Alone (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 7 - Surrounded - full transcript
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
- oh, my god.
Yeah!
It's kind of a race now.
I have got to get
my deer meat dry
so I can preserve it.
Now, that's just cool.
Come on, baby. Come on in.
Yes.
Caught my first fish.
- Winter is coming, and I want
to have a fireplace
and a chimney,
and all sealed up.
Fantastic.
So I can go and move in here.
- Something has been here.
Something big.
Ate my cranberries.
Hey, bear!
- I'm officially tapping out.
My health is important to me,
and I'm not interested
in battling
whatever it is that's going on
in my body right now,
being on a starvation diet.
[ominous music]
[wind howling]
♪
narrator: In "alone's"
most terrifying location yet,
ten participants face
the deadliest predator
in north america.
- There he is right there.
- Grizzly bears.
- Hey, bear.
- There are a lot
of grizzly here.
I'm gonna have to live
with them.
- Go on! Get!
- Every second we're on
the land, we're being hunted.
- Holy *bleep*, mountain lion.
- He's circling around
my shelter.
Narrator:
Bone-chilling cold...
- Winter is coming.
- You combine the wind
with the rain and the cold,
this place could make
the arctic look easy.
- Oh, *bleep*.
Narrator:
And complete isolation.
- You cannot hide
from yourself
mentally and emotionally.
- Ah!
- There's no place to go.
- I am suffering
from loneliness.
Narrator: Who will survive?
- Yes! Yes!
- This could be the end.
- I don't want to tap,
but I don't want
to die either.
- You have to suffer
before you can succeed.
[gagging]
narrator:
The last one standing wins.
- At what point
do I push the button?
♪ ♪
[ominous music]
♪
[birds singing]
♪
- mmm. Dirt soup.
Delicious.
Not particularly delicious,
but it's okay.
We're happy
with what we can get out here.
It's so weird how I keep
talking like "we're," "we."
[like gollum] we's happy
with what we's gets. Precious.
[normally] I'm freaking turning
into gollum over here.
[like gollum] what
does it taste like, precious?
Is it scrumptious?
[normally] nope,
it's not very scrumptious.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
all right. I say we go make
a door for the shelter.
♪
I think there was probably
some people who didn't think
I was gonna last very long.
[sniffs]
of course,
once I started working
and getting overheated...
♪ ♪
I'm biko, son of tui.
And I don't give up easy.
♪ ♪
now, I'd like to shovel a bunch
of pine boughs in there,
to insulate the heck out of it.
You know, my dad was as marine
and a sheriff,
and so he was always wanting
to do outdoor stuff with us.
And basically,
I just fell in love with it.
And the award
for most flammable door
ever made goes to biko!
♪ ♪
how do you want
to accept this award?
I'll take it in food.
Thank you.
I hope to have more times
like that with my dad.
He's a great father.
I hope to be
a great father one day.
What a monstrosity this is.
Hello, frankenstein door.
♪ ♪
to think I could have
just made a simple door.
No. Instead,
I got a *bleep* drawbridge.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[birds singing]
- so my bottle
of hot water--
it's had a couple of rounds
of hot water in it.
So. Whoo.
I'm soaked.
[sighs]
so I'm actually using it
to warm my hands.
But I'm gonna put rosehips
in it.
And make some rosehip tea here.
I mean, I know I get
lots of vitamin c,
but it's not gonna hurt me
to have some more.
It's gonna be hard
to mix up, but.
Just gotta spit out
the seeds again.
But otherwise, it's nice.
So I now have a glass bottle
to put hot tea in.
That's gonna be so much nicer.
♪ ♪
I set snares, but there's
nothing in my snares.
So I have to get
more snares out.
♪
I'm starting to worry
about food.
I'm not having
the best luck fishing.
I can't believe
I cannot catch a fish.
♪ ♪
it looks like maybe
some bunnies have chewed
the bottom of this.
♪ ♪
this looks like it would be
a good spot to put a snare.
Try that.
This path just kind of looks
like it goes out there.
♪
I have to get some meat.
I just think about it all night
long now, just waking up
and trying to think
of different ways to get food.
If I could get some rabbits,
I could eat more.
What is that?
It's right here.
Let's see if we can't
maybe get it out.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
I got it out. It's heavy.
[metallic thud]
I found a bear trap, I think.
♪ ♪
so this is really cool.
And a reminder that I have
to be careful out here,
because these
are old trap lands.
This is telling me that
this is a bear traffic area.
All of these trails
are bear trails.
Actually, it must have been
a long time ago.
Most places, you haven't
been able to trap bear
in a long time.
So you can see--
see those big teeth on there?
That's so cool.
That, I'm gonna take back
to camp.
And we'll see how it goes
with my snares.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I had a dream
that my family was cooking up
a feast.
It was pretty cool, man.
But it sucks.
In all my dreams,
I woke up before I got to eat.
Like, food was all prepared,
and then I'd wake up,
and I'd be like, "damn it."
[chuckles]
I could have eaten in my dream.
Open the gate!
Nice.
♪
today, I think I'd like
to start bringing rocks up
to the fireplace.
Oh yeah, there's some
good rocks down here, for sure.
♪
some real good ones.
[grunts]
I want to build a fireplace
that I can warm my shelter
on those really cold,
stormy nights.
I can boil water in there,
if need be, during the storm,
so I don't have to go out.
I know it's gonna be
a huge calorie output.
All the rocks that are in
the area are on the shoreline,
and they're down a hill,
a steep hill
that I have to pack them up.
♪ ♪
whoa. Almost fell.
Felt the mud going.
[panting]
[grunts]
[panting]
it's exhausting.
Just got to go slow
and careful.
That's the name
of the game for me.
Got a lot to lose
by hurting my ankle.
♪ ♪
this past March,
I had surgery on my ankle.
It was supposed to be
a lot shorter recovery time
than it was.
And it's still sore.
♪ ♪
[sighs]
♪ oh, I'm just
packing rocks all day ♪
♪ packing them up a hill ♪
♪ packing rocks
from the morning ♪
♪ until the end of day ♪
♪ I'm packing rocks ♪
♪ so that I can have
a warm fire ♪
♪ in my troll cave cabin
that I built with my hands ♪
oh! *bleep*.
Oh!
Oh! *bleep*.
Oh, hell.
*bleep*.
*bleep* damn it.
♪
[groans]
♪
gonna have to be
really careful.
That could have been bad.
That's what I slipped on,
right there.
That's full-on clay.
I need that.
Clay is great news.
That's gonna make
everything easier.
[soft dramatic music]
my fireplace is gonna be
so much better now.
I can really do the fireplace
I want to do now.
♪ ♪
check out what I found
washed up on shore.
A ziploc bag
with some holes in it.
But what I can use it
for is moving clay.
♪ ♪
my ankle's sore from today.
♪ ♪
I gotta be so careful
with that ankle.
It's the one thing
that'll take me out of the game
before I want to go.
♪ ♪
I've never made
a fireplace before.
I'm hoping that,
as I have some fires in here,
some of this clay
will kind of bake in.
♪ ♪
it's coming along well.
I'm pretty proud of it.
What a strange,
crazy life I've led.
I'm in british columbia,
in the chilcotin mountains,
competing for $500,000.
♪ ♪
what a crazy life.
♪
see, when you build a shelter
like I've built here,
there's really no point
in tapping out early,
when you put so much time
and effort into this.
[scraping]
♪ ♪
it's working. Yes.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- golly. Beautiful.
Mushrooms are fun to find.
Hope I can find
a few more up there today.
Sweet.
Whoops.
Well, so far,
it's gonna keep me alive until
gill net time.
I think we have enough of them
to last 14 days.
♪ ♪
you're collecting
everything you can see
and find along the way.
Thank god
I have all these plants,
and they all carry me
till I get to fish.
♪ ♪
I can't let
the mushrooms go bad.
I'm worried about it
being cold and damp.
They don't like
being stored in a hole.
They're not like cranberries.
Yeah, food preservation is one
of my favorite things to do.
One of my faves.
I love salting,
fermenting,
drying, canning,
boiling and pressure.
[soft dramatic music]
I do this in schools
all the time.
We did a lot
of food preservation.
We made cream of mushroom
soup from wild boletes,
and sold it to the public.
[chuckles and sighs]
♪ ♪
man, the kids just loved it.
Loved it.
They'll do it on their own.
Any activity that
revolves around food,
they're probably gonna jump
on it.
♪ ♪
and it's a bunch of wonderful
people in education, man.
The best.
I loved it.
Part of my new
mushroom-picking attire...
Is a smoked bolete necklace.
We are done.
Holy *bleep*.
So we have our lines up here.
♪ ♪
this one here
is our red slimeballs.
The one back here is our pines.
They're feeling nice.
♪ ♪
I processed about
30-plus pounds today.
Mushrooms are nice.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[wind howling]
♪ ♪
- we got some snow
on the ground.
So it was a rough night.
Thought about home a lot
last night and this morning.
Really missing my kids.
I miss leelee's little feet
running across the floor
in the morning.
I'm feeling very hungry
this morning.
Maybe something warm to eat
will
lift my spirts
a little bit.
♪ ♪
this morning, when I was just
kind of laying there,
waiting for it
to get light out,
I heard something
outside my tent.
♪ ♪
all right, let's go
check out the beach.
♪ ♪
so right there's the bear.
And there's my tracks.
And those are pretty fresh.
[howling]
so he is in the area.
♪ ♪
must have just been coming down
through this trail right here.
♪ ♪
hmm.
♪ ♪
oh, there he is,
right there. *bleep*.
Right there.
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
Hey! Get! Get!
Go on. Go on.
♪ ♪
been following me.
Get out of here!
He's right there.
He's coming.
[air horn blasts]
*bleep*.
Get! You get!
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- you get!
[air horn blasts]
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
there he is.
♪ ♪
oh, my god.
Oh, my god.
♪ ♪
he's just circling me.
♪ ♪
I just don't even know
where to stand.
So afraid he's gonna charge me.
He can come from any direction.
He's just out there.
[suspenseful music]
oh, my god.
♪ ♪
oh, god. I don't know.
♪ ♪
I feel like there's a point
that this is not worth it.
♪ ♪
I just don't know
if I should--
[shakily takes deep breath]
at what point--
at what point
do I push the button?
♪ ♪
I feel like I'm being
such a baby about this.
[sniffles]
♪ ♪
all right.
Just have to get it together.
Let me see where he went.
I can't let this bear be the
reason that I can't do this.
I don't know--I don't know
what to do in the after.
♪ ♪
all the safety training
in the world
cannot predict
what that bear is gonna do.
♪ ♪
I am alone with a grizzly bear
that is hunting me,
and there is nothing that is
gonna save me except myself.
Every shadow...
[suspenseful music]
every noise.
I'm jumpy right now.
It's about time for me to be
okay and get some stuff done.
Hmm.
I don't know.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I'm thinking about making
a decoy hat.
I bet it would work great
on these deer.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
this animal gave up
its life for me.
I feel like the best way
to honor it
is to use every part
that I can.
You don't really get
that kind of connection
when you go to the supermarket
and buy meat off the shelf.
♪ ♪
for this project,
I take the buck's head
and I flesh it all out,
turn the ears out,
and basically make
a stuffed deer head.
Stuff it with moss.
I've killed lots of animals
with a self bow.
Giant bull elk, boar hogs.
They're all special,
because they feed my family.
♪ ♪
my family depends on wild game.
This is something
I've never,
never showed the boys
anything about.
I don't know if they'd have
any interest in it or not.
My dad--horses
has been his life.
You know, he's--he's
a horse trainer,
and, you know,
it was a competition thing.
[sighs]
remind me to never
take up taxidermy
as a second career.
♪ ♪
when he was, I don't know,
I guess, late 20s, mid 20s,
and was working at a plant,
he decided he was gonna
leave that behind
and start training horses,
and everybody told him
it was crazy.
I need to stitch this up,
stitch everything up,
all the holes--
bottom lip to the top,
and stitch the eyes shut.
For a long time,
I thought my dad
and I
were very different people.
It wasn't until just
a few years ago, I guess,
that I realized
that we're exactly the same.
The only thing
that's different
is what we're passionate
about.
His is horses,
and mine is archery
and bow hunting
and being in the woods.
♪ ♪
this thing's gonna
look like frankenstein.
And now he's in the national
cutting horse hall of fame.
If you have something that
you're passionate about,
do it because you love it.
You can make damn
near anything work.
There you go.
One deer decoy.
Figured I'd mount
this thing to my head.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- well, let's see about
this here deer mask.
Bring them right in.
Clay's taxidermy,
open for business.
Here we go.
One rather bedraggled-
looking deer head,
on the wall.
Oh, yeah.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna get started on
bringing in the deer hide.
All right.
I knew that I want to do
something with the hide.
At first, I used it
for the top of the smoker,
which works great.
But I want to use this deer
as much as I can.
And I also just want
a project to work on.
And so I would love
to brain tan this hide.
Use it for a recliner.
♪ ♪
doesn't smell sour
or spoiled at all.
I'll get the deer brains out,
put them in a pot,
and smash them up,
just as good as I can.
Add a little bit of water.
♪ ♪
just gonna mash
that up real good.
Mix it up as good as I can.
I want to get those brains
over every inch
of the deer hide.
Mmm-mmm-mmm.
And then once
you've got that done,
then you start working it.
[sighs]
was gonna wring this out again,
but I think
I'm just gonna leave it
and just work--try
to get every bit of that brain
worked into this hide.
I'm glad I decided to do this.
This is gonna be nice
once I get done with it.
Sometimes I wonder
why I ended up
with the interests
that I have.
I have two brothers.
They've hunted,
but they're not--they're not
hunters, you know.
They didn't stick with it.
I'm the youngest,
and my next brother's
seven years older than I am.
And so when they would go
to these horse shows,
I'd have to go with them.
I always competed.
You know, it was a competition
thing--cutting.
But half an hour before
it was time for me
to go and show my horse,
it was--I'd come back, do it,
and then I was gone again.
It's like my heart was
in the woods.
I couldn't even begin
to describe myself
without talking at length
about being outdoors.
Just such a big,
massive part of who I am.
All right.
Let's eat some dinner
before I hit the sack.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- bad news.
We got like--[exhales deeply]
I don't know.
It looks like from here
four to six inches
of snow last night.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
so I waited
till the last moment.
We got this snow, and it
looks like it's not gonna stop.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
it is time to get
my ass in gear
and get some warmth
in my shelter.
I mean, it's necessary now.
♪ ♪
where is the most insulation
in your house?
Not in your floor.
It's not in your walls.
It's in your roof and
your attic because heat rises.
And so for me,
I'm gonna build the insulation
where the heat is gonna go.
Okay, the rest of the limbs,
we're just tossing on,
face-down,
♪ ♪
with insulation--
that's the stick parts.
I'm trying to finish up
the door.
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
that just kind of makes it
a little more serious now.
♪ ♪
gotta get everything
going, man.
♪ ♪
snow days, man.
Remember sledding? As a kid?
♪ ♪
and coming in,
and mom having hot chocolate?
♪ ♪
got, like, cookies or whatever,
walking in?
[chuckles]
holy cow, that was--
that was awesome.
♪ ♪
this shelter's 95% done,
which for me means done.
And so I feel like
I'm ready for winter.
♪ ♪
just gonna get out
of these wet-ass clothes.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- oh, good morning.
It's getting light later
and later in the morning.
I mean, I understand that's how
it works this time of year.
But.
♪ ♪
at some point, winter is here,
and plant foods are not.
So like to have a big,
ol' gathering day.
Gathering has really been
my bread and butter out here.
Haven't had much other option.
[chuckles]
apparently, I can't fish.
But, you know, we all have
to have a weakness.
And to be fair,
it's not like my site
was exactly
a fisherman's paradise here.
♪ ♪
fishing this site
is incredibly challenging.
The fish that I do have access
to are going to be very small.
I'm getting to that point
where I know my body fat
is getting low, because
I'm mildly hungry all the time.
My body is telling me,
"you definitely need calories."
pretty sure this a good, solid
half a can, which is my base.
I have to get that in a day.
That's 500 calories.
I should gather three
or four days' worth.
So we're gonna go
a little further up field.
Traditionally,
with modern hunter/gatherers,
up to 80% of the caloric
intake comes from gathering.
It comes from plants.
It's an underappreciated
caloric source.
So this is the landscape
at the moment.
And I am seriously
digging roots
out of a patch in the snow.
More solomon's seal.
This one is a big root.
Look at the size
of this guy down here.
Oh, it's a good-size one.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
time to see if we can
figure out how to get back,
'cause it's starting to spit
rainy, snowy stuff as well,
which is gonna get really
unpleasant really quickly.
[crunchy footfalls]
I really haven't come down
this side before.
So I'm trying to decide
if I go up.
I'm gonna give it a go.
I'm gonna--'cause I'm kind of
skirting the edge of the creek
right now.
I'm gonna hop up--
let's go to that second ridge
over here.
Ooh.
Where are we?
Um, I don't know
what that low point is,
so I'm gonna go see.
So we've gotten quite
a long way from the creek.
♪ ♪
you must be *bleep* me.
I have no idea where I am.
♪ ♪
oh, no.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[sobs]
♪ ♪
let's walk.
Let's get to our last spot.
Let's make some progress.
I am guessing
we must be getting back
closer to the lake,
'cause for a while there,
the forest was--
I mean, it wasn't open.
It was still very dense timber.
However, there was a lot less
of the--of the, you know,
blown-down timber.
[sniffles]
pretty sure we're coming up
somewhere
on the lake at this point.
Hello, basket tree willow.
It's weird what
your brain remembers.
But that means we're close.
This is great.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
we're back at the lake.
This is where the little creek
comes out.
♪ ♪
feels good to be home.
♪ ♪
so this is today's haul.
It's about three cans'
worth of cranberries,
highbush cranberries,
small sack of rosehips,
a surprise sack of greens.
So those are watercress.
Actually found
some watercress greens.
And then a reasonable
sack of roots.
I mean, the calories
I've brought back with me--
maybe--
♪ ♪
they probably just barely
make up what I put out.
That's not the equation
you're looking for. [chuckles]
♪ ♪
I'm really starting to notice
the lack of calories.
It's really starting to affect
my performance
and what I'm capable of doing.
Just wish I could
catch some fish.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
I don't know.
So good.
Hey, the boat's still there.
Decided it's time
to go boating.
Okay, here we go. The ol'...
♪ ♪
the butt will most certainly
not be dry.
It'll be ice *bleep* cold.
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
I want to catch more fish.
I need to get
a surplus of calories.
♪ ♪
okay.
Let's go fishing.
[soft dramatic music]
back home in alaska, I was in
a long-term relationship
with a woman who had a
young daughter named jordan.
So jordan and I
had this motto,
just that we never give up,
no matter what we're doing.
And so when I have
tough times out here,
my mind immediately
goes to her.
And it's kept me going,
thinking about her
when times get tough,
and what she would say.
I'm exactly stubborn
and resilient.
I don't give up.
♪ ♪
[thump]
[metallic clang]
yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes.
♪ ♪
yes, yes.
♪ ♪
holy *bleep*.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
here we go.
♪ ♪
second one.
♪ ♪
yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yes.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
check that out.
Two of them.
♪ ♪
two rainbows.
♪ ♪
totally happy about that.
I am a vegetarian no longer.
♪ ♪
[bear breathing]
[branches rustling]
- I heard something big
out there.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[wood snaps]
can't see anything out here.
♪ ♪
[wood clatters]
♪ ♪
well, I heard something
big out there,
but couldn't see anything.
By the time I got out of
my sleeping bag and got out,
it was--whatever
it was was gone.
I'll look around tomorrow and
see if I can see any tracks.
Back to bed.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
I didn't sleep at all last
night, hardly.
Gonna go down to the
lake shore and then come back.
♪ ♪
so I just walked down
to the beach,
and there's fresh bear tracks
coming right
across my log here.
Walking right down
the beach here.
So you can tell
it's a black bear,
because a grizzly, the front
of the pad here's straighter,
and you can draw
a straight line from this side
to this side
without cutting this toe here.
With this track,
if you draw a straight line,
you're gonna cut this toe,
so that's a black bear.
And that's a decent-size bear.
Yeah, that's a pretty good-size
bear.
So, I just want to--with
those bear tracks on the beach,
I just want
to make--walk back here
and make sure there's nothing
been poking around the cache.
♪ ♪
oh, *bleep*. There's bear
tracks right freakin' here.
♪ ♪
like, right through camp.
So there's the shack,
right through here.
♪ ♪
and here's bear tracks.
♪ ♪
that little bastard.
The cache looks like
it's still--I mean,
the smoker looks like
it's still intact.
I brought all my meat
and stuff inside there
'cause I thought
it would be pretty safe.
This bear walked right--
let's see where he went.
That is no good. We don't want
bears walking through camp.
Looks like he may have
walked down the beach,
and then just came back
right through here.
Kind of in between camp
and the smoker.
I don't know how he didn't
smell that stuff in there.
Man, that was--
that was just lucky.
[sighs]
he'll be back.
We ain't seen the last
of boo-boo.
♪ ♪
- so been a really
yucky night.
I have a really strong belief
and mindset,
and that's what I try to do,
you know, with my encounters
with a grizzly bear--
is every time I--
every time
it happens,
I try to mentally think
about the situation again
and change my mindset
to handle it differently
next time.
So maybe I need
to do that with, you know,
fishing and snaring,
and whatever.
Just stop thinking about
the things that I can't do,
and really start focusing on
what I might be able to do. So.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
ready to check some snares.
I feel hungry.
Really hopeful that there's
something in my snares today.
♪ ♪
the scary things
I've dealt with in my life,
I can definitely recover
from a grizzly bear.
For sure.
When I was a kid,
we lived a lot in safe houses,
and I was just always
running around in the woods.
I was trying to escape from,
you know, a bad
childhood environment.
Any bunny there?
I've always felt
a little bit alone.
I had my children very young,
and tried to make
a home for them,
but never really felt like
any place was home for me.
When I was very young,
I lived in a foster home.
It's just kind of always
been everything that I do,
I've taught myself.
Yeah, I think they're too big.
That's scary
when you're a kid.
So I can go through
a scary situation,
and it may shock me
for a second,
but I'm gonna recover quickly,
and it's not gonna
knock me off my path.
I'm just gonna pick myself up,
and I'm gonna keep going.
♪ ♪
[chuckles]
I got a rabbit.
Oh, my gosh, that is awesome.
Tada.
It's a bunny.
♪ ♪
got him.
So we're gonna go down
and skin the rabbit.
Cautiously.
So that the grizzly bear
doesn't come along.
♪ ♪
I don't want
to waste any meat.
Okay.
Now, it's time to get this
rabbit on here.
♪ ♪
my belly is hungry.
Can't believe I get
to eat bunny rabbit.
Oh, my god, that smells so
good. Oh, my gosh.
♪ ♪
this little, yummy bunny heart
is gonna be so good.
♪ ♪
oh, my gosh.
♪ ♪
oh, my gosh.
That was so good.
[chuckles]
just that alone,
and I'm happy.
Oh, my gosh.
[dramatic music]
♪
[birds singing]
- warmed up quite a bit today.
It wasn't good yesterday.
Yesterday, it was still
pretty damn cold.
All right. Let's see what
we can do about an alarm.
I've got an idea for an
alarm system for a bear.
♪
I forgot I had an air horn.
I think I can rig up
that air horn to wire,
so if something
hits the trip wire,
it'll set the air horn off.
Here we go.
[clears throat]
♪ ♪
[air horn toots]
♪ ♪
got that.
The last thing
that I want to do
is have to deal
with a bear coming in here
wanting to take this meat.
But that's
a very real possibility.
Just a little redneck
ingenuity here.
♪ ♪
I have to be prepared
to engage a bear.
♪ ♪
[air horn tooting]
♪ ♪
I want to win this thing.
I need this meat.
♪ ♪
and so I am willing
to go outside
and deal with a grizzly bear
to protect this meat.
♪ ♪
all right.
So now, ol' mr. Bear comes
snooping around...
[air horn blasts]
[chuckles]
I like it.
That ought to wake me up.
[dramatic music]
♪
- gonna have to ration out the
deer meat that I have left.
So I'm thinking
that's a day right there.
Little bit of fat.
Little bit of meat.
Five or six
little pieces of jerky.
[chuckles]
every day. That's not enough
to keep a fella going.
You don't know how bad
I just want to grab
a big handful of this stuff
and start eating it right now.
But I can't.
I need to catch a damn fish.
♪ ♪
all right.
♪ ♪
figured I'd go fishing.
♪ ♪
I don't know what to think
about the damn fishing.
♪ ♪
it's pretty discouraging
when you go fishing day
after day after day
and can't even
hardly get a bite.
♪ ♪
I'm not eating as much
as I should be
to keep my weight up,
'cause I'm afraid
I'm gonna run out of meat.
[sighs]
that was a crappy cast.
I'd feel a lot better
if I could catch some fish.
I don't want to run
out of food again.
You know, we could be out here
for 100-120 days.
All it takes is one.
All it takes is one
to keep you out here that long.
All right.
Hanging it up.
No fish.
What a surprise,
what a surprise,
what a surprise.
♪ ♪
- I made a raft this morning.
So today is going to be
all about passive fishing.
I'd like to do the trout
line rock this morning.
There is a possibility
it will catch a fish.
And that would extend
my time here that much more.
Which basically means
I have to swim out
into the cold, cold water.
But if I don't take advantage
of all those possibilities,
that's what I'll regret.
[soft dramatic music]
♪
okay, we need to get
two shore anchors together.
And my shore anchors have to be
a significant distance apart.
Otherwise, the lines tangle.
I have the plan to swim out
and anchor a rock
that has a wired eyelet on it,
and basically have
a clothesline system,
where you have
parachute inner cord
that goes thru that eyelet,
and you can just reel your
trout line back and forth.
But I need to swim
this anchor out a long way.
♪
just in case anything
horrific goes on,
I can push the red button
and presumably get saved.
♪
so.
[groans]
let's warm the legs up.
All right, peeps.
We're a go.
Let's do this thing.
All right.
♪ ♪
I'm running out of days
where I'm gonna have
the energy to do projects
like swim 300 feet
out into the lake.
If we can actually get
the trout line in water,
some more calories
coming in.
♪
[life vest self-inflates]
*bleep*.
It inflated on its own.
*bleep*.
[dramatic music]
uh-oh.
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
I think I'm stuck.
♪ ♪
everything is a tangled mess.
*bleep*.
♪
and it's freezing.
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
starting to freeze.
♪ ♪
can't believe this *bleep*.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
my ears are ringing so loudly
that I can't hear the waves.
And I know what this is.
It's a blood pressure issue.
♪
not sure I'm okay.
♪ ♪
let me see
if I can stand up yet.
♪ ♪
there we are.
♪ ♪
just trying to get
all my big arteries...
Over the fire.
I thought I would be
in the water
for about 15 minutes.
♪
I was actually in the water
for 35 minutes.
♪ ♪
♪
♪
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
status update: I have
a rip-roaring fire going,
and I plan to do so
for a number of hours.
♪
wow.
♪
that was cold.
So just thought
I should show you
the inside of my thigh,
from having to be so close
to the fire to warm up.
Yep.
Lightly toasted.
[chuckles]
ouch.
But a small price to pay,
I suppose, for being alive.
There's nothing in the world
that makes you feel more alive
than almost not being.
♪
what happened was
the life vest self-inflated,
and it tangled
in the paracord
that I had on the raft.
By the time I'd gotten
that disentangled
from the life vest,
somehow the line
had wrapped around my ankle
a number of times,
and was so tangled up
I had to take the shoe off
while in the water.
And finally worked out
all of the tangles
so that I could then swim back.
All I ever have to do
is push the red button,
and someone comes
and saves me.
They asked me if I ever felt
like this was life and death,
and I kind of laughed,
and I said,
"no, of course not."
♪
today, it did.
[wind whistling]
[dramatic music]
- some fishing.
Check the fish trap.
[grunts]
♪
any bets on whether
I'm gonna fall in?
♪
ah!
- Ain't nothing for you here,
mouse.
That little mother*bleep*.
I'm killing him.
It's probably
a circulation issue.
- This bear is coming here.
Oh, my god.
[bear growls]
holy *bleep*.
[bear roars]
♪ ♪
- oh, my god.
Yeah!
It's kind of a race now.
I have got to get
my deer meat dry
so I can preserve it.
Now, that's just cool.
Come on, baby. Come on in.
Yes.
Caught my first fish.
- Winter is coming, and I want
to have a fireplace
and a chimney,
and all sealed up.
Fantastic.
So I can go and move in here.
- Something has been here.
Something big.
Ate my cranberries.
Hey, bear!
- I'm officially tapping out.
My health is important to me,
and I'm not interested
in battling
whatever it is that's going on
in my body right now,
being on a starvation diet.
[ominous music]
[wind howling]
♪
narrator: In "alone's"
most terrifying location yet,
ten participants face
the deadliest predator
in north america.
- There he is right there.
- Grizzly bears.
- Hey, bear.
- There are a lot
of grizzly here.
I'm gonna have to live
with them.
- Go on! Get!
- Every second we're on
the land, we're being hunted.
- Holy *bleep*, mountain lion.
- He's circling around
my shelter.
Narrator:
Bone-chilling cold...
- Winter is coming.
- You combine the wind
with the rain and the cold,
this place could make
the arctic look easy.
- Oh, *bleep*.
Narrator:
And complete isolation.
- You cannot hide
from yourself
mentally and emotionally.
- Ah!
- There's no place to go.
- I am suffering
from loneliness.
Narrator: Who will survive?
- Yes! Yes!
- This could be the end.
- I don't want to tap,
but I don't want
to die either.
- You have to suffer
before you can succeed.
[gagging]
narrator:
The last one standing wins.
- At what point
do I push the button?
♪ ♪
[ominous music]
♪
[birds singing]
♪
- mmm. Dirt soup.
Delicious.
Not particularly delicious,
but it's okay.
We're happy
with what we can get out here.
It's so weird how I keep
talking like "we're," "we."
[like gollum] we's happy
with what we's gets. Precious.
[normally] I'm freaking turning
into gollum over here.
[like gollum] what
does it taste like, precious?
Is it scrumptious?
[normally] nope,
it's not very scrumptious.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
all right. I say we go make
a door for the shelter.
♪
I think there was probably
some people who didn't think
I was gonna last very long.
[sniffs]
of course,
once I started working
and getting overheated...
♪ ♪
I'm biko, son of tui.
And I don't give up easy.
♪ ♪
now, I'd like to shovel a bunch
of pine boughs in there,
to insulate the heck out of it.
You know, my dad was as marine
and a sheriff,
and so he was always wanting
to do outdoor stuff with us.
And basically,
I just fell in love with it.
And the award
for most flammable door
ever made goes to biko!
♪ ♪
how do you want
to accept this award?
I'll take it in food.
Thank you.
I hope to have more times
like that with my dad.
He's a great father.
I hope to be
a great father one day.
What a monstrosity this is.
Hello, frankenstein door.
♪ ♪
to think I could have
just made a simple door.
No. Instead,
I got a *bleep* drawbridge.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[birds singing]
- so my bottle
of hot water--
it's had a couple of rounds
of hot water in it.
So. Whoo.
I'm soaked.
[sighs]
so I'm actually using it
to warm my hands.
But I'm gonna put rosehips
in it.
And make some rosehip tea here.
I mean, I know I get
lots of vitamin c,
but it's not gonna hurt me
to have some more.
It's gonna be hard
to mix up, but.
Just gotta spit out
the seeds again.
But otherwise, it's nice.
So I now have a glass bottle
to put hot tea in.
That's gonna be so much nicer.
♪ ♪
I set snares, but there's
nothing in my snares.
So I have to get
more snares out.
♪
I'm starting to worry
about food.
I'm not having
the best luck fishing.
I can't believe
I cannot catch a fish.
♪ ♪
it looks like maybe
some bunnies have chewed
the bottom of this.
♪ ♪
this looks like it would be
a good spot to put a snare.
Try that.
This path just kind of looks
like it goes out there.
♪
I have to get some meat.
I just think about it all night
long now, just waking up
and trying to think
of different ways to get food.
If I could get some rabbits,
I could eat more.
What is that?
It's right here.
Let's see if we can't
maybe get it out.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
I got it out. It's heavy.
[metallic thud]
I found a bear trap, I think.
♪ ♪
so this is really cool.
And a reminder that I have
to be careful out here,
because these
are old trap lands.
This is telling me that
this is a bear traffic area.
All of these trails
are bear trails.
Actually, it must have been
a long time ago.
Most places, you haven't
been able to trap bear
in a long time.
So you can see--
see those big teeth on there?
That's so cool.
That, I'm gonna take back
to camp.
And we'll see how it goes
with my snares.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I had a dream
that my family was cooking up
a feast.
It was pretty cool, man.
But it sucks.
In all my dreams,
I woke up before I got to eat.
Like, food was all prepared,
and then I'd wake up,
and I'd be like, "damn it."
[chuckles]
I could have eaten in my dream.
Open the gate!
Nice.
♪
today, I think I'd like
to start bringing rocks up
to the fireplace.
Oh yeah, there's some
good rocks down here, for sure.
♪
some real good ones.
[grunts]
I want to build a fireplace
that I can warm my shelter
on those really cold,
stormy nights.
I can boil water in there,
if need be, during the storm,
so I don't have to go out.
I know it's gonna be
a huge calorie output.
All the rocks that are in
the area are on the shoreline,
and they're down a hill,
a steep hill
that I have to pack them up.
♪ ♪
whoa. Almost fell.
Felt the mud going.
[panting]
[grunts]
[panting]
it's exhausting.
Just got to go slow
and careful.
That's the name
of the game for me.
Got a lot to lose
by hurting my ankle.
♪ ♪
this past March,
I had surgery on my ankle.
It was supposed to be
a lot shorter recovery time
than it was.
And it's still sore.
♪ ♪
[sighs]
♪ oh, I'm just
packing rocks all day ♪
♪ packing them up a hill ♪
♪ packing rocks
from the morning ♪
♪ until the end of day ♪
♪ I'm packing rocks ♪
♪ so that I can have
a warm fire ♪
♪ in my troll cave cabin
that I built with my hands ♪
oh! *bleep*.
Oh!
Oh! *bleep*.
Oh, hell.
*bleep*.
*bleep* damn it.
♪
[groans]
♪
gonna have to be
really careful.
That could have been bad.
That's what I slipped on,
right there.
That's full-on clay.
I need that.
Clay is great news.
That's gonna make
everything easier.
[soft dramatic music]
my fireplace is gonna be
so much better now.
I can really do the fireplace
I want to do now.
♪ ♪
check out what I found
washed up on shore.
A ziploc bag
with some holes in it.
But what I can use it
for is moving clay.
♪ ♪
my ankle's sore from today.
♪ ♪
I gotta be so careful
with that ankle.
It's the one thing
that'll take me out of the game
before I want to go.
♪ ♪
I've never made
a fireplace before.
I'm hoping that,
as I have some fires in here,
some of this clay
will kind of bake in.
♪ ♪
it's coming along well.
I'm pretty proud of it.
What a strange,
crazy life I've led.
I'm in british columbia,
in the chilcotin mountains,
competing for $500,000.
♪ ♪
what a crazy life.
♪
see, when you build a shelter
like I've built here,
there's really no point
in tapping out early,
when you put so much time
and effort into this.
[scraping]
♪ ♪
it's working. Yes.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- golly. Beautiful.
Mushrooms are fun to find.
Hope I can find
a few more up there today.
Sweet.
Whoops.
Well, so far,
it's gonna keep me alive until
gill net time.
I think we have enough of them
to last 14 days.
♪ ♪
you're collecting
everything you can see
and find along the way.
Thank god
I have all these plants,
and they all carry me
till I get to fish.
♪ ♪
I can't let
the mushrooms go bad.
I'm worried about it
being cold and damp.
They don't like
being stored in a hole.
They're not like cranberries.
Yeah, food preservation is one
of my favorite things to do.
One of my faves.
I love salting,
fermenting,
drying, canning,
boiling and pressure.
[soft dramatic music]
I do this in schools
all the time.
We did a lot
of food preservation.
We made cream of mushroom
soup from wild boletes,
and sold it to the public.
[chuckles and sighs]
♪ ♪
man, the kids just loved it.
Loved it.
They'll do it on their own.
Any activity that
revolves around food,
they're probably gonna jump
on it.
♪ ♪
and it's a bunch of wonderful
people in education, man.
The best.
I loved it.
Part of my new
mushroom-picking attire...
Is a smoked bolete necklace.
We are done.
Holy *bleep*.
So we have our lines up here.
♪ ♪
this one here
is our red slimeballs.
The one back here is our pines.
They're feeling nice.
♪ ♪
I processed about
30-plus pounds today.
Mushrooms are nice.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[wind howling]
♪ ♪
- we got some snow
on the ground.
So it was a rough night.
Thought about home a lot
last night and this morning.
Really missing my kids.
I miss leelee's little feet
running across the floor
in the morning.
I'm feeling very hungry
this morning.
Maybe something warm to eat
will
lift my spirts
a little bit.
♪ ♪
this morning, when I was just
kind of laying there,
waiting for it
to get light out,
I heard something
outside my tent.
♪ ♪
all right, let's go
check out the beach.
♪ ♪
so right there's the bear.
And there's my tracks.
And those are pretty fresh.
[howling]
so he is in the area.
♪ ♪
must have just been coming down
through this trail right here.
♪ ♪
hmm.
♪ ♪
oh, there he is,
right there. *bleep*.
Right there.
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
Hey! Get! Get!
Go on. Go on.
♪ ♪
been following me.
Get out of here!
He's right there.
He's coming.
[air horn blasts]
*bleep*.
Get! You get!
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- you get!
[air horn blasts]
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
there he is.
♪ ♪
oh, my god.
Oh, my god.
♪ ♪
he's just circling me.
♪ ♪
I just don't even know
where to stand.
So afraid he's gonna charge me.
He can come from any direction.
He's just out there.
[suspenseful music]
oh, my god.
♪ ♪
oh, god. I don't know.
♪ ♪
I feel like there's a point
that this is not worth it.
♪ ♪
I just don't know
if I should--
[shakily takes deep breath]
at what point--
at what point
do I push the button?
♪ ♪
I feel like I'm being
such a baby about this.
[sniffles]
♪ ♪
all right.
Just have to get it together.
Let me see where he went.
I can't let this bear be the
reason that I can't do this.
I don't know--I don't know
what to do in the after.
♪ ♪
all the safety training
in the world
cannot predict
what that bear is gonna do.
♪ ♪
I am alone with a grizzly bear
that is hunting me,
and there is nothing that is
gonna save me except myself.
Every shadow...
[suspenseful music]
every noise.
I'm jumpy right now.
It's about time for me to be
okay and get some stuff done.
Hmm.
I don't know.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I'm thinking about making
a decoy hat.
I bet it would work great
on these deer.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
this animal gave up
its life for me.
I feel like the best way
to honor it
is to use every part
that I can.
You don't really get
that kind of connection
when you go to the supermarket
and buy meat off the shelf.
♪ ♪
for this project,
I take the buck's head
and I flesh it all out,
turn the ears out,
and basically make
a stuffed deer head.
Stuff it with moss.
I've killed lots of animals
with a self bow.
Giant bull elk, boar hogs.
They're all special,
because they feed my family.
♪ ♪
my family depends on wild game.
This is something
I've never,
never showed the boys
anything about.
I don't know if they'd have
any interest in it or not.
My dad--horses
has been his life.
You know, he's--he's
a horse trainer,
and, you know,
it was a competition thing.
[sighs]
remind me to never
take up taxidermy
as a second career.
♪ ♪
when he was, I don't know,
I guess, late 20s, mid 20s,
and was working at a plant,
he decided he was gonna
leave that behind
and start training horses,
and everybody told him
it was crazy.
I need to stitch this up,
stitch everything up,
all the holes--
bottom lip to the top,
and stitch the eyes shut.
For a long time,
I thought my dad
and I
were very different people.
It wasn't until just
a few years ago, I guess,
that I realized
that we're exactly the same.
The only thing
that's different
is what we're passionate
about.
His is horses,
and mine is archery
and bow hunting
and being in the woods.
♪ ♪
this thing's gonna
look like frankenstein.
And now he's in the national
cutting horse hall of fame.
If you have something that
you're passionate about,
do it because you love it.
You can make damn
near anything work.
There you go.
One deer decoy.
Figured I'd mount
this thing to my head.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- well, let's see about
this here deer mask.
Bring them right in.
Clay's taxidermy,
open for business.
Here we go.
One rather bedraggled-
looking deer head,
on the wall.
Oh, yeah.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna get started on
bringing in the deer hide.
All right.
I knew that I want to do
something with the hide.
At first, I used it
for the top of the smoker,
which works great.
But I want to use this deer
as much as I can.
And I also just want
a project to work on.
And so I would love
to brain tan this hide.
Use it for a recliner.
♪ ♪
doesn't smell sour
or spoiled at all.
I'll get the deer brains out,
put them in a pot,
and smash them up,
just as good as I can.
Add a little bit of water.
♪ ♪
just gonna mash
that up real good.
Mix it up as good as I can.
I want to get those brains
over every inch
of the deer hide.
Mmm-mmm-mmm.
And then once
you've got that done,
then you start working it.
[sighs]
was gonna wring this out again,
but I think
I'm just gonna leave it
and just work--try
to get every bit of that brain
worked into this hide.
I'm glad I decided to do this.
This is gonna be nice
once I get done with it.
Sometimes I wonder
why I ended up
with the interests
that I have.
I have two brothers.
They've hunted,
but they're not--they're not
hunters, you know.
They didn't stick with it.
I'm the youngest,
and my next brother's
seven years older than I am.
And so when they would go
to these horse shows,
I'd have to go with them.
I always competed.
You know, it was a competition
thing--cutting.
But half an hour before
it was time for me
to go and show my horse,
it was--I'd come back, do it,
and then I was gone again.
It's like my heart was
in the woods.
I couldn't even begin
to describe myself
without talking at length
about being outdoors.
Just such a big,
massive part of who I am.
All right.
Let's eat some dinner
before I hit the sack.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- bad news.
We got like--[exhales deeply]
I don't know.
It looks like from here
four to six inches
of snow last night.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
so I waited
till the last moment.
We got this snow, and it
looks like it's not gonna stop.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
it is time to get
my ass in gear
and get some warmth
in my shelter.
I mean, it's necessary now.
♪ ♪
where is the most insulation
in your house?
Not in your floor.
It's not in your walls.
It's in your roof and
your attic because heat rises.
And so for me,
I'm gonna build the insulation
where the heat is gonna go.
Okay, the rest of the limbs,
we're just tossing on,
face-down,
♪ ♪
with insulation--
that's the stick parts.
I'm trying to finish up
the door.
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
that just kind of makes it
a little more serious now.
♪ ♪
gotta get everything
going, man.
♪ ♪
snow days, man.
Remember sledding? As a kid?
♪ ♪
and coming in,
and mom having hot chocolate?
♪ ♪
got, like, cookies or whatever,
walking in?
[chuckles]
holy cow, that was--
that was awesome.
♪ ♪
this shelter's 95% done,
which for me means done.
And so I feel like
I'm ready for winter.
♪ ♪
just gonna get out
of these wet-ass clothes.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- oh, good morning.
It's getting light later
and later in the morning.
I mean, I understand that's how
it works this time of year.
But.
♪ ♪
at some point, winter is here,
and plant foods are not.
So like to have a big,
ol' gathering day.
Gathering has really been
my bread and butter out here.
Haven't had much other option.
[chuckles]
apparently, I can't fish.
But, you know, we all have
to have a weakness.
And to be fair,
it's not like my site
was exactly
a fisherman's paradise here.
♪ ♪
fishing this site
is incredibly challenging.
The fish that I do have access
to are going to be very small.
I'm getting to that point
where I know my body fat
is getting low, because
I'm mildly hungry all the time.
My body is telling me,
"you definitely need calories."
pretty sure this a good, solid
half a can, which is my base.
I have to get that in a day.
That's 500 calories.
I should gather three
or four days' worth.
So we're gonna go
a little further up field.
Traditionally,
with modern hunter/gatherers,
up to 80% of the caloric
intake comes from gathering.
It comes from plants.
It's an underappreciated
caloric source.
So this is the landscape
at the moment.
And I am seriously
digging roots
out of a patch in the snow.
More solomon's seal.
This one is a big root.
Look at the size
of this guy down here.
Oh, it's a good-size one.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
time to see if we can
figure out how to get back,
'cause it's starting to spit
rainy, snowy stuff as well,
which is gonna get really
unpleasant really quickly.
[crunchy footfalls]
I really haven't come down
this side before.
So I'm trying to decide
if I go up.
I'm gonna give it a go.
I'm gonna--'cause I'm kind of
skirting the edge of the creek
right now.
I'm gonna hop up--
let's go to that second ridge
over here.
Ooh.
Where are we?
Um, I don't know
what that low point is,
so I'm gonna go see.
So we've gotten quite
a long way from the creek.
♪ ♪
you must be *bleep* me.
I have no idea where I am.
♪ ♪
oh, no.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[sobs]
♪ ♪
let's walk.
Let's get to our last spot.
Let's make some progress.
I am guessing
we must be getting back
closer to the lake,
'cause for a while there,
the forest was--
I mean, it wasn't open.
It was still very dense timber.
However, there was a lot less
of the--of the, you know,
blown-down timber.
[sniffles]
pretty sure we're coming up
somewhere
on the lake at this point.
Hello, basket tree willow.
It's weird what
your brain remembers.
But that means we're close.
This is great.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
we're back at the lake.
This is where the little creek
comes out.
♪ ♪
feels good to be home.
♪ ♪
so this is today's haul.
It's about three cans'
worth of cranberries,
highbush cranberries,
small sack of rosehips,
a surprise sack of greens.
So those are watercress.
Actually found
some watercress greens.
And then a reasonable
sack of roots.
I mean, the calories
I've brought back with me--
maybe--
♪ ♪
they probably just barely
make up what I put out.
That's not the equation
you're looking for. [chuckles]
♪ ♪
I'm really starting to notice
the lack of calories.
It's really starting to affect
my performance
and what I'm capable of doing.
Just wish I could
catch some fish.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
I don't know.
So good.
Hey, the boat's still there.
Decided it's time
to go boating.
Okay, here we go. The ol'...
♪ ♪
the butt will most certainly
not be dry.
It'll be ice *bleep* cold.
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
I want to catch more fish.
I need to get
a surplus of calories.
♪ ♪
okay.
Let's go fishing.
[soft dramatic music]
back home in alaska, I was in
a long-term relationship
with a woman who had a
young daughter named jordan.
So jordan and I
had this motto,
just that we never give up,
no matter what we're doing.
And so when I have
tough times out here,
my mind immediately
goes to her.
And it's kept me going,
thinking about her
when times get tough,
and what she would say.
I'm exactly stubborn
and resilient.
I don't give up.
♪ ♪
[thump]
[metallic clang]
yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes.
♪ ♪
yes, yes.
♪ ♪
holy *bleep*.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
here we go.
♪ ♪
second one.
♪ ♪
yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yes.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
check that out.
Two of them.
♪ ♪
two rainbows.
♪ ♪
totally happy about that.
I am a vegetarian no longer.
♪ ♪
[bear breathing]
[branches rustling]
- I heard something big
out there.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[wood snaps]
can't see anything out here.
♪ ♪
[wood clatters]
♪ ♪
well, I heard something
big out there,
but couldn't see anything.
By the time I got out of
my sleeping bag and got out,
it was--whatever
it was was gone.
I'll look around tomorrow and
see if I can see any tracks.
Back to bed.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
I didn't sleep at all last
night, hardly.
Gonna go down to the
lake shore and then come back.
♪ ♪
so I just walked down
to the beach,
and there's fresh bear tracks
coming right
across my log here.
Walking right down
the beach here.
So you can tell
it's a black bear,
because a grizzly, the front
of the pad here's straighter,
and you can draw
a straight line from this side
to this side
without cutting this toe here.
With this track,
if you draw a straight line,
you're gonna cut this toe,
so that's a black bear.
And that's a decent-size bear.
Yeah, that's a pretty good-size
bear.
So, I just want to--with
those bear tracks on the beach,
I just want
to make--walk back here
and make sure there's nothing
been poking around the cache.
♪ ♪
oh, *bleep*. There's bear
tracks right freakin' here.
♪ ♪
like, right through camp.
So there's the shack,
right through here.
♪ ♪
and here's bear tracks.
♪ ♪
that little bastard.
The cache looks like
it's still--I mean,
the smoker looks like
it's still intact.
I brought all my meat
and stuff inside there
'cause I thought
it would be pretty safe.
This bear walked right--
let's see where he went.
That is no good. We don't want
bears walking through camp.
Looks like he may have
walked down the beach,
and then just came back
right through here.
Kind of in between camp
and the smoker.
I don't know how he didn't
smell that stuff in there.
Man, that was--
that was just lucky.
[sighs]
he'll be back.
We ain't seen the last
of boo-boo.
♪ ♪
- so been a really
yucky night.
I have a really strong belief
and mindset,
and that's what I try to do,
you know, with my encounters
with a grizzly bear--
is every time I--
every time
it happens,
I try to mentally think
about the situation again
and change my mindset
to handle it differently
next time.
So maybe I need
to do that with, you know,
fishing and snaring,
and whatever.
Just stop thinking about
the things that I can't do,
and really start focusing on
what I might be able to do. So.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
ready to check some snares.
I feel hungry.
Really hopeful that there's
something in my snares today.
♪ ♪
the scary things
I've dealt with in my life,
I can definitely recover
from a grizzly bear.
For sure.
When I was a kid,
we lived a lot in safe houses,
and I was just always
running around in the woods.
I was trying to escape from,
you know, a bad
childhood environment.
Any bunny there?
I've always felt
a little bit alone.
I had my children very young,
and tried to make
a home for them,
but never really felt like
any place was home for me.
When I was very young,
I lived in a foster home.
It's just kind of always
been everything that I do,
I've taught myself.
Yeah, I think they're too big.
That's scary
when you're a kid.
So I can go through
a scary situation,
and it may shock me
for a second,
but I'm gonna recover quickly,
and it's not gonna
knock me off my path.
I'm just gonna pick myself up,
and I'm gonna keep going.
♪ ♪
[chuckles]
I got a rabbit.
Oh, my gosh, that is awesome.
Tada.
It's a bunny.
♪ ♪
got him.
So we're gonna go down
and skin the rabbit.
Cautiously.
So that the grizzly bear
doesn't come along.
♪ ♪
I don't want
to waste any meat.
Okay.
Now, it's time to get this
rabbit on here.
♪ ♪
my belly is hungry.
Can't believe I get
to eat bunny rabbit.
Oh, my god, that smells so
good. Oh, my gosh.
♪ ♪
this little, yummy bunny heart
is gonna be so good.
♪ ♪
oh, my gosh.
♪ ♪
oh, my gosh.
That was so good.
[chuckles]
just that alone,
and I'm happy.
Oh, my gosh.
[dramatic music]
♪
[birds singing]
- warmed up quite a bit today.
It wasn't good yesterday.
Yesterday, it was still
pretty damn cold.
All right. Let's see what
we can do about an alarm.
I've got an idea for an
alarm system for a bear.
♪
I forgot I had an air horn.
I think I can rig up
that air horn to wire,
so if something
hits the trip wire,
it'll set the air horn off.
Here we go.
[clears throat]
♪ ♪
[air horn toots]
♪ ♪
got that.
The last thing
that I want to do
is have to deal
with a bear coming in here
wanting to take this meat.
But that's
a very real possibility.
Just a little redneck
ingenuity here.
♪ ♪
I have to be prepared
to engage a bear.
♪ ♪
[air horn tooting]
♪ ♪
I want to win this thing.
I need this meat.
♪ ♪
and so I am willing
to go outside
and deal with a grizzly bear
to protect this meat.
♪ ♪
all right.
So now, ol' mr. Bear comes
snooping around...
[air horn blasts]
[chuckles]
I like it.
That ought to wake me up.
[dramatic music]
♪
- gonna have to ration out the
deer meat that I have left.
So I'm thinking
that's a day right there.
Little bit of fat.
Little bit of meat.
Five or six
little pieces of jerky.
[chuckles]
every day. That's not enough
to keep a fella going.
You don't know how bad
I just want to grab
a big handful of this stuff
and start eating it right now.
But I can't.
I need to catch a damn fish.
♪ ♪
all right.
♪ ♪
figured I'd go fishing.
♪ ♪
I don't know what to think
about the damn fishing.
♪ ♪
it's pretty discouraging
when you go fishing day
after day after day
and can't even
hardly get a bite.
♪ ♪
I'm not eating as much
as I should be
to keep my weight up,
'cause I'm afraid
I'm gonna run out of meat.
[sighs]
that was a crappy cast.
I'd feel a lot better
if I could catch some fish.
I don't want to run
out of food again.
You know, we could be out here
for 100-120 days.
All it takes is one.
All it takes is one
to keep you out here that long.
All right.
Hanging it up.
No fish.
What a surprise,
what a surprise,
what a surprise.
♪ ♪
- I made a raft this morning.
So today is going to be
all about passive fishing.
I'd like to do the trout
line rock this morning.
There is a possibility
it will catch a fish.
And that would extend
my time here that much more.
Which basically means
I have to swim out
into the cold, cold water.
But if I don't take advantage
of all those possibilities,
that's what I'll regret.
[soft dramatic music]
♪
okay, we need to get
two shore anchors together.
And my shore anchors have to be
a significant distance apart.
Otherwise, the lines tangle.
I have the plan to swim out
and anchor a rock
that has a wired eyelet on it,
and basically have
a clothesline system,
where you have
parachute inner cord
that goes thru that eyelet,
and you can just reel your
trout line back and forth.
But I need to swim
this anchor out a long way.
♪
just in case anything
horrific goes on,
I can push the red button
and presumably get saved.
♪
so.
[groans]
let's warm the legs up.
All right, peeps.
We're a go.
Let's do this thing.
All right.
♪ ♪
I'm running out of days
where I'm gonna have
the energy to do projects
like swim 300 feet
out into the lake.
If we can actually get
the trout line in water,
some more calories
coming in.
♪
[life vest self-inflates]
*bleep*.
It inflated on its own.
*bleep*.
[dramatic music]
uh-oh.
♪ ♪
*bleep*.
I think I'm stuck.
♪ ♪
everything is a tangled mess.
*bleep*.
♪
and it's freezing.
*bleep*.
♪ ♪
starting to freeze.
♪ ♪
can't believe this *bleep*.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
my ears are ringing so loudly
that I can't hear the waves.
And I know what this is.
It's a blood pressure issue.
♪
not sure I'm okay.
♪ ♪
let me see
if I can stand up yet.
♪ ♪
there we are.
♪ ♪
just trying to get
all my big arteries...
Over the fire.
I thought I would be
in the water
for about 15 minutes.
♪
I was actually in the water
for 35 minutes.
♪ ♪
♪
♪
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
status update: I have
a rip-roaring fire going,
and I plan to do so
for a number of hours.
♪
wow.
♪
that was cold.
So just thought
I should show you
the inside of my thigh,
from having to be so close
to the fire to warm up.
Yep.
Lightly toasted.
[chuckles]
ouch.
But a small price to pay,
I suppose, for being alive.
There's nothing in the world
that makes you feel more alive
than almost not being.
♪
what happened was
the life vest self-inflated,
and it tangled
in the paracord
that I had on the raft.
By the time I'd gotten
that disentangled
from the life vest,
somehow the line
had wrapped around my ankle
a number of times,
and was so tangled up
I had to take the shoe off
while in the water.
And finally worked out
all of the tangles
so that I could then swim back.
All I ever have to do
is push the red button,
and someone comes
and saves me.
They asked me if I ever felt
like this was life and death,
and I kind of laughed,
and I said,
"no, of course not."
♪
today, it did.
[wind whistling]
[dramatic music]
- some fishing.
Check the fish trap.
[grunts]
♪
any bets on whether
I'm gonna fall in?
♪
ah!
- Ain't nothing for you here,
mouse.
That little mother*bleep*.
I'm killing him.
It's probably
a circulation issue.
- This bear is coming here.
Oh, my god.
[bear growls]
holy *bleep*.
[bear roars]