S05.E06: Of Mice and Men

[roamyn]

7 hours ago, Tammee said:

Im not sure which guy it was but did you see him in the last couple eps where he was starving so much he took a header into a big old log and lay there passed the F out for who knows how long.  That was scary.  He might be going on the stretcher

That was Larry.  He thought maybe was getting light- headed due to eating too many dandelions.

[ClareWalks]

1 hour ago, roamyn said:

That was Larry.  He thought maybe was getting light- headed due to eating too many dandelions.

*Fucking Larry ;)

[DrewPaul2010]

Hello all,

In spite of the fact I'm sitting here in the comfort of my home drinking a cold beer it won't stop me from commenting on an adventure I probably wouldn't last one day at. When Brooke climbed that ridge it was her farewell I think she knew she was done. I was surprised she agreed to do this again, same result in ability to secure enough food. Thinking back I can't recall a single day I was alone the entire life. Even if I did nothing but post in here to a bunch of people I don't know I'm still talking to someone. I think the loneliness would get to me more than the hunger unless I was really hungry too. My survival skills are pretty much limited to finding food and zapping it in the microwave. 

I'd like to see then put these people out someplace in spring and see what they can do with a whole spring and summer to prepare for winter. I imagine most would build great cabins and plant as much food as possible. I think I would have fun building a cabin as long as I had a generator and  cozy trailer and to sleep in until its built. Maybe choose married couples and call it Lone couples. I'd watch it, couples would still tap out one by one..eventually.

[Quilt Fairy]

It's not being alone that would bother me, but I would go crazy without books.

[rmontro]

12 hours ago, Tammee said:

Im not sure which guy it was but did you see him in the last couple eps where he was starving so much he took a header into a big old log and lay there passed the F out for who knows how long.

That was Larry, he was having head rushes.  He blamed that on eating too many dandelions, so he quit eating them.  We haven't seen him pass out again.

Another odd addition to the isolation and starvation going on is the fact that they are filming everything.  They are talking into a camera every day, giving monologues and addressing an audience that isn't really there.  That has to up the weirdness factor.

[Whyyouneedaname]

On 7/21/2018 at 2:06 PM, cooksdelight said:

Sam isn’t shown because he’s spending all his time sleeping or lying around not doing anything interesting.

I think the reason I dislike what I’ve seen thus far is that they have done this... they are playing to the camera ... or no, in Sam’s case, who hopes to sleep his way to a win. I am much more interested in seeing new people who’ve never done this before.

If Sam is gonna sleep his way to a win he better insulate that 3 little piggy straw hut he calls a shelter a little more, unless he thinks everyone will tap before the winter sets in. I wouldn't count on that, dude's gonna freeze his rear end off.

[OoogleEyes]

On 7/22/2018 at 10:25 PM, DrewPaul2010 said:

 

I'd like to see then put these people out someplace in spring and see what they can do with a whole spring and summer to prepare for winter. I imagine most would build great cabins and plant as much food as possible. 

Personally, I would *love* to watch this show. But,  we've probably seen it in one of those Alaska shows 

[humbleopinion]

The Last Alaskans is the best of the Alaskan shows to show what Alone tries to capture in a bottle.

[qtpye]

On 7/21/2018 at 1:08 PM, LittleIggy said:

Yeah, I don’t get why Britt is using his shelter as a smokehouse. Having a small structure for smoking would be more efficient as well as more comfortable and healthy.

I really like Britt this time around and think of him as a fellow nerd in the wild.  This means though he has skills, he is still learning. This why he had to learn not to keep fish in an unprotected pool of water overnight. He is not like Randy who chooses to live this way in real life. He is a regular guy who is going to make mistakes.

On 7/21/2018 at 5:01 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

I got the impression that Britt just didn't think it out that far yet.  He's been very successful at catching fish and suddenly decided "Oh, yeah, I better start smoking these things."  I don't believe he'll keep that as a permanent solution.

 

On 7/21/2018 at 6:25 PM, Riche1212 said:

Least we forget the dramatic affect that being "alone" has on all the contestants.  With no other stimuli things that ordinarily would be dismissed become the focal point of days.  A hunter who dispairs over the kill, a women who becomes obssessed by tge color of her hut cover or obsessing over mice in a hut.  I feel that in most comments here viewers do not take this into consideration and instead we evaluate these people as if they arr acting abnormal in what woukd be our real world.  Their is nothibg real in being out in the woods,  by ones self,  often without food and often witg large preditors close by.  Nothing NORMAL should be expected in anyones behavior.  Its part of what makes Alone great.  Watching how these pychological challanges manifest in each of the contestants. WHAT A GREAT SHOW!

Very well said. I have always had romantic visions of myself being totally removed from society when in reality I probably would start acting like a crazy kook.

Edited July 25, 2018 by qtpye

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, qtpye said:

I have always had romantic visions of myself being totally removed from society when in reality I probably would start acting like a crazy kook.

Yeah, but there would be no one there to call you a kook.

[zibnchy]

This show is so boring it has chased away all the comments. How did they manage to make it boring?

I have to mute fucking Larry. Dave is crazy, but not really a fun crazy. More of a "holy shit he's got a knife" crazy.

Sam is pitiful. And I can't remember the other two guy's names, but I like them.

Epic fail - I assume the last season.

[rmontro]

On 7/29/2018 at 8:30 AM, zibnchy said:

And I can't remember the other two guy's names, but I like them.

Epic fail - I assume the last season.

Really?  I've been enjoying this season.  Mongolia has been an interesting site IMO.  I hope this isn't the last season, I haven't heard anything to indicate that.

The other two guys are Britt and Randy.

[beatu]

no, the stretcher-case was Nicole.  Larry;'s inept. He could make effective mousetraps several ways, but the best is a "bucket" made by first making a basket out of vines or shoots, lining it with a hunk of tarp, and putting a roller stick across the top/center of the bucket and fill the bucket halfway with water. . Make some wooden ramps that let the rodents easily get to the ends of the roller log. Out in the center of the roller stick, put some sort of sticky bait, like shredded, salted cambium mixed with fish guts. The mice/chipmunks go out on the stick, fall into the bucket and drown. This trap "resets" its self. If they manage to steal the bait, make a wooden disk, about 3" in diameter, to go around the stick, centered on the stick. When they try to get over THAT, they'll fall for sure.

 

[beatu]

almost none of the bs would be happening if they could properly feed themselves. It can be done, but you have to know what gear to take and what to do, and none of them does.  They could make 1500 sq ft of 2" mesh netting out of  3/4 of the  20x20  tarp, leaving a 10x10 for shelter. Along with the 10x10 "camera" tarp, that's plenty, since mongolia does not get even  10% as much rain as Vancouver Island gets.  Then you would not have to be taking down your shelter every time the medical team showed up. :-) That's still a lot of netting.  20x as much as they let you take as one of your 10 items. The allowed amount of paracord can't make any more netting than you can take, which is  75 sq ft of  1.5" mesh. (in other words, not worth taking that nettting, unless it's braided nylon cordage, or made of paracord.

On 7/25/2018 at 9:11 AM, OoogleEyes said:

Personally, I would *love* to watch this show. But,  we've probably seen it in one of those Alaska shows 

Mongolias spring, summer and fall total 4 months long. what would you plant that you could eat in that time, other than bean sprouts, which probably wont grow cause it aint warm enough. You'd have to take plastic and make green houses. There's a reason why almost nobody lives in Mongolia and those who do have to have large herds of animals in order to survive.

[beatu]

I've done  5 months in solitary confinement several times, no problems. I wrote letters to fellow survivalists and then tore them up and flushed them, cause I lacked the stamps to mail them. This show would be a cakewalk by comparison, believe me. These people just dont know what gear to take or what to do, that's all.

[beatu]

On 7/20/2018 at 1:43 AM, Yeah No said:

All the carping Larry does about the mice that enter his shelter, but does he attempt to catch and eat any?  Not that they've shown us so far, anyway.  Meanwhile Dave is catching and feasting on them.

I'm pissed off at Brooke, but she was one of those that was not really alone the first time, so of course that was the one thing she couldn't tolerate.  She also looked quite thin for only 30 days into the challenge.  That was a hideous shade of green, but she took hating it to a whole new level!  It amazes me some of the things these people obsess about when they have nothing else to focus on.

It's the starvation, man. If they knew what to take and do, they'd have enough food (at least for 3 months) and they'd be busy.  But they dont convert the 20x20 tarp into netting, they dont take a slingbow with 6 of the arrows featuring 4-tined fishing heads, so as to make  2 fishhooks out of each tine. They dont take the fishing kit as  8 big treblehooks, for catching wolves and coyotes.  They dont braid the snarewire and use it to catch deer, . They dont take the Cold Steel shovel or the Signal multitool. They dont take the salt. If they were catching plenty of fish, they could boil the tree cambium, toss the water, then fry the cambium in fish oil.  Then you CAN digest it well enough for it to be  1/3rd of your diet. Having those carbs helps your brain work properly. fish and game have no carbs, man. They dont take the  5 qt skillet and lid (amazon) they dont take the duct tape, or the hammock. Even in Mongolia, with  10% as much rain as Vancouver, they can't make a fire without a ferrorod! They "think" that they need a big saw and axe, when there's not much wood around, a cabin wont be warm enough and they are not allowed to cut trees larger than 8" in OD. The saw edge on the shovel can handle what little wood processing you need to do. You dont need to boil your drinking water, if you know to make a proper seep well and water filter.

[beatu]

On 7/20/2018 at 3:34 AM, MostlyContent said:

No fat Sam for two weeks in a row.  I assume he'll be a bit more slim next week.  :)

Brooke:  Boohoo.  Boohoo.   What?  Alone means actually alone?  Green tarp?  What?  Am I in a psych ward?  Going on a hike because I want experience it!  Crap.  Now I might get wet.  Oh, wait, I'm starving.   Tap.  

Dave:  Shot a big bird and it got away.  Boohoo.  Oh noes!!!  Boohoo.  It wasn't so hard in Patagonia when I preserved all those fish that I refused to eat.  Move if you want to die, you little mice!  I'll grind your bones to make my bread.   Oh no!  One crawled out of the trap before he died.  I gut them tomorrow and eat them.  yay.  Now I might have to kill a deer! 

Larry:  Boohoo.  Mice!  Mice!  Scurry sounds!   Nobody told us about the dreaded MOUSE even though I threw a fit about it before.   I'll reprise my stupid act from my first season.  I know!  I'll use bear spray on my bed to annoy the mice.  Never mind the fact that I sleep on the damn thing.  OH!  And then I'll also use up a few shots of air from my boat horn.  Hopefully there're no really big animals I might have to worry about. 

Britt:   Ho hum.  I'll go fish and catch a bunch.  I'm fed.  Now I'll smoke some of them.  The large animals outside my shelter keep me from sleeping soundly.   Having fun with my camera, here!  

Randy:  Well, I'm catching fish so I think it might be wise to smoke them on top of the amazing chimney I built.  Cool.   Adjusting well, I think.  Happy thoughts.  Got a grouse!  That's great.  Need the fat.  

They both seem 'off' to me, but from the previews it seems that Dave is building a perch on which he can more precisely shoot deer?  Are we going to be subjected to some drama queen performance if he gets one?  I hope not.  That would be amazing if he got a deer.  The man has serious bow skills.  But what about his seemingly half-finished shelter?  A tarp and half the place having somewhat walls is not going to do the trick here, and we all know he knows it.  

I don't know if Larry is actually talented and faking it, or if he's really just going to play for the camera until he has to tap.  There's really no way to know with this editing.  

Also, congrats to Randy for being the 3rd person this season to succeed with a bow.  Awesome (compared to the first few season when nobody was able to do a thing with a bow).   

they got dropped in SUMMERTIME and you can build a FAR superior dugout shelter in 3 days, that needs no fire. The warm weather has to be utilized to the max by netfishing, or they'll starve out before winter ever arrives. None of these bunch of inepts is going to make it one month past the first hard freeze.

On 7/20/2018 at 6:52 AM, ClareWalks said:

Brooke was not there for the money. I'm not sure what she actually WAS there for, but she seemed totally unmotivated by anything except a love of the outdoors. She also seems to be an extrovert who can't be bored, and that doesn't bode well at all. Y'all hating on Sam for not doing much: he has the right idea. The most successful folks on this show can be alone with their thoughts and lay around all day without being psychologically destroyed by it. Alan was the king of that.

Fucking Larry spraying his BED with BEAR SPRAY was something else. Not sure how that'll affect his, ya know, SLEEP. Dude would cut off his nose to spite his face.

Dave...at least he wasn't too weepy in this episode.

Britt and Randy are awesome. Britt reminds me a bit of Darius Rucker for some reason. Hootie and the Abundant Fish.

HA, alan lasted  56 days. Many people have lasted much longer. season 2 went  65 days, season 3 went 86 days, with 4-5 people lasting over  2 months. season 4 went  74 days, with several people lasting longer than Alan did.

[beatu]

On 7/22/2018 at 3:36 AM, rmontro said:

They've made a big deal about him eating something disgusting, so I am going to take a guess.  My speculation is that maybe he picked something undigested out of some bear or moose scat and tried to eat it.  Just a wild guess.

No doubt the isolation and starvation is going to have an affect on these people's behavior.  Of course, we don't know what they are like in their everyday life really, so it's hard to say exactly what those changes are.  For all we know, Larry goes around raving about rodents in his home life too  :)

Sam ate leeches, cause he's too dumb to take or make fishhooks and use the  leeches as  bait. He's gonna win by being fat and doing nothing and it's going to kill all interest in the show.

On 7/21/2018 at 12:39 PM, derriere said:

 

Count me in too. I don't mind that these people are flawed. It would be boring as hell if they all had their shit together like Randy.

Randy was a fool for building a shelter when he should have been netting over  20 lbs of fish per day. He had to tap out, due to starvation.

[dgpolo]

8 minutes ago, beatu said:

But they dont convert the 20x20 tarp into netting

I'm not sure you're understanding this show. This really isn't take your stuff into the wilderness and survive for as long as you can. There are all kinds of rules and regs and laws the competitors must follow. There is a list of items all of them get. There is a list of items they can only choose 10 from. I think there are certain personal items that are allowed. I believe they are not allowed to cut up their tarps. If they did they would be disqualified. They can only hunt certain animals in certain ways. That includes fishing, especially in Mongolia. I'm not sure if anyone has compiled a list of them all but I think certain competitors have mentioned different things when eliminated etc. They only have to last longer than the other guys, production really doesn't want them to last a year, that's probably one of the reasons they are restricted on what they can bring.

[beatu]

there is no regs keeping you from cutting up the tarp, nor about making netting.  Dave M.  won season 2 by making a net (supposedly) You believe incorrectly. People lie a lot about why they've failed, polo. Jose stages the overturning of his canoe, several have faked the loss of their ferrorod, when they HAD  a fire going! all you have to do is bed the coals and put a tarp over it while you're asleep or out of camp. It will stay alive for  10+ hours that way. Also, once you have a fire, you can make stuff that lets you handily start other fires with any hard rock and any carbon steel tool. I dont believe any of them were scared by the animals. They'd not have gone if that were the case. Why they quit is they realize that they have no CLUE how to feed themselves out there.

This show is about clearing  $3000 a day, doing anything that you have to do in order to achieve that. Anyone who doesn't understand that has no chance at all.  Many of the past contestants (on other forums)  have claimed that they could not have used netting (for one bs reason or another) but NONE have claimed it would be against the rules. I email back and forth with several, post on forums with several of them. They just never thought of making such netting, that's all and can't admit it..

Edited August 3, 2018 by beatu

[cooksdelight]

4 hours ago, beatu said:

 

I've done  5 months in solitary confinement several times, no problems

 

Really? Wow! Have you applied to this show?

[beatu]

every season since the first one. I  believe that they will never let  2 real deal guys on the show, but they might allow ONE, on the last season that they intend to produce. Prior to that, they wont want to make everyone else look like a Campfire girl. If Sam wins this one merely by being fat and lazy, it's the end of the show. 

[cooksdelight]

Good luck, and yes, I am hoping Sam taps out soon and that they NEVER do another season of has-beens.

[beatu]

I think that Sam will win and it will be the ruination of the show. I've been impressed by nobody's knowledge or  abilities in any season, altho fowler and Carleigh  impressed me with their toughness.

[rmontro]

On 8/3/2018 at 6:53 PM, beatu said:

Sam ate leeches, cause he's too dumb to take or make fishhooks and use the  leeches as  bait.

I'm certain that he said that his plan was not to take the fishing kit, and to make fish hooks out of the trapping wire (I think?).  Some posters remarked that this meant there would be no barbs on the hooks.  Anyway, apparently the hooks haven't been working, unless there really are no fish at his spot.

Edited August 5, 2018 by rmontro

[Riche1212]

Least we forget the dramatic affect that being "alone" has on all the contestants.  With no other stimuli things that ordinarily would be dismissed become the focal point of days.  A hunter who dispairs over the kill, a women who becomes obssessed by tge color of her hut cover or obsessing over mice in a hut.  I feel that in most comments here viewers do not take this into consideration and instead we evaluate these people as if they arr acting abnormal in what woukd be our real world.  Their is nothibg real in being out in the woods,  by ones self,  often without food and often witg large preditors close by.  Nothing NORMAL should be expected in anyones behavior.  Its part of what makes Alone great.  Watching how these pychological challanges manifest in each of the contestants. WHAT A GREAT SHOW!

[writbest]

On 8/8/2018 at 2:25 AM, Riche1212 said:

Least we forget the dramatic affect that being "alone" has on all the contestants.  With no other stimuli things that ordinarily would be dismissed become the focal point of days.  A hunter who dispairs over the kill, a women who becomes obssessed by tge color of her hut cover or obsessing over mice in a hut.  I feel that in most comments here viewers do not take this into consideration and instead we evaluate these people as if they arr acting abnormal in what woukd be our real world.  Their is nothibg real in being out in the woods,  by ones self,  often without food and often witg large preditors close by.  Nothing NORMAL should be expected in anyones behavior.  Its part of what makes Alone great.  Watching how these pychological challanges manifest in each of the contestants. WHAT A GREAT SHOW!

they are weak minded, starving, inept and looking for a way to save face. WTH would they DO if they had to go away for 4 YEARS, like 10's of millions of men had to do for ww2, eh? 

On 7/25/2018 at 9:11 AM, OoogleEyes said:

Personally, I would *love* to watch this show. But,  we've probably seen it in one of those Alaska shows 

what you'd like would bankrupt the producers and probably get a  lot of people sick, from mosquito and tick bites. It costs a FORTUNE to keep the support crews in place and keep the liability insurance in effect.