[walthamstow]

A recent series of Alone was won by a guy from Goose Bay, Labrador. To my ear, as a Brit, it just sounds Irish, right down to saying 'tree' for 'three'. I can only imagine that's where the initial settlers were from and the isolation meant it never changed much.

[unsupp0rted]

Spoilers! That season/series was a really fun watch.

In previous seasons/series they didn't have the formula down yet, so 2/3rds of the episode were one literally starving person after another, just sighing into a camera about how hungry they are, how cold it is, and how nothing is changing.

Whereas in this one some people did incredibly well, others tapped out after setbacks, illness, or made thinly-veiled excuses about illness (even though they just lost the drive to stay in it). 5/5 would recommend.

[walthamstow]

Great show. There were some series which were a bit sad and just became about who was the poorest and most desperate to stick it out for 500k.

[WalterBright]

Being cold, miserable, lonely, wet, dirty, uncomfortable, and hungry for 60 days just seems hellish. And then, as #2, you came away with nothing.

The curious thing is they all claim to be survival experts, but they don't know how to build a proper fireplace (either burning down their shelter or asphyxiating themselves). None of them who used a fish net would take it out of the river during a storm, so it isn't destroyed. And there were always contestants who would spend all their calories building a log cabin, and then starvation would force them out.

[unsupp0rted]

I suspect the showrunners intentionally put in people who are bad at survival or mentally/emotionally weak (which comes out during internal testing), so that they can eliminate a few people in the early episodes.

You want at least one or two people to hear a bear and tap out in ep 1 or 2. And it has to be guys tapping out: if you include women, they have to be the hardiest contestants, so they don't tap out too early.

[AngryData]

That is my biggest problem with these survival shows. So many claim to be skilled survivalists but then make elementary mistakes on the regular. And then people with a year in boyscouts worth of knowledge are touted as survival geniuses as they starve.

That said I haven't watched the newer Alone seasons so maybe they got a few better people. They definitely do throw a few people in that they expect to fail though.