06x09 - The Ice Cometh

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

♪â–

- I pushed my body
to its upmost limit.

Just, body gave up before
my mind could.

- ♪ Duh-duh-duh-duh

My first northern pike!

This thing is a monster.

- My time is running out.

I'm losing weight.
I need my fat.

Oh, no!

I do all the best I can
with the emotional work.

But some days...

it's a little harder
than others.

I need to know
that I'm doing good.

♪â–

[dramatic music]

♪â–

male narrator: In "Alone's"
coldest location ever,

ten participants fight
to survive the Arctic.

- The Arctic is one
of the most physically

demanding places on Earth.

- So freaking cold right now.

narrator: Battling
sub-zero temperatures.

- This climate's harsh,
it's extreme,

it's mean.
It's got teeth.

- Get caught
out here in a white-out

and you're in trouble.

narrator: Vicious predators...

- Heard something big
moving back there.

- Me against
the wolverine right now.

narrator: And isolation.

- There's nothing
to fill that void.

It's just you left alone
with your thoughts.

narrator: How long
will they endure?

House is on fire!

- I'm scared,
but I don't want to tap.

- This is the most unforgiving
landscape I've ever seen.

narrator: The last
one standing wins.

- This environment will strip
away everything and anything

you thought you had.

[tense music]

♪â–

- Next in line, we have
the latest model of outerwear

from the famed fashion house,

[speaking in French accent]
Jornasse Jordan.

It is a rabbit-fur vest.

[beat boxes]

Check that out.

What a specimen of a man.

And the vest is nice too,
isn't it Bob?

It sure is, Pam.

[beat boxes]

♪â–

Tough road I've
been given here.

I've been fishing and I'm not
surprised it's not going well.

At some point I'm
gonna be ice fishing.

Maybe I'll have better luck,

but my whole strategy
is up in the air right now.

And I'm, like, out of fat.

Fortunately,
I have a creative idea.

All right.

Gonna skin the head.

This is gonna be a tricky job.

♪â–

I'm gonna trim fat off
of the moose head.

And then render the rest
of the fat into lard.

♪â–

See if I can

get his tongue out here.

Come on.

♪â–

There it is.

If you look at the tongue,
see how light that meat is?

I think it's pretty fatty.
Some good fat in there.

♪â–

Oh man. So I'm gonna try
my best to nuke it for a while,

see what comes of it.

♪â–

To render fat, you just
throw your chunks of fat

in the frying pan
and when it fries,

it'll turn into, like,
a pourable liquid

that's easier to cook with.
And then what's left over

will be, like, little crunchy,

bite-y fat ba*ls and the lard.

[sniffs]
My whole purpose in life

right now is to not
spill any fat.

It's all I got left.

The cracklings
go in my crackling box.

♪â–

If I screw this up,
I will never forgive myself.

♪â–

All right.

[inhales deeply]

Oh, yeah.

All right.
So that gives me cracklings,

but I got as much or more lard.

[tense music]

♪â–

Welcome to your--another
little bird of the North

update on the latest
stock market.

Sedge.

Okay, let's talk
about sedge today.

This stuff, I tell you what,

when there's like three feet
of snow here, this stuff...

gonna be worth a nice penny.

So, I would just start,

you know, building up,
getting a little bit of it.

Lights up your fire.
The best.

Plus it's gonna
make great stuffing for

my teddy bear.
[laughs]

Which is coming.

♪â–

I feel great,

though I'm in no denial
that I'm getting skinny.

But, I feel like I have
the universe supporting me.

The universe knows what
I need more than even than

I know what I need.

That's a guarantee.

♪â–

So I told myself
by the 50th day,

I would have a teddy bear.

I do have a tanned hide.

And I am gonna stuff
it and sew it tonight.

Oh, my gosh, it's so beautiful.

And I'm pretty stoked
that I'm gonna use

the very first hare
I got out here.

[fire crackling]

I sleep with
a teddy bear, still.

I'm not embarrassed by it,
really.

- Yes! This is perfect.

And now...

for the stuffing.

I still have my very
first teddy bear I ever got

from my mom.

I just love having a bear.

And I want to have
one out here.

Can you believe I'm
making a teddy bear

in the wilderness?
[laughs]

I wanna put a, like,
a little bow around his neck.

[fire crackling]

Oh, it looks so good.

His little bow and everything.

Aww.

The native language here,

the hare is called "Wappi."

Wappi.

So that is gonna be
the name of my bear.

Wappi.

♪â–

Wappi.

[dark ambient music]

♪â–

[eerie music]

♪â–

- So, I thought I would
tour you around

the bedstead because
we haven't done that.

The bed is awesome
and solid and comfortable

and warmer than
being on the ground.

I've got all of my side
supports in here nicely

rounded off and my spruce bows

packed between there so, yeah.

Definitely
a successful project.

Let's go check some traps,
shall we?

I'm feeling increasingly
desperate around food.

And, I know there's a limited
amount of time I can be here

if I'm not bringing in food,
especially in this climate.

It's too damn cold
and it's so hard.

Definitely getting harder.

♪â–

I think...

it's weird snow,
but I think...

♪â–

No, it's squirrel.

Squirrel tracks.

Hmm, dang.

♪â–

I'm really hoping
to get rabbits in these

next couple days because
Halloween is coming up,

and I really want to have
a good amount of food

to actually have
a feast on that day.

♪â–

Well, not a thing
nor a sign of a thing.

It seems that the rabbits
are all totally wise

to my traps at this point,
around here.

Damn, damn, damn.

♪â–

Holy [bleep].

♪â–

[dramatic music]

♪â–

- Holy [bleep].

♪â–

I didn't get it.

Oh, that's frustrating.

My aim is not what
I want it to be.

♪â–

That's super exciting
to have seen rabbit

really close to the house--
to know that the rabbits

aren't totally gone.

So I'm gonna go check
the rest of my traps.

[tense music]

I'm gonna take a look
at these close traps here.

♪â–

Oh! [gasps]
Oh, my God!

I got a rabbit
in my lifting pole.

Holy crap.

Yes!

Oh, my God.

Hell yes.

It is a rabbit day!
I am back in rabbits.

So sweet.

And it's beautiful and white.

They are white now.
It has happened.

[sighs]
Oh, and it's a big one.

It feels meaty.

Oh, my God.

So psyched.

Oh, and this is still not
even my snares down below.

Oh, God.
I could have two rabbits today.

It could be a two rabbit day,
'cause I feel good about

those snares down there.

♪â–

That would be
so incredible to have.

[gasps]
There's a rabbit.

I got one.
Oh, my God.

I got one here.

Yes.
Oh, my God.

That is a two rabbit day.

Oh, my God.
Okay.

Yes, yes, yes.

Oh, thank freaking God.

That is so awesome.

♪â–

Oh, my God, what a turnaround.

What a turnaround.
I am so excited.

It's huge.

It is huge.

What it does just
for the outlook...

[sighs]

...to have food.

♪â–

A meal of two rabbits.

That is a dream come true.

[dramatic music]

♪â–

[throat singing]

[clears throat]
[laughs]

Gotta remember how to do that.

I gotta practice
so it doesn't itch my throat.

Some guy from
the Altai Mountains

taught me how to throat sing.

And there was a time when
I was a little better at it.

Now I'm--I'm slipping.

[throat singing]

[laughs]

I need to keep
practicing while I'm out here.

♪â–

Since I got out here,
my whole goal was, like,

man, don't turn it into
a starving game.

♪â–

And I don't have
a lot of fat anywhere.

Not on my body
and not stored away.

♪â–

[panting]

Well, crazy news.
I just went over there

to look at the platform.

I was looking
closer at the meat.

I was like, man,
that looks like teeth marks.

And all the fat is gone.

Sure enough there's fur
on the pole going up there.

And, uh, looked around
and there's wolverine tracks.

I can't believe that
there's another wolverine,

and it's coming for me.

Getting attacked from
too many angles, here.

Am I the only one dealing
with these things?

They just won't stop
stealing my fat.

It's just the thing
I have to deal with now.

The only thing I can do
is try to play defense.

Pfff!

I'm gonna go set up cans.
At least I'll hear it, maybe.

It's a ways away.

Uh...

Huh.

Bad news.

♪â–

This is experimental
wolverine defense.

You can see I put a ring
of fine rabbit snares up here

so when the wolverine
comes climbing up,

hopefully he gets his arms,
legs, whatever, snagged up,

makes him mad.
Should stop him from

going up that log, hopefully.

That's the hypothesis.

And I got the cans
precariously placed

on that log that hopefully
he'll roll if he tries

climbing on it.
And I ran a string

all the way from my platform
to my shelter and hang

some cans right above my bed.
So if he goes up the platform,

no matter how
deep I'm sleeping,

the cans are gonna bang.

Give me time to stop him.

♪â–

- Oh yeah, baby.

Oh yeah.

Nice.

The big score of the day.
Jackpot.

One wholesome tamarack jack.

[laughs]
Wow, Nikki.

Wow.

Oh, boy.

That's where we're at.

[laughs]

That's where we're at.

Stealing mushrooms
from squirrels.

[dramatic music]

♪â–

[fire crackling]

Okay, I'm getting
ready for my smoke.

'Cause I really feel like

I need to purify myself.

I want to smoke myself with

juniper to k*ll bacteria.

I'm actually gonna
take my clothes off.

The first time I've seen my
body while I've been out here.

[fire crackling]

♪â–

The other night I was overcome

by a love of people.

♪â–

I don't know if it's
because of the silence here

and the vastness,

but it's not like
I'm tapping out.

"Oh, my God, I've had
my spiritual epiphany,

and I'm ready.
Come pick me up."

♪â–

No sirree.
Not ready yet.

I love being alone.

[fire crackling]

I thought it would be wise
not to see my body, you know.

I thought that
by seeing my body

I might, I don't know,
get scared or nervous

for how skinny I was.

And I'm really glad to see it.

♪â–

I--I feel good about it.

And all my muscles...

like, just super defined, huh?

Like, whoo!
Look at my bicep.

[fire crackling]

Oh, my gosh, it's perfect.

Look at all the smoke.

Aw, thank you, juniper.

♪â–

My feet.

♪â–

Renew me.
Bring me more strength

when I need it most.

♪â–

To keep me pure,

like the inner child I am.

[dramatic music]

♪â–

- I was thinking the other
day about a license plate

for after I win.

I don't know how many--
I don't know how many

characters you get.

But, if I was allowed eight,

I would--I would get
one that said,

A-L-O-N--

O-W-N-D-I-T.

"ALOWNDIT"
[laughs]

Like, "I owned it,"
but I was alone.

You see what I did there?
Did you see?

That's what you think
about when you're laying

in a [bleep] shelter
at four in the morning,

rubbing your toes together,
trying to make them warm.

That's what you think about.

♪â–

No food today.

So what I've been doing

is harvesting
reindeer moss and eating it.

It's not good, but it's food.

It'll help, you know
what I mean?

So I'm gonna grab some, uh,

of this moss...

and put it in a pot
and then boil it,

like, four times.

Crazy, I've been wiping
my a*s with most of this.

Not this exact batch,
but this moss.

♪â–

Just a few days ago,
I was [bleep] miserable

and I had a breakdown, man.

To be honest, I really thought
my wife would already be here.

I know on TV it probably
looks easy, like,

"What's this guy
crying about?"

But this place really
cracks you open like an egg.

You grow up,

at least in my generation,

you don't cry,
you don't show emotion.

Just a lot
of that macho [bleep].

And, being out here,
it really strips

all that away.

You're okay with
feeling emotions.

I just needed a good cry,
I guess.

I needed to get it out,

let it be done.

And as soon as I did that,

I just knew it was
gonna be okay.

Bon appetit!

Well, it's...

flavorless.

It's, um...

♪â–

It's definitely--
it's different,

now that I've boiled it,
texture-wise.

I would relate
it to, like, a spinach,

♪â–

it's just no flavor.

It doesn't suck as bad
as you would think.

♪â–

I mean...

it's not something I'm gonna
ask if it's on the menu

when I leave here, but...

I'm grateful for it
and I have a [bleep] ton of it.

And it will sustain me.

[belches]
Excuse me.

[dramatic music]

♪â–

Alana!

Happy birthday.
[chuckles]

Happy third birthday.

Can't wait to be home and

see you and your
little brother

and Janna Lee and... uh...

everybody else and, uh...

Yeah. Love you a lot.
[laughs]

Happy birthday.

♪â–

Living alone for
a long period of time

is a process greatly eased by

birch bark.

♪â–

What does everyone do
when they're in a long-term

solitary situation?

♪â–

You play Solitaire.

There you have it.

A beautiful five of hearts.

My fat reserves are gone, so,

I kind of wanna just
take it easy and not

spend so much energy.

And there you have it, folks.

In one of the finest
displays of quality

and craftsmanship
that you'll ever see,

a full deck of 52 cards.

♪â–

There you go.
Ready for long

days when you're
trying not to burn calories.

♪â–

So here it is.

For all the marbles,
if I win this,

you guys owe me $500,000.

♪â–

I am missing the family today.

Again, that's a big
motivator for being here.

Nope, nope, nope.

Terrible hand.

Terrible.

It would help to win.

But it doesn't help
spending a lot of time here

and then not win.

Really only worth
it if you succeed.

[groans]

It's impossible
to win this game.

Is that all I can do,
is lose around here?

Lose weight, lose Solitaire,

lose fish, lose fat.

♪â–

Lose the whole dang thing.

[tense music]

♪â–

- Here's little Wappi.

Little Wappi.

[yawns]

Good morning,
Great White North.

What's in store for me today?

♪â–

There's something
I love so much about

starting the morning
fire out here.

I just love it.

I got a med check today,
and I feel great.

I hope they'll let
me stay here longer.

♪â–

Yes.

Hello.

♪â–

Halloween.
Arctic.

♪â–

I feel great, like,

I feel like I look like
an Iron Man triathlete.

♪â–

♪â–

- [muttering
indistinctly]

♪â–

- [sighs]

- Well, Nikki, um...

at this point it's too

dangerous for you
to stay out here.

- [gasps]
No way!

- I'm gonna have
to extract you...

- No!
- For medical reasons.

- What?

There's no way I am leaving.

I'm not leaving.

I'm not.
I don't care.

- Your body is too far gone.

- I wanna know what
the--what--why.

Like, I wanna
know, like...

I need to understand,
like, why.

Like what
is it saying about my body?

- You're at risk
of multiple organ failure.

You need to be in a hospital.
- I just want one more day.

[sobbing]
Please.

I need to say good-bye
to this place.

[crying]

[sobbing]

I can't go home yet.

[sniffles]

I just haven't done so many
things I wanted to do and--

[sobs]

♪â–

I'm so sad.

[sobbing]

[sniffles]

♪â–

[sobbing]

[sobs]

I guess I've begged
enough, right?

[laughs]

I guess, like,

not changing the...

changing the thing here, is it?

♪â–

I don't feel like I'm saying
good-bye to this place.

I'm not saying good-bye
to this experience.

This is a total
new beginning for me.

I don't feel
necessarily at home, here.

I needed longer time to
actually feel like I really

feel like I've been taken in.

But, I am linked
with this place, now.

♪â–

I love you, Arctic.

♪â–

Humans can suffer
to great lengths.

And what nature's
taught me most of all

is to enjoy those moments
of hardship and pain

because you feel truly alive.

♪â–

I wouldn't have ever believed

I would only last 52 days,

but I feel like
every day I've lived

to the very fullest out here.

♪â–

[dramatic music]

♪â–

- It's freaking Halloween!

So of course I had to dress up.

And, thinking about costumes,

what is the thing that
I think the most about

here in the Arctic?

Rabbits.

And considering
I am becoming more and more

percent rabbit every
day I am here,

it seemed only appropriate
to dress as a rabbit.

So I'm setting the table now

and we'll get
started feasting away

like we ought to on Halloween.

♪â–

All right, here is the feast.

Here is rabbit backstrap,

cranberries, and rabbit soup.

What an exciting holiday feast!

Halloween is many things.

It's an ancient Pagan festival
about honoring the ancestors.

And very, very importantly,

October 31st happens
to be the birthday

of a very special
and important lady.

And that lady is my mama.

She was born on this very
magical, special holiday,

which is why she is such
an amazing, magical,

and witchy lady, of course.

♪â–

I just keep picturing taking
my mama out for her birthday

dinner when I get back

and giving her
a little present,

something from the Arctic,

and then having
a little card that says,

"Anything I can do for
you and a trip together,

"anywhere in the world
of your choosing,

because I just
won the Alone show."

♪â–

Ah, what a luxury.

So much food at once.

Truly.

Truly a feast for me.

This is the most food I've had
at a sitting this whole time.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

[dramatic music]

♪â–

- It's kind of a gray
day out there.

It's calm.

But, uh...

it's cold.

And I know it can
be a lot colder than it is.

Frankly, I'm afraid
of freezing to death.

♪â–

My fire went out last night,

and I didn't wake
up early enough to keep

it going, I guess.

♪â–

Okay...

what do you
got for me, baby?

I haven't done a bow drill
in a while so, I guess,

today's the day.

I've been having some thoughts

the last couple days
about attitude.

You know, it's pretty common
for people to talk about

positive mental attitude.

My bow is moving
away from the notch.

♪â–

[bleep].

I'm kind of revising
that a little bit,

about not exactly having
a positive mental attitude,

but having
attitude consciousness.

♪â–

This looks like
it might be full of rot.

[bleep].

I'm gonna have to make a kit
from scratch again.

Having attitude awareness.

[sighs]
[bleep].

[bleep].

And responsibility.

What in the [bleep]?

'Cause it's just not
gonna be possible

to always have a positive
mental attitude.

That's not what
being a human is.

Why?

Why, why,
why, why, why?

Why is it doing
all these things?

♪â–

If this doesn't work,

I'm gonna freeze my [bleep]
a*s off tonight.

♪â–

[groans]
[bleep].

[dramatic music]

♪â–

[groaning]

[bleep].

♪â–

[groans]

I don't understand it.

I would say fire
is my greatest strength

in a survival situation.

♪â–

This is the worst bow drill
wood on planet Earth.

I did not account for rings

that are five layers
to a millimeter

like there are here.

A tree puts on a layer of wood
every single year.

And you can cut through
a stick of wood and find out

how many years
it's been growing

by counting the rings in it.

You can't do that in these

because the rings are
so tight you can't see them.

They are too hard, too tight,

to produce enough heat through

friction to self-ignite.

♪â–

I'm still expecting it to get
a good deal colder than this.

♪â–

This is a life
or death situation.

♪â–

Oh, wait.

Forgot about my cutting board.

The cutting board I found

on the beach almost
as soon as I got here

is made out of cedar.

And I don't know why
it just now is dawning on me

that that's the case,
or that I could use it,

but, cedar is fantastic
bow drill wood.

The growth rings
on it are 1/8th inch,

and that's several times larger

than anything in this region.

Look at that beautiful stuff.

♪â–

This is promising.

♪â–

Ah, that feels good.

♪â–

We have an ember!

♪â–

Oh.
[breathing heavily]

Thank you.
Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you...

Finally.

[exhales]

Well, it only took
till dinner time,

but I finally
got a fire going.

[fire crackling]

After this experience,
I'm gonna be a lot more

religious about keeping
it going through the night,

because this place
is a cold hell

and without a fire,

I'm done.

[tense music]

♪â–

- Good morning.

Last night was probably

the coldest night that
there's been so far.

It was--it was really
something, actually.

It was noticeable even with
all my layers and in my bag

and--[clears throat]
and everything like that.

Just uh,
at this point in the game,

this is a new
dimension for the show,

having this much snow.

♪â–

I've never seen any of this
in any of the episodes

or series that I've watched

that have this
sort of weather.

♪â–

I'm up and out.

There's been a new development.

And I was headed
to look for some water.

It doesn't look good.

[snow crunching]

♪â–

I couldn't understand
why I was hearing such

strong winds and I wasn't
hearing any waves.

And the reason is,
my entire bay has frozen.

[tense music]

♪â–

Holy [bleep].

♪â–

That's all ice.

♪â–

That's the end of my island.

♪â–

And you can see it's
just still frozen.

♪â–

Out there is water.

Gonna try and...

get some ice by stomping here.

Maybe here.

No.

It's totally frozen.
[bleep].

I'm a little concerned,
you know?

This is where I get my water.

I'm gonna have to be doing
a lot of melting, I guess.

[groaning]
Ah, yeah.

So yeah, here's my berry field.

The berries are gone, y'all.

♪â–

See how it's just buried.

I knew it was cold
last night but I had no idea.

♪â–

I had no idea.

♪â–

This isn't just survival,
this is punishment.

[dramatic music]

♪â–

- There's no longer
moderate cold.

It's freezing.

We'll walk out here
to this portion of the lake,

where it looks like
maybe the water has

thinned a little bit,
I'm not sure,

and see if I
can't break through.

And, uh, if so I'll just
get my water that way

and that'll be a real
big blessing, so

we'll check it out.

This looks kind of thin.

[sniffs]

Just kidding.

[bleep].

Worth a shot.

♪â–

This is going to be, uh...

♪â–

it's going to be an interesting
next couple of weeks

if that's what--if that's
what I'm out here for.

♪â–

I mean,
I freaking hope not, man.

♪â–

It's beautiful but wow.

♪â–

It's cold, so, we're--we're
gonna move forward though.

Always forward.

So let's start, uh,
getting what I need

here for fire and water
because I am thirsty.

I'm gonna probably try
and drink at least three pots

of snow today,

so I need to get a lot
of snow and a lot of wood

and just kind
of keep my fire going

and steadily
drinking water today.

♪â–

Man, I am tired.

Even the smallest of tasks

just tire you out.

♪â–

Can't trap, can't hunt,
can't forage.

Whatever you got
is what you got.

♪â–

This is scary.

♪â–

What's it gonna
be like in three weeks

when it's in the negatives
and the wind is constantly

blowing and, you know,
you can't get out of your bag?

It's gonna be, like...

♪â–

jarring.

I'm telling you, this is--

it's about to hit hard.

♪â–

So, I'm done worrying
about who's out here,

I'm done worrying
about what they got.

I'm done worrying
about all of that.

♪â–

[sighs]

All I'm worried about now

is keeping myself safe.

♪â–

- [breathing heavily]

You go through
the ice out here,

you're in huge trouble.

That's something
that will k*ll you.

- I really need food.

Desperate times call
for desperate measures.

Eating rabbit intestines
is next level.

- I would show you
what the inside of my

shelter looks like...

But that's--that's ice.

- This is so [bleep] hard, man.

♪â–

I'm starving.

Put the [bleep] fire in me!