. The little reunions are charming, for a split second...but the way so many participants have been holding back, waiting for their partner to contribute has been so disappointing. Now, I suspect they'll all talk more to each other than to the camera, cutting out so many ample hours for introspection and education that we got from the first three seasons. The experiment was worth a try, I suppose, but is nowhere near as compelling. 

[patty1h]

The killing of the duck didn't bother me, but watching it shoot out green poop made me nauseous.

[meep.meep]

I always figured that the "waiting for their partner to contribute" was actually a conscious decision made *before* the drop off by the partners.  They might have decided that it was worth talking over campsite selection, for instance - to make the decision on important things together.  Not that they are stupid or lazy or whatever - just that they were sticking to a previous agreed upon strategy.  

Brooke either really wanted that duck cooked thoroughly or it was too dark to see how black it was getting.  If you know there's something wrong with what you are about to eat, I'd want it cooked to death also.

[dgpolo]

3 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

I always figured that the "waiting for their partner to contribute" was actually a conscious decision made *before* the drop off by the partners.  They might have decided that it was worth talking over campsite selection, for instance - to make the decision on important things together.  Not that they are stupid or lazy or whatever - just that they were sticking to a previous agreed upon strategy.  

That wouldn't explain all the hikers -expecting- food and shelter when they finally made it to 'camp'.

[meep.meep]

I think after hiking through strenuous terrain for more than a week, their expectations had risen to miraculous levels.  And I don't think expecting that there would be *some* food was a huge stretch.  Even a pot of greens would have been more than the hikers would have been able to get on the hike.

[dgpolo]

Oh, I know that. Expecting venison and deer steaks or whatever was entirely fantasyland. I'm just saying if the teams had discussed not building a shelter until together, the hikers wouldn't have been expecting one. And they kinda were. At least something more than a tarp over a stick.

[Jeanne222]

How exciting.  Brooke is surely the total woman.  I hope they stay the course and don't try to be super heros.  They CAN do this.

The ginger brothers..I can't believe the one made it back to camp.  Can't catch a fish and that boat.  Anxious to see anybody climb in that death trap.

I remember last season one of the couples caught lots of fish and had it all smoked and ready to eat.  This guy with the fishing degree should be able to fish???

I noticed Dave looked really clean.  I wonder if it was a simple wash cloth everywhere or they concocked some kind of tub. 

I too wondered about the lost ax and no conversation about it between .  Seems they are leaving out a lot of good stuff!

[TVbitch]

I am trying to think of something nice to say ... ... I really really hope this is not the only season of Alone we get this year. :)

[ramble]

43 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

I am trying to think of something nice to say ... ... I really really hope this is not the only season of Alone we get this year. :)

You're being nicer than me. This sucks. If I wanted to listen to whiny arguing I have a lot of other reality shows I could watch. The bickering brothers are boring. I am not enjoying the partner interaction. Seeing the ampersand when they zoom in toward the camps is starting to make me angry  

Someone mentioned last week about not getting to know the participants and that's bugging me too. They talk to each other, or about each other, but it's not the private musings and personals revelations we got before. When one of the guys (I don't know who because I don't care about these folks) said humans aren't meant to be alone I thought exactly and that's what set this show apart before. 

Orher than the fire place at camp married life all of these shelters and camps aren't overwhelming me. And the projects we've been shown so far are decidedly underwhelming. Boo to Almost Alone. 

[Robodude]

First... i can't un-see the duck's releasing of it's bowels....ugh.

Second... Jim Baird (the hiking red head) has my mad respect.  Hiking that mountain at the end after 9 days with basically no food, carrying a massive pack, fighting back at cougars.... I could completely feel him in that last push when he was talking to himself..."Cmon, you can do this!".   I was very relieved to hear him call out for his brother after we were led to believe he might have nowhere to go at the last commercial break before that.

I'd like to offer a possible explanation for why his brother hadn't built out the shelter before he got there..   The place he was camped might have simply not been where he though they should stay long-term.  I figured that if you assumed you'd hunt around for a better place to call home when your partner showed up, how much work would you want to put into your "temporary" home, only to have to tear it down to find another?  In addition, if you're waiting for the hiker and decide to bail on the dropoff point and go find a better place, there's no way for your partner to know where to go to find you.   All he has is a compass and a direction...you had BETTER be there when he finally shows up! 

Also...i hope their crab trap pays off.  Every "Alaska crab fisher" show has them hanging the bait from the top of the cage...EVERY one.  I think that's why they made a big deal of the argument between the brothers on this topic. 

Lastly....I keep having to wonder about the condition of the "camp" areas each pair is assigned.  Brooke has an open meadow, easy fishing in a relatively calm ocean....same for Sam and his dad.  Meanwhile the LA/MS boys have swirling waves among rocks to fish in and the Baird boys area seems devoid of food (after that first day).

Still love the show!

Edited July 14, 2017 by Robodude
Add'l thoughts

[Jeanne222]

2 hours ago, Robodude said:

First... i can't un-see the duck's releasing of it's bowels....ugh.

Second... Jim Baird (the hiking red head) has my mad respect.  Hiking that mountain at the end after 9 days with basically no food, carrying a massive pack, fighting back at cougars.... I could completely feel him in that last push when he was talking to himself..."Cmon, you can do this!".   I was very relieved to hear him call out for his brother after we were led to believe he might have nowhere to go at the last commercial break before that.

I'd like to offer a possible explanation for why his brother hadn't built out the shelter before he got there..   The place he was camped might have simply not been where he though they should stay long-term.  I figured that if you assumed you'd hunt around for a better place to call home when your partner showed up, how much work would you want to put into your "temporary" home, only to have to tear it down to find another?  In addition, if you're waiting for the hiker and decide to bail on the dropoff point and go find a better place, there's no way for your partner to know where to go to find you.   All he has is a compass and a direction...you had BETTER be there when he finally shows up! 

Also...i hope their crab trap pays off.  Every "Alaska crab fisher" show has them hanging the bait from the top of the cage...EVERY one.  I think that's why they made a big deal of the argument between the brothers on this topic. 

Lastly....I keep having to wonder about the condition of the "camp" areas each pair is assigned.  Brooke has an open meadow, easy fishing in a relatively calm ocean....same for Sam and his dad.  Meanwhile the LA/MS boys have swirling waves among rocks to fish in and the Baird boys area seems devoid of food (after that first day).

Still love the show!

Lots of good points made.  I too am enjoying the show.

[DNOMAD]

2 hours ago, Robodude said:

First... i can't un-see the duck's releasing of it's bowels....ugh.

Second... Jim Baird (the hiking red head) has my mad respect.  Hiking that mountain at the end after 9 days with basically no food, carrying a massive pack, fighting back at cougars.... I could completely feel him in that last push when he was talking to himself..."Cmon, you can do this!".   I was very relieved to hear him call out for his brother after we were led to believe he might have nowhere to go at the last commercial break before that.

I'd like to offer a possible explanation for why his brother hadn't built out the shelter before he got there..   The place he was camped might have simply not been where he though they should stay long-term.  I figured that if you assumed you'd hunt around for a better place to call home when your partner showed up, how much work would you want to put into your "temporary" home, only to have to tear it down to find another?  In addition, if you're waiting for the hiker and decide to bail on the dropoff point and go find a better place, there's no way for your partner to know where to go to find you.   All he has is a compass and a direction...you had BETTER be there when he finally shows up! 

Also...i hope their crab trap pays off.  Every "Alaska crab fisher" show has them hanging the bait from the top of the cage...EVERY one.  I think that's why they made a big deal of the argument between the brothers on this topic. 

Lastly....I keep having to wonder about the condition of the "camp" areas each pair is assigned.  Brooke has an open meadow, easy fishing in a relatively calm ocean....same for Sam and his dad.  Meanwhile the LA/MS boys have swirling waves among rocks to fish in and the Baird boys area seems devoid of food (after that first day).

Still love the show!

I've noticed that too on past seasons,some drop points are almost family campgrounds while others are barren wastelands.think each one should be the same

[Liberty]

The father/son team seems offer a lot of positive reinforcement to each other.  Wonder if they discuss that when they are setting up the cameras.

[holly4755]

campsites can never be equal,  Yet some of the worst spots turn into better spots depending on the weather. , Larry did better at his second mouse filled site.  didn't the winner Dave, change where he was fishing and have better luck, he said he was gaining weight when they came and got him. 

what is good in one weather, is bad in another . meadows are nice for sitting in the sun, but they also tend to flood, keeps the trees down.  

I remember when some people thought that nicole got favoritism because of her site and then they showed how the campers pick numbers from a pot to get assigned.   

Edited July 15, 2017 by holly4755

[Quilt Fairy]

6 hours ago, ramble said:

When one of the guys (I don't know who because I don't care about these folks) said humans aren't meant to be alone I thought exactly and that's what set this show apart before

Hah! You must have heard me because that's exactly what I said when he said that!

[peaceknit]

When I saw that blackened duck Brooke so quickly dispatched, I thought, it would have made more sense to boil it with some of the greens, mushrooms. They'd have gotten more meat off of that small bird, and had a soup, to boot. But what do I know, I'm not a professional survivialist. lol As someone above said, it's theirs to lose.

That said, NOT a fan of Sorta Alone. It's like being sorta pregnant.

[Snarklepuss]

My theory is that the duck was overcooked because Brooke wanted to be sure to cook any germs out of it that could be unhealthy.  Or was it that she smoked it?  I didn't pay close enough attention to that part.  I was still recovering from seeing the duck's death.  I have to admit I'd never seen a duck like that one before.  It had a very different beak from the duck breeds I've known.

I reacted the same way as @ramble and @Quilt Fairy to the comment that humans aren't meant to be alone.  Well, duh, that was sort-of the entire POINT of the show originally, wasn't it? - To show how people react when doing something they're really not meant to do.  I am still not in love with the new format.  We are now going to have weeks of seeing the dynamics between the couples.  While I am a student of human relationships, seeing that is not why I watch this show!!

What I have noticed is that while this group generally has not shown much talent in the way of shelter building (at least not yet), they certainly have made up for it with their fishing ability.  I am not a fishing person at all so I am finding their "hook, line and sinker" method to be very interesting.  I wonder if the show deliberately made a better effort to recruit people that had very good fishing/trapping skills after seeing so many people starve last season.  Also because they would have to find enough food for two this season.

[cooksdelight]

She had the duck on a stick, above the fire. Boiling would have made it soooooo much more tender and killed any parasites at the same time. Yeah, I guess Brooke's one weakness is cooking wild game.

The best thing I got out of this episode was the dash. The most important thing on your tombstone is the dash, that thing between when you're born and when you die. What you do with that dash is up to you.

[ClareWalks]

The campsites with more food resources also have more predators to deal with, so I don't think there are any shenanigans going on with sabotaging some of the sites. I think they really do find a balance of pros and cons with each location.

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, holly4755 said:

I remember when some people thought that nicole got favoritism because of her site and then they showed how the campers pick numbers from a pot to get assigned.   

That's not likely to satisfy the conspiracy theorists though.

Regarding Brooke not boiling the duck, maybe they were just craving some bird cooked over the campfire.  I know this is about survival and being smart, but boiling is my least favorite way to cook meat.  

The only two pairs that I've enjoyed watching their interactions so far are the married couple (Whipples) and Pete and Sam, the father/son team.  I thought the scene where the dad got dizzy and the son told him to take it easy was nice.  A nice comment on the limitations of age, the father's pride in wanting to pull his own weight, and the caring of the son.

[cooksdelight]

10 minutes ago, rmontro said:

A nice comment on the limitations of age, the father's pride in wanting to pull his own weight, and the caring of the son

Indeed it was. And it makes me glad the other father/son team was eliminated early on. I can only imagine the father arriving to find his son hadn't set up a fort & cabin yet, and trying to constantly make a man out of him.

[raven]

14 hours ago, Robodude said:

The place he was camped might have simply not been where he though they should stay long-term.  I figured that if you assumed you'd hunt around for a better place to call home when your partner showed up, how much work would you want to put into your "temporary" home, only to have to tear it down to find another? 

This is something I had thought of as well.   Brooke and Dave have the advantage of being married/sharing a life together and seem to be more comfortable making those kinds of decisions when they're not together; being confident with their relationship

Even if a father/son or brother/brother team live together, their lives are essentially separate, with decisions such as "what bedroom furniture do we need" not being joint ones; you don't have that sense of knowing what your partner would want.  My guess is that Brooke is more confident in this respect, which might be one of the reasons why she made camp and he hiked. He was happy and impressed with her camp so they knew what they were doing when they made that decision.

Big respect to Brooke for efficiently killing the duck "sad quack".  In my perfect world, the meat I eat magically appears in the market, no cute animals are put to death.  Brooke and Dave are a likable pair, but her shrieking makes my ears bleed - I had to mute last week when they were reunited, as well as this week when she caught the fish.

On 7/14/2017 at 1:49 AM, mlp said:

Where was the camera?

It seemed like he was placing it among the rocks as he climbed, thus the shots of his hands and weird body shots.  He's tall and has long arms and may have stretched, placed it, grabbed it and continued climbing. That shows some commitment to the camera; I wouldn't have bothered if I had to climb that (one of a few hundred reasons why I would never be on this show).  Of course the footage is edited afterwards so we may be seeing a more continuous video of the climb than what actually happened. 

8 hours ago, Snarklepuss said:

I am not a fishing person at all so I am finding their "hook, line and sinker" method to be very interesting. 

I liked that too - I've heard the phrase but never really thought about it so I liked that little lesson. 

[rmontro]

10 hours ago, holly4755 said:

campsites can never be equal,  Yet some of the worst spots turn into better spots depending on the weather. , Larry did better at his second mouse filled site.  didn't the winner Dave, change where he was fishing and have better luck, he said he was gaining weight when they came and got him. 

I wonder how much leeway they have in choosing their sites.  Obviously they must be limited to a certain area, but we've seen contestants change sites before.  I wonder if it would be possible for a hiker to say "Hey, I crossed a sweet little section a little ways back that would make a great campsite" and they could move?  Like maybe around a river, lake, or pond.

[rainsmom]

36 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I wonder how much leeway they have in choosing their sites.  Obviously they must be limited to a certain area, but we've seen contestants change sites before.  I wonder if it would be possible for a hiker to say "Hey, I crossed a sweet little section a little ways back that would make a great campsite" and they could move?  Like maybe around a river, lake, or pond.

I would be stunned if, when they're dropped off, the producers don't give them a rough idea of how much territory they are allowed to explore.

[dustoffmom]

5 minutes ago, rainsmom said:

I would be stunned if, when they're dropped off, the producers don't give them a rough idea of how much territory they are allowed to explore.

There was a post about just this in past threads.  I've no idea now what season or topic it was in, but whoever posted said clearly that they are given a very specific range that they are permitted to explore in.  They are not allowed to just take off cross country or exploring a long distance down the beach.  Perhaps whoever it was will chime in once again?

[cooksdelight]

I seem to remember that their GPS phone thingy they use to tap out with will sound an alarm if they go past the boundary. Because someone was very close to a road that led to a town.

[SRTouch]

9 hours ago, peaceknit said:

When I saw that blackened duck Brooke so quickly dispatched, I thought, it would have made more sense to boil it with some of the greens, mushrooms. They'd have gotten more meat off of that small bird, and had a soup, to boot. But what do I know, I'm not a professional survivialist. lol As someone above said, it's theirs to lose.

That said, NOT a fan of Sorta Alone. It's like being sorta pregnant.

Generally, I would agree. I've always sort of leaned towards stew/soup as the way to go, as you get every bit of use from your catch. In this case, I sort of get the over-cooked duck. Makes sense to cook the bejesus out of the meat when you don't know why the duck was sick. Think it was Lucas way back in season 1 that caught a bird in his net/trot line and IIRC the thing was full of parasites. Then the military dude the next season found a dead duck - and came into some Monday morning quarterback complaints when he tossed it - and yes, I was one of those saying he should have at least used it as fishbait. So... I understand Brooke choosing to overcook the duck on a spit over her fire to kill any germ/parasites rather than a reflection on her cooking ability.

Just a side note about the stew/soup possibility - anyone ever hear what individuals chose for gear. I always figured the way to go when choosing between rations was the dried beans/pulses/legumes - which would expand once hydrated and extend the wilderness stew. Course looks like all the food ration choices have been cut in size, while doubling the number of mouths... Wonder if that wasn't a deliberate choice by the show runners to cut the length of time folks stay?

[SRTouch]

Sort of off topic since it isn't this episode, but they now have the post-tap interview with Shannon and Jesse on the Alone site http://www.history.com/shows/alone/blog/misc/tap-out-qa-shannon-and-jesse-bosdell Couple of things I took away from the q&a - Jesse knew about the hike in advance, gained 30 pounds and practiced long hikes with that extra weight way before the show. Also, love the last line: Jesse: I need to walk faster. Also like that, although it seems obvious Jesse was not ready to quit, his focus at the time was concern for his brother.