Alone (2015–…): Season 4, Episode 9 - My Brother's Keeper - full transcript
As freezing temperatures punish Vancouver Island, the remaining pairs all face game-changing scenarios. One participant is hit with a crippling illness, while another's temper drives a wedge between him and his teammate.
[dramatic music]
*
- You're catching fish.
You're doing well,
and then nothing.
Broo's dropped
so much weight.
We've got to put more food
on the table.
Otherwise, I don't know
what's gonna happen.
- My biggest concern out here
is just some accident happening
that ends it for us
just like that.
- It looks like the float
is not floating.
- Oh, no, Jim!
- The float sunk.
- No!
- Today was a really bad day.
We've lost our crab trap.
I'm getting all the [bleep] food
foraging,
and you're always not.
- I think you're just mad
that you haven't
even caught one fish.
- I'm not. I'm jt saying.
- You're the big hero.
- [bleep] this [bleep], man.
*
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Side effects may include
hopping on one foot,
uncontrollable laughter,
abnormal behavior,
and conversations
with imaginary food.
What I like about you,
corn on the cob,
is when I bite into you,
you pop in my mouth.
So come on.
What are you waiting for?
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But wait, there's more.
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[cheery musical flourish]
[ominous music]
*
- This is gonna be
an incredible challenge.
- We're gonna be dropped off
in separate locations,
and one of us
has to find the other.
- There they go!
- I gotta wait on my brother.
Hopefully he'll be here soon.
- Please come tomorrow.
- I don't know
where I'm going,
how long I'm gonna be out here.
All I have
is a compass bearing.
- It's a needle in a haystack.
Can I even make it to base camp?
- Dad! No way.
- Son!
- Everything around you
is telling you
you need to go home.
[air horn blasts]
- Please leave me alone!
- If you don't work as a team,
it's game over.
- I can't hold
this whole thing up.
- Just hold it still.
- $500,000
would be life-changing.
- I know.
[exclaims]
- I feel like the life
is sucked out of me.
- [whispers]
He's coming.
He sees me.
*
[muffled stomping]
[stomping continues]
- Yes.
Now that was a successful rock.
On one rock I stomped
six gunnels.
- Wow.
*
We're eating shore crabs,
limpets, slugs, and seaweed.
The gunnel fish
are a rare find now.
- There's just something
about these writhing eels
that you rip out
from under boulders
that just isn't appetizing.
There's a minnow-sized
gunnel fish in there.
*
But you know, it is also
a good amount of protein,
you know?
*
- Having fish under rocks,
that is something that we want
to take advantage of.
*
- Ow, [bleep]!
Oh.
Oh, I just dropped
a huge boulder on my leg.
Oh, no.
It's pinning me.
Dude, come help me?
- Yeah.
- [bleep].
[groans]
- Your leg is pinned?
- Yeah.
[bleep].
- All right,
what are we doing here?
- Lift it up this way.
- Ready?
[exhales]
- Yeah.
- One, two...
[grunting]
- I managed to get a gunnel
out of it, though.
- Good.
- Thanks.
- Yeah, no problem.
*
Ted and I get
in a lot of fights out here.
You know, he has his way
of doing things,
and I have my way
of doing things.
- Look at that.
- Oh, look at that big one, eh?
Sometimes we're scared
the other guy's gonna blow it,
and it just gets
really frustrating,
and then we get mad,
and we start to say mean stuff
about each other...
but we understand you have
to just forget about it
and focus on the job at hand,
which is feeding yoursf
and ultimately being
the last guy to stay out there.
- Yo, Jim, you see this?
I pinch it like this.
- Yeah.
- And then just a long stroke.
- We had some big
kind of blow-up fights,
and we sort of wrote it off
as just being hungry.
Both of us know that,
you know,
we're not always gonna agree
on everything now,
and we're kind of
getting in each other's hair
a little less.
- This is two meals of gunnels,
would you say?
- Yeah.
- It could probably
be pushed to three.
- Out of any of my ten items,
I'd pick Ted
over a saw or an ax.
You know what I mean?
We've got a lot of life
left in us still,
despite the hard times,
and we're just gonna
keep pushing.
*
- Well, it's low tide right now,
and we're gonna be
fishing here shortly.
*
Sure hope we have
some luck this morning.
It's been pretty bad lately.
*
- Nope.
It's cold out here today.
- I know.
My hands are frozen already.
- Fish on.
- Yes.
*
[sighs]
- That's not what I hoped for.
- [exhales]
That is unbelievable.
*
- I don't think we have
much time out here.
[wind whistling]
Fishing has completely
fallen off.
What we're catching
right now is not enough.
Brooke has lost a ton
of weight.
You can't lose
that kind of weight
and keep this up.
So to put it
right to the point,
we're starving.
*
- Fishing stunk again,
so I'm gonna cut firewood...
*
So we can at least be warm.
Oh, my power
is so nothing anymore.
*
That's all I got.
It doesn't add up to much.
*
- It's getting to the point
where it's just
a simple matter of calories,
and Brooke is so far behind.
*
I think we just need
to try something new.
*
[blows raspberry]
So for a long time,
I've been thinking
about building a crab pot,
and what I'm thinking is just
a round hoop and a round hoop,
and tie it all together,
couple doors
for the crabs to crawl in
and then don't come out.
*
I don't want to quit.
I don't.
There's not a part of me
that wants to give up.
*
Yesterday Brooke
was out beachcombing,
and she found the best rope
you've ever seen.
Let's see what
we can do with it.
*
[grunts]
Oh, no way.
This is amazing.
All of this red stuff on here,
it's, like, 1/4-inch netting
just rolled up
and tied on there,
and this is gonna be
crab trap perfect,
just perfect.
I'm gonna start
netting this sucker.
*
This could be about it for us.
If we don't get
another source of food,
what are we gonna do?
*
My crab pot is done.
*
Oh, it's slippery.
I'm gonna get killed out here,
is what I'm gonna do.
*
Go in, can't get out.
It's simple.
I don't know
if it'll work or not.
- I don't understand.
*
This was our hot spot.
*
- I know.
*
- It's a bummer.
Just no fish.
- [exhales]
Tie the bottle
and my last two fish heads
and stuff it in here.
Then I'll throw it
in the water and...
do one of these.
*
Well, it ain't gonna get
any readier than that.
*
Wish us luck.
*
Yeah.
*
You know, the terrible thing
about this is,
it's just kind of, like,
a Hail Mary here.
If this doesn't pan out,
I don't know
what we're gonna do.
*
[dramatic music]
*
- It's another one
of these beautiful, sunny days,
but with the sun comes just
absolutely frigid temperatures.
Last night, my feet
never warmed up.
They were cold all night, and...
I mean, it'd be nice
if we had a thermometer.
I'd--I'm really curious what
the temperature actually is.
All I can tell you is,
it is cold.
It is really,
really cold out here.
*
- Everything's freezing up.
Makes it hard
to get up every day.
*
But there's certain things
we have to do.
Sam collected a whole bunch
of hemlock branches,
and we're gonna use that to
insulate our shelter some more.
*
- There are a few key areas
I really want to insulate
initially,
and then I'm just gonna go
around the whole shelter
and just pack in all the holes.
The first thing we're gonna do
is, we're gonna break 'em down
just a little bit,
so they're more manageable.
- Is that good enough
for you right there?
- Yeah, that's fine.
Basically, when we close
the green flap here,
at this point,
the hemlocks are patted down
so wind can come in
right underneath it.
So I'm just gonna make
a new pile of hemlock.
It's so crazy how
the weather's changed on us.
- Unreal, just unreal.
*
- Our shelter's gonna smell
so nice tonight.
- Oh, yeah.
- And hopefully be
a little more insulated.
*
- [sighs]
- Why don't you take a break?
- No, I'm all right.
- You sure?
- Yep.
- [exhales]
I can just see it
in my dad's face.
He's really starting
to feel it.
Take another--take five minutes.
You haven't even sat down
five minutes, right?
*
- I just hope it doesn't get
to the point with me
where you feel like
you have to do everything.
- I mean,
I don't know why you think
that's such a bad thing anyway.
I know we're a team,
and up until this point
you've been working
way too hard.
Every time we saw a log,
you never take a break.
- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?
You try to overexert yourself.
*
[sighs]
- You know, it's something
that my dad drilled into me,
and I prefer to think it's just
work ethic, you know, just--
- I know,
but that's the problem.
This isn't work.
- I know.
- You know, you have to view
this as a survival situation.
This is a marathon,
not a 9:00 to 5:00,
get as much work done
as possible
in the day and go to bed.
This is stay out here
as long as possible
and work smart and efficient.
- Yeah.
*
- It's starting
to get kind of worrying.
I'm 26.
He's 61.
I know how much I'm feeling it.
I can only imagine what he's
going through at this point.
Even just sitting still,
he can start getting
lightheaded.
If he's just gonna pass out
sitting down,
I may have to make
a very difficult decision.
*
- It's been below freezing
all day...
which makes the rocks slippery.
*
- This seaweed
on the beach here,
it's just frozen.
*
Totally frozen.
- It's the coldest
it's been yet.
- Feels like a day you might
tap out, you know?
- Yeah.
- I mean, you could get
hypothermatic today.
- Uh-huh.
*
Even though it's pretty hard,
we're gonna still try
to get fish and eat the slop
we've been eating as well.
*
Man, a fish would be nice,
a real fish.
Not that gunnel fish
aren't real fish, but you know?
- I know, man.
*
The tide's on its way out,
and we can check our net.
*
I got it!
Got a fish.
Nice.
Smells pretty rotten!
Maybe it's okay.
I don't know.
*
It's kind of a bit of a risk.
I don't want
to eat anything rotten,
but we need protein,
and the fats in it
is just something that--
it was an absolute must.
*
- [sniffing]
I don't know.
It doesn't smell that bad.
[inhales deeply]
So that fish that Ted had to
pull the net over to get at,
I roasted it on a stick,
and then I kind of baked it
beside the fire
on a cedar plank,
really cooked it right through,
even burnt the skin
on the outside
just to kill any parasites
that might have been in it.
*
[bleep] food poisoning
could be the end of us,
you know?
[sniffs]
Take this piece off.
- I got to try eating
that piece, see how it tastes.
- It's risky, right?
- It is.
*
*
- Definitely has a bit
of a rotten taste, man.
*
- Tastes good.
*
Maybe the fish
wasn't safe to eat,
but if we don't get
enough food,
how are we gonna stay out here
to win this thing?
*
[dramatic music]
*
- Well, hello.
Just crawled out of bed.
I had a really,
really rough night last night.
I had some really
intense abdominal pain,
upper abdominal pain.
I don't know if it was related
to my GERD or acid reflux
or having an ulcer or something.
I'm not even sure
that I do have an ulcer,
but I suspect that I do.
*
I have really bad GERD,
gastrointestinal
acid reflux disease,
and last night we ate
that rotten fish.
You know, normally
I take these pills.
I haven't been
taking them out here.
I haven't needed them, but...
maybe that's been a mistake.
As I was sleeping,
it just kept me up
for hours and hours
with just intense pain.
It's still lingering,
and it's still there.
Jim got up and tried to fish
while letting me try to rest
and get over it,
which was good.
*
- How you feeling now?
- The second I start chewing
this, my stomach starts hurting.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I don't know if it's, like--
- I'm--I wonder
if you have, like,
a stomach [bleep]
food poisoning, dude, you know?
- No, I'd be puking.
- Not necessarily.
- As soon as I'm chewing,
like, I feel pain in my--
like it doesn't want me
to eat it.
*
Oh, [bleep] stomach.
- You could just sleep,
and I could forage
a bag of food tonight.
*
I've come out here
to the intertidal area.
I'm gonna go ahead and start
getting limpets here.
Seem to be a lot
of big ones out here.
[exhales]
Ted was pulling
a lot of weight,
so I'm gonna try to just
bust my ass to fill in
for where Ted can't
and to get food on the table.
At this point,
I'm really concerned.
Ted is experiencing
extreme pain and discomfort.
He might not have
much time left.
That's 100.
Feeling pretty good so far.
And I think he's also
beating himself up about it.
I think he feels bad
that he's not contributing.
I'm like, "Listen, man,
it's not your fault."
*
500 limpets today, guys.
It's the easiest picking
for limpets yet.
I'm just gonna
keep going for it.
Ted's not a kind of guy
that likes to sit around.
He's a hard worker.
Plus, when you're just
sitting around,
you start to not feel good,
and I'm trying
to keep him positive,
and if you want to use the term
"your brother's keeper,"
just nurse Ted back to health
as best I can.
*
I just picked 1,000 limpets.
*
Oh, God, I'm gonna fall over.
[sighs]
Hopefully the two of us
can sustain off of that
for a while.
*
[birds chirping]
*
- Sometimes all I think about
is food.
*
Eating all kinds of stuff
when I get home.
I want to make a big pot
of chili when I get home.
*
I want to put a pork shoulder
in the smoker,
maybe two pork shoulders.
Oh, gosh, there's so many
different kinds of food
I've been thinking about.
*
Man, we sure do need a fish.
- Yeah.
- Or a pizza.
- [laughs] Yeah.
*
We haven't actually had a fish
in a little while now,
just between the weather
and the really slow fishing.
*
We're actually gonna try
a new technique today,
and hopefully
it's really successful.
*
- You think 20-pound
or 50 on the hook?
- The 20 does give it a little
better action, doesn't it?
- I'm thinking 20.
- It seems like they've moved
into a little deeper water,
so we just retied our fishing
rods with longer line on 'em.
You can't use a fishing rod.
You got to stick your rod
in the ground
and just throw the line
out there.
- How far do you think
we're gonna be able
to toss it out there?
- I don't know.
- The fish can see you,
and they'll shy away from you,
so we need to be able to drop
our line down into deep water.
*
It's out there a ways.
Don't know how deep
it is, but...
- Yeah.
- It came off this beautifully.
- That worked great.
- Well, we'll see
if something hits it.
- Yeah.
*
I lost my little spool
of 20-pound,
so let's cut some off, you know,
get a big, long section.
I like--I like to have it
in my pocket.
- All right.
*
- Oh, it's so scary
baiting up the hook
when you can't even
feel your fingers.
- Yup.
You can't feel that point
come through.
- Yeah.
- Oh, [bleep].
We need 20-gauge.
- We didn't bring any?
- Where is that roll
that I cut off?
*
- You mean up there?
- Yeah.
- That one on the rock?
- No, remember you wanted me
to cut a coil off?
You said you wanted some
for your pocket,
and I stuck it
over here somewhere.
- Yeah, that was fishing line.
- No, Sam, I pulled off
probably 20 yards
of 20-pound fishing line.
- That's--I have that
in my pocket.
- That's what we need.
- You were saying 20-gauge wire.
I have 20-pound fishing line
in my pocket.
- Okay, that's--that's exactly
what I'm talking about.
- God, Dad, okay.
- Sam, listen, 20--
the 20-pound line.
- And I just said
I have that in my pocket.
- Okay, I didn't hear you say
it was--
just this second
you said that.
*
- You were talking about
the 20-gauge wire.
- No, I wasn't--
I'm talking about the wire for--
look at--
look, listen to me.
I'm talking about the wire
from the rock
and 20-pound on the end of that
so it'll break away.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's all I was trying
to say, [bleep] damn it.
That's all I was trying to say.
[dramatic music]
*
[water flowing]
- Hey, you know what?
That 20-pound
is still right there.
- Which?
- Right here, all right?
Don't get worked up at me
about that.
It's right here.
- All right, look, you know,
we're just having
an unders--
a misunderstanding here.
- I know,
and you're raising your voice
and getting a tone.
- Sam! Sam.
Sam, we're just
having a misunderstanding.
Let's calm down, okay?
Forget about it.
We just had a misunderstanding.
- Yeah, that's all it was.
- That's all it is, so...
*
- For two people that love
being in the woods,
one of the hardest things
there is
is trying to compromise.
You're out there for your
freedom and your independence,
and all of a sudden
you have to agree
with somebody all the time.
That's pretty challenging.
*
You know, there's nobody
more stubborn
in the world than my dad,
and he took it
to a whole nother level.
It's starting to get
kind of worrying,
and it's probably
getting pretty darn close
to when we should
really start thinking
about what the future holds.
*
- When you're starving,
when you haven't eaten,
who knows, really,
how they're gonna handle it?
What sort of walls do you hit?
What sort of demons come out
in your personality?
*
So we butt heads
about some things.
*
[bleep].
- Oop.
*
- It got hung up
on the stinking piece of wire.
Let's go ahead
and pull it back in.
Damn it.
Son of a gun.
*
At my age,
a real concern is the state
that I'm in now.
Sometimes I'm irritable.
I've never felt so weak before
in my life.
I'm wobbly.
This is what starving to death
is all about.
*
I know Sam's worried.
He's worried about
his dad's health and safety.
I'm wondering
if maybe this is
what's gonna actually drive us
out of this place.
*
- [bleep].
[bleep] damn it.
*
- Okay.
You ready, babe?
I'm waiting on Brooke.
She's been feeling
pretty draggy today.
I'm gonna go check
the crab pot,
just gonna cross our fingers
and pull the pot
and see what's going on,
and if there's nothing
in the pot,
I think we're going
limpet collecting,
but that's a losing game.
That's gonna run right out.
*
- I need food.
- If there's any crab down there
to be had,
I should at least
have a couple in there.
*
- Gonna be chilly out there.
I'd rather be sitting
by a fire,
doing nothing,
but we got to eat.
*
- We can't be out here if we
can't get a bit more to eat.
- There's nothing in the forest.
There's no foraging.
Fishing is just a joke anymore.
*
All hope is pinned
on the crab pot.
*
It's our last chance for food.
- Here goes nothing.
[grunts]
Feels heavy.
*
It's full of huge snails.
- Huh.
*
- Ain't one crab in it.
It's a snail trap.
Let's try to eat giant
snails, I guess.
*
- Beggars can't be choosers.
- Guess not.
Boy, I never saw that coming,
15 pounds of snails.
*
I don't even know what to think.
- There's a lot of meat there.
- There is.
*
I'm gonna throw the pot back in.
*
- We just threw one on the fire.
We're gonna see how it does.
- It comes with its own pot,
boiling right in its own shell.
We'll see if they're edible,
I guess.
*
- Holy cow.
*
I think that's guts.
That's the part
we're not gonna want to eat.
*
But the rest of that is meat.
*
- Did you get a bite off it,
or is it, like, super hot?
- Oh, it's just got
a really odd...
Flavor...
that I've never tasted before.
*
- Is it any good?
*
- It's a giant snail.
[chuckles]
*
It's kind of rubbery.
Well, it's really rubbery.
*
Giant hairy snails.
It's not enough to sustain us.
I don't know
what's gonna happen.
*
I want to win.
*
I don't know
what we're gonna do
if we can't get more food.
There's gonna come a time
when we're not gonna be able
to stay here.
We got to eat,
and it's just not enough.
[dramatic music]
*
- I just got the chills.
I just can't get warm,
so I'm resting in my bag.
*
I haven't felt that good,
just laying low.
*
The charm of this place
is gone.
[chuckles]
Trust me.
I want to go badly.
I want to go see my kids
and my family and my friends,
and I want to eat.
I want to eat something.
*
Anything.
We talk about food constantly.
*
I've never had to starve
like this before.
*
It makes you want
to tap that button.
I don't know.
I don't know how long we can--
I can make it here.
*
I don't want to give up.
*
That's the dilemma, right?
*
You don't want to lose.
*
I don't want to lose.
*
Dave doesn't want to lose.
*
It's like, what do you do?
*
- My crab pot yesterday
caught a bunch of snails.
That's it.
*
I'm gonna go check it right now.
*
See if it's decided
to catch anything,
or if it was just
an arts and crafts project.
*
Food kind of quit on us.
No fish, no crab.
I mean, you could eat seaweed,
and you could eat snails,
but you can't sustain that.
It's getting kind of dire.
*
Let's see what we got.
*
I got a couple snails.
*
Stupid, stupid snails.
*
It's a total bust.
*
It's starting to not be about
how much you can take
but about how much
you're willing
to put someone else through.
I could be out here
for another ten days maybe.
Brooke has dropped
so much weight,
she's getting
to a dangerous place.
It's just a waiting game now.
How long do I want
to put her through that?
How long does she want
to go through that?
It could very well
get to be a point
where it's detrimental
to her health
to go any farther.
*
There's still a little snow
on that hill over there.
- I feel like there's snow
just in my soul.
- Yeah.
- I've just--I've just not
been warm for so long.
*
- How realistic is it to expect
another ten days,
another two weeks on nothing?
- Yeah.
- It'd be nice to not be hungry.
*
- Ted is still experiencing
an intense stomachache
that we're both fearing
could be something serious.
*
You know, there's a chance
that he might have
a ruptured gallbladder
or appendicitis
or something like that.
*
I think mentally
he's still pretty strong.
It's just...
you know, all he can do
is curl up into a ball,
and he can't get food
or anything.
*
- I'm feeling really lethargic
and beaten down.
I've kind of been
out of commission.
That's hurting us.
Jim went out and picked
some limpets last night,
and he's been out there
fishing or whatever,
but he's definitely been
carrying a little extra weight
the last couple days.
We need to get wood today.
*
That's something I could do.
*
Oh, my God, I can barely
just stand here.
I'm afraid I'm starting
to hit my wall.
*
I feel like
I can't do anything here.
*
And normally I can do a lot.
*
- Ted's been just doing
such a good job out here,
but he's really been
pushing himself.
I'm getting concerned
about him, actually.
I don't know
if he's gonna make it.
I don't mind the idea
of tapping
and leaving at all, like,
especially
if you're about to, like,
starve to death, man.
I don't want to try
to force you
to stay out here at all.
*
- Jim, of course,
wants to stay.
I still want to stay.
I don't want to let him down,
but if I can't chop wood,
and I can't get food,
and I can't freaking step
over a log,
the reality is,
is that I can't stay out here
anymore.
*
*
- What's going on?
- I got nothing left.
I--I just can't go on.
It feels like
when you've had the flu,
and you just get
your butt kicked,
and you just feel like, ugh,
you just got hit by a truck.
It kind of feels like that.
- When she's saying,
"I've had it.
I don't feel like
getting out of bed,"
I know it's for real.
She's had it.
You're just fighting starvation
and fighting starvation,
and honestly,
you're just waiting
for the next team to give up.
[somber music]
*
- It's a tough choice.
We came here to win,
to not leave until somebody
pulled us off this site.
*
But the reality is,
we got to go.
*
I'm very proud of the fact
that as a husband and wife,
we can go
and not kill each other
for 49 days.
*
We've always operated
outside the box,
chasing down whatever
excites us at the moment,
whether it made us money
or not.
It was more about
the experience
and just living.
The biggest thing for me
is disappointing him.
He's capable of a little bit
more suffering.
He's a little bigger than me.
He could go a little longer.
Neither of us want to leave.
*
- As a husband,
watching your wife deteriorate
is extremely disturbing.
*
I think we've done
something different here.
This was kind of our angle
on what we would do
in this situation.
There is no room to regret
anything with that.
There's nothing--
there's nothing left.
*
In a situation like this,
you just gut the thing
and leave it all out there
and make sure you leave
nothing to regret.
*
And whoever's still out there,
they're tough son-of-a-guns.
*
- The way we're struggling
right now,
I just can't believe
there's someone else
that's still out here.
- I'm starving.
I've lost 25% of my body.
- Oh, my God!
- [wheezing]
- How much can our bodies
actually take?
No victory is worth
permanent damage.
- My stomach pain
is getting worse.
I don't know if winning
is worth it anymore.
- One thing I can be sure of
at this point
is that it's gonna end here
real soon.
It's got to.
*
*
- You're catching fish.
You're doing well,
and then nothing.
Broo's dropped
so much weight.
We've got to put more food
on the table.
Otherwise, I don't know
what's gonna happen.
- My biggest concern out here
is just some accident happening
that ends it for us
just like that.
- It looks like the float
is not floating.
- Oh, no, Jim!
- The float sunk.
- No!
- Today was a really bad day.
We've lost our crab trap.
I'm getting all the [bleep] food
foraging,
and you're always not.
- I think you're just mad
that you haven't
even caught one fish.
- I'm not. I'm jt saying.
- You're the big hero.
- [bleep] this [bleep], man.
*
- We now interrupt this program
to bring you
a special announcement
from our sponsors.
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chunky, husky, round?
Maybe you're just
a little bloated.
Well, let me introduce you
to the hottest vacation
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that at least ten people
are talking about.
Welcome to Starvation Island.
There's no donut shop here.
There's no taco stand here,
and there's nothing in here.
Side effects may include
hopping on one foot,
uncontrollable laughter,
abnormal behavior,
and conversations
with imaginary food.
What I like about you,
corn on the cob,
is when I bite into you,
you pop in my mouth.
So come on.
What are you waiting for?
Call and book now.
Your starvation vacation
awaits you.
But wait, there's more.
If you book now,
we'll give you one week
of starvation absolutely free!
We can't wait till you get here.
[cheery musical flourish]
[ominous music]
*
- This is gonna be
an incredible challenge.
- We're gonna be dropped off
in separate locations,
and one of us
has to find the other.
- There they go!
- I gotta wait on my brother.
Hopefully he'll be here soon.
- Please come tomorrow.
- I don't know
where I'm going,
how long I'm gonna be out here.
All I have
is a compass bearing.
- It's a needle in a haystack.
Can I even make it to base camp?
- Dad! No way.
- Son!
- Everything around you
is telling you
you need to go home.
[air horn blasts]
- Please leave me alone!
- If you don't work as a team,
it's game over.
- I can't hold
this whole thing up.
- Just hold it still.
- $500,000
would be life-changing.
- I know.
[exclaims]
- I feel like the life
is sucked out of me.
- [whispers]
He's coming.
He sees me.
*
[muffled stomping]
[stomping continues]
- Yes.
Now that was a successful rock.
On one rock I stomped
six gunnels.
- Wow.
*
We're eating shore crabs,
limpets, slugs, and seaweed.
The gunnel fish
are a rare find now.
- There's just something
about these writhing eels
that you rip out
from under boulders
that just isn't appetizing.
There's a minnow-sized
gunnel fish in there.
*
But you know, it is also
a good amount of protein,
you know?
*
- Having fish under rocks,
that is something that we want
to take advantage of.
*
- Ow, [bleep]!
Oh.
Oh, I just dropped
a huge boulder on my leg.
Oh, no.
It's pinning me.
Dude, come help me?
- Yeah.
- [bleep].
[groans]
- Your leg is pinned?
- Yeah.
[bleep].
- All right,
what are we doing here?
- Lift it up this way.
- Ready?
[exhales]
- Yeah.
- One, two...
[grunting]
- I managed to get a gunnel
out of it, though.
- Good.
- Thanks.
- Yeah, no problem.
*
Ted and I get
in a lot of fights out here.
You know, he has his way
of doing things,
and I have my way
of doing things.
- Look at that.
- Oh, look at that big one, eh?
Sometimes we're scared
the other guy's gonna blow it,
and it just gets
really frustrating,
and then we get mad,
and we start to say mean stuff
about each other...
but we understand you have
to just forget about it
and focus on the job at hand,
which is feeding yoursf
and ultimately being
the last guy to stay out there.
- Yo, Jim, you see this?
I pinch it like this.
- Yeah.
- And then just a long stroke.
- We had some big
kind of blow-up fights,
and we sort of wrote it off
as just being hungry.
Both of us know that,
you know,
we're not always gonna agree
on everything now,
and we're kind of
getting in each other's hair
a little less.
- This is two meals of gunnels,
would you say?
- Yeah.
- It could probably
be pushed to three.
- Out of any of my ten items,
I'd pick Ted
over a saw or an ax.
You know what I mean?
We've got a lot of life
left in us still,
despite the hard times,
and we're just gonna
keep pushing.
*
- Well, it's low tide right now,
and we're gonna be
fishing here shortly.
*
Sure hope we have
some luck this morning.
It's been pretty bad lately.
*
- Nope.
It's cold out here today.
- I know.
My hands are frozen already.
- Fish on.
- Yes.
*
[sighs]
- That's not what I hoped for.
- [exhales]
That is unbelievable.
*
- I don't think we have
much time out here.
[wind whistling]
Fishing has completely
fallen off.
What we're catching
right now is not enough.
Brooke has lost a ton
of weight.
You can't lose
that kind of weight
and keep this up.
So to put it
right to the point,
we're starving.
*
- Fishing stunk again,
so I'm gonna cut firewood...
*
So we can at least be warm.
Oh, my power
is so nothing anymore.
*
That's all I got.
It doesn't add up to much.
*
- It's getting to the point
where it's just
a simple matter of calories,
and Brooke is so far behind.
*
I think we just need
to try something new.
*
[blows raspberry]
So for a long time,
I've been thinking
about building a crab pot,
and what I'm thinking is just
a round hoop and a round hoop,
and tie it all together,
couple doors
for the crabs to crawl in
and then don't come out.
*
I don't want to quit.
I don't.
There's not a part of me
that wants to give up.
*
Yesterday Brooke
was out beachcombing,
and she found the best rope
you've ever seen.
Let's see what
we can do with it.
*
[grunts]
Oh, no way.
This is amazing.
All of this red stuff on here,
it's, like, 1/4-inch netting
just rolled up
and tied on there,
and this is gonna be
crab trap perfect,
just perfect.
I'm gonna start
netting this sucker.
*
This could be about it for us.
If we don't get
another source of food,
what are we gonna do?
*
My crab pot is done.
*
Oh, it's slippery.
I'm gonna get killed out here,
is what I'm gonna do.
*
Go in, can't get out.
It's simple.
I don't know
if it'll work or not.
- I don't understand.
*
This was our hot spot.
*
- I know.
*
- It's a bummer.
Just no fish.
- [exhales]
Tie the bottle
and my last two fish heads
and stuff it in here.
Then I'll throw it
in the water and...
do one of these.
*
Well, it ain't gonna get
any readier than that.
*
Wish us luck.
*
Yeah.
*
You know, the terrible thing
about this is,
it's just kind of, like,
a Hail Mary here.
If this doesn't pan out,
I don't know
what we're gonna do.
*
[dramatic music]
*
- It's another one
of these beautiful, sunny days,
but with the sun comes just
absolutely frigid temperatures.
Last night, my feet
never warmed up.
They were cold all night, and...
I mean, it'd be nice
if we had a thermometer.
I'd--I'm really curious what
the temperature actually is.
All I can tell you is,
it is cold.
It is really,
really cold out here.
*
- Everything's freezing up.
Makes it hard
to get up every day.
*
But there's certain things
we have to do.
Sam collected a whole bunch
of hemlock branches,
and we're gonna use that to
insulate our shelter some more.
*
- There are a few key areas
I really want to insulate
initially,
and then I'm just gonna go
around the whole shelter
and just pack in all the holes.
The first thing we're gonna do
is, we're gonna break 'em down
just a little bit,
so they're more manageable.
- Is that good enough
for you right there?
- Yeah, that's fine.
Basically, when we close
the green flap here,
at this point,
the hemlocks are patted down
so wind can come in
right underneath it.
So I'm just gonna make
a new pile of hemlock.
It's so crazy how
the weather's changed on us.
- Unreal, just unreal.
*
- Our shelter's gonna smell
so nice tonight.
- Oh, yeah.
- And hopefully be
a little more insulated.
*
- [sighs]
- Why don't you take a break?
- No, I'm all right.
- You sure?
- Yep.
- [exhales]
I can just see it
in my dad's face.
He's really starting
to feel it.
Take another--take five minutes.
You haven't even sat down
five minutes, right?
*
- I just hope it doesn't get
to the point with me
where you feel like
you have to do everything.
- I mean,
I don't know why you think
that's such a bad thing anyway.
I know we're a team,
and up until this point
you've been working
way too hard.
Every time we saw a log,
you never take a break.
- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?
You try to overexert yourself.
*
[sighs]
- You know, it's something
that my dad drilled into me,
and I prefer to think it's just
work ethic, you know, just--
- I know,
but that's the problem.
This isn't work.
- I know.
- You know, you have to view
this as a survival situation.
This is a marathon,
not a 9:00 to 5:00,
get as much work done
as possible
in the day and go to bed.
This is stay out here
as long as possible
and work smart and efficient.
- Yeah.
*
- It's starting
to get kind of worrying.
I'm 26.
He's 61.
I know how much I'm feeling it.
I can only imagine what he's
going through at this point.
Even just sitting still,
he can start getting
lightheaded.
If he's just gonna pass out
sitting down,
I may have to make
a very difficult decision.
*
- It's been below freezing
all day...
which makes the rocks slippery.
*
- This seaweed
on the beach here,
it's just frozen.
*
Totally frozen.
- It's the coldest
it's been yet.
- Feels like a day you might
tap out, you know?
- Yeah.
- I mean, you could get
hypothermatic today.
- Uh-huh.
*
Even though it's pretty hard,
we're gonna still try
to get fish and eat the slop
we've been eating as well.
*
Man, a fish would be nice,
a real fish.
Not that gunnel fish
aren't real fish, but you know?
- I know, man.
*
The tide's on its way out,
and we can check our net.
*
I got it!
Got a fish.
Nice.
Smells pretty rotten!
Maybe it's okay.
I don't know.
*
It's kind of a bit of a risk.
I don't want
to eat anything rotten,
but we need protein,
and the fats in it
is just something that--
it was an absolute must.
*
- [sniffing]
I don't know.
It doesn't smell that bad.
[inhales deeply]
So that fish that Ted had to
pull the net over to get at,
I roasted it on a stick,
and then I kind of baked it
beside the fire
on a cedar plank,
really cooked it right through,
even burnt the skin
on the outside
just to kill any parasites
that might have been in it.
*
[bleep] food poisoning
could be the end of us,
you know?
[sniffs]
Take this piece off.
- I got to try eating
that piece, see how it tastes.
- It's risky, right?
- It is.
*
*
- Definitely has a bit
of a rotten taste, man.
*
- Tastes good.
*
Maybe the fish
wasn't safe to eat,
but if we don't get
enough food,
how are we gonna stay out here
to win this thing?
*
[dramatic music]
*
- Well, hello.
Just crawled out of bed.
I had a really,
really rough night last night.
I had some really
intense abdominal pain,
upper abdominal pain.
I don't know if it was related
to my GERD or acid reflux
or having an ulcer or something.
I'm not even sure
that I do have an ulcer,
but I suspect that I do.
*
I have really bad GERD,
gastrointestinal
acid reflux disease,
and last night we ate
that rotten fish.
You know, normally
I take these pills.
I haven't been
taking them out here.
I haven't needed them, but...
maybe that's been a mistake.
As I was sleeping,
it just kept me up
for hours and hours
with just intense pain.
It's still lingering,
and it's still there.
Jim got up and tried to fish
while letting me try to rest
and get over it,
which was good.
*
- How you feeling now?
- The second I start chewing
this, my stomach starts hurting.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I don't know if it's, like--
- I'm--I wonder
if you have, like,
a stomach [bleep]
food poisoning, dude, you know?
- No, I'd be puking.
- Not necessarily.
- As soon as I'm chewing,
like, I feel pain in my--
like it doesn't want me
to eat it.
*
Oh, [bleep] stomach.
- You could just sleep,
and I could forage
a bag of food tonight.
*
I've come out here
to the intertidal area.
I'm gonna go ahead and start
getting limpets here.
Seem to be a lot
of big ones out here.
[exhales]
Ted was pulling
a lot of weight,
so I'm gonna try to just
bust my ass to fill in
for where Ted can't
and to get food on the table.
At this point,
I'm really concerned.
Ted is experiencing
extreme pain and discomfort.
He might not have
much time left.
That's 100.
Feeling pretty good so far.
And I think he's also
beating himself up about it.
I think he feels bad
that he's not contributing.
I'm like, "Listen, man,
it's not your fault."
*
500 limpets today, guys.
It's the easiest picking
for limpets yet.
I'm just gonna
keep going for it.
Ted's not a kind of guy
that likes to sit around.
He's a hard worker.
Plus, when you're just
sitting around,
you start to not feel good,
and I'm trying
to keep him positive,
and if you want to use the term
"your brother's keeper,"
just nurse Ted back to health
as best I can.
*
I just picked 1,000 limpets.
*
Oh, God, I'm gonna fall over.
[sighs]
Hopefully the two of us
can sustain off of that
for a while.
*
[birds chirping]
*
- Sometimes all I think about
is food.
*
Eating all kinds of stuff
when I get home.
I want to make a big pot
of chili when I get home.
*
I want to put a pork shoulder
in the smoker,
maybe two pork shoulders.
Oh, gosh, there's so many
different kinds of food
I've been thinking about.
*
Man, we sure do need a fish.
- Yeah.
- Or a pizza.
- [laughs] Yeah.
*
We haven't actually had a fish
in a little while now,
just between the weather
and the really slow fishing.
*
We're actually gonna try
a new technique today,
and hopefully
it's really successful.
*
- You think 20-pound
or 50 on the hook?
- The 20 does give it a little
better action, doesn't it?
- I'm thinking 20.
- It seems like they've moved
into a little deeper water,
so we just retied our fishing
rods with longer line on 'em.
You can't use a fishing rod.
You got to stick your rod
in the ground
and just throw the line
out there.
- How far do you think
we're gonna be able
to toss it out there?
- I don't know.
- The fish can see you,
and they'll shy away from you,
so we need to be able to drop
our line down into deep water.
*
It's out there a ways.
Don't know how deep
it is, but...
- Yeah.
- It came off this beautifully.
- That worked great.
- Well, we'll see
if something hits it.
- Yeah.
*
I lost my little spool
of 20-pound,
so let's cut some off, you know,
get a big, long section.
I like--I like to have it
in my pocket.
- All right.
*
- Oh, it's so scary
baiting up the hook
when you can't even
feel your fingers.
- Yup.
You can't feel that point
come through.
- Yeah.
- Oh, [bleep].
We need 20-gauge.
- We didn't bring any?
- Where is that roll
that I cut off?
*
- You mean up there?
- Yeah.
- That one on the rock?
- No, remember you wanted me
to cut a coil off?
You said you wanted some
for your pocket,
and I stuck it
over here somewhere.
- Yeah, that was fishing line.
- No, Sam, I pulled off
probably 20 yards
of 20-pound fishing line.
- That's--I have that
in my pocket.
- That's what we need.
- You were saying 20-gauge wire.
I have 20-pound fishing line
in my pocket.
- Okay, that's--that's exactly
what I'm talking about.
- God, Dad, okay.
- Sam, listen, 20--
the 20-pound line.
- And I just said
I have that in my pocket.
- Okay, I didn't hear you say
it was--
just this second
you said that.
*
- You were talking about
the 20-gauge wire.
- No, I wasn't--
I'm talking about the wire for--
look at--
look, listen to me.
I'm talking about the wire
from the rock
and 20-pound on the end of that
so it'll break away.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's all I was trying
to say, [bleep] damn it.
That's all I was trying to say.
[dramatic music]
*
[water flowing]
- Hey, you know what?
That 20-pound
is still right there.
- Which?
- Right here, all right?
Don't get worked up at me
about that.
It's right here.
- All right, look, you know,
we're just having
an unders--
a misunderstanding here.
- I know,
and you're raising your voice
and getting a tone.
- Sam! Sam.
Sam, we're just
having a misunderstanding.
Let's calm down, okay?
Forget about it.
We just had a misunderstanding.
- Yeah, that's all it was.
- That's all it is, so...
*
- For two people that love
being in the woods,
one of the hardest things
there is
is trying to compromise.
You're out there for your
freedom and your independence,
and all of a sudden
you have to agree
with somebody all the time.
That's pretty challenging.
*
You know, there's nobody
more stubborn
in the world than my dad,
and he took it
to a whole nother level.
It's starting to get
kind of worrying,
and it's probably
getting pretty darn close
to when we should
really start thinking
about what the future holds.
*
- When you're starving,
when you haven't eaten,
who knows, really,
how they're gonna handle it?
What sort of walls do you hit?
What sort of demons come out
in your personality?
*
So we butt heads
about some things.
*
[bleep].
- Oop.
*
- It got hung up
on the stinking piece of wire.
Let's go ahead
and pull it back in.
Damn it.
Son of a gun.
*
At my age,
a real concern is the state
that I'm in now.
Sometimes I'm irritable.
I've never felt so weak before
in my life.
I'm wobbly.
This is what starving to death
is all about.
*
I know Sam's worried.
He's worried about
his dad's health and safety.
I'm wondering
if maybe this is
what's gonna actually drive us
out of this place.
*
- [bleep].
[bleep] damn it.
*
- Okay.
You ready, babe?
I'm waiting on Brooke.
She's been feeling
pretty draggy today.
I'm gonna go check
the crab pot,
just gonna cross our fingers
and pull the pot
and see what's going on,
and if there's nothing
in the pot,
I think we're going
limpet collecting,
but that's a losing game.
That's gonna run right out.
*
- I need food.
- If there's any crab down there
to be had,
I should at least
have a couple in there.
*
- Gonna be chilly out there.
I'd rather be sitting
by a fire,
doing nothing,
but we got to eat.
*
- We can't be out here if we
can't get a bit more to eat.
- There's nothing in the forest.
There's no foraging.
Fishing is just a joke anymore.
*
All hope is pinned
on the crab pot.
*
It's our last chance for food.
- Here goes nothing.
[grunts]
Feels heavy.
*
It's full of huge snails.
- Huh.
*
- Ain't one crab in it.
It's a snail trap.
Let's try to eat giant
snails, I guess.
*
- Beggars can't be choosers.
- Guess not.
Boy, I never saw that coming,
15 pounds of snails.
*
I don't even know what to think.
- There's a lot of meat there.
- There is.
*
I'm gonna throw the pot back in.
*
- We just threw one on the fire.
We're gonna see how it does.
- It comes with its own pot,
boiling right in its own shell.
We'll see if they're edible,
I guess.
*
- Holy cow.
*
I think that's guts.
That's the part
we're not gonna want to eat.
*
But the rest of that is meat.
*
- Did you get a bite off it,
or is it, like, super hot?
- Oh, it's just got
a really odd...
Flavor...
that I've never tasted before.
*
- Is it any good?
*
- It's a giant snail.
[chuckles]
*
It's kind of rubbery.
Well, it's really rubbery.
*
Giant hairy snails.
It's not enough to sustain us.
I don't know
what's gonna happen.
*
I want to win.
*
I don't know
what we're gonna do
if we can't get more food.
There's gonna come a time
when we're not gonna be able
to stay here.
We got to eat,
and it's just not enough.
[dramatic music]
*
- I just got the chills.
I just can't get warm,
so I'm resting in my bag.
*
I haven't felt that good,
just laying low.
*
The charm of this place
is gone.
[chuckles]
Trust me.
I want to go badly.
I want to go see my kids
and my family and my friends,
and I want to eat.
I want to eat something.
*
Anything.
We talk about food constantly.
*
I've never had to starve
like this before.
*
It makes you want
to tap that button.
I don't know.
I don't know how long we can--
I can make it here.
*
I don't want to give up.
*
That's the dilemma, right?
*
You don't want to lose.
*
I don't want to lose.
*
Dave doesn't want to lose.
*
It's like, what do you do?
*
- My crab pot yesterday
caught a bunch of snails.
That's it.
*
I'm gonna go check it right now.
*
See if it's decided
to catch anything,
or if it was just
an arts and crafts project.
*
Food kind of quit on us.
No fish, no crab.
I mean, you could eat seaweed,
and you could eat snails,
but you can't sustain that.
It's getting kind of dire.
*
Let's see what we got.
*
I got a couple snails.
*
Stupid, stupid snails.
*
It's a total bust.
*
It's starting to not be about
how much you can take
but about how much
you're willing
to put someone else through.
I could be out here
for another ten days maybe.
Brooke has dropped
so much weight,
she's getting
to a dangerous place.
It's just a waiting game now.
How long do I want
to put her through that?
How long does she want
to go through that?
It could very well
get to be a point
where it's detrimental
to her health
to go any farther.
*
There's still a little snow
on that hill over there.
- I feel like there's snow
just in my soul.
- Yeah.
- I've just--I've just not
been warm for so long.
*
- How realistic is it to expect
another ten days,
another two weeks on nothing?
- Yeah.
- It'd be nice to not be hungry.
*
- Ted is still experiencing
an intense stomachache
that we're both fearing
could be something serious.
*
You know, there's a chance
that he might have
a ruptured gallbladder
or appendicitis
or something like that.
*
I think mentally
he's still pretty strong.
It's just...
you know, all he can do
is curl up into a ball,
and he can't get food
or anything.
*
- I'm feeling really lethargic
and beaten down.
I've kind of been
out of commission.
That's hurting us.
Jim went out and picked
some limpets last night,
and he's been out there
fishing or whatever,
but he's definitely been
carrying a little extra weight
the last couple days.
We need to get wood today.
*
That's something I could do.
*
Oh, my God, I can barely
just stand here.
I'm afraid I'm starting
to hit my wall.
*
I feel like
I can't do anything here.
*
And normally I can do a lot.
*
- Ted's been just doing
such a good job out here,
but he's really been
pushing himself.
I'm getting concerned
about him, actually.
I don't know
if he's gonna make it.
I don't mind the idea
of tapping
and leaving at all, like,
especially
if you're about to, like,
starve to death, man.
I don't want to try
to force you
to stay out here at all.
*
- Jim, of course,
wants to stay.
I still want to stay.
I don't want to let him down,
but if I can't chop wood,
and I can't get food,
and I can't freaking step
over a log,
the reality is,
is that I can't stay out here
anymore.
*
*
- What's going on?
- I got nothing left.
I--I just can't go on.
It feels like
when you've had the flu,
and you just get
your butt kicked,
and you just feel like, ugh,
you just got hit by a truck.
It kind of feels like that.
- When she's saying,
"I've had it.
I don't feel like
getting out of bed,"
I know it's for real.
She's had it.
You're just fighting starvation
and fighting starvation,
and honestly,
you're just waiting
for the next team to give up.
[somber music]
*
- It's a tough choice.
We came here to win,
to not leave until somebody
pulled us off this site.
*
But the reality is,
we got to go.
*
I'm very proud of the fact
that as a husband and wife,
we can go
and not kill each other
for 49 days.
*
We've always operated
outside the box,
chasing down whatever
excites us at the moment,
whether it made us money
or not.
It was more about
the experience
and just living.
The biggest thing for me
is disappointing him.
He's capable of a little bit
more suffering.
He's a little bigger than me.
He could go a little longer.
Neither of us want to leave.
*
- As a husband,
watching your wife deteriorate
is extremely disturbing.
*
I think we've done
something different here.
This was kind of our angle
on what we would do
in this situation.
There is no room to regret
anything with that.
There's nothing--
there's nothing left.
*
In a situation like this,
you just gut the thing
and leave it all out there
and make sure you leave
nothing to regret.
*
And whoever's still out there,
they're tough son-of-a-guns.
*
- The way we're struggling
right now,
I just can't believe
there's someone else
that's still out here.
- I'm starving.
I've lost 25% of my body.
- Oh, my God!
- [wheezing]
- How much can our bodies
actually take?
No victory is worth
permanent damage.
- My stomach pain
is getting worse.
I don't know if winning
is worth it anymore.
- One thing I can be sure of
at this point
is that it's gonna end here
real soon.
It's got to.
*