I've started watching this series after reading some comments at ZS. I believe these guys may not be in the same class as Les Stroud but they are all very adept in their own Neck o'the Woods. Not having any experience with mountain lions, bears, and wolves, I certainly identified with the three who tapped out because of the fear, those critters generated. I can also agree with Joe's decision to tap out when his firesteel was lost. I am now at the point where 4 men are left. I fully expected Sam to have tapped out early and I'm reminded again that one can't judge a book by it's cover.

The show provided a list of 40 items allowed of which 10 could be chosen. It looks like most of their load out was cameras and batteries. The terrain is tough coupled with 12.5' of rainfall per year. I'm understanding the participants received one week's notice of the region they were going to be placed in. I found some participants were placed at a distinct disadvantage by being inserted late in the day whereas others were inserted early and had time to scout around better for a camp spot to set up.

I have many more thoughts but I'd like to hear from others. I have experience in swampy areas, very cold areas, but no experience in cold, swampy, rainy areas such as Vancouver Island.

One thing the show definitely points out is the proprietary knowledge and experience required to get by in a given environment. Having grown up playing in that kind of environment, I would be at much greater advantage than the group they inserted. But I have relatively little experience in a swamp or an arid desert environment, so would struggle much like most of these guys have here.

Loneliness seems to be a big problem for these guys. The psychology of survival is often more important than the physicality for the vast majority of us. Funny how many people would struggle terribly with loneliness like this, while others seem to thrive in it. Dick Proeneke didn't seem to have much trouble with loneliness. I wonder how he would've fared on this challenge?

With an axe and a saw in that environment, I'd have built a friggin nature fortess the first three days in. Generally speaking, humans are not prey for black bear or mountain lion, unless they do stupid things, like cleaning, cooking and eating fish where you sleep. Set up a few trip line whackers and you can deter any of those predators fairly easily while you sleep.

I have watched this show since the first episode and overall found it a bit better then similar reality shows. Make no doubt though, the location where this was filmed, is rugged and unforgiving and would severely test any person if he/she ever found themselves in a real survival situation.

As this west coast type of environment is home to me, it was easy to readily identify the many mistakes that the participants made. That said, all of the chosen participants are from the mid to eastern Canada and USA regions so as not to give anyone of them an advantage in this environment. To give the participants some credit, I would probably make many mistakes if I had to survival in their eastern environs...

On another forum that I read, one of the members there was involved in supplying the boat and transportation logistics for the series participants and production company. The below is some background info on the series that he has provided to date.

- Filmed in November 2014 on Vancouver Island near Quastino Sound and Winter Harbour

- All locations were boat access only.

- All locations where the participants were placed were pre-scouted in September to ensure a nearby water (fresh or salt water) and food source.

- Each participants picked a number out of a hat to determine their location.

- The production company provided a survival expert to first make sure they all had the basics to survive.

- As the participants quit and were picked up by the recovery crew, none knew if they were the 1st, 4th, 7th etc participant left. Only the last person left was told.

- A lot of the location background footage was filmed before the participants arrived in order for the participants have minimal contact with the production company.

- Each participant was supplied with cameras, batteries, SD cards etc which were at the respective locations before the participants arrived.

- Once per week, the participants were visited and checked by the executive producer, a camera tech and a medic for no more then 20 minutes per visit.

- Possible 2nd season for the show depending TV viewership results.

I don't normally watch "reality" TV but I have been following this show lately. Overall, I am quite impressed. Granted, it is a TV show but never feels overdone or contrived in the sense of Bear Grylls & Co.

We get to see real people with a varying degree of skills and experience trying to cope with some very unforgiving environment. It was surprising to see several guys "tap out" within just a few days. But I have enormous respect for the 4 guys who have managed to stay out there for a whole month completely on their own.

That's a pretty tough challenge in just about any enviroment. More so if you have to film yourself all the time and lug around camera gear. One of the guys even made an improvised canoe. So I am really excited to see how things are going to develop.

From Big Ben: "With an axe and a saw in that environment, I'd have built a friggin nature fortess the first three days."

My thought has been to have picked the 5LBS of rations so as to have time to build a shelter (& other infrastructure). I envision building a pup tent frame and additional poles spaced along each side. Tie a tarp over the frame. Then attach poles down each side like the framework of a brush shelter. Attach additional poles across the ends (a doorway at 1 end).

A canteen is also a choice that few chose. If you make 2qt's of water, refill that 1 or 2 qt canteen (i don't know what size canteen is allowed), make more or drink/cook what is left over. I think dehydration influenced many poor decisions or at least complicated many tasks.

From Big Ben: "Loneliness seems to be a big problem for these guys. The psychology of survival is often more important than the physicality for the vast majority of us."

The loneliness factor affects me but it doesn't bother me since there are no witnesses. I can be as strange as I wish to be for entertaining myself!!

The critters would definitely have gotten my attention. I don't understand why no one has made a 6-8' spear/fighting staff. Are there rules against defending yourself against being a critter's dinner????

I agree on the tapping out (parlance for quitting for those who have not watched the series.) All the participants have varingly levels of outdoors experience and I was very suprised how many of them tapped out in the first week. I think there were many factors at play such as the isolation, unfamiliar environment, weather, that all contributed to the early exits. The one participant that lost his Ferro Rod, he was utterly devastated and was easy to tell right away that he was not going to continue and I could not help but feel for him.

Also when Mitch lost his gill net, I was expecting him to tap out. Earlier in the same episode, I had seen him with the net strung across the ground on low tide and thought that it was not secured enough, especially on the bottom as the tide and currents there are strong and would not take much to pull that net away.



In one of the episodes, I think someone mentioned or it was an onscreen info text that said how many much filming was being done? I know that Les Stroud mentioned once that the amount of filming he had to do for each Surviorman episode was around 100 hours which then edited down to about 45 minutes for TV viewing. I would guess for this series, it would amount to somewhere around the same. However a couple of the participants such as Alan and Lucas definitely seem to have more screen time then the other 2 remaining guys.

That improvised canoe was almost genius and I would really like to know the amount of hours that went into crafting it. Same also for Alan's fish basket / trap.

As the series progresses, it is interesting to see how the remaining 4, despite setbacks, are adapting more and more to their environment.

I have a feeling who will be the last person but I will not know for certain until the last episode airs.

They were all limited to no more then a 2 quart pot / bottle. I have advocated for years that carrying a pot is far more important then the oft suggested SS water bottle that in theory, could double for a water and food cooking vessel. For those who think the SS water bottle is adequate, watch this show and you see how important and how much more versatile having a pot is. The participants had everything from a kitchen pot to a Zebra Stainless Steel Billy Can (which I always have with me) to a frying pan. Though, I have to admit, I would like to know where the frying pan and a couple of other oddities suddenly came from...

This website has a list of all particpants and what they chose to carry based on a list of 40 approved items provided by History Channel.



In the first few episodes, I think the whole bear and cougar scare was over-produced by the production company. Yes, Vancouver Island has a large population of bears and cougars that some participants actually seen in their respective campsites. Keep in mind though that 1000's of people camp out on Vancouver island in tents in the wilderness every year without incident.

Also as the newer episodes are aired, there is not much mention on the bear and cougar issues so maybe it was an attempt to get initial viewership up?

As for defending with a sharpened spear, not sure how this would work and also there are probably wildlife legal issues on the to contend with.

That said, the Coho Salmon that Alan caught is a wild Salmon as there is still an Adipose fin on the fish. Not sure what the regulations are on the Island but around here, only Adipose clipped (hatchery) Coho Salmon are allowed to be retained from June 1-Dec 31. Also that Dungeness Crab he caught in the gillnet is extremely small. If I were to retain that crab and got inspected by the DFO, (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) people, along with costly fine, I could stand to lose my fishing licence, gear and possibly have my vehicle impounded.

Furthermore, the Tidal Fishing Regulations state: It is illegal to sport fish with nets, including dip nets, minnow nets, gillnets or cast nets. Not sure what type of permits and permissions the production company obtained, but I imagine there was a lot of red tape to jump through in order for the .gov to relax the regulations for the participants.

Speaking of nets, I literally cringed when Alan carelessly pulled that crab out of the gill net and ripped the netting apart. I would be a lot more careful - as a gill net, even though it is easy to see that it is a cheaply made net, it is worth its weight in gold 5x over in a survival scenario such as depicted.

for more info on the gear they were allowed and what each picked:

http://morethanjustsurviving.com/alone-season-1-survival-gear/

I did find it curious that many participants invested little effort in building a solid shelter. Only one of them attempted to build a log cabin but gave up soon due to a very strange reason (not being able to find proper clay for an indoor stove?!).

One of the guys was even camping in a plain tarp tent situated right at the shoreline in what seemed like a dangerously exposed place for a long-term campsite. In fact, I was amazed that his shelter wasn't blown away by the wind but somehow it made it through a bad storm.

In general, I would've expected the participants to accomplish more within that time frame but I suspect the horrendous weather and lack of food simply sapped their strength. Also, the filming must've taken a lot of effort that could have been spent on tasks more conducive to actual survival. But hey, it is a TV show.

Another thing I noticed - at least three guys tapped out due to being "stalked" (more like spooked) by a bear or cougar. The same participants were also clearly upset about the lack of a firearm, even though they were issued bear spray and flares. The way it seemed to me they simply could not handle the thought of being out in bear country without a firearm, the idea being ingrained so deeply that they were basically programmed to fail from start.

Which IMHO was a flawed approach. Admittedly, it's easy to sit in front of the computer and analyze other people's decisions with the benefit of hindsight. However, relying on any single item so much that simply not having it at hand is enough to make you give up doesn't strike me as the right attitude in a survival situation.

I can see how a firearm would be a powerful asset if used for hunting (though then again, many participants brought along their bows and arrows but never had a chance to use them). As far as protection against predators though I'm not sure a firearm would give those guys much more than a psychological sense of security if push came to shove. It looked as if some of them never even camped in bear country before, neglecting to follow such basic rules as camping well off the trails and storing food away from the shelter. Anyway, the other participants did just fine without a gun and the hostile wildlife didn't seem to bother them much.

Also think part of the reason why some left early was the inability to make fire. I think with one they would have been in a better place mentally with some protection against the animals and physically from being able to drink.