10x02 - Ties That Bind

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I'm gonna do this, man.

I'm gonna do this.

I'm gonna fight this thing
out to the last breath.

♪ ♪

- OK.

Game on.

♪ ♪

- I got him.

Narrator: In "Alone's"
most remote location yet...

- Yes!

Narrator: Ten
participants set out

to survive at all costs.
- [grunts]

- Our goal is stay alive.

♪ ♪

- [inhales sharply] [grunts]

narrator: Battling
extreme isolation...

- There is no camera crews.

You are really alone.

- It'll eat at you, tear you up.

- God, why?

- It's a battle.

Nobody ever comes out the same.

- Oh, man.

- It'd be impossible to.

Narrator: And
fierce predators.

- Some big bear is right
outside my shelter.

- Predators like that
damn sure gonna k*ll you.

- Please don't rip my face off.

[animal growls]

He bit the hell out of me.

Narrator: They'll
endure merciless wind...

- Been over 60 hours,
and it has not let up.

- I can hear the trees
falling down around me.

Narrator: And bitter cold.

- This whole place has
turned into a frozen hell.

Narrator: Last one standing...

- It's a moose. Wow.

♪ ♪

- Whoo!

- No. No.

Narrator: Wins.

♪ ♪

- The significance
of a big game k*ll

is monumental.

♪ ♪

[bleep].

Can't hit a shot you
don't take though.

- OK, now, I will see
if it'll stay floating.

Feels good.

♪ ♪

Bon voyage.

- No, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no.

My quiver came off my bow.

♪ ♪

[bleep].

This is when you really
have to dig deep.

And it ain't OK to give up.

- [laughs] Yes!

Holy shiz-nickels.

Look at all this roe.

Can't waste it.

♪ ♪

[coughs] [retches]

- My intention is to
build a log cabin.

- I know that I will thrive
out here if I'm comfortable.

- It's gonna take a lot of grit

to do what the ten
of us are doing.

And I know I can do it.

Whoo!

♪ ♪

- Day one has just
begun. That's amazing.

I am free! Yes.

I've been waiting for this
right from when I found out.

And it's absolutely amazing.

- There you go.

Now I'm completely alone.

What have I done?

[laughs] [bleep] got real now.

It's real.

- And we are here.

Feel like [bleep]
damn William Wallace.

Freedom! [laughs]

- It's time for
me to get started.

I'd love to soak it all in,

but I got a feeling that I'm
gonna have plenty of time

to do that.

- There they go.

Oh, my gosh.

I'm all alone now.

[laughs] It's kind
of good to be alone.

♪ ♪

Huh.

Wow.

I think it got super
real right now.

There's so much going
through my head.

Just feel a little
discombobulated,

if you know what I mean.

You know when they
talk about drop shock?

Someone just got drop
shock, and that is me.

♪ ♪

Huh.

[exhales]

I feel a little overwhelmed...

Too much to do.

♪ ♪

OK. Here I go.

♪ ♪

Come on, Ann. You can do it.

You can do it.

I'm gonna put my
stuff over here.

Jeez, do I have the
stuff? Holy buckets.

It's like Christmas.

So I'm gonna...

I'm gonna set up my shelter
somewhere near here.

I guess you guys are back there,

just thinking this is
frickin' hilarious.

[laughs] Oh, my gosh.

I'm just kind of anxious

and a little
concerned about food,

but the first day, I think
getting the shelter up

is what I'm most
concerned about.

And remember, I'm
a survival expert.

Don't try this at home.

♪ ♪

Get those arms out. OK.

Now I've got the squirrel.

I am a organic farmer.

Farming, it's a lot of work.

It's sunup to sundown.

Every year is different.

Some years, you
have a lot of rain.

You might have an early frost.

You got to think on your feet.

Ingenuity is my secret power.

Look at. Do you see my coat?

I coated that in birch oil.

It's waterproof. I
mean, this coat...

Oh, it's like cigar.

It's like... it smells
really good, I think.

I've got a lot of
things going for me.

I'm a quick shot with a bow.

I can tan hide, smoke hides.

I know what I'm doing when
I get into the animal.

I know all my plants.

Right here, staghorn sumac.

I'm small.

My metabolism is kind of light.

The shelter is
pretty much finished.

I live in a wonderful
place with a wonderful guy

named Tom.

- Hi!

- Oh, there you are,
cleaning a northern.

My daughter, her
name is Saffron.

Sometimes, she's my rock.

She's her own
independent person,

and she's doing pretty well.

The money would
bring opportunities.

You don't make a lot
of money farming.

It would be nice to get
a better water system

and be able to hire
someone to work our store.

I am 56, even though my mind

just says I'm still 20.

That's a pretty nice shrimp.

People see, like,
this older lady.

They don't see
what's underneath.

I've been training for this
basically my whole life.

Never leave home without an axe.

I've always been driven.

I'm competitive,

and I'm gonna be there
for as long as it takes.

♪ ♪

OK.

More boughs.

I think it's gonna
be enough for tonight

because I have stuff to do.

OK.

Well, packed up.

I got my bow.

I'm just gonna
walk around and see

what's going on
out here, you know?

♪ ♪

Found some berries.

I see a lot of different
types of berries.

There's more hedgehog mushrooms.

And the different
types of mushrooms

and other starchy
vegetables are out there.

There's another one. Yay.

Things are looking up.
So many possibilities.

My survival philosophy is trying

to become part of the landscape.

If you're not fighting it,
it's actually less work.

Oh, my.

I found bear scat.

♪ ♪

Somebody else is
here besides me.

♪ ♪

Once I get my shelter up
and it starts to turn cold,

I do plan on bear hunting here.

I'm very excited that
I see animal sign

♪ ♪

I'm wore out.

Well, I'm gonna try
cooking these mushrooms.

Not much of a first
meal, but there's more

where they came from up there.

Getting big game,
that would be awesome.

But big game
doesn't just show up

at your doorstep, you know?

It's gonna be a lot of work.

And I am just psyched.

I think that looks done.

♪ ♪

Mmm.

♪ ♪

They're good.

♪ ♪

Can't believe how
tired I am. Wow.

I got to go to bed.

♪ ♪

- Oh, yeah, a bar of soap

would definitely be handy here.

Nice and careful.

These rocks are a
little slippery.

♪ ♪

Oh. Whoo-hoo! Yeah.

Yeah. Whew.

[grunts] Yeah.

♪ ♪

That'll let you
know you're alive.

Ooh.

Cleaned all the private parts.

No bragging rights
getting out of here, whoa.

Wow, that smells so much better.

You need to get the
body clean, you know?

Just like home, eh?

We're going hunting.

Name's Wyatt Black.

We're good.

I'm from Ontario. I have
a contracting company.

There's dinner right there.

The thing that
makes me best suited

for this challenge
is my diversity.

I'm not a master of anything...

A point over.

But I'm good at a lot of things.

There we go.

I can sh**t a bow.
My hunting is good.

Camouflage.

I've got my own honeybees.

I preserve. I dry.

I smoke.

The boreal forest is like home.

This is my world.

I grew up hunting,
fishing with my father

and my grandfather.

It's the same forest that
I go moose hunting in

every year.

I'm gonna find everything
I need to find.

I'm gonna find the fish.

I'm gonna find the moose.

I'm gonna find the squirrels.

If I can't win this show
here, I can't win it anywhere.

It's my element.

Love you.

I'm a proud father of
two wonderful boys.

I've got a beautiful wife.

I've been blessed, but I
have not left a legacy.

I would like to open
a wilderness school.

So that 500 grand,

I'd like to sink into
something that could

truly make a bunch of other
people's lives better.

My humble abode.

I've been cold before.

I've been hungry before.

The hardest thing I am gonna
face out here is being alone.

I plan on being out
here till the end.

Keeps that fire
going good for us.

And it ain't done until they
hand me a check for 500 grand.

♪ ♪

And we need to get fishing.

Too much screwing around
here, boys and girls,

too much screwing around.

Think we'd better get
this damn gillnet tied.

♪ ♪

Fishing is gonna
be my number one.

I know where the
fish are gonna be.

Lake trout are gonna
be on the shoals.

The pike are gonna
be in the shallows.

The walleye and stuff
are gonna be following.

If there's gonna be a stream,

the whitefish are
gonna be going up them.

I grew up catching those fish.

First set of strands.

The priority will
be to build a rod,

build a gillnet, build lures.

First one.

I need to get a
gillnet built quick.

It fishes 24/7 for me.

Keep it at a nice, small size.

I'm hungry.

Help me out, eh?

I'll be gathering food to start.

Building my permanent shelter
will be a methodical thing,

a slow thing.

For right now, my temporary,
that's all I need.

♪ ♪

I got lines blowing
every direction.

I will build my shelter
to be able to handle

the winds that I know
I'm gonna get here.

But I figure I got
a couple more weeks.

♪ ♪

We're getting there.

Out here, I know
that it's gonna be

a step after step
after step process.

And I'm good at that.

I'm like the tortoise. Slow
and steady wins the race.

Because I hate to
quit on anything,

I think I got everything
that it's gonna take

to win this.

Boy, I hope this works.

[urine trickling]

- I don't believe
I just did that.

[laughs]

Trail camera rules 101.

Oh, my God.

I always pee outside my tent
first thing in the morning.

It's like a ritual.

Oh. Oh, my God.

[bleep] embarrassing.

All right.

Well, it won't happen tomorrow.

[laughs]

♪ ♪

So I'm cutting my struts.

Definite strategy
of mine is to focus

on building my permanent shelter

as soon as possible,

and I aim to create
a strong one here.

OK, gonna put the roof on.

♪ ♪

Being just shy of six foot

means that I cannot
live in a tiny shelter

for a long period of time.

It's absolutely vital
that I build a shelter

that I can at least stand up in.

I got to give myself space,

but I've got to give
myself an insulated space.

It's getting there.

It's like, oh, yes.

This is almost home.

Good morning from
Thunderhawk Mountain.

I live in the
Adirondack Mountains

with my fiancé,
Brian, with the dogs,

with the chickens,
with the ducks,

just keeping it simple.

[laughs]

When I was young, I was a model,

and it was an incredible
time, 1980s in London.

And I traveled the
world. It was incredible.

But it was a limited lifespan.

So I started working
behind the camera,

becoming a child
and baby wrangler

on film, photographic,
and advertising shoots.

♪ ♪

Got it.

As my children became older,

I had more time to myself.

Yeah!

And that's what
really started me off

on becoming more interested
in wilderness survival.

Oh, yes.

I started honing my
skills in fishing,

harvesting animals,
foraging wild edibles,

building shelters,
and traditional

fire-starting skills
as fast as I could.

There we go.

I'm also co-owner of Thunderhawk

Living History
and Nature School.

We teach 18th-century history,

the French and Indian w*r,
the Revolutionary w*r,

in a fully immersive state
of period-correct personas

and accouterments.

With life, there are things
that you have to do first.

You put yourself second.

Other people come first,
and especially as a woman,

too, you know.
I've been a mom.

I've been a wife.
I'm a partner.

I'm an owner of a business.

I sign up to "Alone," all
that goes out the window.

It's all about me, and
that is incredible.

I've been trying to find my
inner peace my whole life.

I now have that time to
become whatever it is

I wanted to become.

I know it's gonna
kick me in the a*s,

but I'm [bleep] doing
it and I'm gonna embrace

every single second of it.

All right.

Gonna start the walls.

Onwards and upwards.

♪ ♪

My strategy is to live as close

as possible to
someone who was coming

into this area in the 1700s.

My skills as a living historian

of knowing how people
survived gives me

so much more access to what
it is that surrounds us,

whether it be on the
ground, under the ground,

in the water, in the trees.

Looks pretty awesome.

The one thing that I
am really worried about

is that it's gonna be
a really tough winter.

There we go.

Being so close to the Arctic,
the wind from the north

can get to 120
kilometers an hour.

And if my shelter is
not built impenetrable

from the wind, I'm
kind of screwed.

Things are looking good.

♪ ♪

- Yesterday, I made
the move over here.

So today, I want to focus
on trying to find some food.

[mosquito buzzing]

And there's a mosquito.

I got the little son
of a [bleep] too.

See that?

♪ ♪

Top priority right now is food.

Since I've been
here, I've only ate

six handfuls of berries.

I'm gonna go out here and
try to do some hunting.

My biggest challenge out
here is just gonna be

the learning curve.

I've never hunt any
of these animals.

I've never seen
any of this flora.

I've never dealt with any of
this kind of extreme weather.

I mean, I have never
heard of Saskatchewan,

coming from Georgia, never.

This is my bushcraft
toilet. Now just hold on.

And I'm gonna need a little
privacy for this one.

I'm a carpenter.

I can build anything
from anything.

Pretty much a jack
of all trades.

Got our pump drill set.

I've been preparing for this
basically my whole life.

My tracking, hunting,
fishing skills

came deep from childhood.

Got us a bass. Looky there.

Growing up, we had
no power, no water,

for years and years and years.

And there you have it, fire.

We went out and
collected rainwater

and had to hunt and
forge and stuff for food.

There's the rat trap.

He's gonna come in
here, and he's gonna

get right in... there it is.

Got him.

Look.
- Wait for me.

- I've got a beautiful wife,

five kids that are just amazing.

But the most profound
reason that I'm doing this

is for my son, Nikolai.

There you go.

He's actually on
the autism spectrum.

With $500,000, I would
be able to give him

all the therapy he needs to
help him lead a better life.

This is seriously a
once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity to change my life,

change my family's life,

and I will give it


I love you, Hazel.

Damn, man, I forgot
my orange paracord

to mark my trails.

[sighs]

But I'm here.

I guess I got to keep going.

It's hard to follow your
own trail through here

because, shortly after
you make a trail,

this moss...

And all this Labrador tea
covers it right back up.

♪ ♪

I've been hunting. Nothing.

I saw a handful of grouse.

That's it.

My hunting skill
is above and beyond

most people where I come from.

This is just... it's a whole
new territory here for me.

I'm trying to... I'm
trying to learn it,

but I've only got so
much weight to lose,

and I've only got so
much energy to burn.

Yeah, I've got to figure out

how to get this
food in, and fast.

All right, so I
went the wrong way.

Once I find the shoreline,
I can find home.

♪ ♪

I don't know how I
got so turned around.

♪ ♪

Hop into another bog here.

Just a... it's knee deep,

and it's hard pushing through.

♪ ♪

I'm so thirsty. I'm so tired.

Looking for anything that
looks any kind of familiar.

Eventually, I have
to hit shoreline.

Ugh.

♪ ♪

How in the hell did
I let this happen?

- I'm lost.

♪ ♪

That's the thing.

This trail looks so familiar.

♪ ♪

But it's not.

I've never been here before.

The shoreline could be
anywhere around here,

or it could be a
hundred miles that way.

I'm trying to look
through the trees

to see where an opening is at,

but it's so damn
thick, you can't tell.

♪ ♪

I'm hoping to come
across any kind of track

or sign that I've
been here before.

♪ ♪

Seriously exhausted to the point

my body's giving out on me.

♪ ♪

I'm so exhausted,
I can barely stand.

My whole body's shaking.

♪ ♪

I was worried about
this from the beginning.

I didn't want to get lost,

but I forgot a paracord
to mark my [bleep] trails.

I'm not thinking straight.

♪ ♪

I'm exhausted...

♪ ♪

Thirsty.

♪ ♪

I just want to get
back to my shelter.

♪ ♪

Oh, [bleep].

I think I found the shoreline.

♪ ♪

See that big opening?

Oh, it's a beautiful thing.

Oh, it's such a beautiful thing.

This is a trail of mine.

This here's my beach.

Are you [bleep] kidding me?

Are you [bleep] kidding me?

My shelter's right there.

Oh, my God.

♪ ♪

My entire body is exhausted.

♪ ♪

Oh, I'm back at camp.

That's all that matters now.

I'm back at camp.

♪ ♪

[toothbrush squeaking]

- [gargles]

[spits]

How do they look?

Yeah, they're still
all there, anyway,

except for the top of those two.

Yeah.

They were the result of a
hockey puck to the mouth.

Oh, well. That's
the way it is.

Little pain never hurt anybody.

♪ ♪

Got to check our gillnet.

Hopefully, we got
something in it.

Moved the gillnet.

I think this is the better spot.

♪ ♪

I'm getting hungry.

Come on.

♪ ♪

Nope.

♪ ♪

Damn.

Looks like we're still hungry.

♪ ♪

Pretty disappointing,
to say the least.

But anyway, let's
try a couple casts

out here and see if
we can't catch a fish.

♪ ♪

It's windy, but
we can handle it.

Let's see what we
can make happen.

My stomach's roaring at me
like a darn old grizzly bear.

♪ ♪

And there it hits. Feed me.

Feed me. Feed me.

Feed me. Feed me.

Still working on blueberries.

No protein yet.

♪ ♪

The wind just keeps
picking up and up and up.

♪ ♪

In the boreal forest,
you have to expect

to be in incredible wind.

♪ ♪

You prick.

It's absolutely brutal.

Yeah.

All I'm gonna do is
[bleep] up my line.

♪ ♪

And I think we're
gonna call it that.

♪ ♪

Yeah, that's a good,
strong wind, that.

♪ ♪

Not much to do on a
night like tonight...

♪ ♪

Other than just hunker down.

♪ ♪

Phew.

Yes, sirree.

We're in for a long night.

♪ ♪

It's absolutely crazy.

There's trees blowing
down everywhere.

[wind whooshing]

I didn't think it was
gonna get any worse,

but it is certainly
getting worse.

Like, this is beyond wind.

♪ ♪

[wind howling]

♪ ♪

It's been impossible to sleep.

It's like a freight train.

My shelter is
attached to two trees,

and I can literally...
When I'm laying there,

I can feel the
roots underneath me

moving as the wind's blowing.

If one of these
trees goes, I'm done.

There's no chance of people
coming to get me tonight.

There is just
absolutely no chance.

♪ ♪

We're not done with this yet.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Good morning.

Not much of a good morning.

Actually pretty [bleep].

[sniffles]

It's been gusty all night.

You'll hear my tarp
going. There you go.

[tarp rustling]

Just kind of like that...

All night.

[yawns]

At some point, we'll
check the gillnet again.

And sooner or later, I'm
gonna be so tired that...

So anyway... [grunts]

Get this day on the go.

♪ ♪

The wind has gone down.

It was absolutely
crazy last night.

We need to fix that.

Think I might fall
a couple trees,

lean them up on the shelter...

Bit of a wind block.

OK, first things first.

Let's go check that gillnet.

Here we go. I need a fish.

♪ ♪

Oh, I see a fish.

Oh, that's a nice,
big pike. I can tell.

Oh, baby!

Happy dance. Happy dance.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah! h*, pike!

[laughs] Finally got a fish.

Oh, boy.

[exhales]

Ah, we are having
fish for breakfast.

Oh, yeah.

I haven't eaten,

other than a handful of berries,

so this fish means
the world to me.

Now, how is that?

I am stoked.

It's a sign that
the gillnet works.

♪ Protein coming my way ♪

What a game changer.

Make all the efforts worthwhile.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna say I can get eight

to ten meals out of that guy.

♪ ♪

I know now that I can do this,

and I know now there will
be many more fish coming,

and I just can't wait
to catch another one.

♪ ♪

That is a piece of
heaven, right there.

Oh, my God.

Oh. [laughs]

That is absolutely incredible.

I could easily eat that
for the next couple months.

[laughs]

♪ ♪

- Here they come.

[geese calling]

The geese are flying south.

There's hundreds of them.

So amazing, all making their Vs.

♪ ♪

- That is unbelievable.

This has been
going on all night.

It's unreal how many
geese there are...

Literally thousands.

♪ ♪

I wish one would land close by.

Those are way too high
to be flinging arrows at.

[laughs]

That's a sign of what's coming.

♪ ♪

- There goes another flock.

♪ ♪

Oh, it's so beautiful.

That's amazing.

♪ ♪

- Have you ever
seen so many geese?

Holy buckets, thousands. Wow.

It's kind of freaky how
many geese are flying by.

I think winter is coming.

I need to get really busy.

♪ ♪

Oh, boy.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna work on my shelter
because of those geese.

OK.

They kind of convinced me
that's what I should do.

I'm gonna start excavating.

It's gonna turn cold and nasty.

The winds will take
a lot of people out.

It's gonna be key to build a
shelter in a protected area.

Oh, my. That one's a biggie.

OK.

♪ ♪

Let's just roll it over here.

♪ ♪

I'm building this in the ground

because I figure it'll
be easier to heat.

OK.

I'm digging down, pulling
out all these rocks,

and burning a lot of calories.

It's taking a lot out of me.

It's starting to
rain a little bit.

Gonna change into
the rain clothes.

I'm not really a fan of
being out in the rain...

Do it enough at the farm.

For my shelter, I am gonna
take one of these trees

and clean it up a little bit

and stretch it
between some trees,

and then I'm just
gonna fill it in

with logs up against
that center ridge pole.

I've always been driven,
type A personality,

first-born, perfectionist.

This will work.

I excelled in school. I
wanted to go to West Point.

I got my senator's
approval. I was accepted.

More sticks. More sticks.

And then, like a month later,

I ended up going
to the mountains

of North Carolina,

and then I found working
on the land as my calling.

Gonna gather some moss.

I just loved it
there, just the plants

and the different species,

and it was all new, and
I just thrived there.

That's my religion. That's
when I feel the best.

We don't make a lot of
money, but we eat great,

and I feel good
about what I'm doing.

I've got to get more moss.

I just want to get
this shelter done.

I want to finish this
thing and get some food.

I've had no luck
getting any fish,

and I'm feeling it.

Oh, my gosh.

Moose poop.

It's really fresh.

♪ ♪

There's a moose here somewhere.

♪ ♪

Boy, that's a pick-me-up.

I want to be out here
as long as I can,

and if I can go get a
moose, then I'd be set.

♪ ♪

It's my saving
grace, right there.

Finish my shelter, and I'm
gonna go moose hunting.

[breathes deeply]

♪ ♪

- I'm working on a
gillnet right now.

Wait a sec.

Let's try to get this squirrel.

♪ ♪

Oh, man, missed that.

Let's try again.

Right here.

Whoa.

That was good.

I have to find my arrows though.

OK.

That's food for today, man.

I grew up in a fishing village,

and you have to hunt,
fish, work the land

to be able to
provide for yourself.

If I have enough food
to keep myself healthy,

I don't know how far I can go.

My name is Tarcisio
Ramos Dos Santos.

My friends call me Taz.

I'm a homesteader,

and I work on a small
farm to sustain myself.

Here's my house.
It's a tree house.

But I grew up in Brazil in
a small fishing village.

My whole childhood was
hunting and fishing

because there was
no running water

or electricity.

Despite all the work,
it was an adventure.

Cheers.

Where I grew up, danger
was around the corner

all the time.

Animal gets inside
but cannot leave.

Anacondas, snakes,
cougar, k*ller bees...

There's thousands
of ways for you

to get injured,
k*lled, poisoned.

So my sense of the woods
and what's around me...

Fresh tracks.

Is pretty high.

[laughs]

I'm also a father of twins.

They live in Brazil.

Although we are so far away,

I'm pretty present
in their lives.

I want to do this because,
in order for my kids

to come and live with me,
I need the financial budget

to give them the
support they need

to have a place to live.

I have what it takes
to not just survive,

but to thrive.

I'm willing to go as far
as I can to win this.

Let's get started.

To survive here long-term,
fishing is so crucial.

I want to increase
my odds to get fish.

So I decide I really
want to make a canoe

to fish in deeper water.

To make a frame, I'm
using spruce saplings,

bigger ones on the
top and the bottom

so we have that weight
to balance it out

not to be tipsy,
and thinner ones

as the stringers in the ribs.

Mmm, let's experiment
a little bit with

making a ring of this spruce.

It's very flexible.

Besides my shelter,

every single
process I have to do

has to take no
more than two days.

That's part of my strategy

because I don't want it to drag.

If it works, great.

Don't, OK, move on to the next.

Because if I spend a
lot of time and energy

creating something,
and then that thing

don't work, it could
be a huge setback.

Long ways to go.

♪ ♪

There's a saying in Portuguese
in Brazil that says...

[speaking Portuguese]

Meaning that, you
know, we need more

than just food to survive.

Good enough for today.

♪ ♪

Your body and your mind
needs to express itself

through creating and creativity.

Almost there.

When I discovered
theater and poetry,

that creative process
really started

opening different avenues
for me to discover the world

and think different ways.

So I left.

I moved from Brazil
to Western Mass.

But being out here in
a survival situation,

putting all my skills together,

the creativity, you know,
allows you to be flexible.

Big challenge is because
I'm using spruce,

and spruce has a
lot of sharp points.

So I have to kind of scrape
and make sure it's smooth

and then use moss
to protect the tarp.

Listening to nature and
learning how this place works

and what it has to offer
and adapting my ideas

have shown me that I have
what it takes to survive,

even in the face of hardships.

Looks pretty good.

I have a canoe. Wow.

And we will see if
it will float well.

Get closer at every step.

Tipsy? Kind of.

♪ ♪

Sturdy canoe.

♪ ♪

Holy cow, it works.

Whoo-hoo! It works.

My canoe works.

It's pretty stable.

I'm happy with this.

A little forward.

[exhales] Guess that's fine.

Wow, well balanced too.

♪ ♪

Very good.

Just a nice quick test drive.

Like it. That's
gonna change a lot.

Now I need to finish my gillnet.

- I don't know how
the rest of the world

might feel about this.

Some might be pretty
upset about it.

Taking my damn
shoes and socks off.

See the steam coming
off of my sock?

That's not smoke.

That's steam coming off my feet.

They stink so bad, so bad.

Oh, my God. It's terrible.

All right, so I'm going hunting.

In an effort to
not get lost again,

I am gonna mark
trees as I go in.

♪ ♪

I need food, whatever it may be.

I need some kind of protein
in my stomach right now.

♪ ♪

I heard some heavy
flapping in the woods,

probably a grouse.

I don't want to go another
day without eating anything.

♪ ♪

I see it.

I see the grouse.

I'm just gonna ease
back, just hang out

right here and wait for it.

I'm gonna be patient
with this one.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I hit it. I hit it.

I hit it. I hit it.

I got a grouse.

Now we got to go find it.

There it is.

Oh, what a beautiful,
beautiful thing.

Oh, my first grouse.

Let me dispatch this little guy.

[thuds]

[laughs]

And we're back.
And we're back.

Holy [bleep].

Yes.

♪ ♪

My first grouse.

Oh, that's amazing.

[laughs]

This is a big moment.

You know, it's huge.

[laughs] It's
gonna be delicious.

The more I learn this land,

the more I can take
from this land.

[exhales] Ah, I can't wait.

One small victory at a time.

One small victory at a time.

I just left everything I
know behind to do this,

but it's not about me anymore.

It's about my family.
It's about my son.

That's the only thing
that really matters

to me in my life anymore.

Oh, yes.

Yes, that looks wonderful.

♪ ♪

It's my first real meal.

♪ ♪

Oh, man.

♪ ♪

Just falling off the bone.

Having the opportunity to win

such a lump sum of
money is amazing.

I have a very demanding,
very laboring job.

Tell everybody I
work 28 hours a day,



That is so good.

It's hard. It really is hard.

So if I could win this,

that's 15 years' salary for me.

For my son, it means
better therapies,

more chances for him to grow.

With his autism,
he doesn't speak.

Everything that people
take for granted,

he has a hard time with.

And where I'm from,

there's not enough
offered to him.

And this is it.

This is my opportunity

so that he can
have a better life.

I can't fail.

When the dining room is quiet,
you know the food's good.

♪ ♪

- We got a fish.
[laughs]

My gillnet got a gigantic trout.

[laughs]

I will clean up this
fish and smoke it up.

♪ ♪

I'm thinking about a teepee.

I'm gonna have a
lot of big embers,

and I'll use the elder branches

and control that.

I'm gonna do that.

♪ ♪

This is beautiful here.

I just want to eat
a bite, but I won't.

This fish could be food for,
like, the next ten days,

but before the temperatures
get to freezing,

you have to smoke the meat.

OK.

So we'll hang it here.

Get another piece quick.

For now, it's good.

Now, we will make a moss wall.

I'm excited to smoke the food

and preserve so
it can last long.

For now, it feels really
good. We are flowing here.

We are moving.

But this is a long-term game.

OK, that's my
improvised smoke teepee.

Now I want to sleep.

And good night.

♪ ♪

Good morning.

We're gonna check the smoker.

And I'm hungry now,
so I need to eat.

Well, now, there's
some ember right there.

And I'll get the fire
going a little better,

get it smoking, heat
up my food, eat.

There it goes.

That's a nice fire, isn't it?

[bleep].

[bleep].

♪ ♪

Ah!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- There it goes.

That's a nice fire, isn't it?

Just a couple more.

I need some food.

♪ ♪

[bleep].

[bleep].

♪ ♪

[bleep]. Water.

There we go.

♪ ♪

[bleep]. Ah!

♪ ♪

There we go.

[bleep].

My fish.

Unbelievable.

♪ ♪

And it happened so fast, huh?

And drop this hut down.

Got things under control now.

♪ ♪

Sorry, big fish.

♪ ♪

- Dirty hands.

[laughs] Working hands.

♪ ♪

These are for all the
blisters I've gotten

from the ax and the saw.

I've got to get
something on this.

I keep hitting it.

So I'm gonna find
some fresh pitch.

♪ ♪

The healing properties of
that will help it scab over...

Puts a coating on it, so it
will keep any bacteria out.

OK.

So I'll put the
tape over top of it,

just to get me through
while I'm working.

OK. Back to work.

♪ ♪

I have to go source some logs.

Every time I think I
have enough, I need more.

♪ ♪

I might need, like,
ten more trees.

♪ ♪

It's lot of work for one person

to build a cabin here.

[exhales]

The expenditure of
calories that it's taken

to put up this log
cabin is extreme.

I will need protein
at some point.

♪ ♪

But to me, I think that it's
worth every calorie spent

to be able to have
a warm place to stay

when it's cold because
being cold will put me out

way faster than being hungry.

Once I get my shelter
built, I'm gonna focus

on hunting and fishing.

What do you think of that?

One of the things
that is definitely

a little bit different
about being alone...

Usually, I have a team of
people I'm working with...

My husband, my kids,
my dad, my mom.

If my family was here,
we probably could have

this cabin built,
like, in two days.

[laughs] It's tough.

But this isn't the hardest thing

I've ever done.

Well, that closed it up
really nice and tight.

♪ ♪

After my accident, my
family took care of me.

My husband carried
me to the bathroom

and carried me to the shower.

My kids helped bring
food and cook for me.

I lost so much of myself,

and I was broken.

At one point, I thought
that it would be better

for my family if
I just had died.

♪ ♪

Their love was so strong
that they just did

what they had to do
to take care of me.

It took me three years...

Three years...

To be able to walk
without crutches.

I want them to see how
far their mom came.

I want them to see
that, no matter how low

you can get in life
and how dark and dim

life seems to be, you
can always pull out of it

and come out on top.

You just have to keep fighting.

♪ ♪

While I'm out here,
I'm gonna keep running

to the finish line, and
whether that finish line's

at 50, 80, or 100 days,
I'm going to do it.

♪ ♪

I think that's pretty good.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- [sighs]

Stuff starts getting at you.

It really does.

No fish. No fish. No fish.

Man.

Well, back to the task at hand.

I need three more long poles.

♪ ♪

Plans for today,

I'm gonna work on my
shelter some more.

Every day I work on it is
a day that it's getting

closer to being finished.

Would have loved
to use spruce roots

to wire all this stuff up,

and sure would have if
I'd had food every day.

I would have took the time
to do some crazy [bleep].

♪ ♪

I'm tired.

Think I started off pretty
strong with my gillnet,

just hoping, you
know, by day three,

I'd have a fish in it.
Didn't see any fish in it.

I built a fishing
pole. It casts.

It reels, everything.
Have not caught one fish.

I have a baited line
in the water right now.

Nothing's taking it.

I've been hunting... one grouse.

So the lack of food really...

Really, there's just no energy.

Need a lot more pine boughs.

♪ ♪

But I have a unique ability
to turn my emotions off.

♪ ♪

While I'm out
here, it's gonna be

really easy for me to turn
off the fact that I'm hungry.

It's gonna be easy
for me to turn off

the fact that I'm alone.

OK.

I'm gonna start rolling
up some moss now.

I miss my family.
Don't get me wrong.

But I can turn that off.

Mentally, I'm a
very strong person,

and so I'll be able to
control myself enough

to make it through.

My stomach's growling again.

Oh, it hurts so bad.

Just bending over hurts.

♪ ♪

[sighs]

♪ ♪

[exhales deeply]

♪ ♪

My stomach won't let up.
It's hurting pretty bad.

♪ ♪

Oh.

♪ ♪

It's k*lling me.

♪ ♪

[pained breathing]

♪ ♪

I have to sit down.

Wow.

I mean, it...

hurts just to reach for
that [bleep] camera.

♪ ♪

Now there's just a wave of
nausea that rushed over me.

♪ ♪

Why is this happening to me?

♪ ♪

[gags] Ugh.

No. No.

Please stay down.

♪ ♪

How can this be happening?

♪ ♪

Oh.

Oh, I just want this to stop.

Oh, I just want it to stop.

Oh, what the [bleep]?

Ugh.

Oh, God.

[pained breathing]

[retches]

Oh, I can't do this.