06x10 - Thin Ice

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

♪

- It's too dangerous
for you to stay out here.

I'm gonna have to extract you--

- No!
- For medical reasons.

- What?

I wouldn't have ever believed

I would only last 52 days.

- All the fat is gone.

I can't believe
there's another wolverine.

Bad news.

- Oh, my God, I got a rabbit
in my lifting pole!

To have food--
what a turnaround.

- There's been
a new development.

My entire bay has frozen.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

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
subzero temperatures...

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

It's mean.
It's got teeth.

- Get caught out here
in a whiteout

and you're in trouble.

narrator: Vicious predators...

- Heard something big
moving back there.

- It's 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 wanna 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.

♪

♪

[water gently lapping]

♪

- It is day 58,

and it is still cold
as anything.

Oh, my God.

There is no mistaking
that we are in winter.

The sun is up
for, like, five hours,

it feels like--
of, like, real solid light.

'Cause it's already
going down and it's 3:00.

♪

[wind whistling]

♪

- It's frickin' cold in here.

It's well,
well below freezing.

So what I'm gonna try
and do here

is, um, take the hot rocks
out of the fire

and lay them on two long sticks

and then just slide them in.

They all go in as a group
stacked on top of each other.

They'll probably release
their heat more up

than into the ground.

Okay, that looks like
what I wanted.

It worked.

So long as nothing catches
the bed on fire tonight.

♪

- This today is what
you would call...

♪

Rough weather.

The winter and the ice

allows for very small margins
of error.

[heavy breathing]

Especially when you're out
in the wilderness,

you have to be on your game.

Like, you have a minor issue

and it can lead to your death.

♪

[dramatic music]

- We got snow.

It's still coming.

The Arctic winter
is like a lead blanket

that is just laying on you.

It penetrates you
to your core.

There's nothing
that will defeat it.

The heat you take
into your bag with you,

once it's out, it's gone.

♪

I had to do sit-ups
just to try

and create some body heat
in my bag.

♪

[ice pick thudding]

♪

- Water is a much
bigger task now

than it was not long ago.

[water splashing]

All I know is it is way,
way, way cold.

It feels like it dropped

♪

- [sighs]
Okay, well...

I have got some news
from the gill net.

♪

Here it is.

Strapped to the bottom
of my pack.

The ice got to the gill net,

and that's where every morsel
of food I have eaten

has come from.

Now, that--that's all ice.

I've got a little bit
of fear in me

about how long I'm gonna
be here without food.

But overall, I'm hoping

the fear is getting
to everybody else first.

♪

[wind whistling]

♪

[rustling]

♪

- All right, let's show you

what the inside
of my shelter looks like.

♪

That's--that's ice.

It's just covered.

That's literally
how cold it is.

[exhales]

I have a fire in here.

Let that [bleep] sit in.
That's cold.

♪

♪

- [sniffs]

[groans]

Ouch.

[chuckles]

[exhales]

[exhales repeatedly]

It's hopeless.

[wind whistling]

♪

I have no more food options
except fishing,

but the lake is frozen over.

So I got a strategy
for ice fishing.

I'm gonna make a fishing net,

throw it in the water
under the ice--

which is a trick in itself--
and then catch something.

Get us started here.

I've never seen anyone make
a paracord fishing net.

I had to come up with
the knot myself

and come up with some
little techniques,

because paracord's awkward
to work with.

Get it nice and tight,

and then we'll do a...

little hitch.

♪

To weave it into a net,

it's a very tedious job.

♪

My strategy was never fishing,

but that's the only option
I have here.

I'm losing weight.

It's physically impossible

for me to win without fat,

and all I can do to get fat
is fishing.

This has to work.

Gonna be a slow process.

♪

Whoo!

[exhaling]

It's hard to do,
and it's really cold.

♪

[sighs]

There's one trick to surviving

in super cold weather,

and that is not
to let yourself get cold.

You have to stay warm,

which means you have
to be careful,

have good gear.

♪

My feet are cold.

[snow crunching]

Man, these boots suck.

[groans]

As tough as you are,

once you get really cold
out here,

you're not tough enough
to withstand it.

[wind whistling]

♪

Oh, my--it's too cold.

Should have done this sooner.

Whoo.

♪

[wind whistling]

♪

[music intensifies]

- I could hear the rabbits
again last night

moving around close,
and I realized

it's probably because I have
all the spruce boughs around,

that they're coming so close
to the cabin

'cause they are all about
the spruce boughs.

So it makes me really excited
to put in some close traps,

'cause oh, my God,
wouldn't it be amazing

to get a rabbit just--
right here,

first thing in the morning?

Yowza.

♪

Rabbits are about
and on the move,

so I really need
to set more traps

and check my traps.

Gotta check, gotta check.

[snow crunching]

The true settling in
of Arctic winter

happened so fast.

Snow falling in the night
is bad for my trapping.

Windy nights are bad
for my trapping.

The mild, calm nights
where it isn't snowing,

that's when I catch rabbits.

And those are few
and far between anymore.

♪

[snow crunching]

This one, nothing doing.

Still set.

♪

I have never been
anywhere near this skinny.

The hunger is definitely
starting to get to me,

and when I'm really cold,
it's so hard.

Fox tracks all through here.

[snow crunching]

Whoa!

♪

Check it out.

This area has been
totally dug up.

The fox, clearing out

the rabbit areas, you guys.

I wonder how many rabbits
it got?

♪

Wow.

This area, probably done-zo.

This is a good trail.

And there go the fox tracks
right up there.

Holy crap, man.

This is rough.

Uh...

I really need food
really soon.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- [bleep].

[sighs]
Fresh fox tracks.

Everywhere.

My whole trap line
dogged by fox.

Everywhere,
there's rabbit traps,

fox tracks as well.

♪

Damn it.
[sniffs]

♪

Okay, well...

♪

I'm feeling pretty discouraged.

It's very cold out.

I haven't had any food
for several days now.

And my weight
is going down rapidly,

and they're gonna pull me soon
if I don't get food.

♪

Being out here
and being underfed,

I think about the food

that I could afford to buy
if I won a lot.

Most of my life,

I've not had enough money
to keep myself well-fed.

That is definitely
the motivation.

So desperate times call
for desperate measures.

Okay, I...

have these intestines
in my pot

for bait for ice fishing.

Now is the time
to get real humble

and eat those myself.

♪

I'm going to skoosh out
the guts now,

and then rinse again
in a fresh pot.

Eating rabbit intestines
is next-level.

You're eating the place
that something stores its poo!

It's a lot of tissue.

There's fat, there's blood,
there's muscle.

♪

[laughing]

It looks completely,
utterly foul.

♪

I know,
that's thoroughly disgusting.

♪

I am not giving in, people.

I am still trying
like anything

to keep my weight up
to stay out here.

[pot clinks]

♪

[wind whistling]

I think that's
pretty well done.

All right, you ready?

Not sure that I am.

[metal scraping]

♪

Hmm.

It's fine.

Nowhere near as gross
as you'd think.

[metal scraping]

♪

[water roaring distantly]

♪

- For everybody at home...

I want you to know
how hard this is.

This is not, uh...

This is not just
a physical challenge.

It's not just
an emotional challenge.

It is all the above
at maximum level.

♪

Your hands, even in gloves,
get cold.

Then you have
the constant craving for food.

Your mind just maddens you
with it.

♪

How long is this gonna last?

♪

I just wanna be home.

Victorious.

Holding my baby daughter.

Playing with my son.

Adoring my wife.

Talking to family.

Having friends.

And you know
it'll come eventually.

You just gotta keep
putting one foot in front

of the other, you know?

Tapping out
is just not an option.

[snow crunching]

Having to adapt
to an ever-changing scenario,

it forces you to stay thinking
all the time about,

"How do I work the problem?"

You know?

So I'm going to begin
getting my resources

steadily rebuilt.

♪

Okay, so I have spoor
of a rabbit,

and it keeps kind of taking
the same path,

so I'm gonna make a snare
and set it on that path.

The problem with
twitch-up snares

in this weather is,
you bend a tree over--

if it doesn't come through
in, you know, five, six days,

the tree will freeze

and it won't have the pop
to get it up off the ground.

And by the look of the--
of the track here

it's a pretty big hare,

and I'm gonna need
to get it off the ground.

So I'm gonna be using
a counterweight

instead of using
the twitch-up method.

All right, so I'm gonna fill
my stuff sack

with a rock or two.

♪

Jeez, that was close.

I know what it's like
to have nothing.

I come from nothing
but hardship,

tough times, and making
something out of nothing,

and that's why I feel
this victory is mine.

This is the big boom
in my [bleep] life.

My whole life has culminated
to this point.

This should be enough,
right here.

♪

Just put the rocks
in the stuff sack.

So the big trick
is getting it

to not pull my stake out
of the ground.

[hammering]

♪

Oh, my heart's pounding.

[hammering]

♪

Okay, so what I'd like to do
is run it over a branch

and then we bring this down.

♪

All right, well, we'll see
how that works for me.

I have my snare,
and if you follow the wire,

it goes up...

loops over my branches,

and then comes back down
to my stuff sack.

Which, you know, uh,
won't fail.

It's not gonna freeze
or do anything like that.

♪

All right, let's get inside.

[sniffs]

[dramatic music]

♪

- Big day today.

[sharp inhale]

My net is finished!

Loaded, weighted.

Some moose meat
hanging in it.

Now all that's left
is to do it, really.

♪

Getting ready to go
across the ice

for the first time...

to fish.

[wind blowing]

Oh, man.

I'm nervous.

If you go through
the ice out here,

you're in huge trouble.

That's something
that will k*ll you.

But, just don't have
the options on the land.

Here we are.

[skis clattering]

We're gonna do it here, huh?

[wind howling]

♪

[water splashing]

Don't drop your hatchet.

[sighs]

♪

The net, you just chop
two holes in the ice

about the distance apart
that the net is long.

And then you find a stick
that's also that long,

and you tie a long string
to that stick

and you feed it under
from one hole to the other.

[ice sloshes]

See if we can hit
our target.

[wind blowing]

♪

Oh, I see it right here.

♪

Pull it up through
the second hole

and then you have a string
passed under the ice.

That's where your net's tied
and you--like a laundry line

pull it through
under the ice.

Feeding the net under.

♪

Now go get a bunch of snow

and dump on these holes
so they don't freeze solid.

Wouldn't call that easy.

It's kind of more energy
than I wanted to spend,

but it's my only chance
to re-up my fat.

That's what you need to do
to survive out here.

♪

Hope I catch a fish.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

[fabric rustling]

- [sighs]

That's all the debris
from all the debris piles

up against the back end
of the shelter there.

So when that gets a foot
of snow on it, man,

it'll be impenetrable
by the weather,

so hopefully that logic is true

and pays off.

It's gonna get colder
and colder,

and that's what I need
to be prepared for.

I do think that my gill net
going under the ice will work.

That gill net
is why I'm still here

and potentially,
ice fishing is why

I'm gonna still be here.

♪

[grunts]
So this is the pole

I'm gonna hang the net on.

♪

Switching to lighter weight

'cause I want this thing
to dangle more freely, um,

so it'll tangle a fish
more easily.

I used old nails
and tin can lids

and stuff I found
some months back.

♪

And there we have it.

In the morning,
I'm gonna deploy that.

I'll tie off, um, a T-bar

to the end of this thing,

and that's what I'll lower it
all the way

into the water with.

♪

It'll be good to go, so...

♪

Hopefully that works out.

♪

- Nothing in my trap,
which is expected.

Not much is gonna be
moving around

in this kind of cold weather.

There's no real opportunities
here at my place.

[sniffing]

Besides me.
[laughs]

But even now,
I don't know

how much they'd actually get
off my bones.

[laughs]

It wouldn't be much
of a meal.

[laughs]

And even getting things
like water now

are more demanding,
more taxing.

If you want water,
you have to get snow,

process wood, start a fire,
melt the snow.

Lot of work
for a little drink of water.

♪

So there's a lake
on the other side of my island

and it's, um--it's not frozen.

I'm considering
spanning that gap

and fetching water
on the other side,

but to do that,
I really gotta be careful.

So I'm going to use
these poles

just to make some...

♪

Long-type snow shoes to...

♪

Disperse my weight.

♪

The only thing
keeping me going

is the love of my family.

That is the truth
of the matter right there.

I wanna be able
to get a house, not rent.

I wanna pay off our debts.

I wanna take stress
off my wife.

I need this, man.

Like, it's not a matter
of just want.

My family needs this.

♪

Hello?

♪

Thought I heard speaking.

♪

This is hard, people.

Trying not to think about
my wife and kids right now.

♪

When I do get across
to the island,

I'm gonna sit there and drink.

♪

And drink, and drink,

[sniffs]

♪

I do feel better...

being on these poles.

♪

Just need them
to get me across that span,

where it's most dangerous.

♪

My face hurts.
[sniffs]

♪

So tired.

So thirsty.

[bleep] starving.

♪

Dehydration will put an end
to you out here

just as fast
as anything else will.

♪

Look at that sweet,
sweet water.

♪

[water splashing]

[exhales noisily]

Oh!

It's been over 24 hours

since I've had anything
to drink, man.

Man.

This is kicking my a*s!

[sniffs]

♪

I just want my wife
and kids, man.

♪

[sobbing]
This is so [bleep] hard, man!

I'm starving!

It hurts!

[sobbing]

♪

Please!

♪

Put the fight in me again!

♪

Put the [bleep] fight in me!

♪

[sobbing]

[dramatic music]

♪

[ominous whooshing]

♪

- I have smoke streaming out
from underneath my bed

from the hot rocks that I put
under there last night.

I think that
they are smoldering.

The ground has now
dried out enough.

It was icy when I first
started doing this,

and it's had enough time

from all the nights
of me doing that

to dry things out so that they
would continue to--to smolder.

And I've been smelling
the smoke all night

thinking it was from the fire,
but it wasn't.

So I'm gonna get
underneath there

and see if I can't figure out
what's going on

and maybe even potentially
harvest an ember or two

to relight my fire

so I don't have to
do bow-drill today.

[light clicks]

Underneath that rock,
it's all hollowed out.

It's all burned away.

There's smoke coming
from the ground right here.

Was hoping to get right out

and deal with the gill net
this morning, but...

I have to deal with
this first thing.

Can't burn down my bed
and my shelter.

♪

Beautiful, they all came out
in one.

Here we go.

♪

Awesome, okay.

♪

That was easier to do than
most of my bow-drill fires

I've had to do out here,
so I'll take it.

I'm going to, uh...

♪

Get my gill net deployed
out on the lake today.

[ice cracking]

♪

I don't know if you can
hear that or not,

but the lake is shifting
underneath us.

Hopefully it's deep enough.

If I can get 5 feet of depth,
I think that'll work.

[ice clattering]

♪

I got to thinking about,
you know, my grandfather Jack.

He taught me how to hunt
and fish.

I'm trying to hatch a plan

to take him out ice fishing.

It's like one of his
favorite activities.

It's been decades
since I've been out with him,

fishing or hunting.

These last 20 years,

I've been living
far, far from home,

and I haven't seen him
nearly enough

because I've been too poor
to afford even a bus ticket,

let alone a plane ticket.

The fact that it will be
possible when I win this,

I'm gonna kind of use it
as fuel to keep going.

Okay.

There's the channel.

Chopped through.

It's probably 8 or 9
inches thick.

[wind blowing]

Okay, she's in.

Yeah, that looks beautiful.

I think it's doing its job.

Gill net's in the hole.

Keep my fingers crossed that
some fish drifts through there

and gets hung up.

♪

[shuffling]

Yeah, I felt
pretty damn depleted today

after getting off the ice.

All that chopping I did
was a bit much.

I pushed myself a little bit,
and I shouldn't have.

I'm gonna get more efficient
out on the ice

and make sure
I'm doing everything

as smoothly and efficiently
as I can.

And that's how I've made it
this far, so--

I'm really hoping
it winds down, though,

because I am...
[sniffs]

Depleted.

And I miss home,
and I miss my woman,

and, um...

you know, I'm really homesick.

For the first time in my life,
actually, I'm homesick.

I just have too [bleep] much
on the line out here.

Too many ideas.

Too many plans that, um...

♪

That I can't let go of.

I don't think I can tap out.

I just don't have it in me.

♪

[wind howling]

- Hmm.

See how my, uh--

see how my hairline's
doing here.

Am I losing hair
from malnutrition?

Looks like--
you know, it's thin.

It's a little thin.

[long exhale]

[wind whistling]

I'm gonna go pull up
my fishing net.

♪

Spent a lot of energy

trying to get that net
in the ice.

Hopefully catch something.

♪

Can tell I'm not getting
enough nutrients

'cause I'm tired a lot.

♪

In a dire situation.

I need fat.

I'm gonna, at some point,
just get too thin

and have to go home.

[sniffs]
Okay.

♪

Gotta catch a couple fish.

[dramatic music]

See if I have any luck.

♪

[grunts]

♪

Holy cow!

♪

Yeah!

♪

Whoa!

We're not done...
[laughs]

Not done putting notches
on our hatchet yet!

♪

Yeah, here we are.

Look at that, we have
the same look on our face.

[heavy breathing]

♪

[wind whistling]

Let me gut this guy
really quick.

Some good fat on this one.

♪

Good fat.

♪

[munches noisily]

And eat it.

♪

I've been dreaming
of catching a fish

after all the creative energy
that happened

in making this net.

To actually put it in the ice,

catch something this valuable,

it's actually shifted
my whole perspective

on being out here.

Starting to have hope

that it might
get me somewhere.

♪

Whoo!

[dramatic music]

♪

[wind whistling]

- All right, end of an era.

♪

I am taking down
my laundry line.

Pretty much wearing...

all of my long underwear layers

at this point, so...

Doesn't really seem like
there's much point

in an outdoor laundry line
anymore.

But it was awfully nice to have
for a little while there.

Made it feel very homey,
don't you know?

All right,
so now I can pack this

into the traps pack

and it is time to head out
into the world

with some extra cordage.

♪

Let's go check traps.

♪

You've got to keep
the calories coming in

when it is so cold.

♪

It's getting more
and more cold

and I have less
and less reserves.

The intestines
were the last resort.

Basically, I could get pulled

if I don't start getting
more food soon.

[animal squeaking]

Please, please,
please, rabbits.

Please, please, please.

♪

Let's see.

♪

Nothing here.

[rustling]

All right, I can see--
[gasps]

No way!

[gasps]
I got a squirrel!

Hooray, thank God!

Yes!

Thank you, dear squirrel.

Okay.
[sniffs]

Here is my squirrel.

I got a squirrel to eat today.

Hooray!

Now I'm way more enthused

to go check the rest
of my traps than I have been.

This is so much better

than frozen rabbit guts
right now.

Yes.

[percussive music]

♪

No freaking way.

Check it out.

Another squirrel.

Ugh! Yay!

The home trap's...
[sniffs]

the most effective today.

[snow crunching]

Oh, my God.

I just got another squirrel

in my close home trap.

Check it out.

I am so grateful, you guys.

I am gonna eat enough today.

I am going to get
enough calories.

That is freaking amazing.

Everything is possible again,

and it's so time
for a woman to win this.

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- I'm starving out here.

I've lost a lot of weight.
[sniffles]

[fire crackling]

♪

My brain's [bleep] up.

♪

Today is med check.

I hope they say I'm all right.

It's just something
that, you know, I can--

I can push through
if I choose to.

♪

You put a price on my life,

right now it's a $1/2 million.

And what I'm hoping is that
whoever's still out here

has less than me
and less weight

and I can just ride it out.

♪

For all I know,

the other guy could be
leaving tomorrow.

So, you know, every day
could be the day you win.

♪

[distant helicopter whirring]

Here they come.

♪

Fingers crossed
for good news, okay?

♪

[snow crunching]

♪

- So do you have any symptoms
that I should be aware about?

- No, just, uh--
well, I don't know.

I'm just sore, man.

- Let's give your heart
and lungs a listen.

- [deep inhale]

♪

- One more.
- [deep inhale]

♪

[bleep].

♪

[sighs]
- And step off.

- Ugh.

- And turn around real quick.
Real quick.

♪

And go back inside.

♪

- You push yourself out here.

You're really trying
to go for it, you know?

♪

Just hit me with it, man.

Don't waste any time.

[dramatic music]

♪

[wind howling]

- Just hit me with it, man.

Don't waste any time.

- [bleep], man.

Man, come on.

♪

I feel fine, I'm just beat up.

I-I don't understand.

♪

- This is the worst news
you could have told me.

♪

Why is this happening to me?

This can't be right.

♪

This can't be right.

♪

- [sighs]
How much of a danger zone?

- Once your body stops
eating its own fat,

it starts consuming
its own muscle.

- That's right.
That's--I know this.

I know this.

- And among the muscle
it's consuming is heart muscle.

Liver, kidney.

♪

[hushed breath]

♪

- Oh, my God, dude.

I can't lose this
for my family.

Oh, my God, dude.

I can't lose this
for my family.

- We are worried about
possible cardiac complications,

and worried if you continue

you may make prolonged damage
to your heart.

- I don't want to do that.

♪

My family would rather
have me alive, right?

[laughs]

♪

Least I can say
I gave it hell.

♪

I didn't get the victory
this time, baby.

♪

I know I made a promise.

♪

I'm sorry.

♪

I had every intention
of leaving either victorious

or in a bag.

I'm realizing I'm closer
to the bag

than I am to the victory.

It hurts to know it's over.

You just wanna give
your family the security

you never had,
and that's why I took this on.

♪

You give everything you got.

And normally your best
is enough.

It has been in the past.

But this time, it wasn't.

It's a hard realization
to, uh--

to know that you're gonna have

to face the people
you let down.

They deserve a hero
in their life,

and it's hard to realize

you're not the hero
of this story.

And that's a hard pill
to swallow.

♪

[dramatic music]

- [bleep].

I just ripped the heck
out of it.

I might have just totally
ruined my gill net.

- [bleep].
It's really, really thick.

If I can't get fish,
I don't know what I can do.

- I left the ladder up.
[groans loudly]

I can't protect my meat.

At this point, I'm just done.

♪

[fire roars intensely]

[high-pitched ringing]

[suspenseful music]