Two women and two men remain in the quest for the $500,000 grand prize as The History Channel’s Alone season 12 episode seven opens. All four are hurting for food, but only one is having a tough time keeping a fire lit.

Episode seven tracks the action from day 17 to day 20. On day 19, the field of survivalists narrows to just three. The following is a recap, so there are spoilers ahead.

Baha Mahmutov: Age 50, Wharncliff, Ontario, Canada
Day 17, 2:43am – It’s just 30 degrees, and Baha’s up maintaining his fire. He didn’t bring a ferro rod, so he’s forced to get up multiple times each night to work on the fire. Baha admits the nights are becoming less bearable. He plans on building a chimney to make his tent warmer, but food’s a bigger priority.

7:21am – Baha heads out to explore, confessing he’s frustrated he hasn’t been successful in hunting. The History Channel notes he’s lost 16 pounds since the season began. He checks out a dry riverbed and follows it, hoping to find some tracks. Fortunately, it does turn out to be an active site, with lots of warthog activity. There are warthog burrows everywhere, and Baha believes the warthogs are inside their dens. He wants to hang out there but needs to make the two-mile trek back to camp to check on his fire. Baha thinks it may be possible to return to the riverbed and smoke out a warthog.

Day 18, 8:42am – There’s nothing to cook so he heads off to where he saw the dens. He takes some dried grass and animal poop with him, along with some coal, to smoke out the warthogs. Baha confesses he’s burning a lot of calories and is afraid he may not last long enough to win.

11:39am – He’s near the warthog dens when he builds a fire. Baha finds a den and stuffs the burning grass inside. He stays outside, poised to shoot if an animal runs out.

1:24pm – Nothing emerges from the den, so he moves to another hole.

2:45pm – Baha wonders if this was a silly idea. He hasn’t heard any noise and admits to feeling defeated.

Day 19, 6:19am – Baha’s outside his tent, tending to his fire, and his mind is racing. He thinks about what’s happening at home and worries about his psychological state. His family needs him, and here he spends every night just waiting for morning to arrive.

“Perhaps my purpose here is not win; it’s to learn,” says Baha. He accepts his fate and his failures and thanks Africa for teaching him things. Baha taps out, confessing the nights were too hard because he didn’t have a ferro rod. He’s okay with leaving Alone and has realized money isn’t what he needs. His family’s used to starting over from nothing, but the other times that he’s done so, he hasn’t been alone. Being alone in South Africa has made him understand his values and the importance of family.

Katie Rydge: Age 45, Emerald Beach, AUS
Day 17, 10:44am – Katie sets up a trap for a mouse and watches waterbuck nearby. Today she’ll work on her shelter and that means she has to fetch mud. She’s hungry and realizes she needs to decide if hunting is worth the calorie expenditure. Katie thinks fishing is the way to go for now.

She uses her rain jacket to transport mud while explaining she’s got traps set for small rodents to use as bait. While waiting to catch something, she builds a big mud dome so that her shelter will stay warm at night.

At 22, she woke up spiritually and traveled to America. She spent time in the Tracker survivor school in New Jersey so she could learn more primitive skills, including tracking and learning about plants.

1:48pm – Katie continues to work on her mud dome until she’s satisfied it will keep heat in.

Kelsey Loper: Age 35, Winnett, Montana
Day 17, 2:27pm – While stretching her legs, she spots an African Fish Eagle in a tree. After a brief rest, she heads out on her hunting loop. There are waterbucks nearby, but she’s not allowed to take them with her bow. Instead, she’s going to concentrate on warthogs. She spots a large area where a warthog’s house caved in and attempts to figure out where they’ve moved to. Kelsey wishes she would have shot at the warthogs she saw back on day six, but she didn’t want to be greedy.

Day 20, 8:47am – She hears geese and decides to just sit by the water where she might be able to shoot one. Kelsey doesn’t notice one that was nearby until it flies off. She’s still kicking herself for not shooting a warthog days earlier.

12:09pm – Kelsey gives up and decides to return to her beach closer to camp.

2:24pm – She confesses she can’t just sit around or she’ll tap, so instead she goes for a super slow walk. It hasn’t been a good day and Kelsey’s feeling depressed and hungry. She’s reached a starvation point and the game around her is for 60-pound bows, which is larger than what she brought. Kelsey’s burning calories on her walks but they’re the only thing keeping her in the game at this point.

She’s almost at the point where she can’t pull her bow back. “I’m very worried that I’ll be pulled for medical weight loss,” Kelsey admits. However, she is going to keep hanging on and does not want to tap.

As she’s walking back to camp, she sees a giant tortoise. She’s elated and says hi, getting down on the ground next to it. Kelsey rubs its shell and assures the tortoise that it’s okay. Tortoises are protected and can’t be killed or captured, but this one has definitely improved Kelsey’s mood.

Kelsey thinks if the tortoise can survive in this area, so can she. She’s got a huge smile on her face as she continues walking back to camp.

Nathan Olsen: Age 52, Buhl, Idaho
Day 19, 12:14pm – Nathan picks more buffalo thorn fruit, and he’s learned from the baboons that he doesn’t need to spit out the pits. 100 grams of buffalo thorn fruit is 240 calories, according to THC.

Nathan’s priority is getting calories, but unfortunately, he’s in a dry spell with fishing. He’s spent 12,000 calories working on his shelter and it’s not even close to completion. Today, he’s going to try hunting again, using the ambush style. He’s lost 15 pounds since day one.

1:27pm – He finds an area to use as a blind and waits.

3:14pm – So far, nothing’s come near his area. However, he knows it’s a waiting game. Nathan’s been thinking a lot about his son and about going hunting with him when he was just 10 years old. His son shot a rabbit that didn’t die, and Nathan had to kill it to put it out of its misery. The rabbit turned out to be pregnant. That incident made his son decide he didn’t want to be a hunter.

Nathan respected his son’s compassion and believed it was a beautiful thing.

5:07pm – He returns to camp and decides he’ll go night fishing.

9:11pm – Nathan hikes to the far side of the lagoon and has a pole set up while he uses his hand line. While fishing, Nathan explains that his son had an accident at age 11 that broke his skull. The traumatic injury changed his son’s brain. Later in life, he struggled with addiction. Six and a half years ago Nathan got a call in the middle of the night informing him his son had died of a drug overdose. Nathan gets emotional as he explains that he loved him and tried to make the right decisions but “didn’t always know how.” He understands now that a life lived, no matter how short, is a beautiful thing.

Nathan checks his pole and is excited to have caught a nearly four-foot-long catfish.

• Alone Season 11 Episode 12 Finale Recap: A Winner Emerges After 84 Days
• Alone Season 12 Episode 1 “The Land of Great Thirst” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 2 “Best Laid Plans” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 3 “Thirst Trap” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 4 “Finding a Foothold” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 5 “The Tempest” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 6 “Purpose” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 8 “Weak Spot” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 9 “The Promised Land” Recap
• Alone Season 12 Episode 10 Finale Recap