07x10 - Pins and Needles

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

♪

- I need to figure out
how to catch fish here

because they have fat on them.

Whoa!
[bleep]!

[grunts]

♪

- Dangerous [bleep] place,
man.

One wrong move,
and it's splash.

You can't put a [bleep] damn
net into [bleep] like that.

I declare Danger Rock
off limits.

- I think I got one.

[gasps, screams]

♪

Yup.

[laughs]

Oh, my God,
it's bigger than the last one!

[laughs]

♪

[wolf barks]

[dramatic music]

♪

male narrator:
For the first time,

ten participants will fight
to survive the Arctic

for longer than anyone
in "Alone" history:

a grueling 100 days.

- This is the ultimate
challenge.

- 100 days in the Arctic
is no joke.

narrator: If they can endure,

they'll win
the biggest prize ever:

$1 million.

♪

- Whoa!
- Holy [bleep]!

- You can't tap out

when there's a million bucks
on the line.

- Oh, my gosh.
- [growls]

- How hard can you work
for $10,000 a day?

- It looks like frostbite.

- [gasps, screams]

- Holy [bleep]!

narrator: This is "Alone:
Million Dollar Challenge."

- They're just surrounding
my shelter.

[wolf growling]

♪

[low dramatic music]

♪

- Today I'm gonna go
make a raid.

[squirrel chirping]

That squirrel,
he's been hanging out

over here in these trees,

and I always wondered what made
these trees appeal to him.

Just a little bit ago,
I see him grab a mushroom

and bring it down,
then I look,

he's got a big mushroom cache
up there.

I'm gonna cut that [bleep] down
and steal his mushrooms.

♪

December
can be a long, cold month.

It's gonna get
pretty nasty here,

and it's another 50 days

till we're in the land
of milk and Christmas cookies.

Taking nothing
for granted here.

♪

Here's a beautiful mushroom
right here.

♪

Eureka!

Oh, we found a bonanza
of mushroom today.

That was a good score.
Thanks, Mr. Squirrel.

I've got to find someplace
to keep them.

♪

I'm gonna bring that musk ox
head skin out here,

stitch it up into
some kind of pouch.

We're gonna fill it
with mushrooms.

I'm gonna take
the nose and the lips

and just wrap them
with a heavy hunk of wire.

I'll double it and twist it
tight, twist them together.

And then I'm gonna stitch it
up with my trapping wire.

In my past expeditions,
I've improvised many times.

You have to learn to use
what's at hand.

Work everything two ways.

[squirrel chirping]

Squirrel's pissed
I got all his mushrooms.

Every time I do something,

I'm trying to knock off
two birds with one stone.

These here are the forelegs.
I'm gonna use them for straps.

I'm the happiest
when I'm alone.

I like living far away
from civilization,

and that began
as a very small child.

I vividly remember
telling people,

"I'm gonna move to Alaska,
so far back in,

nobody can ever touch me,"
and I did that.

I'm in one of the remotest
spots left in North America.

Musk ox face skin carryall.

Let's put some mushrooms in.

And it's--that's real,

when you're sitting there
all by yourself

watching the freeze up happen
or butchering your moose

with a lantern at midnight
while the wolves are howling.

The thrill--
it's undescribable.

We got a hell of a bunch
of mushrooms.

That looks pretty good,
don't it?

[quiet mysterious music]

♪

[birds squawking]

- ♪ Need to get
a little firewood ♪

♪ A little firewood

Okay, who wants to be firewood?
Who wants to?

[humming]

What was that?

What is that?
It looks like a bear.

[soft tense music]

♪

What is that?

♪

[growls]

[laughs]

[growls]

It's not a bear, it's me!
[laughs]

I might look like a bear
or maybe a Sasquatch,

but it's me and my

"it's real, real, real cold"
outfit.

[beatboxing]

This parka is made
by Nenet reindeer herders,

and it's all
out of reindeer skin,

and it's made in the old way,
and this is how people survived

in this climate
for a long, long time.

And it's not that far off from
having to wear this every day.

♪

All right.

Let's go see what's
happening out there, huh?

Everything is really
changing out here.

Deep winter is setting in.

And things are getting
a little bit more challenging.

I mean, every day
that there's more snow

just makes it harder
for me to get food.

Most of the traps are buried.

Dang.
A rabbit's not gonna

plow through the snow
to go through that.

All this snow changes
how the rabbits are moving.

And I need fat,

but fishing's
not really an option

until the lake ices up more.

So just gotta keep trying,
you know?

♪

Now I really wanna go over
to the porcupine spot.

[brisk tense music]

I'm pretty sure that
there's another porcupine.

I've seen tracks and
I've tracked him to his den,

and I go and check his den
all the time.

But so far, he's never home.

♪

So check it out.

One of the porcupine spots
is down in there.

He came out
from under that rock,

and he walked over here,

and then he ate this bark.

And then he ate right up there.
So I'm gonna set snares.

[saw scraping]

This porcupine
is my best option for fat.

♪

That last porcupine fed me
for more than a week.

♪

So the porcupine
walks along right here,

so I wanted to set a trap
right on this rock,

but there's nothing to set it,

so I wedged this tree in the
crack so that I have a place.

The porcupine,
he goes up this ledge.

Hopefully, he'll get
caught in that snare.

I'll come back
and check tomorrow.

But--all right,
it's snowing a bunch, so...

And the camera, I gotta
get the jacket for the camera.

Okay, let's go back to camp.

[thrumming dramatic music]

♪

- [sighs]
Whoa.

I am skinny.

Oh, but look at those muscles.
I still got it.

Those are still solid.
Look at those hairy armpits.

Oh, I look like a bodybuilder.

Oh.
[smooches]

Yeah, that's strong.
[sniffles]

Dave's gonna like how I look.
[chuckles]

[light dramatic music]

♪

We're going ice fishing.
Woot-woot!

[laughs]

♪

You know, maybe my
shallow water means that

I get to ice fish a day or two
ahead of some other people,

and that will be my momentum,
and I'll take her home.

♪

[panting lightly]

I'm gonna feel so good
if I can land, you know,

a few fish.

Fishing is so important
to my survival strategy.

Fish have a lot
of really good fat on them,

and fat is what's
going to keep you alive

for the long term.

♪

[grunts]

[wind whistling]

♪

I call this experience
my survival Olympics.

♪

From the ages of 7 to 20,

going to the Olympics
was my sole purpose in life.

I was gonna be a gymnast.

When I basically broke my
back, I switched to swimming.

I was 11th in the country
for 100-meter backstroke.

But I had to quit swimming
because every time

I would raise my heart rate
in the water,

I would get really dizzy.

It was a hard way
to have to quit

because I freaking loved it,
I really did.

My competitive athletic days
were dwindling.

But then I found nature.

And I realize being out here,

this is meaningful to me now.

This is a big deal,
and I feel really proud

to be the only Canadian
out here.

This is my Olympics.

Huh.

[dramatic music]

Yes!
Come on, come on, come on.

Yes, yes!

[yelling excitedly]

[screams]

♪

No!

Oh, oh.

♪

♪

Damn it.

That was a good size.

♪

Damn.

♪

To sit there for two hours,
not see a fish,

not feel a fish,
and then to have a fish

and lose it
is, like, heartbreaking.

♪

Makes me nervous those two
fish was just beginner's luck.

♪

Too cold.
I gotta go warm up.

♪

[delicate dramatic music]

♪

[rocks clinking musically]

- [laughs]

[foreboding music]

♪

♪

I'm not catching fish.
It's an iffy feeling.

It's, like,
"Oh, I better just stretch

what I have a little longer."

♪

♪

But I gotta figure out
a way to get more,

'cause without food,
I won't be able to keep going.

I wonder how long it will take
for the lake to freeze up

so I can walk safe on it.

The lake is not frozen yet
on my side.

So I cannot ice fish
through the lake yet.

But I need to catch another
fish right now, you know?

So I have to try
something else.

♪

♪

Just piece of metal that
I found out there a while ago.

♪

♪

And the stuff that has
happened in my life--

growing up in a civil w*r,

it just feels like this was
a special quest for me.

After seeing so many
bad things and bad people,

and I wanna come out of here
the best version of myself,

a good human being.

It's a big spoon.

♪

I'll hopefully catch
this big fish.

[light tense music]

♪

[wind whistling]

- Good morning!

I'm so cozy.
It's, like, freezing out,

but I feel so cozy
in all my wool layers.

And I slept warm last night,
too warm.

Oh, man.
I had dreams.

I was making
homemade ice cream.

Oh, my gosh.

There was, like, fresh
strawberries I just picked,

and I was, like,
churning the cream.

Oh, cream!
[laughs]

And I would take a tortilla
and cover it with butter,

and then put honey on it,

and I was having
honey butter tacos.

♪

Oh, my gosh.
They were so good.

So I woke up thinking about
cream and butter this morning.

[laughs]

So I guess it's time
to get some fat.

[soft melancholy music]

This place is gonna get colder

than I've ever
experienced before.

I've spent a lot of time
living out in the wilderness,

but when it gets really cold,
I usually move south,

and I go down to the desert
for the winter.

I'm a desert rat.

I live out of my vehicle,
and I travel around.

I don't have a nine to five,
I don't have a house.

I go to where I'm comfortable,

so I've never tried living
in the wilderness over winter.

Choosing to come up here and
spend a winter in the wild,

that's what I want.
I wanna be pushed.

But I'm just worried about
staying warm

and whether I'm gonna
be able to eat every day.

Dang.

So we're over
at the porcupine spot,

and it looks like he just
walked right past the snare

and pushed it out of the way.

Hmm.

The way the tracks are,
it's hard to tell

if he's in or out right now.

So I'm thinking
to try to crawl in there

and see how far back
the hole goes,

but I don't really know
if I can get in there.

But sitting here's not
gonna do anything, is it?

I don't think that I can
really fit down in that crack.

Oh, it's so tight--
tight in here.

[grunts]

Kinda hard to see.

[driving tense music]

I just gotta get in there.

♪

I just gotta squeeze.

♪

I'm scared to go
into this crack

because I could
totally get stuck.

And if I get stuck in there...

[exhales sharply]

No one will hear me
yelling for help.

Oh, my gosh.
The porcupine's right here.

Oh, [bleep].

[grunts]

♪

[exhales sharply]

♪

[bleep].

[sighs]

Okay.

So the cool news is
the porcupine's back there.

The bad news is
it's down this crack.

He's probably 12 feet back
down the crack.

I wonder what is back
around the other side.

♪

Ooh, this is sketchy,
'cause it's, like, not solid.

There's, like, rock holes.

♪

♪

I scared him out
the other side.

So, gotta get over there.

[quiet driving music]

♪

[arrow thwacks]

Got him.

[bleep], he went back down
into the rock crevice.

[ominous music]

♪

[grunts]

So you can see blood.

♪

So there's some blood.

♪

There's Mr. Porcupine.

♪

I gotta figure out
how to try to get this guy.

Okay, I just gotta squeeze
down in there and reach.

♪

[exhales sharply]

♪

Oh, I got you, brother.
I got you, I got you.

[sniffles and grunts]

♪

[exhales sharply]

[grunts]

♪

Oh, I got you,
porcupine brother--oh.

[laughs]

Oh, my gosh.
I can't believe it.

I thought it was, like,
impossible when I saw him--

when I saw him down in there.

Oh, I have fat.
Thank you, porcupine.

Thank you.
Mm.

Oh, my gosh.

[quiet tense music]

♪

[wind whistling]

- Good morning.
Day number 54.

The weather is warm
and tropical here.

Just like in Cancún.
[laughs]

Uh...no.

It's nowhere near tropical;
it's frozen.

My fingers are
about to fall off.

[laughs]

[low unsettling music]

[flint scraping]

Here we go.

I don't have any more fish,
all my reserves are gone,

and I cannot stay warm,
'cause I think my body

doesn't have any more calories
to produce heat.

I need to eat something.

So I have to go out there
and try to fish.

♪

[thrumming dramatic music]

♪

I'm feeling the weakness.

My muscles feel strained.

My balance is a little off.

Somehow, I need to get
some fish out of the lake.

I hope that my situation
is an inspiration

for all the natives
of all Latin America,

for all America, you know?

'Cause a lot of people out
there, that without knowing,

they're masters of survival.

Surviving every day,
trying to make do

with the very small resources
they have.

Trying to stay positive

when they're having
a really hard time.

And I hope that my experience
becomes a good example

and a motivation for other
people to come strong

out of situations that could
be life-threatening,

and gain a lot of strength

and gain a lot of insights,
you know?

Got one, got one.
[grunts]

[sighs]
Let's get him again.

[bleep].

[exhales sharply]
That was a trout.

♪

[sighs]

♪

Grab it again, please.

♪

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

Whew.

♪

Come on, another fish, please.

♪

It's a tasty lure.
Come get him.

♪

[quiet eerie music]

♪

[fire crackling]

♪

Especially with no food.

No calories to spend.

The body trying to stay warm
out there.

[exhales slowly]

It made me so tired.

[light dramatic music]

♪

- [laughs]

This porcupine
is a fatty miracle.

I'm so grateful.
He's so fatty!

♪

This is a huge deal.

I need this fat so bad.

I'm getting skinny,
and it's been hard for my body

to be sustained
with just rabbits.

I was worried--I was like,

"If ice up doesn't happen soon

"and I can't get out
and fish...

♪

What kind of fat
am I gonna have, you know?"

♪

Oh, my gosh, this is amazing.
I cannot wait to fry up

his liver and heart
and kidneys and lungs.

♪

Oh.

Man, but his liver...

Oh, his liver is covered
in white spots.

Oh, no.

♪

That means...
Oh, no.

That he's, like,
diseased or unhealthy.

Look.
That's not good.

I mean, I know if an animal
has white spots on the liver,

you shouldn't eat the organs
or eat the liver,

but what does that mean
for the rest of him?

Ooh.
Damn.

That is just--
that makes me really sad.

♪

That's a lot of food.

I mean, that's a whole day's
worth of food.

And really good nutrition
right there.

But seriously,
are the kidneys okay to eat?

Is the rest of him okay to eat?

I'm not in a position
to not eat this porcupine.

Like, I need to eat
this porcupine.

But will I get sick?

I can't imagine k*lling an
animal and then not eating it,

but eating this porcupine
could either end

or extend my time out here.

So I don't know what to do.

[dramatic music]

♪

[wind whistling]

- It's getting cold out now.

It's wintertime, dude.

It is winter.

We're burning
a [bleep] load of wood.

I don't know how cold
it's been getting at night.

I wouldn't doubt
if we saw 20 below.

It's warm in here
compared to outside.

You know, the rocks on the
outside, they're just frozen.

But in here,
where's it's trying to thaw,

it makes that frost on them.

I think one of my goals

is gonna be to keep fire
all the time.

All's we have to do
is play it smart.

♪

We got about three inches
fell last night.

[sniffles]

I wanna get the whole yard
swept out.

♪

We're accomplishing two deals.

We're clearing our yard

so we ain't trudging around
in the snow

and packing it down,
making it into ice

and dragging in the house.

♪

And we're insulating.

♪

This is gonna make things
real comfy.

In Pennsylvania,
Dad built a log cabin.

If you got up in the morning
and it was all snowed in,

everything just looked
fresh and brand new,

and you're just a little kid,

everything seems so safe and
secure in that little world.

[chuckles]

You're so dumb
when you're a kid.

You don't know the whole
world's out to get you.

Your parents are
taking all the heat.

Growing up with
my mother and father,

I should've done them
a little better.

I was kind of
a pain in the a*s.

If I can pull this off
and have that money,

I might slow down
a little wee bit

and spend some time
with the old man.

♪

We are gonna be snug
as a squirrel in a nest

and a mouse in a hole.

[tense music]

♪

[wind whistling]

- Good morning!
[laughs]

I slept in because
it's freaking nasty out there.

And I just didn't feel like
going out on the ice.

♪

I'm gonna have
a camp day today.

Just realized, like,
I've got food.

Rather than k*lling myself and
frustrating myself out there,

let's just stay in.

[fire crackling]

I wish my family was here.

I would never wanna leave.

"Follow the Marrones

as they go deep into
the Canadian Arctic."

♪

♪

All my family thinks,
"Oh, Kielyn, you got this.

Oh, Kielyn,
I know you're gonna win."

It's a lot of pressure.

There's always the caveat,

"But if you don't, we'll be
proud of you anyways."

♪

It's, like, yeah,
but you'll be disappointed.

♪

I'll be disappointed.

[sighs]

♪

[sniffles]

♪

I'm not feeling good.

I'm nauseous.

♪

I have such a headache.

The smoke in my shelter

has become the bane
of my existence.

♪

Goes from bad
to extremely bad.

[breathes deeply]

There are so many things
that I have been trying.

And it's driving me insane.

[sniffles thickly]

I'm not even crying, like,
this is just the smoke.

The reason you go in your
shelter is to be protected.

So when you can't
be in your shelter

because it's attacking you,
where are you supposed to go?

[sniffles and groans]

I feel really dizzy.

[thrumming tense music]

♪

[wind whistling]

- Oh, yeah, it seems
all nice and good in here.

Just outside the door,
it's like that.

It is snowing
all to hell outside.

[wind whistling]

Yeah, we're getting it now.

I don't know what
it's gonna add up to,

but it's dropped
a couple inches,

just slicker than [bleep] here
in about an hour.

And it ain't letting up;
it's coming on hard.

♪

This is real winter.

♪

Look how high it's coming up.

All that trail I opened today,
closed.

♪

There's a big storm brewing.

This weather
we are experiencing now

is bluebird compared to what's
just getting ready to happen.

I'm running out of time.

Hyper cold is coming.

I'm talking "freeze you
to death, k*ll you" cold.

[wind whistling]

[dramatic music]

♪

[fire crackling]

- [sniffles]

My eyes were burning
for a lot of the night,

and I'm totally blurry eyed
this morning.

[inhales deeply]

I just don't know
how much longer I can...

[sniffles]
Deal with the smoke, and...

♪

The resilience in me
is dwindling.

♪

And I'm playing
the slow game, and...

♪

It's just catching up to me,
I guess.

♪

[sniffles]
Mm.

♪

So I'm gonna start
pulling my traps.

There's no sense
catching more bunnies,

because I think this
is probably the start

of the real end for me.

I'm not, um...

[breathes deeply]

♪

I really wanted to take home
the win for my family.

♪

[sobbing]
I just know it's not enough.

♪

My eyes are still blurry.

But it is really pretty.

The biggest challenge for me
has just been

the hand to mouth thing

and feeling like
I'm not doing good enough.

♪

Validation from other people's
really important to me,

and there's nobody here
to impress,

but I'm really hard on myself.

♪

I gotta focus and make sure
that I get them all.

♪

I've been in competitive
sports all my life,

and it's always been
individual sports.

It was your score, your time,

and I've been trying
and trying and trying

to keep pushing through all of
the obstacles along the way,

and you can't force a win.

♪

[quiet dramatic music]

♪

I love the sparkle of the snow.

It's so pretty.

♪

One of my favorite things to do
is take pictures like that.

[breathes deeply]

♪

[inhales deeply]

And then share them
with people.

I just wanna go home.

[sobbing]

[sniffles]
Oh.

[dramatic music]

♪

[fire crackling]

- [sniffles]
You know...

I have been thinking
about it a lot.

About going home.

And it's not...
[sighs]

It's not about the chocolate
cake or coffee or Dave anymore.

Mind you, I definitely will be
looking for those people

and things as soon
as I get home.

And this is an experience

where you kinda have this,
like, "aha" moment.

And I'm really glad
that I've had the opportunity

to contemplate my exit.

♪

In your regular life,
your peaks and your valleys

are much smaller
than out here.

Out here,
you have highs

that are higher
than the tallest mountain,

and then you'll have lows
lower than the lowest valley,

and that takes a huge toll
on you mentally.

♪

You know, at the beginning
of each show for this show,

it says, "Warning, these are
trained survival experts.

Do not--whatever--attend--
attempt this at home,"

or something like that,
and I've never once

called myself an expert,
a survival expert.

I mean, an expert in anything
limits yourself

to continuing to learn.

But what I can say is that

this is athletics.

This is mental athletics.
This is sur--

I'm a survivor--
surviv--survival athlete.

[laughs and sniffles]

♪

You need to buck up.
Buck up, soldier.

Because this is an opportunity
to win a million dollars.

[chuckles and sniffles]

I mean, when do you ever get
a chance, a one-in-ten shot--

and I'm sure
it's less than that now--

one-in-five shot,
at a million dollars?

♪

So we're just gonna
keep on keeping on.

[foreboding music]

♪

[wind whistling]

- Thank you.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

[device beeping]

[dramatic music]

♪

From the beginning, I'm not
coming here for the fame.

My goal was to become
a better human.

But it's the end of my quest.

It's not easy to say it,

because you don't want
to leave with something, like,

"But could I have gone
another week or two?"

And then maybe I could have
found more insight.

Or I could--I could win,
you know?

♪

Like, am I making
the right decision?

♪

[indistinct]--
oh, [bleep]!

[exhales sharply]

[rocks clinking]

♪

[bleep].

Just when I tap out.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

[fire crackling]

- Oh, [bleep]!

[exhales sharply]

[rocks clinking]

♪

[bleep].

Just when I tap out.

♪

Are you [bleep] serious?

♪

Oh, my God.

♪

Try to get the [bleep]
out of here.

[bleep].

Do not.
Do not, please.

♪

Camera.
[bleep].

Get out of here.
Get out of here.

♪

[grunts]

[panting lightly]

Hold on, I gotta get this.

Oh, [bleep].

Come on.

♪

Oh, [bleep].

[tripod squeaking]

♪

[grunts]

I got my stuff out,
most of it, I think.

[grunts]

It's un-freaking-real.

I turned around for one second,
and when I looked up,

the whole freaking shelter
is on fire, man.

[grunts]

Oh, my feather.
Got a little charred.

[sighs]

[grunts]

Oh, my God.

I can't believe
the timing of it.

[light dramatic music]

I guess it was
my time to leave.

♪

♪

[helicopter rotors thrumming]

[melancholy music]

[coughing]

♪

[whirring]

♪

[laughs]

I had made the call to you,
packed my parka,

turned around to start
packing it,

and when I turned around...

I couldn't put it out.
It was really quick.

The whole shelter started
going up in flames.

Why?
It was my time to go.

My body--I couldn't keep up
with the conditions.

I started thinking about
how weak I am

and how low energy levels
I have,

and in this weather conditions,
we're not fooling around,

and I didn't think
I could make it.

[gentle music]

I'm proud of being
a Latin American man

that has been able to
accomplish a survival quest,

and I feel like your outlook
makes a difference

on how you are going to have
your experience.

♪

This is gonna become
my way of life now,

and I wanna take all those
things that have kept me alive

for 58 days,
plus all the personal growth.

So it's, like,
there is some--

all parts of me that I left
out there with the fire.

And now I have come
with that renewed me.

I have done
my rite of passage.

I think that
I'm taking with me

to be more awareness,
more empathy.

So I think this is a turning
point where I can put

all of those things
that have kept me here

together in practice
and try to help people,

and I think that will allow me

to be a better father
for my daughter.

♪

♪

- Welcome to "Alone:
Tales from the Arctic."

I'm Colby Donaldson,
and I'm here

with Roland, Callie,
Kielyn, and Amós

to discuss tonight's episode.

So this episode begins
on day 51,

and we are beginning to see

the extreme Arctic cold.

Roland, you have the benefit

of a few northern winters
under your belt.

Help us understand

how this kind of intense cold
has an effect

on everything
you do throughout the day.

- The--the cold slows you down.

It don't matter
if you're experienced or not.

It just makes everything you do
twice as hard.

It takes an hour to get
your clothes on in the morning

just to go out
and deal with all that.

It's like doubling down.

Everything takes twice as long

in this hyper cold.

- Amós, as someone
from El Salvador,

you know,

this kind of intense cold--

little new for you.

Describe for someone
who's never been through it

what that experience is like.

- The cold dance
to warm up.

It makes it dangerous.
It makes everything

a little harder to do.

You have to try to stay
with your firewood,

try to keep
your extremities warm.

Um, so it is pretty dangerous.

It's pretty real.

You can die fairly quick
out there.

So cold.

- Callie, you describe yourself
as a desert rat,

you know, someone who migrates
to warmer places

when things get really cold.

How were you adapting

to the freezing climate
out there?

- It's tough out there.
It is the coldest weather

I've ever experienced,

and simple tasks become
very challenging

because just trying

to, you know, moderate

the temperature of my hands
and feet

became a constant challenge,

and calories, too,
with having an empty belly.

It's definitely rough.

- Kielyn, as everyone else
is waiting

for ice-up,

the water where you are
is a little shallower,

and therefore,
it's already frozen.

How does it make you feel,
knowing

you've got a little head start
on the ice fishing?

- I was thrilled that the ice
came in when it did,

um, and I think, had it not,

perhaps my story
would've ended.

And ice fishing,
although it was a blessing,

it wasn't easy.

Um, you know, everyone here

has mentioned how the cold
just runs right through you.

It's harder to keep
your hands warm and feet warm.

And I'm starving as well.

You know, you--
you need more calories

to keep yourself warm,

and so sitting out on the ice

is extremely difficult.

[grunts]
Getting pretty cold.

[laughs weakly]

- Callie, in this episode,

we see you go to great lengths

to get a porcupine.

What makes that porcupine
so valuable?

- Well, fat is everything
out there,

and I'm doing great
with rabbits and squirrels,

and I'm very grateful
for them,

but they don't have enough fat

to keep me out there as long
as I want to be out there,

and I basically can't fish

until freeze-up happens,

so that porcupine is basically
my only option for fat

at this point,
since fishing is not an option.

- Well, and dealing
with that porcupine,

you were in
that rock outcropping there.

You know that
in a stress situation,

it's gonna take a while
for safety or anyone

to get to you.

What would've happened

if you'd gotten stuck
in that outcropping?

- Yeah,
I could've gotten stuck

down in that rock.
It was a really tight squeeze,

and it was definitely
a risky situation,

but I was just focused
on making it happen

and not
on what could go wrong.

But if I got stuck,
or if a rock fell on me,

I mean, I would've just
been stuck in there,

and I would've probably just,
you know, died of exposure.

But ultimately,
that's kind of how it is.

You have to take risks
out there

for the potential reward.

We are going to celebrate,

celebrate this little guy!

Oh, my gosh.
Ah!

- You ended up
getting that porcupine.

Uh, you brought it
back to your shelter,

and unfortunately,

you discovered some white spots
on the liver.

How did you weigh
the risk-reward ratio

on that particular situation?

- I was so elated
walking back to camp

because I was like,
"I'm gonna go back

to my shelter,
and I'm gonna have a feast,"

and as I'm skinning him

and I see those white spots,

it just--my heart sunk,
you know?

Those white spots, obviously,
we know means disease.

My best guess at the time
was that it was tularemia,

and that's
definitely not something

that I wanted to get.

One of my, you know,
highest moments out there

became a low
because of those white spots.

That's a sign
of an unhealthy animal.

Thailand, at the start of the
episode

you compare the experience
to the Olympics.

Give us the explanation

of how you make
that connection.

- All my childhood, I--

my dream was to go
to the Olympics,

and so while I was out there,

I kind of forgot that I was
the only Canadian out there,

and I was like, "Oh, wow,

I really am representing
Canada right now."

You know, it just kind of felt
like "Here's my chance.

"I'm representing Canada,

"I'm on TV,

"and, you know, I--

I'm doing well."

♪ O Canada

- It's another way
to look at it,

that it's like the Coliseum.

The TV is like the Coliseum.
- [laughs]

- We're fighting in the ring
in there, like gladiators.

- Gladiators.
There you go.

Kielyn, you certainly had
some Olympic-sized challenges

you were dealing with
out there, as you all did,

but one of yours, Kielyn,
was the smoke issue

in your shelter.

- Let's take a look

at some never-before-seen
footage

on your efforts
in battling the smoke.

♪

- My eyes are blurry
this morning

because the smoke got so bad.

I went outside, and I was like,
"Is it foggy?"

I am making a chimney
out of birch bark.

Not too bad.

♪

Stay there for now.

Stay.

There are so many things
that I have been trying.

I have widened the fire ring.

Whoa!

Holy smokes.

I have narrowed the fire ring.

♪

I have increased
the hole size of my chimney.

Oh, no.
Eyes still blurry.

I have made
a second chimney.

♪

This isn't working.

And it's driving me insane.

Oh, man.

♪

- Kielyn, why was the smoke
so problematic for you?

- You know, if I knew,

uh, I wouldn't have had--

I would've been able to fix it.

I tried everything,

and it must be
just this, like, microclimate

where the air was settling

and it wouldn't draw it out,

and yeah, it was just--
I mean, it was awful.

- All right, Amós, it's time
to talk about your tap-out.

How difficult was it for you
to make that decision?

- At this point in the game,

it was already coming up
on two months,

and I feel like the fishing
waning down,

the weight loss,

and the weather turning
the way it was--

so the night before,

basically, I thought
I was gonna sleep on it.

I got out my sleeping bag,

and it was the first night

that my sleeping bag
didn't keep me warm,

and I realized
I'm out of fat to burn.

Made the decision

a little easier in the morning.

- And then, immediately
after you tapped out,

your shelter caught on fire.

- sh**t.
Ooh.

- I mean, what--what is going

through your head
at that point?

- Just having the experience
like that--

it wasn't real.

It was like my experience
was requesting

a Viking funeral.

I don't know how to explain it.

I was packing my gear.
Basically, out of the blue,

the fire just started

consuming the side
of my shelter.

- And then during that fire,
we can hear

the camera batteries
exploding.

♪

[low popping noises]

- The batteries are blowing up.

- What items were you not able
to save

and get out of the shelter
from the fire?

- I had two big containers.

One of them was the big box

that we had of cameras.

In the other box,
I had this big battery.

I wasn't able to get
these two containers out.

I was able to get
the big camera,

because I'm recording this,

and I was able to get the--
all the memory cards out.

I just threw them
out the door.

♪

- Well, it was pretty amazing

how you had
the presence of mind

to document that
as the place is burning.

- Come on!

- What is next for you,
my man?

- So I feel like I need
to share

what I have learned

and nature connection

and see if that is
of any help to anybody.

- That is it for "Alone:
Tales from the Arctic."

I'd like to thank Roland,
Callie, Kielyn, and Amós.

Next week,
after the season finale,

we will be speaking
with the participants.

Now, as promised,
here is a sneak peek

of the three-hour
season finale.

We'll see you next week.

♪

- This is the battle
right now.

One little slip-up
could be disaster.

♪

- It's embedded
in my shoulder.

♪

- [yells]

- The lake has iced up!

- Yes, yes, yes!

You can just call me
Roller Coaster Kie.

♪

- We have now entered
the hyper cold.

- Oh, no.
It's turned worse.

♪

- Can't see [bleep] right now.

its time to end form burn
wide out

♪

[helicopter whirring]

- Staying to the end
could totally change my life.

We are our own worst enemies.

- This is the hardest thing
I've ever done.

♪