S05.E02: The Haunting

[cooksdelight]

Quote

Participants explore new and risky food sources in Mongolia; as the survivalists begin to settle into their new remote surroundings, they realize they're not the only predators on the prowl.

Edited June 22, 2018 by cooksdelight

[MostlyContent]

This is such a good episode!  

The difference in the apparent level of interest in their shelters among the various contestants is stark. 

[OoogleEyes]

Larry: I'm just going to take it easy this time 

2 seconds later: god dammit muther...BLEEP!BLEEP!BLEEP!

[MostlyContent]

Just go home, Brad, and leave the camera time to the big kids.  :)

[patty1h]

Britt is funny - talking about the grasshoppers and saying "I ate like a ridiculous fat man" in order to pack on weight before this Mongolian adventure.  Also, who didn't see that his fish would be hijacked.

[roamyn]

33 minutes ago, patty1h said:

Britt is funny - talking about the grasshoppers and saying "I ate like a ridiculous fat man" in order to pack on weight before this Mongolian adventure.  Also, who didn't see that his fish would be hijacked.

Best commentary?  When he told the editors to add the protein content at the bottom of the screen....right...now!

i don’t remember him being this funny in Patagonia.

But yeah, who couldn’t foresee that his fish farm would be decimated?  However, he appears to have the right attitude.  Acknowledge your error, learn from it and move on.

Go home Brad, you wuss.  Those “traps” were ridiculous.   Anyone could see that they were flimsy and any animal could go around to get the bait.

Dave caught a grouse with a bow & arrow?  Good for him.  I remember one of the loser red haired brothers from S4 - Jim maybe? - trying to do that during his hike, and couldn’t.

 F*G LARRY’S BACK!

Edited June 22, 2018 by roamyn

[Quilt Fairy]

12 minutes ago, roamyn said:

 F*G LARRY’S BACK!

I thought the same thing!  Welcome back, F*cking Larry!  I really hate the skanky beard, but he conveniently set up the camera so that we only saw him from chest down during his main tirade.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[cooksdelight]

YESSSSSSS!!! F*ING LARRY IS BACK!!! With a hugeass beard!

Brad needs to get off TV. He’s not cut out for this, at all.

[dgpolo]

Why was this called The Haunting?

[LittleIggy]

Good ol’ F**king Larry. Welcome back, buddy. ?

Yeah, Britt was dumb to put those fish in that little “holding pond.” Bet the wolves were, like, “Hey, buffet!”

Dave shooting that grouse was pretty awesome.

1 minute ago, dgpolo said:

Why was this called The Haunting?

I wondered the same.

[MostlyContent]

3 hours ago, dgpolo said:

Why was this called The Haunting?

The only thing I could come up with is perhaps the past season was 'haunting' the contestant.   

Larry's all chill now with his new beard persona, but haunted by his breakdown......but F that 'chicky monk'.  

Dave was haunted by his starvation, but now actually has some luck with a bow (has that ever happened before?).

Brad was haunted because he hardly had a chance last season, and............got nothing.  He's an idiot.  

Britt was haunted because on his season he tapped out to go home and this time his wife told him to stay the heck out there.  (???)  Really stupid decision with the fish, but he was actually interesting and funny this time.  

Or maybe they're all being haunted by roving packs of dead wolves who howl a lot.  lol!   

One thing I noticed:   Dave seemed to be having a hard time with all the bugs and I haven't seen any of the others bothered by that, yet.  Maybe his space might not be the best?  Also, I'm not a guy.......but no underwear for 20 years?  That sounds rather uncomfortable.   

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, roamyn said:

But yeah, who couldn’t foresee that his fish farm would be decimated?  However, he appears to have the right attitude.  Acknowledge your error, learn from it and move on.

Go home Brad, you wuss.  Those “traps” were ridiculous.

Britt was surprisingly entertaining.  Like you say, all he can do is learn from his fish pond error.  At least it's early on, so he should have a lot of time to make up for it.

I was thinking last week that Carleigh with the fish hook problem might be the first time that the first person out wasn't loudly ridiculed for tapping out.  She didn't really have much choice.  That honor seems to have fallen to Brad this year, but I can't rip on him too badly.  He had been out there a week I think, and still hadn't caught any food?  It just wasn't happening for him.  I'm assuming that they have some rations like they've had in past seasons though?

[MostlyContent]

37 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I'm assuming that they have some rations like they've had in past seasons though?

As in the past seasons, the contestants chose their 10 items.  

The food rations are one of those choices.  Some folks chose one or, two or, three.  

Some people chose none.   

[rmontro]

47 minutes ago, MostlyContent said:

The food rations are one of those choices.  Some folks chose one or, two or, three.  

Well, since you answered, I had to look it up, Brad took one food ration with him.  But regardless, he wasn't having any success, so he probably figured why beat a dead horse.

Looks like we've seen all the contestants now except Randy and Brooke.

[walnutqueen]

Fucking Larry is BACK, baby!

[holly4755]

Was brad not paying attention with the lectures on local food sources,? Nichole was eating ant larvi, Britt was eating Grasshoppers, most people were eating greens and Brad could find nothing to eat? Did he even consider baiting his hook with insects or worms? he was not fun to watch.

 Britt was fun to watch even if making a rookie mistake which I bet most of us at home in our armchairs eating potato chips or something  saw long before it happened. . 

 

Larry is always fun to watch. 

[humbleopinion]

If Brad had picked  9 food rations and a saw he would have stayed out longer, and with the same accomplishment...a good shelter....hindsight blah blah blah

Props in his house....looks like of the top of a swing set/jungle gym

very rustic chic 

[dgpolo]

6 minutes ago, humbleopinion said:

Props in his house....looks like of the top of a swing set/jungle gym

very rustic chic 

I wasn't sure if that was his house/shelter or a place to store his fire wood. I wish they had let us see everyone building their shelters, I would have thought they would make that a priority and get their permanent shelter built as quickly as possible before the lack of calories set in. Larry's doesn't look like it would survive a snow storm.

[Charlesman]

Pretty sure I don't remember anyone ever getting anything with a bow and arrow before. Well done.

 

Brad looked pissed when his brother tapped out on day one. Glad to see his smug look wiped off his face by not figuring out how to get any food in a week. 

[Subrookie]

16 hours ago, roamyn said:

 I remember one of the loser red haired brothers from S4 - Jim maybe? - trying to do that during his hike, and couldn’t.

IIRC, he threw a chunk of wood at one. Which, made me laugh out loud at the time. 

Agree with you all about Brad. He had a loser mentality from the start and apparently no idea what greens were edible. 

I thought it was curious someone was boiling their water. I get the concern about girardia but that appears to be a pretty pristine watershed. I doubt I would have. In that remote a location I have typically never even carried a canteen. I'd keep a cup on a string tied to my belt loop and dip it in the water when I was thirsty. 

[qtpye]

3 hours ago, holly4755 said:

Was brad not paying attention with the lectures on local food sources,? Nichole was eating ant larvi, Britt was eating Grasshoppers, most people were eating greens and Brad could find nothing to eat? Did he even consider baiting his hook with insects or worms? he was not fun to watch.

 Britt was fun to watch even if making a rookie mistake which I bet most of us at home in our armchairs eating potato chips or something  saw long before it happened. . 

 

Larry is always fun to watch. 

Britt was a lot of fun and his wife finally said a lot of us wives and husbands were thinking at home if our spouse goes on a show like this. Please do not use the excuse of "being with family" as a reason to tap out. Use being cold, hungry, or miserable as a reason, but do not bullshit about how "family" is so important when you were the one skipping with glee to do this show and be away from us in the first place. Also, I notice a lot of the guys (do not know about the ladies) seem in an "I just want to quit my job and go live in the woods" mode after doing the show, so that $500K will come in real handy.

So in judging Brad while I sit on my comfortable couch drinking a glass of rose, I think the brothers wanted to promote the blacksmith business. Also, besides Sam & Carleigh, the youngsters do not seem to do well on this show. They usually have the strong young bodies but not the will. It even makes Carleigh's tap out even more frustrating, because that young lady went on almost forever on only 6 fish in her original season. 

[HurricaneVal]

Buh-bye Brad.  I didn't have the opportunity to hate you the first time around, and it looks like I don't have the opportunity to fully develop my hatred for you this time around.  However, you stuck around juuuuuuust long enough for me to get a really good start.  First of all, that was one stupid haircut--it looked a little Nazi youth to me, which made me instantly hate you.  Your traps were stupid. Did you even try to fish?  Did you not pay attention to the "gathering" portion of the local area training?  I think you are very unclear on the concept here.  Or as qtpye clearly surmised, you wanted to promote your blacksmith business.  Jokes on you.  I forgot you had such a business, and your one and only episode didn't include any footage of you talking about it.

I did think it was kind of funny going from Brad who can't get any food, to Britt catching fish after fish after fish after his lovely amuse bouche of fire roasted grasshopper.

F*g Larry!  Mr. HV said he didn't remember him from his first season--which is unsurprising because of his skanky beard--but as soon as the bleeping started, Mr. HV was all "oh yeah, that guy!"  Why the hell did F*g Larry just dump his chicky monk guts out to attract some other predator?  I was shouting "use them for fishing bait, you f*g idiot, and not bait to attract predators to you!" at the screen.

What is it with young men only seeing protein as the only possible food source for them?  Brad evidently only wanted red meat that came from his extremely lame traps.  No apparent interest in vegetation or bugs.  No apparent fishing attempts, other than a vague handwave toward the river with a feeble "can't catch any fish" explanation.  I remember Sam, on his season--though he went deep, deep, deep in the game--only ate mouse meat.  He didn't forage for edible vegetation, he didn't eat seaweed, he didn't rock pick for shellfish, and he didn't fish, because--as I recall--he didn't like that kind of food.  Well, as my momma always said:  "Picky eaters can't be very hungry."  I think Sam only lasted so long on his limited diet because he came in sporting a good lot of baby fat and he (and Alan the winner) subscribed to the "hunker down" strategy of survival.  He conserved his energy so he didn't have to take in a lot.  I'll be interested to see if Sam's strategy or pickiness has changed this time around.  Hunkering down is viable under the right conditions, but it remains to be seen if Mongolia has those conditions.  I suspect building a kick-ass shelter out of the flood zone, and gathering a f*k ton of firewood will be incredibly necessary this time around.  Sam's shelter on his season was just tarps fastened to sticks I think.  That ain't gonna cut it in Mongolia.  Looking at the area they're in, it looks like it can get some hellacious winds and flooding.  I'm also not seeing a lot of high ground for some of those campers to retreat to if the river rises.

[LittleIggy]

I noticed Britt said something to the effect that it was almost sundown so it was time for fishing. He then promptly landed several fish. Maybe Brad should have researched the best time to fish. I don’t know how he expected those “snares” to catch anything either.

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

No apparent fishing attempts, other than a vague handwave toward the river with a feeble "can't catch any fish" explanation.

In all fairness, we saw Brad making a gill net (as opposed to having it as one of his 10 items, I guess), and he said he wasn't getting any fish that way.   I don't think we saw him line fishing.  I don't understand why he set out 50 of the exact same kind of trap in the exact same setup on a fallen log.  Wouldn't you vary them a bit to improve your chances, try for different types of game?  I feel bad that he caught no food for a full week, but I can't believe there was no food there.

One thing I realized last night was that I don't think we have ever seen a contestant eating the food they brought with them.  Am I right?

I think the building Britt had was for his firewood.  Surprised he spent so much effort into doing that.  Since he made a log building just for that purpose, I assume his shelter will be similar.  I'm really interested to see the shelters, they haven't shown any shelter making since the first ep where people were basically throwing a tarp over a fallen tree branch.

I think the OP was right, the "Haunting" title probably refers to contestants haunted by their previous failures.  However, can I just say that those wolf howls were incredibly creepy?  And with all the barks and yips they went on a long time.  Something was definitely happening down by the wolf pack.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[pagooey]

Aw, Fuckin' Larry! Never change! And actually, I believe he has changed a lot, so that EVERYTHING is not riding on this experience. His arc is still the most compelling, to me. But I laughed my ass off when he emitted an entire paragraph of bleeping, because...it was hot out. And the snare wire was annoying. He is a character!

I enjoyed Britt in his last run, especially his demonstration of his son's evocative wedding dance. (I loved that, in the family footage, the kid was encouraged to bust a few more moves for posterity, bless him.) But I didn't remember him being this entertaining, or as natural and witty on camera. When he paused to indicate where the informational chyron should go--and then responded to it--I again laughed out loud. 

And Brad, oy vey, eat a bug, ya dope. I assume you have never experienced a minute of adversity in your short, pretty life...may the rest of it be this easy breezy, I guess. To paraphrase a friend's dad, "If that's the worst thing that ever happened to you, consider yourself awfully lucky." 

Aside from nonentity Brad, who has conveniently kept me from needing to have an opinion of him, I am very invested in all of the returnees! I don't hate anyone on sight, and am rooting for everyone pretty much equally. (Okay, Dave's "I am QUIRKY, tee hee hee!" qualities still get on my last nerve. Going commando for two decades is TMI, nature boy.)

[humbleopinion]

 Brad had 4 sleeves of big white crackers.

Did he pull a Dave and hoard his "carbohydrate and sugar" stash, leaving the competition with the crackers in his pack?

Inquiring minds want to know.....

Brad achieved his goal...lean enough for his ribs to show.....

Hey, Britt...what if the parasites carried by the grasshoppers are inside their hippity hoppity gut?

Don't you think you should have split the hopper and charred the whole thing inside and out?

Guess it will take a few months for the parasites grow enough in number and you start pooping them out alive in your scat....

[raven]

Fucking Larry!!  Aw, it was nice of you to thank the dead chipmunk.  It was nice of Dave to thank the dead bird too.  Of course the cynical part of me wonders if they did this because they read stuff on the internet.

Anyway, this ep was a lot of fun for me - maybe not the contestants though.  Brad pffft well bye.  You had your chance and like he said, he'd rather be home with his family than win the money.  Well I get extremely cranky if I've been really hungry for more than a few hours, LOL.

Dave is certainly jolly.  I worry about his mental state a bit; I'm probably biased from his last experience.  I do think he's the first contestant who's actually killed something with the bow and arrow, so congrats to him.

Britt was surprisingly entertaining; I don't remember him being this entertaining on his first season.  I liked how he said he had a different mindset this time, what with his wife kinda telling him "don't come back because you miss us" hee.   I was laughing at his "going to eat it..now..now.." with the grasshopper and at the end when he's talking about losing his fish "I'm over it....NOW". and of course when he pointed out how on the screen it would tell us how much protein.  With that attitude and if he keeps catching fish, he should do well.

But I've been waiting and Fucking Larry did not disappoint.

13 minutes ago, pagooey said:

But I laughed my ass off when he emitted an entire paragraph of bleeping, because...it was hot out.

So did I, LOL.  I hope he's around for a good long time.  Actually I don't have a favorite yet, with Carleigh gone, so right now whoever wins, I'll be happy, though there's two we haven't seen yet.

So not everyone is near water I guess?  Larry wasn't fishing.  He's going to need more than chipmunks.

I also wish we had seem some of the shelter building.  I loved the wolf sounds, so beautiful.  They were loud though so I wonder if production amplified them - meaning, they are the recorded sounds, just louder.

[Token]

What a shock.... another young contestant appears to be clueless and taps out early.  I feel like there should be some kind of minimum age level for appearing on the show, at least 25 or older.  Like other youngsters before him, he thinks trying one or two things to get food is trying EVERYTHING and gives up really easily.  Who didn't see Brad as an early tap out???  I'm sure he'll claim that he ended up in the only spot with no food source and that the other contestants were just lucky.

[humbleopinion]

 Thinking Brad didn't want to miss a hair appointment....

[TVbitch]

Dave starting out doing "The Dave Show" again.

Larry scared me. I thought he might be the tap based on the opening quote. Cuz he did not "learn" from his mistake and stay calm. His going from glee to reverence over the chipmunk was quite touching. He spoke of working on his mind, but went full on Nuclear Larry shortly thereafter over the weather, so....

Britt ...duh... but good recovery! 

I am going to try not to judge Brad ...or his hair. ...Is he a Millennial? I do think they tend to feel more entitled. "I will give my awesome snares one more night to produce food, and if not, I've had it!!"  

Edited June 23, 2018 by TVbitch

[LittleIggy]

I bet at the memorial service for the chipmunk F*cking Larry ate, the other chipmunks were laughing about Brad’s lame snares. ?

[AZChristian]

Britt for the win!!!  He really made us LOL.

[cooksdelight]

Brad is still there, Carleigh isn’t. That is what this season is going to be, I think. Some dumb cluck will win.

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

 Thinking Brad didn't want to miss a hair appointment....

I think he did the mental pan scale test and the venti half caf mocha won.

[MostlyContent]

2 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Brad is still there

Nope.  Gonzo.  :) 

He set some snares (funniest things I've ever seen), stood in front of his camera and sucked his belly in, proclaimed that he now has ribs.....and tapped.  

I suppose either he or his brother will show up on 'Forged in Fire' sooner or later.  

[Kelda Feegle]

Oh Larry, how I love thee. First you self-censor, then you explain how much more relaxed you are this time and then... 30 seconds full of unrelaxed beeps!

Britt is funny, I like this.

Don't let the tarp hit you in the ass on the way out Brad.

[ClareWalks]

I admit, I knew *something* would happen to Britt's fish but I didn't know what. Afterward I was like OH DUH. I cut him slack, he learned a valuable lesson and lack of carbs makes my brain foggy too. He is GREAT television. I hope he goes all the way.

[cooksdelight]

2 hours ago, MostlyContent said:

Nope.  Gonzo.  :) 

He set some snares (funniest things I've ever seen), stood in front of his camera and sucked his belly in, proclaimed that he now has ribs.....and tapped.  

I suppose either he or his brother will show up on 'Forged in Fire' sooner or later.  

I fell asleep, so boring .... will have to catch it on the rerun.

Those wire snares weren’t going to catch a 12-legged tarantula.

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, MostlyContent said:

I suppose either he or his brother will show up on 'Forged in Fire' sooner or later.  

I actually Googled during the show to see if he'd been on FiF yet.  I don't watch that show, but am aware of it.  And a lot of these reality people seem to wander from show to show.  

[rmontro]

I'm not sure I would come to the conclusion that Brad never ate any vegetation or insects, just because they didn't show it.  We've seen cases in past seasons where we've heard that people got more meals than it appeared on the show.  

[OoogleEyes]

Brad: I want to see what I'm truly made of

 

Um...okaaaay

AND .. did Dave film himself when he was living out of his truck?? Tells me all I need to know about YOU, buddy 

Edited June 23, 2018 by OoogleEyes

[humbleopinion]

Poor Nicole...We are teased to believe that her MS will be her reason for tapping...

[Subrookie]

23 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I think the building Britt had was for his firewood.  Surprised he spent so much effort into doing that.  Since he made a log building just for that purpose, I assume his shelter will be similar

I'm assuming you mean Brad. But, years ago there was a show on PBS called Pioneer House or something like that. People were sent out not that unlike this show to live like people did 200 years ago. At the end they were judged on how they prepared and whether the experts thought they would survive. 

The takeaway for me at least from that show was that surviving a winter alone or even in a small group setting means spending hours upon hours cutting firewood, every day. This might have been the smartest thing he did out there. 

You can have all the food in the world and still freeze to death. 

Edited June 23, 2018 by Subrookie

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

I admit, I knew *something* would happen to Britt's fish but I didn't know what. Afterward I was like OH DUH. I cut him slack, he learned a valuable lesson and lack of carbs makes my brain foggy too. He is GREAT television. I hope he goes all the way.

I found it hard to cut him any slack for that.  I saw that coming from ten miles away and especially if I were carb deprived I wouldn't take any chances with my only food.  Don't ask me how I know that, lol.

11 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

Oh Larry, how I love thee. First you self-censor, then you explain how much more relaxed you are this time and then... 30 seconds full of unrelaxed beeps!

Larry is obviously hamming it up for the camera, especially since he probably learned that people loved his act in his first season.

[riverheightsnancy]

3 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Larry is obviously hamming it up for the camera, especially since he probably learned that people loved his act in his first season.

Yeah, in the minority here, but I cannot stand Larry. Almost didn't watch this season when I realized he was on it. I think that having Dave, Carleigh, & Sam on this season are poor choices. We already know that they are able and willing to starve and do almost anything to win. Two of those 3 got pulled only for weight issues in their seasons. We already know that they can survive "Alone". I would have rather seen people who had an unfortunate issue and had to tap early in the run or people who tapped earlier than the 3 mentioned due to a health issue. I was sad for Carleigh and the fish hook thing, though. I am hoping for a Brooke win. Really hate the editing this season (or in general). We knew that Carleigh would get hurt (they totally spoiled that) and something happens with Nicole. I wish they would leave a bit more mystery and show us the process of what these people are doing with their shelters and stuff. 

[dgpolo]

11 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

Spoiler

Poor Nicole...We are teased to believe that her MS will be her reason for tapping...

 

I believe we are not to spoil future episodes in the current episode thread.

[holly4755]

On 6/22/2018 at 8:00 PM, humbleopinion said:

 Brad had 4 sleeves of big white crackers.

Did he pull a Dave and hoard his "carbohydrate and sugar" stash, leaving the competition with the crackers in his pack?

Inquiring minds want to know.....

Brad achieved his goal...lean enough for his ribs to show.....

Hey, Britt...what if the parasites carried by the grasshoppers are inside their hippity hoppity gut?

Don't you think you should have split the hopper and charred the whole thing inside and out?

Guess it will take a few months for the parasites grow enough in number and you start pooping them out alive in your scat....

you made me curious so I Looked it up don't' think it is transferable to humans though. since it makes grasshoppers suicide,.

Spinochordodes tellinii

Quote

Spinochordodes tellinii is a parasitic nematomorph hairworm whose larvae develop in grasshoppers and crickets. This parasite is able to influence its host's behavior: once the parasite is grown, it causes its grasshopper host to jump into water, where the grasshopper will likely drown. The parasite then leaves its host; the adult worm lives and reproduces in water.[2] S. tellinii does not influence its host to actively seek water over large distances, but only when it is already close to water.[3]

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, dgpolo said:

I believe we are not to spoil future episodes in the current episode thread.

That's true, but unfortunately the show already spoiled things by putting that teaser in the previews that aired with this episode.  So as far as I know it's OK to discuss now.

[MostlyContent]

4 hours ago, dgpolo said:

I believe we are not to spoil future episodes in the current episode thread.

The only forum I read that makes talking about the previews a big deal is the 'Survivor' forum.   

In every other forum (only talking about my viewing habits) folks regularly talk about the previews.  We certainly have here in the past years IIRC.  

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, riverheightsnancy said:

Yeah, in the minority here, but I cannot stand Larry. Almost didn't watch this season when I realized he was on it. I think that having Dave, Carleigh, & Sam on this season are poor choices. We already know that they are able and willing to starve and do almost anything to win. Two of those 3 got pulled only for weight issues in their seasons. We already know that they can survive "Alone". I would have rather seen people who had an unfortunate issue and had to tap early in the run or people who tapped earlier than the 3 mentioned due to a health issue. I was sad for Carleigh and the fish hook thing, though. I am hoping for a Brooke win. Really hate the editing this season (or in general). We knew that Carleigh would get hurt (they totally spoiled that) and something happens with Nicole. I wish they would leave a bit more mystery and show us the process of what these people are doing with their shelters and stuff. 

I generally agree with you, but I did notice Dave making a big effort to show the world that he's trying to learn from his first season mistakes and not make them again.  I don't really have much hope that he won't find another way to blow it completely, though.  I personally think he's a kook and really don't have much interest in him succeeding anyway.  Sam is another one.  I thought he showed a lot of pluck in his first season but this time I'm seeing all his potential downfalls and don't really care about him one way or the other either.   Carleigh I would have wanted to see succeed because I think she should have won in her season.  As it stands now I am also hoping for a Brooke win and hating the editing, especially because they only show a few people in every episode for most of the season.  I'd rather see less of more of them in each episode.  And I agree about the spoilers too.  Not loving that.