The History Channel’s Alone: Frozen season one episode four finds the remaining four survivalists doing a pretty decent job of hunting. It’s incredibly challenging and the temperature’s dipping, but all four contestants are still alone in the Labrador wilderness by the end of the episode.
“Bone Cold” begins with 39 days remaining in the season and takes the countdown down to 36 days left for a share of the $500,000 prize.
Callie Russell, Age 34, Montana – Season 7, Survived 89 Days
39 Days Left: It’s 35 degrees and raining when we catch up with Callie. She’s a bit nauseous from starting her period and didn’t eat yesterday. Today, she’s thirsty and hungry but is having a tough time getting out of bed because she’s tired.
(FYI: Contestants are supplied with menstrual products.)
She finally makes it out of her shelter and works on building a grouse trap. She picks a good spot and sets up a large trap while noting her main concern is not being able to find enough food. She dubs her trap “The Amazing Grouse Getter 2000” and explains she’s using bunchberries and beachgrass for bait. When the grouse lands on a branch by the bait, it will fall into a funnel and be unable to fly away.
Callie believes having a 50-day target is easier than not knowing how many days she’ll have to spend in the wild.
38 Days Left: Callie’s never eaten sea ice before and takes a bite. She describes it as tasting like a potato chip – salty and crunchy. After a brief snack, she checks her traplines. The first three traps are empty, and the Grouse Getter didn’t catch anything either.
Season seven of Alone taught her to love herself and she’s taking that lesson into this season. However, she’s starting to doubt that the land has everything she needs. She becomes emotional as she realizes that without more food, her body won’t last much longer.
37 Days Left: The sun’s out and Callie’s enjoying it before getting to work. She went to bed hungry and she’s still hopeful there’s something in her trapline. She puts herself into a positive mind space before walking her trapline.
She spooks a grouse right off the bat and although she’s weak, she takes a shot. It’s a kill! Callie has a huge smile as she holds the grouse up to the camera and then gives it kisses. She’s incredibly grateful and believes things are turning around.
She processes the bird in the sunshine while thanking the dead creature for its life. She shows off the little stones inside the grouse’s crop. (These birds eat stones to help break down their food.) The bird’s organs are in great shape.
She saved the grouse for dinner so she can go to bed with a full belly. It felt good to make a kill just to reaffirm the land will provide.
Amós Rodriguez, Age 41, Indiana – Season 7, Survived 58 Days
39 Days Left: Today Amós plans to check on his snares and set up a few more. He really wants to get busy hunting and hopes to find a bear. He made his own bow and believes that gives him a deeper connection to his food. Amós’ goal is long-term food security – that’s what it will take to remain in the competition for 50 days.
He spots a bear trail and reminds himself to stay alert. Black bears return to the same area for food, and Amós comes across what he thinks is its bed. There’s a strong odor of urine, lots of bear scat, and an area littered with bones where it’s been eating.
Amós explains he increased the weight of his bow and arrows specifically for hunting a black bear.
He comes upon one of his snares and finds it caught a snowshoe hare. Returning to camp, he cooks up his hare, disappointed he didn’t find a bear but not ready to give up.
(Alone informs viewers that black bears have a 560-pound swipe force and can kill a human with a single blow. It’s also noted the bear’s den is just 1/3 mile from Amós’ shelter.)
36 Days Left: He heads out on another bear hunt and finds the bird he shot 12 days earlier. It’s dead and definitely not in good shape. Other birds have been picking at it and since there’s not much left, he’s going to use it for bait for the bear. He also finds the arrow he lost 12 days ago.
He hears another bird and takes a shot. He hits it but it’s not a kill shot so has to put it out of its misery.
Back at his shelter Amós prepares bird soup. He cooks it up while reminding himself he must stay alert and mentally aware of his surroundings.
Later, his fire’s roaring as the temperature drops. The wind’s kicking up and he realizes he needs to do much more work on his shelter because it’s going to get really chilly overnight.
Michelle Finn, Age 47, Maine – Season 8, Survived 21 Days
38 Days Left: Michelle admits to making a bad decision. She unspooled her 300 yards of fishing line using only her headlamp for light and now it’s a tangled mess. She laughs and says, “Needless to say, maybe those kinds of decisions shouldn’t be made in the early morning hours.”
Hours later, she’s untangled her line and with snow coming down she sets out to do some fishing. First, she’ll check her traps. She’s been existing on clams and mussels and realizes she needs a fatty animal added to her diet.
Unfortunately, her first snare’s empty. As she’s walking the trapline, Michelle reveals she had teeth and eyesight issues after starving on Alone season eight. She’s determined to not experience that this time.
She comes across a freshly dead Canada Jay that she thinks might have been dropped by a hawk. She’s decided to put off fishing for a while so she can prepare the bird. There’s no evidence of parasites so she thinks it’ll be okay, but she’ll boil it well before eating it.
Her first bite is super tough but good. She describes it as having “that dark meat flavor.”
Woniya Thibeault, Age 45, California – Season 6, Survived 73 Days
39 Days Left: Woniya shows off her Alone secret weapon – the world’s largest sweater. It didn’t count against her 10 items, and she’s able to use cordage from it to mark her snares. She took a course in trapping prior to this season, and she feels more confident now than she did in season six.
She spotted rabbit poop earlier and thinks she’s found a rabbit habitat. She sets up snares in a natural pinch point and marks them with red yarn from her sweater. If she doesn’t snag a rabbit, she hopes she’ll catch something that preys on them.
The mussel harvest on the beach has been getting less each day.
(Alone notes that contestants are allowed to trap and eat squirrel and rabbit predators, such as foxes.)
38 Days Left: Woniya takes her laundry down to the lake and is happy to have fresh-smelling clothes. After dropping off her laundry, she heads out to check her traplines.
Woniya has had hunger pains most of the day and explains that it took two years for her body to feel normal after her first experience on Alone. Her time in the Arctic destroyed her teeth and she doesn’t have much enamel left. She might tap early if she doesn’t get food on a regular basis this time.
Woniya’s overjoyed to discover one of her traps has caught a rabbit. This is her first successful trapping this season, and she’s happy the rabbit appears to have died quickly. She’s appreciative of the rabbit and is going to cook up the hare in mussel broth.
If hunting is approached the right way, Woniya thinks it can be a beautiful, reciprocal, loving act.
She plans on using the front paws as bait for a fox. She’ll keep the back ones for luck.
The hare’s kidneys are large, considering the animal’s small size. Plus, rabbit liver has more vitamin A and B12 than apples or carrots, and Woniya thinks it’s the best liver on the planet.
Later that night she takes her first bites of the rabbit and says it’s so good she could cry.
- Alone: Frozen Season 1 Episode 1 “50 Day Freeze” Recap
- Alone: Frozen Season 1 Episode 2 “Frost Bound” Recap
- Alone: Frozen Season 1 Episode 3 “The Edge” Recap
- Alone: Frozen Season 1 Episode 5 “Outfoxed” Recap
- Alone: Frozen Season 1 Episode 6 “On Thin Ice” Recap
- Alone: Frozen Season 1 Episode 7 “The Last Hope” Recap
- Alone: Frozen Season 1 Episode 8 “The Bitter End” Finale Recap
