Alone (2015–…): Season 5, Episode 3 - The Serpent - full transcript

[dramatic music]

♪

- Wolves--whole pack of them.

This is quite a bit
different wilderness.

The animals
aren't as afraid of man.

- The memory of me starving...

Ha!

...is affecting my
thoughts and actions.

- Look at that!

This feels a lot more like
home

than Patagonia did.



Boom.

I know I'm gonna be the
last one standing this time.

- Just doing the best
I can to get food out here.

I haven't had anything to eat.

I'm not surprised that hunger
is what drove me out;

I'm just surprised that
it was so soon.

This place may
have got the best of me.

[heavy breathing]

[wind whooshing]

♪

male narrator: For the
first time ever on "Alone,"

ten past participants return.

♪

They've come back
with one goal: redemption.



- I deserve to be here,
and I'm back.

- I want to win more this time than I did last time.

narrator:
Now a fresh hell awaits.

- The cold is an incredibly
strong punch in the face.

narrator: In the punishing
wilderness of Mongolia.

- We're in the
middle of nowhere.

- Mongolia's
a very unforgiving land.

narrator: They must survive
in complete isolation,

enduring as long as they can.

- I'm just gonna push
and push and push

until there's nothing left.

narrator:
The last one standing wins.

♪

[ominous music]

♪

[wolves howling]

- There's wolves.

[wolves continue howling]

The first time I've heard them.

Just one little burst.

[wolves howling]

Oh, there they are.

[ominous music]

♪

[wolf howls loudly]

♪

Couldn't believe
how loud that was.

♪

[water splashing]

I just heard something
pretty large across the river.

[wolf howls]

♪

[birds chirping]

[soft dramatic music]

You've really got to
stay on your game

with the predators.

There's a lot
of things to think about,

and you're always gonna
have to be aware

and be careful about what
you're doing,

so it is really important
for me to finish my shelter.

♪

[wood sawing]

♪

Okay, there's one.

Being able to come out here
and get another shot at this

and see if what you
learned the first time

can be applied
to a second time

on a new piece of land
in a foreign country?

How could you say no to that?

♪

[grunts]

I won't be building
no log cabin here.

You got to go a long ways
for a few straight poles.

♪

My husband and I
were on season four,

and we lasted 49 days.

Not a lot has changed for us

from the previous season
till now.

It's been a very short time.

We're working
on our property in Alaska.

On Vancouver Island,
I definitely think our ability

to build our shelter the way
we did was a strength for us,

and I'm proud of how we worked together as a husband and wife.

♪

What ultimately ended
my time in the wilderness

was the resources of fish
ran out.

I want to eat.

I want to eat something.

It was definitely starvation
that took me out of the game.

I just can't go on.

It's really hard to think that

it was my fault
we had to leave.

This season,
I really hope to capitalize on

the game animals in the area.

I'm bringing a bow.
I really want to hunt.

I really want to be successful
at bringing in more calories.

I want to prove that
I can do it alone this time.

I want to kill it out here.

I want to win.

This should do it--
more than do it.

♪

So I got everything
out of my shelter right now.

This is my front wall.

And I'm thinking right in here

is where
I'm gonna make the fire pit.

I'm gonna dig it out,
add sand and gravel,

and then I'll vent it here.

[soft dramatic music]

I can't say if
it's going to be

harder or easier
than season four.

♪

As far as
being with my husband

or not being
with my husband,

that will be an interesting
thing to find out.

That said,
there's a division of labor

that doesn't happen when you're by yourself,

so you have to do
everything yourself.

♪

I'll put it down in the hole.

♪

That's pretty, isn't it?

It's nice having
fire in your shelter,

especially when it's raining.

A little fire like that
will warm it right up in here.

That's not bad.

It's not terribly,
terribly smoky in here.

All right,
it's getting a bit smoky.

If I could pull that back up
there a little bit more.

♪

Shelter is going
to be very important.

That is the thing that
gives you peace of mind

for everything.

There are predators here, so

there's just something
comforting about

knowing you're
enclosed in something,

and even if it's not great,
it's better than nothing.

So shelter is huge.
It is my number one priority.

It's not as smoky in here.

This isn't too bad of a setup.

I'm pretty excited.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Whoo.

That was good.
I just--

I just had a bath in the river.

Everything tastes really salty.
I think that's my own sweat.

Feels good.
I got to wash everything.

[pensive music]

♪

Shelter is on my mind today.

That's so important
for me to build a home,

because that's gonna be key for my long-term survival out here.

[exhales]

This could be a ridgepole
right here, this tree.

This could be a ridgepole
for the top of my lean-to.

I have to get
a shelter built quickly,

and it has to be a really,
really warm shelter.

♪

I need to balance
everything I need to do

and stay healthy,
'cause I still have MS.

Even though I'm healthy,
I still have it.

It's a test for me.

All right.
Got these.

Some more ridgepoles
in here after I strip them,

and then I'm gonna strip
the birchbark off the side

of these for fire tonight.

[gentle dramatic music]

♪

Northern Mongolia is one of the coldest places in the world.

The land here is
extremely unforgiving.

Like, you walk out,

and you will get frostbite
sort of cold.

So if I can get my shelter
warm enough and thick enough,

I'm hopeful that
I can stay cozy and warm.

♪

[breathing heavily]

All right,
take a little break.

[breathing heavily]

[water rushing]

[wood chopping]

Why is it taking so long?

It's my arms getting tired.

Damn.

I don't know why
I'm getting so winded.

I don't know
quite what's going on.

I hope it's nothing.

I just don't feel right.

[uneasy music]

All I can say is I hope
it's nothing to do with MS,

'cause that would suck.

♪

I'm just gonna tell myself
that I feel fine

and that there is nothing
wrong with me right now.

[exhales]

♪

My last major
attack was in 2010.

♪

There are signs that I get,

like my eyesight goes blurry
or my nose gets tingly

or I get the tingling in the
back of my neck

or my muscles start popping.

There are signals
to me, like,

"time to slow down, Nicole."

♪

And today, I'm not feeling
the muscle popping thing

or even my nose isn't even
tingly

or my tongue's not even gone,

but I'm feeling
the weight that I get with MS.

It's hard to describe.

It's like your legs and your
arms get really heavy,

and they don't quite function
right.

And I'm feeling that
pretty strongly today,

and that concerns me.

[sighs]

I'm not gonna let it get me.

[water rushing]

[ominous music]

♪

[water rushing]

♪

- Today is day seven.

New personal best.

That's awesome.

Rock on.

That's all you can ask for
is improvement.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

Today, I am going out to

harvest all the alliums
I possibly can.

There is a bunch
of wild alliums out there.

They're garlic, essentially.

They look and
smell like garlic,

and they grow
the same kind of way.

I really am really excited
I'm gonna have a meal today,

and, you know,
it's a guaranteed meal.

I don't have to go out
and set a trap.

The alliums
aren't running away.

♪

There's a lot of grassland that I can't see where my feet fall.

Out here in Mongolia,
the Asian pit viper

is pretty dangerous.

♪

You just have to really
make sure

you keep your noise up

and you know where
you're putting your feet.

so I'm gonna make sure
I'm armed, just in case.

♪

I'm gonna harvest all the
wild alliums I possibly can.

They like to dig themselves
pretty deep into

really rooty soil.

There you go.

That's just from one allium.

And there's 100
of these things out here.

There's plenty left out here,
so let's keep going.

Holy [bleep]

Check this out.

[suspenseful music]

It's a snake.

♪

It's coiled up
and ready to strike.

It's right there.

Oh, holy [bleep]
It's a pit viper.

♪

[tense music]

♪

- Oh, holy [bleep]

It's a pit viper.

♪

[bow thwacks]

So I saw a snake on the trail,

shot it with an arrow,

cut its head off,
laying right there.

Now it's mine,
and I'm gonna eat it.

[ambient music]

Got myself a snake.

That's where I hit him,
right there on his side.

I eviscerated him.

First I'm gonna skin the snake.

I'll start at
the bottom of his belly,

and I'll bring it all the way
up,

right in the center line.

Got the snake.

He just ate something--
some sort of rat.

I don't know if you can
eat the organs of a snake.

I've never ate the organs.

I've always eaten the meat.

But I'm really
excited about eating today.

There.
That's his semen.

♪

He's just releasing
all of it now,

'cause I'm gutting him.

♪

Not much meat on a snake--

at least not much
meat on this snake.

Hard part is getting
right past that spine.

♪

You have to hold
still right there.

♪

Here we go.

I'm gonna put it in my pot,
cook it up.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

[scraping]

I feel good.

Feel good about
what I'm doing so far.

I'm doing the best I can.

♪

Tastes exactly like chicken,
I'm telling you.

Other than...
a lot more bones than chicken.

Damn.
It's hard to eat snake.

Tastes good.
There's so many bones.

There's the clean snake.

Bones.

Now I am gonna throw
the remains away from me.

[sniffs]

That was the equivalency
of, like,

two bites of a burger,
I feel like.

[brooding music]

♪

- Big mother[bleep]

I have a long-term
shelter set up.

It's gonna be a log cabin.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

I have never built
a log cabin before,

so it's kind of
a bit of an experiment.

♪

Oh, yeah.
That's the good stuff.

There's been some
ups and downs with it,

and things that
I'm learning along the way,

but everything seems to be
coming together pretty well.

In Vancouver Island, it
never felt like it was a home.

I never felt like
I was really there.

I felt like I was
an outsider looking in.

♪

I hope that building this cabin

is gonna help me to
sustain myself for

an extended period of time,

because I want to win this.

It's another beautiful day
here in British Columbia.

I had some amazing times
in Vancouver Island,

and I also had some of
the lowest times in my life

in Vancouver Island.

I set the ferro rod down,

and it rolled down
the fire pit into the fire.

[dramatic tone]

If I can't get a fire,
then I can't stay here.

What took me out last time
was

feeling burnt out,
feeling disconnected from

my family
and friends and community.

The isolation,
you know, is--it's difficult.

The season two experience
itself was incredible.

Getting back was
the hard part, because

within a couple of hours,
I was just like,

"[bleep], what did I do?
Why did I leave?"

I felt like
I had quit something

I knew was really important.

It was a huge regret for me.

♪

Since I left Vancouver,

I'm still teaching and
instructing primitive skills,

wilderness living skills.

From the time I was
a young kid,

I was learning
and practicing these skills.

♪

This time around,
I'm just gonna really

keep myself occupied,

keep my mind busy,
work on projects.

♪

This is the biggest
caloric expenditure

that I'm going to, uh,
see out here.

♪

I know I'm gonna be really
happy with it when it's done.

It's gonna be warm...

[thunder rumbles]

Weatherproof.

♪

Let's have a quick look.

It's gonna be
a single-pitched cabin.

There's the fireplace.

There's my little door.

I still need to do a lot of
chinking

and filling the gaps
between the logs,

but the logs are
setting in pretty nice.

Everything's coming together.

I'm liking it.

[rousing music]

My body's feeling good.

It's still feeling strong.

Hungry, but...

hunger is just
a part of the game out here.

I know where I'm at right now

compared to where
I was at in Vancouver.

♪

I'm feeling
dramatically better.

[ominous music]

♪

- It is hard when
you're so strong

all the time and--

and something like this
kind of hits you,

'cause you feel so vulnerable.

When you get MS symptoms, they
formulate as different things.

I have tingling;
I have muscle popping;

I've got less energy.

My limbs are
becoming increasingly heavy.

♪

But I do have access to nature,

and that's a huge healer.

[exhales]

♪

So I'm just gonna roll with it.

I'm gonna do my best.

But I'm not [bleep] leaving.
[laughs]

Mm-mm, mm-mm, mmm.

[soft dramatic music]

Time for a little exploration.

♪

I found wild onions.

All right, this is
just a single one.

Oh, wait, there's more.

♪

The longer I'm here,
the more I'm able

to tap in to what resources
are here plant-wise,

and I'm finding new things
every day.

But I'm not finding
some of the other things

I used on Vancouver Island
for management of MS.

♪

This one's
really deep in there.

Cool.

So now I've got--
this new thing--

a whole bunch of onions
for dinner tonight.

♪

MS is a very strange disease.

It doesn't necessarily
just take you down.

It comes in waves
and comes and goes.

And you might be able
to be up and walking one day,

and the next two days,
you're in bed

and cannot move your limbs.

But I figure,
with enough breaks

and some naps and still
working at a decent pace,

I'm gonna be okay.

I'm trying to stay positive,

because if
I let myself dip into

the despair that
my body is feeling,

then I'm done.

And I can't
let myself go there.

♪

[birds calling]

♪

- Wow, that's fast.

Love lighting fires out here,
that's for sure.

[soft dramatic music]

My overall philosophy with
the ten items:

you need to be able
to guarantee

that you can use
all of the ten items.

The other thing is
what can I use

to improvise, adapt,
and overcome?

I didn't bring
fishing line or fishhooks,

but I figure I can
improvise some hooks

with my 20-gauge wire
that I brought

as part of my ten items.

I can break down the paracord

that I've brought
into tiny, tiny strands.

And so I'm making
a nice little "Huck Finn" type

stick with a string
and a hook and a weight on it.

♪

I'm trying to break my record

for catching fish this season.

During my time
on Vancouver Island,

caught two fish.

And I think I'll be able
to catch even more

in Mongolia.

I better be able
to catch more than two fish.

No sign of nothing.

Wow.

I don't even know what to say.

I'm not getting a bite.

I haven't even gotten
my bait taken away from me.

Am I really that
garbage at catching fish?

[soft dramatic music]

♪

- I'm gonna head down
to the old fishing hole.

Got bow in hand.

And, uh, try to
catch me some breakfast.

♪

We do share this landscape

with grizzly bear and wolves.

And so it's important to just
walk slow, take your time,

always be scanning the area,
always be looking around.

♪

Well, here we are.

♪

This here is
the fish slayer 3000.

I just wrapped string
around it, put a hook on,

put a grasshopper on,
and toss it out.

[rousing music]

Fish on.

You know, at this point,
they've just been

hitting like crazy.

I'm getting
about four fish a day.

Every cast,
if not every other cast,

I'm pulling in fish.

[snap]
Just like that, he dies.

I only fish for,
like, 15 minutes a day,

because I don't want to take
too much from the river.

Very nice.

[gentle dramatic music]

You know, I'm slowly getting
connected to this place,

and I'm figuring out what are

the rhythms and patterns
of this environment.

I'm eating fairly well.

I've been catching quite
a few fish every single day.

Life is good right now.

Life is really good.

As they say in France,
"bone apple teat."

[ominous music]

♪

- I gave it
a little bit of thought, and

I think the best bang for my
buck right now

is gonna be going back to camp

and making
some deadfalls for chipmunks.

[soft dramatic music]

It's really difficult to live
day after day in the woods

with no success at
getting yourself protein,

and it feels very vulnerable.

♪

That should be good.

And there's actually
a couple other areas

that I'd like to set traps in.

The more of
these traps you set,

the more likely you are
to get something.

♪

I'm gonna fence off
part of this other way,

because like any other animal,

it's gonna take
the path of least resistance.

So if I put
this enormous rock

like that,

do a little arrangement,
you can basically guarantee

he's not gonna come in that way;
he's gonna come in this way.

And his entire body is
gonna be underneath there

when it goes ka-thunk.

[brooding music]

The enormous mental blow
that I have right now

is the fact that
I'm not getting enough food.

And that gives me
a lot of despair

about my situation
and staying out here.

The thought of this experience
ending this early

is devastating.

♪

I need protein.

♪

[soft dramatic music]

♪

- On day eight, guys,
and when it rains, it pours.

I saw this very sweet grouse?

Ptarmigan?
I'm not 100% sure.

I plucked this guy
right out of the tree,

hit him right here
in the behind.

♪

You can still see
the feather ♪ this guy.

[coughs] Anyways, real sorry
I didn't get it on camera,

um, but it's gonna
get in my belly,

so I'm happy about that.

If I can get a few of these
a week, forget aut it.

Ugh.
I hate that saying.

Why did I say that?

Oh, forget about it, Jesse.

Just forget about it.

[ambient music]

♪

I broke his ribs.

Oh, man,
I gutted him with that shot.

Damn.

There's his lungs,
so you can see it.

There's his heart.

Looks good.

♪

Man, does that look good.

Already it's pretty cooked.

Juices coming out
and everything.

The breasts aren't done.

[pot clanks]

[exhales]

But my legs are.

I mean, it's grouse.
It's gonna taste like chicken.

Or whatever it is--ptarmigan.

[soft dramatic music]

Tastes like chicken.

♪

That bird hasn't really hit me
calorie-wise yet.

It's just being digested.

But man, what it does to your
just mental fortitude.

Started to pull food
out of the land.

My shelter's almost done.

I'm starting to think
I'm gonna be able

to survive this thing
until day 90.

[brooding music]

♪

[water rushing]

- I really feel like
the weather's coming in.

So my first order of business

really needs to be to collect
birchbark

to put along the edge
of my shelter.

Oh, wow.

Whew, baby!
Look at that.

That is a shingle.

Wowee.

And yet another tree.

Let's see how high I can go.

These knots usually
make it hard.

That's usually
your breaking point.

[knife squeaking]

[exhales]

Need to take a break for a sec.
I got that--

I got some
symptoms coming on again.

[exhales]

[camera rumbles]

[soft dramatic music]

♪

I got a good tree here,
but I'm having some--

oh--

some bad MS symptoms right now.

So I'm gonna sit for a minute,

lean up against this tree...

♪

And chill.

♪

Out here, nature has
always been my biggest healer,

so I'm gonna power through.

I don't want to be
anywhere else but here.

♪

I'm gonna go let my body
have the rest that it needs,

and then I'll
come back to this task.

Here goes.
All right.

[soft dramatic music]

[exhaling sharply]
You are strong.

You can do this.

Camp's right there.

♪

The weakness in your limbs

is kind of indescribable
unless you have it.

♪

My legs are essentially
collapsing beneath me.

♪

[exhales]

♪

Ohh.

If this had come on at home,
I would have had access to

all of my herbs and
everything that I do for myself

when I start feeling this way,

and I don't have access here.

[sniffs]

I've used the plants
the best I can, but...

I need more than
what I know here.

[sniffs]

There comes a point it's
just not safe to be out here.

You know, if I can't walk and something big comes my way,

I'm in trouble.

All right.

I'm gonna have
something to eat...

[sniffs]

♪

And drink.
[sniffs]

♪

[exhales]

[pensive music builds]

♪

All right.

I'm just gonna get right here.

Oh, my God.
I'm not--I'm not--

Oh.
[yelps]

♪

- Oh.

[yelps]

[bleep]

I really wish
that wasn't on camera.

[sniffs]

I'm in the midst
of a really bad MS attack.

I haven't been
this sick in so long,

and I don't want to go home.

I want to be here so badly.

I have so much more
than nine days in me.

[sniffles]

I can't be out
here not walking.

[bleep]

[tense music]

♪

[sniffs]

[sniffs]

[phone beeps]

Oh.

God, I hate making this call.

[phone beeps]
There it goes.

[exhales]

[sniffs]

I'm having
a really bad MS attack.

My legs aren't functioning,

so I'm gonna need--[sniffs]--
y'all to come get me.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

[engine rumbling]

I can't believe I have to tap.

♪

Hey.

♪

I've just been,
like, every day, just, like,

"I can do one more day.
I can do one more day."

♪

And I've just been
trying my best

to do everything I do out
here with the...

♪

Even though I'm, you know,
going into an MS attack,

I just kept thinking

if I rest, if I do this,

it'll get better, but it hasn't.

It's--it's dive-bombed.

- Okay.
We have two ways to get out.

Walk with assistance

or we can assist you out
on a spine board.

- It's gonna have
to be a spine board.

I can't move my legs.

[gentle dramatic music]

- Here.
Little bit more.

I'm gonna lift your legs up,
okay?

- [soft whimper]

I expected myself

to do really well.

I had no reason not to.

I have the skills
to be out here.

I'm determined.

I'm not lonely being alone.

♪

I have everything it takes
to be out here

for a really long time.

And my body completely
gave in on me.

♪

I don't look at what I did
this time as a failure.

♪

I succeeded.

My body let me down.

♪

But you have to
try your hardest,

and I can say
that I tried my hardest.

[airplane engine roars]

[ominous music]

♪

- When you get hungry
out here,

you are screwed.

I'm starving.

I haven't eaten in days.

So the first thing
I'm gonna do today

is check my traps.

I'm gonna go out to the field.

I really don't feel like
I got anything last night.

I'm just not feeling it.

[brooding music]

I'd say at the moment,
what's missing from my diet

is basically protein,
uh, vitamins,

various carbohydrates, um,
you know, everything.

Basically, there isn't a whole lot of a diet there in general.

♪

How long can I push myself

on zero calories a day?

Untriggered, untriggered.

♪

Whoa.

Okay.

My trap went off over here.

[suspenseful music]

♪

It could have just gone off
for no reason.

Could have just
gone off for no reason.

Let's check it out.

♪

All right.

This is, like,
really getting me excited.

Okay.
Let's see what's up.

♪

Oh, my gosh.
Guys!

[laughs]

Yes!
I see it.

[laughing]
Yes!

Yes! Yes!

- Oh, my gosh.
Guys!

[laughs]

Yes!
I see it.

[laughing] Yes!

Yes! Yes!

[soft laughing]

[coughs]

Guys, I got first blood.

I did it.
I got a kill.

Yes!

And check this out, guys.

It's a bird.

It's one of those cute birds,
but,

I mean, it's something, right?

Today could actually be,
like, a turning point for me.

[gentle ambient music]

♪

Definitely the smallest bird
I've ever clned.

♪

But I see meat in there,

and I see more meat
than is on a mouse.

So we're plucking the bird
rather than skinning it.

♪

Plucking ensures
you get all the fat.

♪

This is gonna make
a nice little stew.

♪

Basically I want all
the little bones and stuff.

I want them to all
mush and melt together

so that it's just, like, all
the same, like, stewy broth.

♪

So what I'm gonna do
is let this cook slowly

for, like, a long time.

♪

I'm really good at starving.

And I came in here
with probably about

70 pounds
of emergency rations

fastened directly
to my skeletal frame.

But it's good
to get some protein.

All those bird bones
are completely melted down.

Time to eat up this
yummy Mongolian gravy.

Bon appétit.

My delicious gravy mixture.

Oh, so good!

Okay, I've had better gravy,
but, like...

put that on mashed potatoes
and give it to me any day,

and I'd be fine with that.

[soft brooding music]

I am just so
happy to have this here.

Every ounce of food
from the land

is just
like a crazy blessing.

It's looking pretty
positive at the moment.

I feel like I definitely
see some stepping stones

of what'll get me into
the future of this thing.

♪

I'm still in it
for the long haul.

[dramatic music pounds]

[thunder crashing]
- Holy cow!

- This storm is so intense.

Oh.

- People could
start dropping like flies.

- [bleep]

I want to be in a place

that feels like home.

I really do want to win this.

- Frickin' deer
floating down the river.

You've been wanting
a dance, people?

Whoo!
There's my dance!

There's my fishy dance!

♪