Anyone watching the show Alone?

(Shannon) #1

They have most of the seasons on either Netflix or Hulu. It’s been interesting to see what the contestants say about what they eat. In one of the more recent seasons, one of the contestants went on a rant about how ridiculous it was that we have villainized saturated fat and how important it is to our health and how the food pyramid in the US is all wrong. It’s a very “fat positive” show overall. Another contestant actually decided to fast to try to last the longest. I won’t spoil what happened with him, but I think the idea of an extended fast was again portrayed quite positively.

(Michael) #2

I watched the arctic season last week. Quite liked it, and yes, lots of discussion about needing fat, nothing about carbs. After all my experiences, I think I could do well in the food aspect of the show, but nothing else.

(KM) #3

I’ve been watching the show from the beginning and I think there must be strong rules / editing about anything they perceive to be “political” content. There is usually very little discussion that criticizes modern culture … I get the feeling the underlying idea is to glorify how “weird” these contestants are without giving them a platform to rationally explain their discontent. (Heaven forbid they wind up converting anyone else!) I’d agree that it’s fat positive, but I’ve rarely noticed anyone given the opportunity to comment on what they think diet ought to be outside the limits of their wilderness experience, in which mice and beavers are fair game. That moment of criticizing saturated fat vilification stood out to me!

[For anyone who’s never heard of it, Alone drops 10 or so people off in a completely isolated wilderness (also completely separated from each other) with an extremely limited number of possessions and their own camera equipment to document their experience, and then sees who can survive out there alone the longest with no human contact other than occasional medical checks. People can last for months. $500,000 to the winner.]

Overall I do like the show for a rather anti social reason: it’s the only reality show I know that doesn’t pit people against each other to create artificial interpersonal drama or artificial urgent deadlines that lead to piss-poor performance, as on other “reality” shows. Of course the entire scenario is artificial, but it’s as close to a novel human experiment as I’d expect to see on television.

Aside, I’m also fascinated about how there are a subset of people who seem utterly competent out there alone, honestly not especially challenged by the same conditions practically killing everyone else, and quit because they’re deeply lonely.

(Edith) #4

Oooo, I may have to check out this show. It sounds right up my alley. For some reason, when I am out of town, I always end up catching a few episodes of “Naked and Afraid.” (I can’t seem to catch it at home. :woman_shrugging:) I like imaging how I would handle being in the different scenarios. :crazy_face:

(KM) #5

That’s too funny. I do the exact same thing. Hotel room binge of Naked and Afraid.

(MC) #6

People quit because they get lonely? Months out in the wilderness sounds like my idea of heaven lol I mean I’d starve to death in a week or get eaten by a bear, but still sounds nice.

(KM) #7

I know, right? A lot of people decide (or at least they announce) that they’ve discovered their loved ones are more important to them than $500,000. Which is of course hopefully true, but their loved ones will survive 3 months without them! Perhaps this is a way of bowing out because the blame somehow shifts to the loved ones being deprived, instead of the contestant admitting they’re whipped. Or maybe some people are just a lot more dependent on constant human contact than you and me!

There are a few that just baffle me, though. They kill a deer and cure it, or they are so bored and up to date with their homemaking situation they’re carving spoons and clothespins in their mass of free time (most people are starving and freezing), and then they just say ok, I proved I can do it, I miss people, I’m leaving.

(Shannon) #8

Not sure what you were referring to about the entire season being artificial, other than reality shows are never actually real. I do think the times they shoot an animal with their bow that they definitely re-enact that event. Seems improbable that they just happen to hit an animal while filming. But, I don’t think the producers or crew are shooting animals for them or anything like that.

I am also baffled by quitting because they miss their families. I think that’s mainly a sign that they take their loved ones for granted when they are with them, and they start feeling guilty about that. The thing is if that’s the way they are, if they are always seeking outside fulfillment than what is part of their every day life with their family, that behavior usually starts again once they get back.

(KM) #9

I meant it’s artificial for a single human being to be in complete wilderness isolation with 15 items, with a camera to document themselves, and medical supervision, for 2-3 months. The show experience is literally being a fly on the wall.

I don’t think any of the comments or footage or events are staged or reenacted, there is literally no on-site crew other than the contestant, except for a medical team that comes in every ? Two weeks? Contestants can be pulled from the show if they become too thin or otherwise obviously ill or injured.

With so much footage to draw from, I’m sure there’s quite selective editing that could skew a viewer’s perspective of what’s happening in real time, but I don’t know that I’d call that artificial.,

(Mark) #10

Love the show and no I don’t believe this show is artificial at all. They’re documenting their own journey.

#11

Similar except I would last months considering I am fat enough for that :smiley:
And I want OUR wilderness where the biggest carnivore is the raccoon dog :smiley: And we only have 1-2 venomous snake species (easy to notice and avoid, usually) and no dangerous spiders (but it will change with climate change)… Hungary is the opposite of Australia regarding these things and most of the world is in-between I guess.

I do would get a tad lonely sometimes I suppose, I am used to my SO… I immensely enjoy not seeing any other person basically ever though…
But a few months? I could do that.

My loved one would LOVE having so much money - and me for the next several decades, it’s not like either of us are close to death as far as we know…

I couldn’t survive in the wilderness, it’s just for the loneliness part…

Many people are like that, it’s known. I am aware I am far from the norm - and I actually have a life where I truly barely ever SEE a human apart from my SO. I look out and trees, fields, cats, goats, not a single human, it’s very nice. I do see some when I go for a walk towards the pond. Or the wildlife park. But there is a forest where I never saw anyone. Once I saw a deer! :smiley:
I only talk to other people here on this forum nowadays. And my SO, the big exception. I surely would miss him. Oh well, I could just write him a letter as in the beginning of our relationship when we met 2 times per year… Poor thing would get a bunch of letters in the end :smiley: Maybe I should write poetry again instead (I did that as a kid. good rhymes, meh poems). That goes slower.

(Edith) #12

I’ve seen what they look like. I want one as a pet. Boy, oh, boy, are they cute!!!

#13

Watched the Australian version. The ones that did best were able to catch or trap animal protein. The psychological deprivation of human community contact was the most telling aspect once, clean water food resources and warm, dry shelter were met. Plenty of life fundamentals to ponder.