Checked Spectrum's description of next week's ep and it isn't labeled as a season finale so hopefully, it ain't over yet. I would be very surprised if four people go out in one episode. Biko or Clay for the win! By the way, Biko has apparently lost over 50 pounds but he still has a good-sized gut on him.
I agree but . . . when you come across something that size one's first instinct (especially if you've never seen one before) is not going to be "hmm, let me see, should I stay quiet and still and see where it's going?". Even though I knew what to do, the first time I saw a bear my mind served up exactly one thought, very loudly - RUUUNNNNN!!! If I had a noisemaker in my hand at the time I'm pretty sure it would have gone off before I realized I had fired it. Btw, yes the grizzly bear hunt has been illegal here since 2017 but the people that guide for a living are trying hard to get it reversed. The argument is that they only kill about 250 a year which doesn't make a dent in the population. That's true but I used to know a guide for a hunting lodge and his customers were all Russian oligarchs and high ranking Chinese government officials. They enjoyed sipping expensive champagne and munching on caviar and at some point would pick up a gun and have their picture taken beside the bear my friend just killed for them. Personally, I hope the ban stands.
I'm sure the show gives all the contestants a complete run-down on how to best contend with bears and other predators. No one wants to have to deal with dead people and lawsuits. The old show Wipeout was recently resuscitated on MTV and someone had a heart attack and died running the course. I'm amazed it never happened before considering how out of shape so many are. Don't know what the fallout was, though.
Yes, the bear ban is very controversial and many people believe was manipulated and enacted unfairly. Obviously, a lot of livelihoods were damaged. I've seen few of them up close while fishing in Alaska and it's unnerving.
Theresa got her burns while trying to warm herself back to normal. When your core temp gets low enough (below 95*F) all sorts of things change and hypothermia sets in. She was close to a small fire while trying to warm her entire body, including the core temp, which is not easy to warm. Theresa was doing the right thing in getting warmth, but she certainly could have done it better than buring herself in the process. Once she was frigid enough to start losing function and control, she probably had less sensitivities to the cold as well, thus she may not have felt the heat in a timely manner. I have been VERY cold on many occasions. So cold that I could not feel the hot mug in my hands, at least not hot in a burning way, yet the person who delivered it to me could not hold said hot mug without wearing gloves. Theresas burns may be the thing that sends her home because of what happens to the immune system when the body's temp remains low. A sustained low body temp lends itself to infections and other bacterial issues. If the burns become troubling in ANY manner other than simple discomfort, she may be in real danger of going septic. During her warm up period I heard Theresa say she really wanted to crawl into her sleeping bag. Unfortunately this would not work because her core temp was low enough that she was not generating useful heat. Theresa would have been much better off doing a few of these things. 1) Exercise to generate body heat. This is a tough balancing act because she does not have adequate food to replenish what she will use while exercising. She would also have to exercise somewhat carefully so she does not break out in a sweat and cause her body to begin cooling itself again...so care must be taken with this approach, but it works well if done right. If you have plenty of food to restore your used energy then vigorous exercise is actually a good way to heat yourself up, dry off somewhat, and get back to a more normal state when you have been cold enough to lower your core temp....like falling into a frigid body of water. 2) Use the warm, or hottish, rocks from around the fire to warm high bloodflow areas. Put a nice hot rock under each armpit, and one in your crotch, while you sit next to the fire, to warm up faster. The blood flowing in these areas will gather heat and distribute it throughout your body far quicker than just sitting near the heat source.....This works wonders to cool yourself too if you use cool objects in the same body areas when overheated. 3) Heat up some liquid and drink it to help get core temps back in line. Warming water and drinking it will work well. With guided exercise, well placed hot stones, and drinking warm water, she would have come around MUCH quicker.
Clay was using the deer skin and head to his best advantage. He was making a head decoy to help disguise himself from the other deer in hopes of drawing them in closer so he can get a better shot...this is smart hunting. The bear, or bears, DO smell the smoking meat. If they are withing about 5 miles of the smoking meat they can smell it. The bears currently have other food sources they prefer so they are not bothering to scent out the smoking meat just yet. When the other meat sources go away the bears WILL come to investigate the smoking meat scents, at which point they will become tenatious in getting at that meat. Just for fun take a look at some videos of bears breaking into cars, dumpsters, storage bins, sheds, and other "locked up" items. When they want in bad enough they are going to try VERY hard to get in.
Day 32. 5 people remain. I think nature's imagination is so much greater than man's, she's never going to let us relax... Oregon Biko has a mouse problem. They're eating better than he is. So he braids his beard. He's lost 60 pounds since starting. Idaho Clay gets approached by a bear while fishing. It got so close he climbed a tree to hide. So he built a leather recliner. While lounging on this recliner he sees his neighbor, Grizz. Holy ****. A bear ran within 10 yards of him. Horrific. UK Theresa is recovering from burning her legs by the fire. She finds the lines she risked her life with to lay are tangled. That upset her. Then she cleaned her camera lenses. That made her happy. So did the beach fish she found. Alaska Colter doesn't need to pee. He needs to sh!t. Checks his fish trap but it's stuck. That's a big waste of para-cord. Penn Rose finds tracks. Bobcat tracks. And her toes hurt. Uh oh. Now her left foot feels dead. Something's wrong. Her stomach hurts. And she can't hear anything. Med check. She's being pulled off the show. Good. Not because i don't like her. I don't want to watch her die. A month of being alone, really alone, might sound appealing to some. It would make me crazy. It's drab. It's dreary. Can't live like that. Not by yourself. Day 37. 4 people remain.
I don't see this going another two episodes. Going to be mass tap outs or medical pull outs next episode
Just checked next weeks TV logs and it appears there won't be an episode, just a big Mountain Men marathon. Will watch last nights ep later today.
Colter is getting really thin. His bushy beard hides his face but when he was standing by the lake there didn't seem to be much left of him. At this point, I think Clay has it in the bag. He's the most nourished and he seems fine mentally. I don't know about Beko. I feel like he's going to tap out soon. I can't believe Theresa looks to be in good as shape as she is. I thought after last week she was done.
Not saying the show's over, just that they seem to be taking a break next week unless it's airing another day.
Quick thoughts. Biko - lots of ankle talk. Could be foreshadowing. Colter - I'm glad they put up a little PSA about the danger to your liver and kidneys when your diet consists of mostly protein. I knew I'd heard this before on various survival shows. Theresa - dead fish whether in the water or on land has got to be dicey. Oh look, another PSA. Rose - hope she still has that foot. She talked a lot about the negative physical effects of food deprivation but left out the part about her mind, particularly her increasing lack of judgement which usually results in disaster. Oh and Wiki says there are 11 episodes for this season, so 3 more left, the last one scheduled for Aug, 19 which jives with no episode airing next week.
The point about Biko's ankle is a good one but it may be a red herring. It looks like the mouse chewed on laces which can be repaired. Having said that, I like Biko's logic for lasting. It's like Muhammad Ali's rope a dope strategy. He knew he wasn't as fast so he became heavier and more able to withstand blows. Biko is doing similar. He's lost 60 pounds here but gained 45 before, so he's down only 15 from his normal weight. We will see how successful it becomes cause he is missing fish in his diet. And I am with you on the dead fish and Theresa. As a teen I lived along a river where fish spawned. You did not eat the dead fish. They were dead because parasites inside killed them. Colter does look really thin. This show is so well edited it provides enough suspense and information to keep you involved. I was really hoping his trap would work. Because it didn't I think he's done.
I don't understand why someone would make the great sacrifice to be on this show when only one of them will get paid anything for all their misery and suffering. The second-to-last person who survives for 64 days gets the same reward as the person who drops out on the second day? Namely, they both get nothing?
It seems wild doesn't it? I never realized how much of an industry there is in it. In season 7 a couple of the finalists were professionals in the survivalist business. If the winner wasn't he should be. He had amazing knowledge and skills. In this season one of the contestants was clearly demonstrating his outdoor carpentry skills for all to see. The show, for some, is wonderful advertisement. But I suspect most love the challenge and thrive in that environment. And if they get paid at the end and get bragging rights or who knows what, that is gravy. Throughout BC there are people who live like this for the joy of it. I even married one of them(long after she realised she could be stranded on a frozen lake and bailed). Maybe they are not as stupidly spare of resources as these folks are but you can't get them near a town and running water. BC is littered with iconoclastic loners who can't be reached except by the hardest ways. I know someone who has spent years making his home out of spare items and his own cut trees. To him this is the proper way to be in alignment with the earth. Getting him near more than four people at a time does not happen very often. I'm sure there are lots of others in places across North America. I see the show as a way to showcase the skills these people have. And watch them freak out sometimes. Btw In Canada the next episode isn't until August 11.
I would just go on the show and then quit after the third day. That way I would get maximum fame and gain along with minimum pain. Let the other nine suckers fight it out among themselves. If these people really don't care about being paid for participating, then the prize amount should be lowered to $100,000. They supposedly just care about being famous.
It doesn't seem like the people who participate on this show are the same type as the fame chasers you find on Survivor, Big Brother, etc. You really need some serious skill sets to survive alone in the wilderness, not to mention a desire to live apart from modern society. There have always been folks like this. They just never had a TV show documenting the struggle with a big payout at the end.
No one that's ever been on this show is famous. I've watched every episode and I'm not sure i can name one contestant before this season. In fact, if you look at some of my earlier seasons reviews i rarely referred to any one of these by name. It was always the Skinny Guy. Or the Cusser.
We have nowhere else to go... this is all we have Day 38. 4 people remain. Oregon Biko is not having fun. No sh!t, it's 10°. It'll be minus 40 soon. Good thing he has a butt ton of cut wood in his cabin. He makes an awesome gill net. If i didn't know better... he looks... happy. Until he has a bear encounter. And he admires his new skinnier self. Alaska Colter finds dead birds in the lake. So he ate one. Nope. Full of worms. Wait... ate it anyway. He too makes a gill net. He wakes in the middle of a windy night to check his boat. He catches two monster fish using his homemade boat and gill net. Good thing. He looks like death. UK Theresa begins her slow decent into starvation. Again goes in the water for her fish basket. But the winds caused the waves to be so intense it busted up her line. She seems pretty okay with it. Almost normal. Idaho Clay finds a gigantic chunk of moss. It'll make a good target for his bow. Now...i am not a sport hunter. Don't know much about any of it. But the laundry line gill net thingie he makes is pretty damn creative. Or seems that way. Turns out his gill net retrieval system is a complete and total failure. All it takes is all you got. Day 51. 4 people remain still
