Alone (2015–…): Season 2, Episode 5 - Storm Rising - full transcript
Despite their best efforts, many of the participants are still battling debilitating hunger and starvation. Just as some find sustenance, an approaching storm threatens their survival plans.
[dramatic music]
*
- Get on outta here!
Oh, man.
That is a cub.
This feeling of remorse hit me
for being so aggressive.
You know, I hate to do it,
but, yeah, I'm gonna tap.
I'm determined
to make this happen.
Holy [bleep], I got one.
How am I gonna keep this going
24 hours a day?
[groans]
- Fire blower.
Helps me basically bring
a fire back to life
even if there's just
a tiny little coal remaining.
- There is nothing
in my gill net.
If I can't get fish,
I'm not gonna make it.
- Oh, my God.
Bears are here.
[cub mewls]
Not good.
- Who are you when everything's
been stripped away?
[bleep].
- [yelping]
- It's scary out here
in these woods.
- I have not had
a serious meal in a week.
- If I can't get a fire,
then I can't stay here.
- It's always in the back
of your mind,
"Well, I could tap out."
- Putting up
with this filming [bleep]?
- Running into a predator,
it's not an if.
It's a when.
Get the hell out of here.
- I'm living
a hand-to-mouth existence.
Yes!
Ah!
- $500,000
is a lot of money.
- It's just gonna keep
getting harder.
- It's not the world
that needs to change.
It's me
that needs to change.
- [moans]
*
- [grunts]
Ah.
- Okay, so this is...
[chuckles]
this is almost definitely
the dumbest idea
that I've had
since I've been out here.
But it has the potential
to be the funnest idea.
[laughing]
Yeah.
[grunts]
Now I just need
to attach a handle.
This is one of those things
that serve no practical
purpose whatsoever,
but the one purpose
that it does serve
is huge out here.
The hardest part
is really the mental aspect
and every single time
I swing out,
it puts a smile on my face.
That's huge out here.
[laughing]
Oh, my God.
This is the funnest thing ever!
It's part of life too.
You gotta have things
that you enjoy.
You gotta
have things that are fun.
You gotta have things
that make you smile.
And that's what this rope swing
has given me.
[Tarzan yell]
[laughing]
*
- My net didn't do too well
out here in the surf.
My other stake pulled out.
[grunts]
I am very disappointed
in the performance of this net.
It has caught nothing
in the week or so
that it's been up.
Man, head rush.
Bent over,
stood up.
Have to learn not do that.
So far out of the ocean
I've just had a couple of meals
of limpets and
a lot of seaweed.
*
Every campsite needs
a place to sit.
[exhales sharply]
It doesn't have to look
like a chair.
It just has to be a nice,
comfy place to sit.
[exhales sharply]
Chilling on a log
and waiting for low tide.
That's what I'm all about
right now.
I'm hungry.
*
I'm really hungry.
*
I feel like crap.
I don't have a headache,
it doesn't hurt anywhere.
It's not pain; hunger is
a different kind of thing.
Physically, it feels
like apathy,
if that makes any sense
at all.
Getting myself motivated
and getting myself moving
is just...
a very hard thing to do.
*
I have a SAT phone.
I can leave this experience
at any moment.
Stepping out of this suffering
is literally a phone call away.
But there's
that $1/2 million prize,
and I think that--
that would be a life-changing
amount of money for me to win.
I'd love to have something
to give to my kids.
I'm sick of being the dad
that always has to say no.
"Hey, can we go out to dinner?"
"No, you can't."
"Dad, can I ha--"
"No, you can't."
Can't afford it,
can't afford it,
can't afford it.
It's like--it's like
a knee-jerk reaction with me
because I've been so...
broke all year.
So, yeah, that--
that prize money would be huge.
There's just no way
I can go home.
I can't go home.
So whatever it is
that I have to
endure out here,
I have to endure it.
Whatever it is
I have to put up with,
I have to put up
with it.
Whatever it is
I have to figure out.
I have to figure it out.
I have to finish this.
You know, whatever you do,
do it all
with the glory of God.
I want to do well.
[soft music]
*
- I should turn
my headlamp off.
So it's, uh, really dark in here
with my headlamp off.
So, uh, I went down
and checked my gill net today,
and there was a mom
and two cubs down there.
[dramatic music]
The bears are here.
[bleep]
- Oh! Mama bear just stood up
on her hind legs.
Not good.
*
That was, uh,
that was really exciting.
There's a lot
of bear activity right here.
And, you know, predators aren't
something to trifle with.
And, uh, I wasn't going
to go disturb them.
Hopefully those bears
will stay on their side
of the wa--
of the river.
*
I slept great last night.
Oh, my God.
Went to bed really early.
I got up a little earlier
than usual this morning.
Went out,
did a couple of things,
and walked around.
Peed.
Now I gotta go
check my gill net.
I'm guessing it'll be empty
just because
salmon aren't running yet,
but one of these mornings
they'll be running.
And that'll be
a glorious day.
I'm gonna go this way
just in case
the bears are coming out
that way.
I don't wanna
totally shock 'em.
I'm not afraid of the bears,
I just don't wanna scare 'em.
You know?
'Cause then they get scared,
and then scared animals,
in general, do stupid things.
Hear big splashing
in the water.
I'm just checking out
this tree line.
Looking for--
oh, there they go.
Birds are alarming over there.
There's something over there.
Holy crap.
Oh!
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
It's big.
[gasps]
That's beautiful.
There it is.
Glad I went with
the big gill net.
All right, hang on.
Okay, well this is it.
I caught my first fish
in my net.
It's--
I'm not exaggerating.
It's this big.
It's two feet long.
Now I gotta make sure I get it
without cutting my gill net.
*
I need something to whack it
over the head really hard with,
like a stone.
All right, sweetie.
Here we go.
[dramatic music]
*
[dramatic music]
*
[water splashing]
- Fish is just too big.
Cutting your head off
really is the best idea.
I don't wanna keep it
in misery.
I know.
Try to stay--I know.
Gosh.
Just severing the spinal cord
real fast.
There'll be a lot of blood
in this water.
Just need to get through--
oh, there we go.
Oh.
These gills are really
bright red.
Just looking out for bears
'cause they're gonna
smell blood.
It's not very windy today,
which is good.
There we go.
Oh, my God, it's heavy!
This is, like, a feast.
I wish there was someone
to share this with.
It's like--
it's really heavy.
It's a big fish.
*
Colton, these eyeballs
are big.
They're like 3/4 of an inch.
You would love these eyeballs,
Colton.
Look at those.
It's got great eyeballs.
My, uh, my son, Colton,
would love that.
When he was little,
someone told him
that if you ate the eyes
of a fish,
you could see underwater.
And he totally believed that.
The size of my thumb,
that eyeball.
Ooh.
I'll cut it out.
I'll eat it in honor of you.
I'm gonna do this
kinda right here in the water
because when there's blood
coming out,
I don't want the--
I want it to run down.
I don't want it to be
right here.
Oh, so slippery.
Maybe I can balance it
against--
oh, I think it's a male.
I see semen.
See all that semen in there?
You see that?
Yeah, this is all--
that's all semen right here.
Gotta make sure
there's nothing there.
Watch out for bears.
They like it right here.
*
All right.
There.
That opened beautifully.
Just beautifully.
Ta-da.
So I've got
the center part done.
All right.
Just cut right along the spine
to flatten this fish out.
Oh, my God.
It's beautiful.
All right,
I think I'm bear-free.
We're all competing
for the same thing.
And the salmon haven't run yet.
The salmon are late,
so the bears are, uh,
the bears are hungry.
Oh, my God.
It's so heavy.
It is so much meat.
So I've got two huge filets
on either side.
Got the center spine.
I didn't get right up
as much of the spine
as I would've liked.
'Cause I'm gonna eat that too,
for sure.
Okay, I'm gonna go, uh,
clean all this off.
Time to bring it up to camp
and get a fire going.
*
Let me show you this
smorgasbord I've got going.
I've got salmon in the pan.
Salmon that I put between
two tripods.
I've got fresh cedar sticks
smoking.
I'll move it over the fire
when that other one is done
to smoke more.
That smoke is going
right into this piece of fish,
which is gonna be great.
Later I'll move it
right over the fire.
This fish that I have now
I can keep just for a few days
and just keep eating off it.
As long as I keep it
out of the hands of the bears.
Being really careful to keep it
all right on this board
and not to spill any.
'Cause what I don't want
are predators coming around,
so I'm going to--
going to make sure that, uh,
that I don't leave anything,
that I burn anything,
and the rest goes way deep
into the ocean.
There's my salmon.
I'm just gonna eat.
'Cause it's really good.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe
I'm eating this well here.
I am a happy, happy girl.
[soft music]
*
- Today, the priorities
are gonna be
I'm gonna work out
a little bit
just to, uh...
[snaps fingers]
get my cylinders firing.
Uh, 'cause they're not
right now at all.
I'm not a huge gym buff,
you know?
I'm not, like,
a "bro guy," you know?
But, uh,
I enjoy working out.
So what I've done is
I've built, basically, a gym.
All right, we got, uh...
two new additions
to the gym...
AKA: Muscle Beach.
'Cause it's a beach
and it's the gym.
First we've brought over
the, uh,
chain that I found.
And also...
my new pull-up bar.
Yep.
That happened.
Just knock this out.
I enjoy being
physically active, you know?
And I think that it's
an underrated part of survival.
I look at survival,
especially long-term like this,
as living.
You know, I work out
in my own life.
Why wouldn't I work out
out here?
I think some of this comes
from being in the military
for so long as well.
I'm not gonna do it
to the point
to where, you know,
I'm expending so many calories
that I'm just draining myself.
But it keeps
my motivation levels up.
It keeps, you know,
kinda everything up.
Finding things that
you can enjoy
even though
the weather's horrible
or, you know, it's kind of
a miserable existence,
makes a huge, huge impact
rather than just kind of
sitting there waiting it out.
[groans]
Think when I, uh...
[chuckles]
when I get back,
maybe I should start
a survival workout program.
That's not gonna happen.
*
- I never realized sea otters
are such a big creature.
They're like the size
of a small dog.
*
What a happy life,
just float around on your back.
Go down, eat some seafood.
Come back up.
Float around on your back,
swim around,
play with your buddies.
That's a cool animal.
*
I'm thinking
what I need to do
is catch some
of those sea otters
and train them
to bring me fish.
*
They have my cove
all figured out.
This cove is my universe.
And I have to adapt myself
to it.
I just have to make use
of what is here
and figure it out
and just stay alive.
I've got an idea
for active fishing.
I can see that there's fish
swimming in the kelp
just below my point here.
And this is the first time
I've actually seen fish
of a size that I can eat
swimming in my waters.
So that means I have to try
and catch some of these fish.
Okay now, the secret to doing
a cane pole
is you don't just tie
the string
onto the end of the pole.
You tie yourself
a safety line
back below.
*
So if the end
of the pole breaks off,
you don't lose everything.
*
I am desperately hungry
right now.
And I want to eat.
That's pretty much
the end of the story for me.
*
Oh, man.
That one stole half my bait.
They're hitting it though.
*
Ah!
*
Yes!
*
- Two weeks out here
and no fish to show for it.
That's embarrassing.
I'm sorry.
I'm at the point now
of total embarrassment
that I have not
caught a fish.
I'm hungry.
I'm really hungry.
* *
Yes!
Yeah, baby!
Oh, yes.
That's a big ol' fish.
I'm gonna have a meal.
I'm gonna have a meal!
*
Oh, thank you, Lord.
*
Oh, I gotta go make
some fish stew.
That is a good feeling.
*
It is a lot easier doing this
waist-high
than down on the ground.
*
I'm a happy man.
This has definitely taken away
that hollow feeling
that I've had
for the last several days.
It gave me hope today.
It really did.
It really gave me hope.
I just want to do well
at this thing, you know?
I just want
to make my kids proud
and let them see their dad
persevere and tough it out.
I can feed myself here.
And I need to do that
on a regular basis
to stay here as long
as I possibly can.
[exhales deeply]
Thank you, Lord
for this food.
Oh, that is good.
[soft music]
*
- When I lost my ferro rod,
I wanted to go home.
I need to get my head
back in the game
if I'm gonna do this.
I can't just sit around
and hope for--
hope for the best.
I need to take action.
I'm gonna start on
a permanent structure today.
I'm gonna do it using
two different structural pieces
to hold it all together.
I'm gonna be pounding posts
into the ground,
and then I'm going to take
a piece of cord,
and I'm gonna wrap the cord
around each of the posts
to be able to just
hold it all together.
And then the other way
is I'm going to, uh,
actually notch
each of the logs
sort of log cabin style.
I'm doing this for two reasons.
You know, one, obviously having
a long-term shelter
and having some comfort
is gonna improve my morale.
It's gonna
just make me happier.
Also, two...
winter is coming.
This is one of those projects
that is gonna require
a lot of energy.
It's a lot of work going on
very, very little food.
I haven't really eaten any...
any meat, so...
I'm definitely, like,
running pretty low on fuel.
Got my trout line out
and traps.
That's my first real attempt
at getting some food,
but I need to have
a consistent source of food.
The process of doing this
without anybody else...
the isolation, you know,
is difficult.
It does get to you.
Just start to search for
things to--
to communicate with.
Even if it's yourself.
You know, like you start having
conversations in your head
where you're talking
to yourself,
and you're saying "we."
I'm like, "All right, well what
are we going to do today?"
"We"?
What am I talking about?
There's no "we."
It's just me out here.
And that is arguably
the most difficult part
of this journey.
So these are the walls
on the inside.
Barely even see.
Let's turn on the infrared.
So that's as high
as my back wall is gonna be.
It's basically just a log cabin
lean-to essentially.
Here's what it looks like
from the outside.
[chuckles]
Amazing.
The process has been definitely
laborous and exhausting.
And it's taking a lot
of calories out of me.
[groans]
[bleep], I'm hungry.
[soft music]
*
- All right.
I gotta get moving 'cause
it's a little chill in the air.
I could see my breath last night
when I went to bed.
[exhales]
*
It's really feeling
like the rain is coming.
And I have a feeling
once the rain comes.
we're just in for the rain.
It's not gonna stop,
so getting ready.
This is the front
of my shelter.
So I've started to put
a door in.
These are my final--
this post on the left
and this post on my right
are my final two beams.
This thing leaning in here...
it's going to be my door
that will come in and out.
*
There are some big storms
that come through here.
*
I know that the storms
are gonna hit really soon,
and rain is just gonna be...
[whooshing]
This door fits pretty snugly.
Now I'm reinforcing the front
of this structure
to make sure that
the whole thing is covered.
Hopefully this will keep both
the warmth in
and the cold out,
but also the wind out
as well.
Perhaps we'll see
rain tonight.
[dramatic music]
*
- Well, I wouldn't want to be
out on a raft
on this.
Normally this water's
really calm.
Just passive.
It's just super rocky today.
The wind has been
going crazy fast.
Like tornado.
I don't know.
I mean, I'd say...
probably, you know,
40-50 mile an hour winds easy.
Just, you know, kicking.
*
And now it's raining.
And I gotta go back to camp.
[bleep].
*
All right.
[groans]
[grunts]
*
[heavy raindrops]
- Yeah, hey.
It's really coming down,
so I have the, uh,
thought I'd turn
the audio on here.
[heavy raindrops]
My, uh, lean-to
is not leaking at all.
We have had intense rain,
so...
I feel really snug.
It is really dark though.
I'm, uh, getting ready to go.
Got my raincoat on,
and I'm gonna go check
my gill net.
And the storm's going...
[whooshing]
King of whipping around.
It's really sheltered in this,
uh, in this hut.
I don't think you can hear it
as much
as is actually going on.
Whoo.
Ahh!
Oh, my God,
I'm getting blown over!
Wow, that was crazy.
My gill net
is way underwater.
Looks...
I think a lot of it's
showing,
but I can't get to it.
It's way too--
It seems like the water's
really just blowing...
in, which is--
like, the waves are coming
and making it hard to get to--
to the--that area.
I'll have to keep
watching it today.
Yeah, it's really raining.
I'm gonna, um,
I'm gonna head back to camp
and, uh,
before I get gusted away here.
Just kinda get settled in
for the day.
[dramatic music]
*
- I came out to the beach
this morning
just to check things out.
This is about as high tide
as high gets.
And the surf
is just amazing here.
I've never seen it
this rough.
That's where I clean my fish,
on that twisty-looking thing
where the surf is
beating down right now.
If I was to go fishing,
that's where I'd go fishing.
All the way out there.
I would have to cross
all that water
to get to my fishing spot.
Normally at low tide,
I can walk out there.
Look at it now.
It's just surf.
And this is--this is as rough
as I've seen it.
The water is murky
and evil-looking.
*
This is a tragedy, people.
My giant twisty kitchen thing
is drifting out to sea.
That is the most important
feature of my beach,
and it's leaving.
Come on, don't go! No!
No!
[dramatic music]
*
- I'm so scared.
[chuckles]
[coughs]
Oh.
The wind is really crazy.
It's not raining too much,
but the wind
is just going nuts.
Don't really have much to do
in the way
of chores or work.
Everything is pretty--
pretty much revolving
around food.
And tide's about halfway up,
so there's no food to get.
I might just hunker down
in here.
You know, over the course
of active duty in the military,
years of my life
had been spent in isolation.
You're sitting in a tiny hole
with, you know,
a couple of other guys
for three, four, or five days.
And you're pissing
and [bleep] in a bag, you know.
You learn things to do
to kinda entertain your mind.
And now,
ladies and gentlemen,
the moment that probably
none of you
have been waiting for,
other than me.
When I first saw
this bad boy,
I was thinking,
"That is a tube.
And I can use the tube
for a lot of cool stuff."
And hopefully we can
give it a little--
little test drive here.
And that is a win.
No longer do I have to leave
the comfort of my room
to urinate
in the middle of the night.
Believe it or not,
it's a pretty big moment.
[soft music]
*
- Rainy day, windy day.
Very windy day.
Wouldn't want to be out at sea
on a day like this.
*
I'm gonna go walk over--
walk over to the fish net.
See if I can rescue it.
Let's see what
the situation is.
A lot of stuff in the net.
Like kelp pieces and whatnot.
You have to go in the water.
We're basically freeing it
then make it work again.
That's the last darn day
a guy would want to be
wading in the water here,
but it's hard to see
how deep it is.
Ooh.
[grunts]
It's already past
knee-deep here.
Probably going to drown here
like an idiot.
And the wind picks up
some more.
*
What a tangle.
*
[grunts]
Lot of kelp.
Oh, man. I could do without
these waves, I tell you.
*
Huh.
There's a salmon in here.
Lordy!
Well, that's a reward.
Salmon.
Not too big, but not bad.
[heavy raindrops]
I don't know if you folks
can even hear anything.
'Cause it's raining
about as hard as it can
but I'm eating salmon.
so I don't care.
I'm having the best meal...
I've had
since I've come here.
So the salmon are coming
towards the coast.
They're looking for places.
[dramatic music]
*
- Good morning.
It's another beautiful day
here in British Columbia.
What else can I say?
Gonna walk down and...
gonna check my traps.
*
Trap number one.
Not triggered.
And the bait is gone.
Man.
I need to figure out a way
to make this way more sensitive.
*
- Think I'm gonna try
to start eating these slugs.
I don't want to, but...
I'm getting pretty hungry.
*
Next trap.
*
Triggered.
Do we have anything
to show for it?
*
Oh, my God.
Look at that.
*
*
- Nice.
A little mouse.
My first bit of meat
in 14 days.
All right, well let's cook up
our mousey-mouse here.
What I like to do is just...
singe all the hair off.
So this guy is all singed.
And then you could just...
you don't need to spend
too much time
skinning him or anything.
You just sort of peel
the singed hair off.
I'm super excited to eat this
right now.
You could just peel open
the stomach
to take out the guts.
But I leave in, like,
the heart and the liver.
Delicious.
Mm-hmm.
And I'll just throw him
directly on the coals there.
Just let him cook.
*
I feel like I'm starting
to find my pace.
I'm starting to connect more
with the land.
But I'm just not
pulling in any fish.
*
So I don't know.
I gotta try
some new fishing techniques.
Gotta try to make a living
off the sea.
Because when winter comes here,
animals are gonna be holed up
and might not be there,
so I gotta figure out a way
to get some fish.
*
Little leg.
Mmm.
And that's the only bit
that's left.
Just the teeth.
The teeth are just too hard.
Actually, no, they're fine.
All gone.
[sighs]
Well, that's it.
Breakfast of champions there.
- If I end up in the drink
and swimming,
then this could be
the end of my journey today.
- You build and you build
and you build,
and when you run out of things,
then you're just sort of
left here.
- A mouse has completely
destroyed my gear.
I swear to God if that thing
chews my sleeping bag up,
I'm blowing this place up.
- I've never been alone
for this long before.
I am craving
human companionship.
- I really miss
my loved ones.
Oh.
*
*
- Get on outta here!
Oh, man.
That is a cub.
This feeling of remorse hit me
for being so aggressive.
You know, I hate to do it,
but, yeah, I'm gonna tap.
I'm determined
to make this happen.
Holy [bleep], I got one.
How am I gonna keep this going
24 hours a day?
[groans]
- Fire blower.
Helps me basically bring
a fire back to life
even if there's just
a tiny little coal remaining.
- There is nothing
in my gill net.
If I can't get fish,
I'm not gonna make it.
- Oh, my God.
Bears are here.
[cub mewls]
Not good.
- Who are you when everything's
been stripped away?
[bleep].
- [yelping]
- It's scary out here
in these woods.
- I have not had
a serious meal in a week.
- If I can't get a fire,
then I can't stay here.
- It's always in the back
of your mind,
"Well, I could tap out."
- Putting up
with this filming [bleep]?
- Running into a predator,
it's not an if.
It's a when.
Get the hell out of here.
- I'm living
a hand-to-mouth existence.
Yes!
Ah!
- $500,000
is a lot of money.
- It's just gonna keep
getting harder.
- It's not the world
that needs to change.
It's me
that needs to change.
- [moans]
*
- [grunts]
Ah.
- Okay, so this is...
[chuckles]
this is almost definitely
the dumbest idea
that I've had
since I've been out here.
But it has the potential
to be the funnest idea.
[laughing]
Yeah.
[grunts]
Now I just need
to attach a handle.
This is one of those things
that serve no practical
purpose whatsoever,
but the one purpose
that it does serve
is huge out here.
The hardest part
is really the mental aspect
and every single time
I swing out,
it puts a smile on my face.
That's huge out here.
[laughing]
Oh, my God.
This is the funnest thing ever!
It's part of life too.
You gotta have things
that you enjoy.
You gotta
have things that are fun.
You gotta have things
that make you smile.
And that's what this rope swing
has given me.
[Tarzan yell]
[laughing]
*
- My net didn't do too well
out here in the surf.
My other stake pulled out.
[grunts]
I am very disappointed
in the performance of this net.
It has caught nothing
in the week or so
that it's been up.
Man, head rush.
Bent over,
stood up.
Have to learn not do that.
So far out of the ocean
I've just had a couple of meals
of limpets and
a lot of seaweed.
*
Every campsite needs
a place to sit.
[exhales sharply]
It doesn't have to look
like a chair.
It just has to be a nice,
comfy place to sit.
[exhales sharply]
Chilling on a log
and waiting for low tide.
That's what I'm all about
right now.
I'm hungry.
*
I'm really hungry.
*
I feel like crap.
I don't have a headache,
it doesn't hurt anywhere.
It's not pain; hunger is
a different kind of thing.
Physically, it feels
like apathy,
if that makes any sense
at all.
Getting myself motivated
and getting myself moving
is just...
a very hard thing to do.
*
I have a SAT phone.
I can leave this experience
at any moment.
Stepping out of this suffering
is literally a phone call away.
But there's
that $1/2 million prize,
and I think that--
that would be a life-changing
amount of money for me to win.
I'd love to have something
to give to my kids.
I'm sick of being the dad
that always has to say no.
"Hey, can we go out to dinner?"
"No, you can't."
"Dad, can I ha--"
"No, you can't."
Can't afford it,
can't afford it,
can't afford it.
It's like--it's like
a knee-jerk reaction with me
because I've been so...
broke all year.
So, yeah, that--
that prize money would be huge.
There's just no way
I can go home.
I can't go home.
So whatever it is
that I have to
endure out here,
I have to endure it.
Whatever it is
I have to put up with,
I have to put up
with it.
Whatever it is
I have to figure out.
I have to figure it out.
I have to finish this.
You know, whatever you do,
do it all
with the glory of God.
I want to do well.
[soft music]
*
- I should turn
my headlamp off.
So it's, uh, really dark in here
with my headlamp off.
So, uh, I went down
and checked my gill net today,
and there was a mom
and two cubs down there.
[dramatic music]
The bears are here.
[bleep]
- Oh! Mama bear just stood up
on her hind legs.
Not good.
*
That was, uh,
that was really exciting.
There's a lot
of bear activity right here.
And, you know, predators aren't
something to trifle with.
And, uh, I wasn't going
to go disturb them.
Hopefully those bears
will stay on their side
of the wa--
of the river.
*
I slept great last night.
Oh, my God.
Went to bed really early.
I got up a little earlier
than usual this morning.
Went out,
did a couple of things,
and walked around.
Peed.
Now I gotta go
check my gill net.
I'm guessing it'll be empty
just because
salmon aren't running yet,
but one of these mornings
they'll be running.
And that'll be
a glorious day.
I'm gonna go this way
just in case
the bears are coming out
that way.
I don't wanna
totally shock 'em.
I'm not afraid of the bears,
I just don't wanna scare 'em.
You know?
'Cause then they get scared,
and then scared animals,
in general, do stupid things.
Hear big splashing
in the water.
I'm just checking out
this tree line.
Looking for--
oh, there they go.
Birds are alarming over there.
There's something over there.
Holy crap.
Oh!
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
It's big.
[gasps]
That's beautiful.
There it is.
Glad I went with
the big gill net.
All right, hang on.
Okay, well this is it.
I caught my first fish
in my net.
It's--
I'm not exaggerating.
It's this big.
It's two feet long.
Now I gotta make sure I get it
without cutting my gill net.
*
I need something to whack it
over the head really hard with,
like a stone.
All right, sweetie.
Here we go.
[dramatic music]
*
[dramatic music]
*
[water splashing]
- Fish is just too big.
Cutting your head off
really is the best idea.
I don't wanna keep it
in misery.
I know.
Try to stay--I know.
Gosh.
Just severing the spinal cord
real fast.
There'll be a lot of blood
in this water.
Just need to get through--
oh, there we go.
Oh.
These gills are really
bright red.
Just looking out for bears
'cause they're gonna
smell blood.
It's not very windy today,
which is good.
There we go.
Oh, my God, it's heavy!
This is, like, a feast.
I wish there was someone
to share this with.
It's like--
it's really heavy.
It's a big fish.
*
Colton, these eyeballs
are big.
They're like 3/4 of an inch.
You would love these eyeballs,
Colton.
Look at those.
It's got great eyeballs.
My, uh, my son, Colton,
would love that.
When he was little,
someone told him
that if you ate the eyes
of a fish,
you could see underwater.
And he totally believed that.
The size of my thumb,
that eyeball.
Ooh.
I'll cut it out.
I'll eat it in honor of you.
I'm gonna do this
kinda right here in the water
because when there's blood
coming out,
I don't want the--
I want it to run down.
I don't want it to be
right here.
Oh, so slippery.
Maybe I can balance it
against--
oh, I think it's a male.
I see semen.
See all that semen in there?
You see that?
Yeah, this is all--
that's all semen right here.
Gotta make sure
there's nothing there.
Watch out for bears.
They like it right here.
*
All right.
There.
That opened beautifully.
Just beautifully.
Ta-da.
So I've got
the center part done.
All right.
Just cut right along the spine
to flatten this fish out.
Oh, my God.
It's beautiful.
All right,
I think I'm bear-free.
We're all competing
for the same thing.
And the salmon haven't run yet.
The salmon are late,
so the bears are, uh,
the bears are hungry.
Oh, my God.
It's so heavy.
It is so much meat.
So I've got two huge filets
on either side.
Got the center spine.
I didn't get right up
as much of the spine
as I would've liked.
'Cause I'm gonna eat that too,
for sure.
Okay, I'm gonna go, uh,
clean all this off.
Time to bring it up to camp
and get a fire going.
*
Let me show you this
smorgasbord I've got going.
I've got salmon in the pan.
Salmon that I put between
two tripods.
I've got fresh cedar sticks
smoking.
I'll move it over the fire
when that other one is done
to smoke more.
That smoke is going
right into this piece of fish,
which is gonna be great.
Later I'll move it
right over the fire.
This fish that I have now
I can keep just for a few days
and just keep eating off it.
As long as I keep it
out of the hands of the bears.
Being really careful to keep it
all right on this board
and not to spill any.
'Cause what I don't want
are predators coming around,
so I'm going to--
going to make sure that, uh,
that I don't leave anything,
that I burn anything,
and the rest goes way deep
into the ocean.
There's my salmon.
I'm just gonna eat.
'Cause it's really good.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe
I'm eating this well here.
I am a happy, happy girl.
[soft music]
*
- Today, the priorities
are gonna be
I'm gonna work out
a little bit
just to, uh...
[snaps fingers]
get my cylinders firing.
Uh, 'cause they're not
right now at all.
I'm not a huge gym buff,
you know?
I'm not, like,
a "bro guy," you know?
But, uh,
I enjoy working out.
So what I've done is
I've built, basically, a gym.
All right, we got, uh...
two new additions
to the gym...
AKA: Muscle Beach.
'Cause it's a beach
and it's the gym.
First we've brought over
the, uh,
chain that I found.
And also...
my new pull-up bar.
Yep.
That happened.
Just knock this out.
I enjoy being
physically active, you know?
And I think that it's
an underrated part of survival.
I look at survival,
especially long-term like this,
as living.
You know, I work out
in my own life.
Why wouldn't I work out
out here?
I think some of this comes
from being in the military
for so long as well.
I'm not gonna do it
to the point
to where, you know,
I'm expending so many calories
that I'm just draining myself.
But it keeps
my motivation levels up.
It keeps, you know,
kinda everything up.
Finding things that
you can enjoy
even though
the weather's horrible
or, you know, it's kind of
a miserable existence,
makes a huge, huge impact
rather than just kind of
sitting there waiting it out.
[groans]
Think when I, uh...
[chuckles]
when I get back,
maybe I should start
a survival workout program.
That's not gonna happen.
*
- I never realized sea otters
are such a big creature.
They're like the size
of a small dog.
*
What a happy life,
just float around on your back.
Go down, eat some seafood.
Come back up.
Float around on your back,
swim around,
play with your buddies.
That's a cool animal.
*
I'm thinking
what I need to do
is catch some
of those sea otters
and train them
to bring me fish.
*
They have my cove
all figured out.
This cove is my universe.
And I have to adapt myself
to it.
I just have to make use
of what is here
and figure it out
and just stay alive.
I've got an idea
for active fishing.
I can see that there's fish
swimming in the kelp
just below my point here.
And this is the first time
I've actually seen fish
of a size that I can eat
swimming in my waters.
So that means I have to try
and catch some of these fish.
Okay now, the secret to doing
a cane pole
is you don't just tie
the string
onto the end of the pole.
You tie yourself
a safety line
back below.
*
So if the end
of the pole breaks off,
you don't lose everything.
*
I am desperately hungry
right now.
And I want to eat.
That's pretty much
the end of the story for me.
*
Oh, man.
That one stole half my bait.
They're hitting it though.
*
Ah!
*
Yes!
*
- Two weeks out here
and no fish to show for it.
That's embarrassing.
I'm sorry.
I'm at the point now
of total embarrassment
that I have not
caught a fish.
I'm hungry.
I'm really hungry.
* *
Yes!
Yeah, baby!
Oh, yes.
That's a big ol' fish.
I'm gonna have a meal.
I'm gonna have a meal!
*
Oh, thank you, Lord.
*
Oh, I gotta go make
some fish stew.
That is a good feeling.
*
It is a lot easier doing this
waist-high
than down on the ground.
*
I'm a happy man.
This has definitely taken away
that hollow feeling
that I've had
for the last several days.
It gave me hope today.
It really did.
It really gave me hope.
I just want to do well
at this thing, you know?
I just want
to make my kids proud
and let them see their dad
persevere and tough it out.
I can feed myself here.
And I need to do that
on a regular basis
to stay here as long
as I possibly can.
[exhales deeply]
Thank you, Lord
for this food.
Oh, that is good.
[soft music]
*
- When I lost my ferro rod,
I wanted to go home.
I need to get my head
back in the game
if I'm gonna do this.
I can't just sit around
and hope for--
hope for the best.
I need to take action.
I'm gonna start on
a permanent structure today.
I'm gonna do it using
two different structural pieces
to hold it all together.
I'm gonna be pounding posts
into the ground,
and then I'm going to take
a piece of cord,
and I'm gonna wrap the cord
around each of the posts
to be able to just
hold it all together.
And then the other way
is I'm going to, uh,
actually notch
each of the logs
sort of log cabin style.
I'm doing this for two reasons.
You know, one, obviously having
a long-term shelter
and having some comfort
is gonna improve my morale.
It's gonna
just make me happier.
Also, two...
winter is coming.
This is one of those projects
that is gonna require
a lot of energy.
It's a lot of work going on
very, very little food.
I haven't really eaten any...
any meat, so...
I'm definitely, like,
running pretty low on fuel.
Got my trout line out
and traps.
That's my first real attempt
at getting some food,
but I need to have
a consistent source of food.
The process of doing this
without anybody else...
the isolation, you know,
is difficult.
It does get to you.
Just start to search for
things to--
to communicate with.
Even if it's yourself.
You know, like you start having
conversations in your head
where you're talking
to yourself,
and you're saying "we."
I'm like, "All right, well what
are we going to do today?"
"We"?
What am I talking about?
There's no "we."
It's just me out here.
And that is arguably
the most difficult part
of this journey.
So these are the walls
on the inside.
Barely even see.
Let's turn on the infrared.
So that's as high
as my back wall is gonna be.
It's basically just a log cabin
lean-to essentially.
Here's what it looks like
from the outside.
[chuckles]
Amazing.
The process has been definitely
laborous and exhausting.
And it's taking a lot
of calories out of me.
[groans]
[bleep], I'm hungry.
[soft music]
*
- All right.
I gotta get moving 'cause
it's a little chill in the air.
I could see my breath last night
when I went to bed.
[exhales]
*
It's really feeling
like the rain is coming.
And I have a feeling
once the rain comes.
we're just in for the rain.
It's not gonna stop,
so getting ready.
This is the front
of my shelter.
So I've started to put
a door in.
These are my final--
this post on the left
and this post on my right
are my final two beams.
This thing leaning in here...
it's going to be my door
that will come in and out.
*
There are some big storms
that come through here.
*
I know that the storms
are gonna hit really soon,
and rain is just gonna be...
[whooshing]
This door fits pretty snugly.
Now I'm reinforcing the front
of this structure
to make sure that
the whole thing is covered.
Hopefully this will keep both
the warmth in
and the cold out,
but also the wind out
as well.
Perhaps we'll see
rain tonight.
[dramatic music]
*
- Well, I wouldn't want to be
out on a raft
on this.
Normally this water's
really calm.
Just passive.
It's just super rocky today.
The wind has been
going crazy fast.
Like tornado.
I don't know.
I mean, I'd say...
probably, you know,
40-50 mile an hour winds easy.
Just, you know, kicking.
*
And now it's raining.
And I gotta go back to camp.
[bleep].
*
All right.
[groans]
[grunts]
*
[heavy raindrops]
- Yeah, hey.
It's really coming down,
so I have the, uh,
thought I'd turn
the audio on here.
[heavy raindrops]
My, uh, lean-to
is not leaking at all.
We have had intense rain,
so...
I feel really snug.
It is really dark though.
I'm, uh, getting ready to go.
Got my raincoat on,
and I'm gonna go check
my gill net.
And the storm's going...
[whooshing]
King of whipping around.
It's really sheltered in this,
uh, in this hut.
I don't think you can hear it
as much
as is actually going on.
Whoo.
Ahh!
Oh, my God,
I'm getting blown over!
Wow, that was crazy.
My gill net
is way underwater.
Looks...
I think a lot of it's
showing,
but I can't get to it.
It's way too--
It seems like the water's
really just blowing...
in, which is--
like, the waves are coming
and making it hard to get to--
to the--that area.
I'll have to keep
watching it today.
Yeah, it's really raining.
I'm gonna, um,
I'm gonna head back to camp
and, uh,
before I get gusted away here.
Just kinda get settled in
for the day.
[dramatic music]
*
- I came out to the beach
this morning
just to check things out.
This is about as high tide
as high gets.
And the surf
is just amazing here.
I've never seen it
this rough.
That's where I clean my fish,
on that twisty-looking thing
where the surf is
beating down right now.
If I was to go fishing,
that's where I'd go fishing.
All the way out there.
I would have to cross
all that water
to get to my fishing spot.
Normally at low tide,
I can walk out there.
Look at it now.
It's just surf.
And this is--this is as rough
as I've seen it.
The water is murky
and evil-looking.
*
This is a tragedy, people.
My giant twisty kitchen thing
is drifting out to sea.
That is the most important
feature of my beach,
and it's leaving.
Come on, don't go! No!
No!
[dramatic music]
*
- I'm so scared.
[chuckles]
[coughs]
Oh.
The wind is really crazy.
It's not raining too much,
but the wind
is just going nuts.
Don't really have much to do
in the way
of chores or work.
Everything is pretty--
pretty much revolving
around food.
And tide's about halfway up,
so there's no food to get.
I might just hunker down
in here.
You know, over the course
of active duty in the military,
years of my life
had been spent in isolation.
You're sitting in a tiny hole
with, you know,
a couple of other guys
for three, four, or five days.
And you're pissing
and [bleep] in a bag, you know.
You learn things to do
to kinda entertain your mind.
And now,
ladies and gentlemen,
the moment that probably
none of you
have been waiting for,
other than me.
When I first saw
this bad boy,
I was thinking,
"That is a tube.
And I can use the tube
for a lot of cool stuff."
And hopefully we can
give it a little--
little test drive here.
And that is a win.
No longer do I have to leave
the comfort of my room
to urinate
in the middle of the night.
Believe it or not,
it's a pretty big moment.
[soft music]
*
- Rainy day, windy day.
Very windy day.
Wouldn't want to be out at sea
on a day like this.
*
I'm gonna go walk over--
walk over to the fish net.
See if I can rescue it.
Let's see what
the situation is.
A lot of stuff in the net.
Like kelp pieces and whatnot.
You have to go in the water.
We're basically freeing it
then make it work again.
That's the last darn day
a guy would want to be
wading in the water here,
but it's hard to see
how deep it is.
Ooh.
[grunts]
It's already past
knee-deep here.
Probably going to drown here
like an idiot.
And the wind picks up
some more.
*
What a tangle.
*
[grunts]
Lot of kelp.
Oh, man. I could do without
these waves, I tell you.
*
Huh.
There's a salmon in here.
Lordy!
Well, that's a reward.
Salmon.
Not too big, but not bad.
[heavy raindrops]
I don't know if you folks
can even hear anything.
'Cause it's raining
about as hard as it can
but I'm eating salmon.
so I don't care.
I'm having the best meal...
I've had
since I've come here.
So the salmon are coming
towards the coast.
They're looking for places.
[dramatic music]
*
- Good morning.
It's another beautiful day
here in British Columbia.
What else can I say?
Gonna walk down and...
gonna check my traps.
*
Trap number one.
Not triggered.
And the bait is gone.
Man.
I need to figure out a way
to make this way more sensitive.
*
- Think I'm gonna try
to start eating these slugs.
I don't want to, but...
I'm getting pretty hungry.
*
Next trap.
*
Triggered.
Do we have anything
to show for it?
*
Oh, my God.
Look at that.
*
*
- Nice.
A little mouse.
My first bit of meat
in 14 days.
All right, well let's cook up
our mousey-mouse here.
What I like to do is just...
singe all the hair off.
So this guy is all singed.
And then you could just...
you don't need to spend
too much time
skinning him or anything.
You just sort of peel
the singed hair off.
I'm super excited to eat this
right now.
You could just peel open
the stomach
to take out the guts.
But I leave in, like,
the heart and the liver.
Delicious.
Mm-hmm.
And I'll just throw him
directly on the coals there.
Just let him cook.
*
I feel like I'm starting
to find my pace.
I'm starting to connect more
with the land.
But I'm just not
pulling in any fish.
*
So I don't know.
I gotta try
some new fishing techniques.
Gotta try to make a living
off the sea.
Because when winter comes here,
animals are gonna be holed up
and might not be there,
so I gotta figure out a way
to get some fish.
*
Little leg.
Mmm.
And that's the only bit
that's left.
Just the teeth.
The teeth are just too hard.
Actually, no, they're fine.
All gone.
[sighs]
Well, that's it.
Breakfast of champions there.
- If I end up in the drink
and swimming,
then this could be
the end of my journey today.
- You build and you build
and you build,
and when you run out of things,
then you're just sort of
left here.
- A mouse has completely
destroyed my gear.
I swear to God if that thing
chews my sleeping bag up,
I'm blowing this place up.
- I've never been alone
for this long before.
I am craving
human companionship.
- I really miss
my loved ones.
Oh.
*