Has anyone else seen the TV show "Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment"?

They aired several episodes yesterday and I have to say it is a very good series if you ignore the technicalities of having camera operators hovering around a group of near starving people.

I watched it with my wife and daughter, and then afterwards had a good discussion about the gear that they had and used - and what did they not use.

Again, try to ignore the Hollywood sillyness and the technical issues of having camera operators and others hovering nearby. I'm focusing on the real learning aspects of the show.

So, here is some of the gear we saw as most important:

>>SPOT - all issues aside - each person carried a SPOT. That is how they "gave up" - by pushing the button and a helicopter would come a pick them up.
>>Topo map - they were given routes but had to follow them and a time table.
>>Baseplate compass
>>Whistle - Fox 40 micro whistle - hanging with the compass around their neck at all times
>>1 liter Nalgene wide-mouth bottle - wrapped with what looked like burlap - probably to keep it from freezing. They tended to carry them everywhere.
>>What looked like 30-50 gallon Sealline Baja dry bags
>>High Rubber cold-weather boots
>>Gortex (or similar) jackets - and maybe pants - I could see several different brand labels. I couldn't tell what they wore for insulation - probably some kind of fleece.
>>Sleeping bag
>>Thermarest RidgeRest closed cell pads
>>Large plastic tarps - the blue kind
>>Lots of hanks of green parachute cord - maybe 15-20' long - they used it for tarps, to lash shelter, to hold game,...
>>Pots - very important for boiling up game. At first they carried a dutch oven, but left it behind in favor of aluminum pots
>>In one scene they were using metal tongs to help cook.
>>Folding pocket knife - combo-edge - couldn't tell the brand - seemed to be a clip-point - used a LOT - for fire making and cutting up game - in one scene someone was using a knife to baton through a thumb-sized branch.
>>Estwing sports axe - the leather handled version - in one episode they showed someone sharpening it with a water-smoothed rock.
>>Large axe head - just the head - they used it as a wedge
>>In earlier episodes they had a bow saw, but it seemed to have disappeared in later episodes since they were chopping big logs - my daughter says she saw the bow saw in a later episode, but I don't recall that.
>>What looked like a Doan's magnesium ferro combo - it actually worked well after scrapping magnesium into paper.
>>410/.22 combo shotgun/rifle - the shotgun appears most important as they mostly lived off of ground squirrels and an occasional bird. Later they 'acquired' - it is TV - a .45 caliber rifle - they hadn't used it yet. My TV guide says that they try to bag a bear in an upcoming episode(??).

In the first few episodes there was a woman who quite because she was a control freak and couldn't work in the group. Then their most experienced outdoorsman also quit because he could not seem to handle being in a group of lesser experienced people - I hope he never tried to work with Boy Scouts. Then they had a 50 year old couch potato that found the hiking just too rough - though he really tried - and he quit.

One mistake they seem to be making is to split what food they have evenly - at least it seemed that way. That is resulting in the women getting enough food, but the larger men are struggling - not getting enough calories. By the end of the episodes they showed yesterday the women were doing pretty good, but the men were weak and one fainted. One of the stronger ones - the cop - finally made the decision to quit.

Sorry for the long post, but I find the show enlightening - especially for my daughter who watched.

Ken

I sat thru several episodes. It's not quite as contrived as the Survivor series but it's a setup for interpersonal conflicts.

I find it interesting that these groups generally seem to dismiss and drive off the people who actually know the most about what they are trying to accomplish. Happens in Survivor and it happened here too.

The Guide who bailed was correct about the 50 year old slowing them down and ultimately forcing them to spend the night under tarps in the wind on the pass rather than somewhere safer because the group decided that it would be mean to force the 50 year old out.

Groups are wierd. It's better to all be ignorant and suffer together than to listen to someone more knowlegeable. All opinions are equally valid - even when they are wrong.

The lesson I take away from this is that you'd better pick your companions carefully and if you know a lot more than they do - don't share your knowlege. They won't be grateful and may get mad at you and bad things could happen after that.

I've seen a couple of episodes, and they're carrying way too much junk.

A more realistic scenario would be " a plane carrying 9 tourists makes a forced landing and the passengers hike 60 miles out".

As far as the Spot goes, it's taped over so i don't think Spot has anything to do with the show, in fact, I don't think the thing even works. Looks like a staged "press the button", and the camera crew calls the helicopter.

- as far as the boots go, they look like Mucks.

I've worked on so called "reality" television shows, all I can add is this, the show's producers have gotten you talking about the show, which is it's own form of promotion which is what television is all about.

"Reality" television is anything but, I used to think that if people knew about the shenanigans that are going on off-camera that they'd get turned off to it but that doesn't seem to be happening. We've gone from knowing that the dramas and comedies weren't real to thinking that the "reality" shows were real only to find that they're not and now people watch them anyway, a full circle of product placement and promotions for stuff we don't need and can't afford.

And as for driving away the folks who know better and ignoring good advice and the food issues mentioned, I'll only add this, for each hour that's broadcast there are probably anywhere from 20 to 100 hours that were cut out. That's where you'll find the actual decision making taking place, the interpersonal conflicts that are being promoted by the producers etc. One show I worked on had dozens of cameras rolling virtually 24 hours per day for 21 days, net result was about 15 hours of aired content plus some crap posted on various websites and no doubt a "directors cut" available only on DVD some time in the future.

So who else is gonna watch Celebrity Apprentice tonight...?

Ken, as far as the equipment list goes, from what I caught they are carrying "One" map, compass, mag-stick, etc. No one really seems supplied fully.
I've only caught a few shows, so I may be wrong. But I did catch the one where the cop(?) got sick and was weak. To me that was easy, he caught the flu. You never take anyone from down south and throw them out in the field here without expecting that to happen.
I really wish they would stop these shows..........especially using Alaska.....

i also watched a few episodes for lack of anything better on the tube...i got a kick out of those folks struggeling to get a fire started and then spending a cold night without one...then i guess in the morning the older man of the group "tried" to use the DOAN mag. block but did not use it correctly ,only using the spark rod to try and fire up some damp grass/tinder...later the older women of the group came along and showed the hapless fellow to shave the magnesium and then use the spark insert to get the grass/tinder started...for me at least it was a decent show and i enjoyed watching a group of N.Y and N.J. city folks struggle in the bush...vince g. 11b (infantry)

Good seeing you around Vince! Been a while

The first episode showed the group being brought in, there was a tarp with all kinds of gear on it, some they should take other gear they should leave back, of course they tried to grab everything they could carry.

That is about the only episode I saw, I was flipping through last night and saw that it was on the entire evening, but I'm getting free movie channels this weekend so I'm watching other things

One the same note I saw an ad for Les Stroud and a show like this only with teenage kids anyone know anything about that?

Not a bad show. i have been watching it. I agree with the food parity issue. I was talking about this with DW. Mostly in context of people who are hunting and hiking for hours should be eating more than the people doing labor around camp. She disagreed but her version of camping is room service at the MGM in Las Vegas.

I do like that there is no 'winner', which makes the personal decision process that much easier for the person struggling.

Well, I watched half a dozen episodes. Watching them fumble and bumble around as they did would be a good reference for mostly what not to do. Giving a firearm to a person who has no idea how to really use it is not only a big waste, but a serious potential for disaster. That wasn't their worst mistake unfortunately, but it was immediately obvious. Watching them struggle as much as they did is a big plus for advertising to the gen pop that the average joe is not at all prepared to face the wilderness, even when they can equip themselves quite well and get a lot of help along the way. I do abhor the social elements of these sorts of programs. Like others said, the wrong people left the group for all the right reasons. I am surprised no one got really seriously injured.