Alone (2015–…): Season 5, Episode 7 - Desperate Measures - full transcript

[dramatic music]

♪

- I have quite a few mice
living in my shelter.

It's slowly getting worse.

Wake up, mice!

Wakey wakey!
You want a little bear spray?

[can hissing]

- I'm looking forward to

getting my long-term
shelter built.

It's gonna get chilly,

and it's gonna get
chilly pretty quick.



I am sleeping
in the big shelter tonight.

♪

- I hit a cormorant.
It got away.

I hurt something else out here.
I don't like that.

- I'm pretty lonely.
It gets to you after a while.

This is enough cold.

This is enough loneliness.

It's enough
of the green monster.

This is over.

[heavy breathing]

♪

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 is 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.

♪

♪

- Good hunting trip.

♪

I just caught a grouse today.

And I realized that I
had hurt the leg a while ago.

So that makes me feel good...

that I could put that one
out of its misery,

and then I can have
a good breakfast,

'cause I was hungry.

I am hungry.

♪

I'm starting
to feel that fatigue

that goes along
with the hunger,

the first time I've really
started to feel it.

But seventh grouse.

♪

Very thankful about it.

♪

For a while now, I'm feeling
the responsibility

that goes along with
killing something.

It shocked me
how difficult it is.

You know, you're gonna
struggle through it,

suffer through it.

But then I think you have
to set yourself up with

an understanding
that this is life.

And you just do
what needs to be done.

So now hunting
is just accepted.

♪

I hit a cormorant
with an arrow the other day,

and I wounded this animal,

and it got away.

It's really
weighing on my mind.

I need to figure out,
how am I going to get

another cormorant
without hurting it?

So I'm thinking
I'm gonna build an atlatl.

♪

An atlatl, it's basically
a spear-thrower;

it's much larger
than an arrow.

And I realize
that a cormorant

isn't going to be able
to fly away

with that stuck in there.

It's getting there.
[laughs]

So, this is the thrower.

Put your fingers
through there,

Then you've got a long spear,
and you--

gives it extra power.

It's funny;
I carved so much at night

last time in Patagonia.

Then it was like, oh, yeah,

let me carve a chess set,

let me carve a fox.

Now I'm just thinking of...

just coming up with different
hunting techniques.

[laughs]

♪

So here's my atlatl.

Got two fingers in there.

That guy like that.

Beautiful, beautiful
artsmanship, right?

Beautiful craftsmanship,
right?

So, anyways, we're gonna--

what this guy does
is just goes in there.

There's a little hole
right there, set it there.

Bring it along, and--

oh, that's nice.

It needs some--
I need to clean up

the dart a little bit,
but it looked good.

♪

The thing for me is,
I've got to make sure

that I find things to keep
my mind moving forward

instead of just being
dead-stop.

Because if I'm dead-stop,
man,

I get in a depressive state.

And I want to be--

I want to understand
what I need to do to stay,

you know what I mean?

♪

[laughs]

♪

[laughs]
That cormorant's toast.

[breathing heavily, chuckles]

[dramatic music]

♪

- I'm still not fully awake.

There was this
male red deer last night,

doing his thing, his bugles,

and I could just imagine
when he was like--

I was laying there
in bed thinking...

You know,
he's just calling out.

"Hey, girl.

"Why don't you just
come on right over?

"We could hang out,
you know, do our thing.

Just crawl all--
crawl on over into my bed."

It's kind of what I imagine
he was saying,

specifically
in that voice too.

♪

Let's see what's
the plan for today.

I might try
to just fish all day.

♪

Definitely starting to feel

the lack of energy
due to calorie deficiencies.

It's like I'm living
on minimum wage here,

and I'm kind of living
day-to-day

as much as I possibly can,

so mainly the thing
that I'm focused on

is finding a long-term
food source,

that being a deer
or a lot of smoked fish.

[wind rustling]

My survival strategy isn't

necessarily about
energy conservation.

Fish on.

It's about finding ways
to live out here.

Ah, [bleep].

♪

[bleep].

♪

♪

[bleep].

There's a correlation between
how I'm feeling mentally

and emotionally and the amount
of food that I'm getting.

Not having food
is making things

a little bit more difficult
on me.

♪

Oh, [bleep]!

♪

I can't get discouraged.

I want to make sure
that I put as much energy

into every aspect
of my life out here.

♪

I feel like
I can be successful

if I'm really persistent.

♪

If you haven't been
to a spot in a while,

they just, uh...

They forget.

I'm not sure what it is.

It's just a nice little boost
at a time when you need it.

Every little bit counts.

I've been out
here a long time,

and I still
can't believe that

I'm actually out here and
I'm doing it; I'm successful.

And I will be the first
one to tell you

that there are times
when I have my doubts.

♪

All the fish on camera here.

♪

All right, well,
I'm calling it at nine.

Nine's a good number.

That gives me five--
after dinner and breakfast,

that gives me five fish
to smoke.

Ten halves,
which is pretty good.

It's damn good.

♪

[growling]

[snarling]

♪

- Holy [bleep].

I just heard something

that scares the [bleep]
out of me.

Sounded like
a [bleep] mastodon.

♪

Suddenly, I wish I'd put
the door on my shelter.

♪

I don't think I've ever
heard a noise like that

that made me worried
while I was sleeping outside.

♪

[growls]

Like that, kind of.

[growls]

Only really loud.

It was like, whoa.

I think it was a wild boar.

My shelter door's
going back up,

from now on.

The woods are awake tonight.

[animal growling]

That was close.

♪

Let's go check it out.

♪

Where are you,
you piece of [bleep]?

♪

[rustling]

I just heard something
in the grass.

♪

And it's still over there.

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- That thing last night,

I want to say
that was a wild boar.

It's the only thing
I could think of.

I don't know if they...

I mean, I've raised pigs.

I've raised
domestic pigs quite a bit.

But I've never been out
in the woods with wild boar.

♪

It sounded like it could've
been down by the deadfall.

I'm gonna go down there
and check that out.

It could be caught in my trap.

I feel pretty good
about that deadfall.

I think its killing capacity
is pretty good.

That stick is where
he's gonna step,

hopefully step on that,

and then bring the weight
down, crashing down.

I need to build a little bit
of a cubby,

so they can only
come in one way,

and then get a bunch of sticks

and lay across
that trigger stick.

With that trap right now,

I can take, probably,
a hundred-pound animal,

I would think.

I just can't even tell you
what--I mean,

what the emotion would be

if I were to catch
something in that deadfall.

A pig would just be...

I would just be
beyond ecstatic.

I would have the biggest damn
barbecue Mongolia's ever seen.

♪

Damn it.

Yep.

Bait's still in there.

[camera lens whirring]

There's the bait.

♪

You accept the fact
that you're sharing

territory with predators.

♪

Some people
might freak out and tap.

But all I want to do
is kill them,

and then eat them.

The weather's gonna
be a challenge

when things
start getting colder,

and if you have no calories
when it's below zero,

you're gonna be screwed.

[tense music]

♪

[birds chirping]

- Ooh, those socks,

coming right off
that sun drying.

I feel like they're
right out of the dryer.

Oh!

♪

Somehow, this camera
is still alive.

Everything looks good,

so we're gonna keep
filming with it.

♪

I've yet to prove myself
in the protein realm.

♪

I need to get a fish out of
that river and into my belly.

♪

First thing I'm gonna do today

is check my fish trap
that's way out in the lagoon.

So it's a long walk.

Hopefully there's
something in there, anything.

Literally, one crawdad,
I'd be happy.

♪

[laughs]

♪

Okay.

Well...

♪

I'm gonna show you what we got.

♪

So, if I'm being honest,

I don't know
exactly what this is,

but it looks an awful lot
like a leech.

Oh, my gosh.

[laughs]

Yeah, it's definitely--
they're leeches.

It appears they've been
sucking on this mouse blood.

About the grossest thing
you can eat

is a leech who's been
feeding off of mouse blood.

Bombs away.

I don't even know
if you can eat leeches.

That's probably,
like, the last thing

I would want to eat.

♪

All right, back to camp.

I guess we can haul 'em
back home

and use them for...
Something?

No fish.

Pretty pathetic.

Another day in paradise, right?

[dramatic music]

♪

[rustling]

♪

- And let's see here,
what have we got cooking?

Oh-ho-ho!

What have we here?

We have Mr. Long Tail,

caught in Larry Robertson's
trap.

Smushy smushy.

"Smushy smushy,"
said the big frickin' rock.

Oh, tasty, tasty, baby.

Yeah!

Mousie selfie.

Flat mousie selfie.

♪

Out here,
all I think about is food.

That's all I think about.

And I think about
how I can get more food.

I have to always be adapting

to what my circumstances
require.

♪

The wind's blowing like crazy,

but I'm still gonna try and
work on my net a little bit.

I've lost too many fish
by trying to just pluck

them out of the river
after I get them close to me.

So I'm making my own net

so I won't have
that problem anymore.

Come on.

♪

It's pretty awesome.

I've been working on
this thing for quite a while.

I'm just gonna
flex this willow.

I want to bend it,
eventually, into a circle.

Now I'll take one of these
strands of paracord,

and I've just got
to keep going around.

♪

This country's wearing on me.

I'm tired of the wind,

tired of the storms,

tired of the heat,

and I'm tired of the bugs.

♪

You're wearing on me,
Mongolia.

I liked you at first,
bud,

and I still like you,

but your attitude

is starting to piss me off.

♪

Vancouver Island
was hardcore.

It proved to me
that I'm tough.

Not many people get to go as
far as their breaking point.

I was lucky enough
to get there once,

and it left
a serious mark on me.

This particular experience
has been pretty painful.

But sometimes the lessons

that you really remember
are remembered through pain.

♪

I just hope that
this is going to help me

when I go back
to the real world

to help make my life

and my relationship
with my family a better one.

♪

I'm gonna take a break here.

♪

[bleep] wind.

♪

[bleep] this place.

[bleep] damn it!

You're either [bleep]
screaming hot,

storming,

or [bleep] windy
in a fire season,

you [bleep],

[bleep]!

♪

Just calm the [bleep] down.

Calm down.

♪

[bleep].

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- Wind comes from one
direction,

and the clouds come
from another.

♪

It's an odd place.

♪

The weather has just
got me down a little bit.

Tie a little stop knot.

Try to do a jam knot.

Finish it off
with maybe a half-hitch here.

Just like that.

It's done.

Might as well give it a try.

♪

There is a wonderful
bend in my river

that I am calling
"Steady Eddy,"

and I'm pulling quite
a few fish out of this area.

It's a sure meat supply

that is making me feel
extremely capable

in my abilities
to feed myself.

♪

I got a fish with my net, man!

Oh, and I had the camera
pointed the wrong way.

I got a fish with my net.

I landed him with my net!

Right on!

And that's a big sucker,
too, man.

That's a grayling,
just a fat one.

Oh, man, I got--look,

my mission is complete, man!

♪

You know, sometimes
you just need a good

morale boost out here.

Sometimes things just
seem a little overwhelming.

What this journey
has taught me

is to refocus
on the small things.

It's amazing how
something like this

can change your attitude.

♪

That's a nice
grayling right there.

And I landed it with my net.

I mean, not that there's
anything unusual with that.

I've done it at home
with the same sort of net,

but out here, man, out here.

Out here, I made this net,
I made this fishing pole.

Out here, I did it.

♪

Should've left the handle
on this stick a little longer.

♪

If not the longest grayling,

for sure the fattest one
I've caught.

This one was fat.

♪

This sure is a lot better
experience when you enjoy it.

[ominous music]

♪

[fire crackling]

♪

- Fire good.

Man, anybody that doesn't have

a fire in their shelter
is freaking crazy.

Crazy.

I don't know how--
I couldn't do it.

It's getting cold.

♪

Working on different types
of bushcraft projects

is a big thing for me.

I love thinking of different
ways to get animals.

At this point, for me,

ideally is--
what's gonna happen is,

I want to get a deer.

I want to be able
to take one large life

and get
a lot of food out of it.

Right now I've got
a great trail,

really nice trail.

♪

I mean, you can see that trail.

Wow, a lot of old, old rubs.

There's a lot of action,
a lot of movement in here,

so I'm gonna set up
a tree stand to see,

get me a little higher,

disguise me, and disguise
my scent a little bit.

♪

The tree stand
is just beautiful

as far as getting you
a higher perspective

on the land so you can see
what's coming.

Just a good way
to ambush big game.

♪

What I'm doing
is pulling up logs

and just putting them
over branches.

I'll set it up
in a triangle fashion,

so that I have plenty
of room to sit,

and then I'll tie those in.

♪

Yikes.

I like climbing...

so that helps.

But if one of those
branches breaks...

Let's hope they don't.
[laughs]

♪

I'm 50 years old,

so I'm not a young
spring chicken anymore.

My body is not like
it was when I was 20.

So there is a concern

about putting my body
through these stresses.

But I want to be here so bad,

so it's worth it for me.

♪

Not bad for not
eating anything today, huh?

♪

That's the point.
I want to eat.

♪

If I want to stay out here,
I've got to hunt deer.

It's a huge
caloric expenditure.

It's a lot of energy,

but if I want to stay here,

that is what I have to get.

And I'm gonna put every last
ounce of energy I have

into that deer.

[dramatic music]

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- Look like an old,

like, blind,

albino coal miner.

♪

I definitely need to put on
another one to two layers

before I go out fishing.

It's definitely chilly
outside.

♪

I've never tried to fish
when it's this cold out.

But there's a little bit
of sun peeking out,

so maybe some of the fish
will come near the top water.

♪

Much cooler than yesterday.

♪

Come on, this is my spot.
I need something here.

♪

I don't know, ever since
I scored really big here,

not a nibble, not a splash.

♪

It's been a cold day.

It could be that
the fish are deeper

and just don't want
to bite anything today.

♪

Ooh.

Hear that?

[wind blowing]

There's something blowing in.

♪

I haven't had much activity,
and it's cold.

♪

This stinks.

♪

There are swirling areas

where the waters slow down
and it's cold,

so I'm having to move
from area to area

depending on the climate to
see where the fish are going.

And I'm having no luck
with anything

in this vicinity whatsoever.

♪

No fish.

♪

The Mongolian cold

is definitely becoming
a factor now.

I mean, it's present
all the time.

♪

I don't know
what I'll do yet.

♪

♪

- It's definitely
getting colder.

Lots of frost
this morning on the ground.

So it seems like
the last couple of days

have really been affecting
the activity of the fish.

I really need to branch out

and figure out different
sources of protein

other than fish,
in case the fish, you know,

one day just completely stop.

♪

Priority number one
for me today,

thinking I might try to go
for a little walk

and continue to just
look and scout out

for good hunting areas.

♪

Seems like a good day
for grouse.

[whistles]

They have a really
beautiful high-pitched call.

[whistles]

♪

My dad and my uncle,

we've been putting in
for an elk hunt in Utah

for the last seven years,

and, of course, this is
the year that we got it.

♪

And so they're hunting
while I'm here.

So my plan is to find
a place to hunt

and hunt hard every day,

to kind of be close with them,

and experience what
they're experiencing.

Brings me a little
closer to them,

even though we're across
the world from each other.

There's a grouse right there.

♪

[bleep]!

♪

He was five feet away from me.

♪

He done flew away.

He's gone now.

♪

Whoa.

Check it out.

Large skull.

♪

Looks like probably
the red deer.

The shape of the upper jaw
is one of an omnivore.

There's a lot
of predators in this area.

We do share this
landscape with wolves.

♪

And so I just hope that if

I stay away from them, they're
gonna stay away from me.

♪

All right, let's go.

We're far away
from any sort of medical help.

♪

We're taking a big risk
just in being this far

disconnected
from the outside world.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- Can you believe
food is in such short supply

that I'm drying out the skin

so I can eat a little bit

of the fish remnants
that are still on the skin?

Waste not, want not, right?

Next time Campbell
goes to the garbage can

with a fish spine on his plate,

I'm gonna be like,
"Hell, no, boy.

You better sit down
and suck on that spine."

I remember watching my dad,

mom and dad.

They would leave a chicken bone
so clean it looks like

you could put it
in the Smithsonian.

♪

I'm definitely feeling what
I'm eating isn't giving me

enough energy to do
what I need to do anymore.

And it's cold.

It's unforgiving.

♪

Ah, warm feet. Finally.

♪

All right, Mongolia.

I see you're serious.

♪

We're approaching winter,

and my diet consists
about 99% of fish.

But as it's getting colder,

the fish start getting
less aggressive.

So I'm like, okay, there's
never gonna be any fish here.

♪

It's a big problem,
and in the end,

I'm hoping that
it's not detrimental

to my stay out here.

♪

It's crazy.

It seems like not too long ago,
I was stripping off my socks

and stepping into
the river to cool down.

Now I'm stripping off my stocks

and sticking them
into the flames to warm up.

♪

♪

- What a pathetic beard.

Moustache.

Scraggles.

[laughs]

I'm becoming a man.

Let's roll. Huh!

Ever since I've been
in Mongolia,

I'm not getting enough food.

When you go without protein,

it really hurts you big time.

Fish is the last piece

of my Mongolia puzzle.

But it's not working out.

I'm not catching anything,

and the fish trap
came up short.

So I figured,

maybe let's try
something else.

♪

I think I'm gonna take today

and actually make a gill net.

I've got a few long pieces
of paracord,

fully intact.

All right, guys, gill net 101.

Make a little triangle

in approximately
the correct shape.

♪

Take both lines together,

♪

simple overhand knot.

Bring it through,

pull it tight,

and repeat
several hundred times.

♪

I'm losing weight
very, very fast.

And at this point,

I'm craving food.

I think there's
a hungry scale, where first,

you start craving ice cream
and pizza.

Then, after a while,
you start craving vegetables

and Brussels sprouts
and things like that.

And that just means

I'm literally starving.

It's a good size net, I say.

Good size net.

So, basically,
my entire system

is going to be based
off of a nice, thick willow.

The line is going to
be connected to the willow...

So that I can extend it
out into the river.

So the gill net is actually

going to be weighted
down with stones like this.

It has to be weighted
down heavily,

because even
if it's just a net,

that river will take it and
throw it against the wall.

It does not give a darn.

This river is just hardcore.

Come on, come on,
come on, let's go, let's go.

You got this, son.

Aw.

♪

Oh, come on,
you little punk.

It's very easy
to become frustrated.

You look around and you say,
"Hmm,

"these traps aren't working.

Where is there any more
protein for me to get?"

So my gill net needs to work.

I need to start catching fish.

Almost.

Oh, man.

♪

So, basically,
that's exactly

what I didn't want
to have happen.

♪

This river is so strong...

♪

♪

♪

♪

To work for so long
on something,

you're like, "Oh,
it's got to work out, right?"

♪

I don't feel super good

about my situation
at the moment.

You know, I feel like,
what am I doing wrong

if I can't get a stinking
fish out of my river?

♪

Honestly, I feel very down

about not being able to score

more protein at this point.

I thought that there
would be more stuff

out here for me to get.

It looks like fishing
is kind of

off the menu for the moment.

And I'm literally starving.

♪

When your wife and kids
look at you,

what kind of man do they see?

♪

You want them to see
someone who gives up

as soon as things get tough?

I don't want that.

And so I feel,
at this point,

that I will eat anything.

♪

So what we're doing tonight

is we are cooking up
the leeches

that we got in the fish trap

that I had put
over in the lagoon area.

Gonna do this even though
I'm not 100% sure

if you even can eat leeches.

Whoa, it smells bad.

I don't like it.

I don't like it at all.

One leech.

♪

So we've got nine
leeches and a snail.

♪

I'm gonna boil them
for, like, five full minutes.

I do not want this to be,
like,

slightly undercooked

and get some kind
of crazy worm thing in me.

♪

What are the odds
that this tastes good?

Like, I wonder
what the odds are

that I pop these in my mouth,
and I'm like,

"Whoa, man,

what a tasty,
delicious meal."

♪

I'm gonna put a wire
through them and roast them.

♪

Oh, if this was smell-o-vision,

you guys would be getting it.

♪

All righty, one leech kabob,
coming right up.

♪

Bon appetit.

♪

Oh, what the heck.

Let's get these, all four,
all at once.

♪

Still, like, deciding
if I'm gonna throw up or not.

♪

Wow.

♪

[laughs and gags]

Gross!

Gross.

Ooh, gross.

Yuck.

♪

- Gotcha.

[chuckling]
Mouse snack before I go to bed.

- Out here is a fall

to almost certain death.

Just be careful.

- [whispers]
Three deer.

I've got to haul ass.

♪

- I'm alive, Mongolia!

I don't know why that makes
me want to cry, but it does.

[echoing]
I'm alive!

♪