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March 29, 2024, 09:42:22 AM

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Alone (reality TV survival show)

Started by Twit 2, March 24, 2021, 11:51:44 PM

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Poobum

Amazing how it shows how precarious surviving can be and that there's a reason we went round in groups. The guy starving to death even whilst
Spoiler alert
eating his way through a whole fucking moose
[close]
has always stuck with me, cause it's blatantly obvious why when you think about it, but I never would have until it was too late.

Dex Sawash


S5 is people who didn't win earlier series, maybe save that one until you find 1-4 if you care.

Emma Raducanu

I've binged up to Ep 8 season 1 so far. Enjoying it, though the first episodes were men shit scared of being eaten by bears and wolves, whereas now it's men crying to the camera about missing their wives. Want the old episodes back. Looking forward to season 2.

gib

Took me a while to work out that the format is pretty clever tv for the age. It's as if they've looked at the appeal of youtube in general and focussed on the survival experts subgenre and seen a place where tv can build on that and throw in something on top that you wouldn't get with youtube. So it's like a watching a bunch of those youtubers except the incidental music is more professional and of course their stories, although separate, are linked by competition aspect.  Rather than have a narrator, the tv show part limits its reach to funding the setup and editing the best bits to tell stories. Yes, you get occasional "facts" shown as text but these are sometimes not quite right, so i like to think of these as glancing down at the comments section.

They really don't need to mess with the format. I'd rather see a broader range of environments, that's the only variation the show needs. I didn't mind the Redemption season at all, seeing somewhere new massively outweighed not seeing new people. Season 7 seems to have some shite Alone's little brother sideshow tagged on the end, it concerns me that there's some pressure to keep it fresh in some way.

Dex Sawash


S6 has  become a it too murdery on the cute furry things for me. Even the fish are ramping up the blood/guts.

Twit 2

Finished season 2.
Spoiler alert
Interesting that runner up carried a lot of anger/frustration and tapped out on a breakdown. Winner was goofy and had a sense of humour, same as Alan from season 1.
[close]
. Loving s3 Patagonia so far!

checkoutgirl

Watched series 1 a few weeks ago after Noodle Lizard mentioned it, very good. I think I've got the jist of it so won't bother with any more. Still good though, like what reality TV is supposed to be like. As long as people are trying to achieve something worthwhile, what I consider to be worthwhile, I'm all for reality TV. 98% of reality TV shows do not meet these criteria unfortunately.

All bravado aside, I wouldn't begrudge anyone tapping out when they've felt the breath of a bear a few feet from them in the dead of night with just a few milimeteres of canvas to protect them. That must be a concern for the producers, contestant ripped apart and eaten by bears and wolves.

Dex Sawash

Quote from: gib on May 06, 2021, 10:09:21 PM
. Season 7 seems to have some shite Alone's little brother sideshow tagged on the end, it concerns me that there's some pressure to keep it fresh in some way.

The host is Colby from Survivor and an early episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Larry invites Colby to a dinner with
Spoiler alert
I think it was Susie's parents who are holocaust survivors
[close]
because Larry thinks they will bond over it.

Had to watch S7 on History website. Couldn't adblock it, 15 minutes of cancer drug commercials per episode. I just skipped the Colby bits at the end. Don't think I ever knew that there were musk ox or porcupines in North America.

June 3 is s8 date.

Twit 2

Finished S3, my favourite so far. Good bunch of people, great shelters and bushcraft and a gorgeous location. Found myself getting proper emotional at the end when he was reunited with his wife. Onto season 4!

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: Twit 2 on June 02, 2021, 08:50:48 AM
Finished S3, my favourite so far. Good bunch of people, great shelters and bushcraft and a gorgeous location. Found myself getting proper emotional at the end when he was reunited with his wife. Onto season 4!

Sadly
Spoiler alert
they divorced soon after
[close]
. This seems to be a fairly common occurrence with contestants on this show.

Alan from S1 ended up with Nicole from S2, apparently.

Dex Sawash


New series with new location begins today.

Neomod

Ho Ho,
Spoiler alert
real sensitive soundtrack of BBC Death & Horror 'urgent heartbeats' when the guy thought he was having a heart
[close]
attack.

Noodle Lizard

We're trying to bank a few before we really get into this season, so we've only watched the first episode so far. It's great! The location is so beautiful - like Vancouver Island, but not as bleak - and the selection of wildlife they're facing must be the most dangerous yet. Not sure if I have any favourites out of the 4 or 5 we've seen so far, but yer man with the fishing rod and the ability to one-shot a grouse will probably stick around. The wrap-up interview format is far better this time too, I couldn't stand that glowy-teeth garage man from season 7.

The
Spoiler alert
heart attack thing
[close]
was weird and uncomfortable to watch. I don't think he would've gotten very far anyway, his fishing technique was appalling and he waited far too long to start looking for food. Anyone who's seen more than one season of the show should know that fancy shelter comes after all other essentials are taken care of, if at all. Most winners have very minimal shelters, I don't think that's a coincidence.

Dex Sawash


Lady from "Essex" is doing a fake accent?

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: Dex Sawash on June 20, 2021, 01:22:20 AM
Lady from "Essex" is doing a fake accent?

I think it's Exeter, but she mentioned that she was born and raised in the US. That accounts for the muddled accent somewhat, but it's still a bit confusing when it goes completely Welsh.

I'm enjoying this season, but I haven't found anyone I'm really rooting for yet. It's actually been fairly uneventful so far; three episodes in and
Spoiler alert
only one person down
[close]
. From the way they're structuring the episodes (seemingly splitting them into two groups to give them all more airtime), it could be that the bodies really started hitting the floor all at once after the initial couple of weeks.

phes

#46
I'm up to date now, having seen the first three episodes of 8.

First impressions are that daily food is being presented as very, very difficult to come by relative to previous seasons. I think I've seen all characters introduced and so we've seen the first week to fortnight for most contestants. The weather and nature of the shoreline does not seem to suit fishing well at all. Much of the shore is quite featureless, shallow and open to the elements. I've not seen anyone with a gill net yet, possible because of the nature of the waters. In the past they have provided large fishes daily to many contestants. So far I've seen two fish caught. There appears to be little opportunity to catch smaller fish in abundance. When the temperature drops, fishing without a boat will be fruitless. We have only been shown one successful kill of a grouse and no other small mammals. Given they made a point of focusing on the hunting expertise of contestants this suggests to me that we could see faster and more tap-outs with the few who make big kills or are well suited to starving, remaining. The hunting as entertainment thing has always sat a little uneasily with me, but as death and consumption is present and the reality is hidden in most media it seems unfair to single this out for its explicit presentation. These people are carnivores and animals will die to fuel them one way or another.

I have a fairly keen eye for the early tappers after several seasons of this. I had heart attack guy down as an early tapper but mainly because he seemed like a psychological mess. Obviously did not see coming what did and I've no idea how he even made it onto the show. He said his wife and kids have made significant sacrifices for him to be there and he is clearly a total fucking nitwit. The second person I have down as not going to make to cut is the veteran. He's seems to be under the impression that having PTSD and enormous amounts of compressed anxiety and anger is going to work out well when you're isolated with no distractions and no military around you. He's also a perfectionist. He's got Larry and the Mouse written all over him. The one that I was dubious about but now cannot wait to see more of is the woman from Wyoming with the bizarre accent and Queens English. There was a lot of hmmmm'ing coming from my sofa as she listed her academic credentials, but then she went and built that shelter that I've never seen another contestant make and could be a masterstroke. It could also be a convenient bear pit, or a pond, with her inside. Anyway, she seems as tough as nails, digging a house in the ground and eating bugs - shades of Alan. I like the look of Biko, he reminds me of Sam. I feel like he could be a dark horse who maybe has the mentality to just bumble his way through without hitting psychological self destructs. He also said he's basically not allowed to go home because this is his job now.  Like Sam though, his skills are not that advanced and his shelter looks a bit crap.

I am amazed that two contestants (at least) chose to come without ferro rods. They didn't find it easy to make fires in the gentle autumn sun and it's going to get progressively harder with time. That is going to be a real grind.

Kids and commitments all over the shop with these contestants. That's often, but not always a DOA contestant.

All this said, this season could present different problems. As mentioned earlier in the thread, shelters have rarely explicitly been a tap-out reason, except when a contestant has bitten off more than they can chew or when an erect shelter has burned down. One of the few examples I can think of is Sam in S1, who had his resolve worn down by the constant wind howling through and buffeting his abysmal shelter. This could be a season where people are forced to tap out because of inadequate shelters

thugler

Quote from: phes on June 24, 2021, 06:51:58 PM

I am amazed that two contestants (at least) chose to come without ferro rods.

This really surprised me, have they not learned from every other series? Being unable to make fire without faffing with an inconsistent tool, or carefully keeping an ember going never seems like a lot of fun.

Food wise, they really look fucked. All these little tiny plants/roots seem like they'll provide a rather pitiful amount of calories and are barely worth the effort to dig up. Either getting better at fishing, probably with a boat, and sharpish before it gets too cold; or finding something to consistently hunt (or something massive) seems essential. And even once they've caught something they need to keep it away from the bears, and probably get some of it preserved or they're going to be done once the cold sets in.

Pudgy heavy metal guy looks like next to go for me, he's just faffing about too much and seems like he just wants to get on camera. He will be able to hold out for a long time without food though due to his bulk, which was actually a wise move based on previous series. It still annoys me that the guy who won the first series just made his shitty little tent and ate mice and won by living off his fat face.

phes

That was Sam who was eating the mice, wasn't it? All that effort expended trying to catch 50 calories. A fools errand. He came second, which was a magnificent effort considering.

I think it'll be quite unpredictable because the predators in this season are going to send people packing. So you're predicting who has the nerve and who will be unlucky with encounters.

The big lad is Biko. I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll go further than his skills suggests. I was quite taken back when he
Spoiler alert
swam half a mile across that lake
[close]
probably because subconscious fatism assumed he couldn't and because it's breathtakingly dangerous 

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: phes on June 24, 2021, 08:40:37 PM
That was Sam who was eating the mice, wasn't it? All that effort expended trying to catch 50 calories. A fools errand. He came second, which was a magnificent effort considering.

He also
Spoiler alert
won the redemption season, seemingly by doubling down on the "go in fat and do nothing" strategy. Fair play, I suppose - it worked, and the only real trouble he seemed to encounter was not being able to shit.
[close]

I'm also baffled by at least two people's choice not to bring a ferro rod. No idea what their game plan is when it starts to get wet, and anyone who's seen the show knows that losing a ferro rod is pretty much an instant game over. Same also goes for building a boat, to be honest - seems like an unnecessary risk to go all in on so soon in the game. And Biko swimming across the lake was just plain stupid, I don't know what his plan was even if he had found anything over there.

phes

Yeah building a boat has been fruitless for most and contributed to their downfall. I don't see this as being a good strategy this time either, unless getting it done so quickly allows him to catch huge amounts of food quickly and before the weather turns. He'll potentially be able to access fish later in the year than anyone without a boat, but his opportunity to do so will be hampered by the weather. Odds on its a waste of time and energy. That chaps justification for not choosing a ferro rod was that he's just as bad at lighting a fire with one as without. But you'll lose infinitely more calories per hour trying with a bow and stick than a ferro rod, and he'll be in much worse physical and mental condition than he would be when practising at home. Just a disastrous decision.

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: Poobum on May 05, 2021, 11:43:46 AM
Amazing how it shows how precarious surviving can be and that there's a reason we went round in groups. The guy starving to death even whilst
Spoiler alert
eating his way through a whole fucking moose
[close]
has always stuck with me, cause it's blatantly obvious why when you think about it, but I never would have until it was too late.

Sorry, just saw this - assuming you're talking about
Spoiler alert
Jordan Jonas in Season 6
[close]
, apparently most of that was in the editing - presumably because there was no real competition between him and the runner-up otherwise. As well as the moose, he was apparently getting plenty of fish and small game like rabbits, though they didn't show any of that. In fact, he was told during a medical visit that he had "too many" rabbits and needed to calm it down a bit due to local hunting regulations or something like that. He's pretty active on YouTube and the Reddit, seems like a very nice and genuine person, and says he understands why they had to make it seem like he was in a more precarious situation than he was.

phes

S08E04, a Fair episode.
Spoiler alert
One tap-out and not a great surprise; Jordon checked the boxes for kid and family at home and unable to function without the constant distraction of relatively trivial projects. Colter's boat has turned out to be really impressive and the best effort I remember, so if he gets a run of fair weather then maybe he'll be able to quickly haul a substantial amount of fish. He's already playing catch-up after eating no meat for two weeks and that bear encounter was a disturbing reminder that storing food he catches could be a bit of an ordeal. Rose looks well on the way out, scrabbling for berries and building rubbish fish traps to sling 6 foot out on a shallow, featureless shoreline. Wasn't she the one attempting the hunting 'grand slam'? This isn't the same experience as getting driven in a 4x4 up alongside a donkey for you to machine-gun. Get to bed. Nate's pier looks like it's going to be smashed to smithereens the first slightly windy night they have. I hope it doesn't as it's always great to see someone try something new. I have really enjoyed the clear thinking of Theresa about building a home and fire that'll be efficient and require the least energy input to maintain a liveable temperature. Two weeks in and we've not seen her look for much in the way of food. If I remember rightly there are small amounts of basic rations, things like pulses and rice that can be chosen from the list of items, so presumably she's surviving on that right now. Not much if anything from Matt, Michelle, Clay and Biko. Two contestants out: Tim, Jordon.
[close]

thugler

Quote from: phes on June 24, 2021, 08:40:37 PM
That was Sam who was eating the mice, wasn't it? All that effort expended trying to catch 50 calories. A fools errand. He came second, which was a magnificent effort considering.

I think it'll be quite unpredictable because the predators in this season are going to send people packing. So you're predicting who has the nerve and who will be unlucky with encounters.

The big lad is Biko. I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll go further than his skills suggests. I was quite taken back when he
Spoiler alert
swam half a mile across that lake
[close]
probably because subconscious fatism assumed he couldn't and because it's breathtakingly dangerous

That was it, sam. I forgot he didn't win, but he annoyed the heck out of me. There have been some contestants who look to have absolutely got food/shelter down very quickly but seem to lose out to boredom, homesickness or just complacency. Then there's others who are so bloody minded they just seem endlessly willing to go on despite how badly things are going.

Noodle Lizard

I called
Spoiler alert
Jordon leaving as soon as it became clear that he was using the show as a sort of love letter to his family/daughter. My wife thought I was being incredibly cynical, but I dunno - after seven seasons, I suppose you just get an instinct for this sort of thing. As with any reality show, people tend to have different (and often self-serving) reasons for taking part, and there are a few Alone archetypes emerging. For instance; if someone starts building an impressive (but not necessarily functional) shelter or nonessential item before even finding a consistent food source, chances are they have a bushcraft course to promote and will likely leave around the halfway point after "accomplishing everything they set out to accomplish". Then there's people like the one who climbed a mountain to promote awareness of suicides among veterans, then tapped out immediately afterwards. The cynical part of me thinks Jordon was a mixture of the two - it all felt a bit rehearsed.
[close]

I dunno how many episodes there are in this season, but four in there's still no one I'm especially rooting for. It seems like a pretty weak cast, honestly; nobody as immediately likeable/impressive as Callie from 7, or as manically entertaining as Dave Nessia from 3/5, or as fascinating and hard-as-nails as Jordan or Roland. Perhaps COVID impacted the casting process somewhat and they just took a bunch of runner-up applicants for past seasons?

phes

Easily the worst episode (s08e05) I've seen. Just total wasters from start to finish. Urgh just die
 

Twit 2

I've just finished season 4 and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I found the macho Canadian brothers who won it intensely annoying, though. I kinda admired their tenacity but they were a pair of graceless, charmless dickheads. I was hoping the husband and wife team would win, they were a lully couple.

Dex Sawash

Just watching to marvel at Theresa's eyebrows at this point.

Noodle Lizard

This season (8) is the first one I've not bothered to keep up with. Got an episode or two ready to go but just can't be arsed with it. I don't know if it's the hunting/fishing restrictions, the location or the B-team contestants - it's not holding my interest at all, and can be actively dull. Feels like a chore to get through.

phes

Yes it was a bit of a chore mid-season, but, things have taken a bit of a turn in the last couple of episodes and my hopes for a good season are creeping back up