The History Channel’s Alone season 10 episode six begins with five survivalists remaining in the competition. The wind kicks up and the temperature falls, forcing the competitors to attempt to stay warm in their shelters. And by the end of episode six, “King’s Gambit,” all five have managed to overcome the weather, food issues, and boredom caused by being stuck inside their shelters to remain in the hunt for the $500,000 grand prize.
Tarcisio “Taz” Ramos Dos Santos, Age 35, Becket, Massachusetts and Sergipe, Brazil
Day 24 – Taz works on his second gillnet and has built a gigantic moose caller out of paper birch. So far, no moose have responded.
He checks his food cache high up in a tree and his grouse and trout are okay, although they have a few maggots which he removes. Next, he sets up his second gillnet in the same place he lost his first one. This time, he’ll secure the net (made of paracord) better and be careful about the wind direction.
He admits he needs to ration his food at this point because of the loss of the first net.
Later that day, Taz checks his new net, and it didn’t catch anything. Taz’s main strategy was to pull in fish with a gillnet, but the fish are now moving to deeper waters for warmth. The canoe hasn’t been productive so he’s going to change things up and go hunting for big game. It uses more energy and burns more calories, but he’s willing to gamble for some protein.
He takes a shot at a grouse and misses. Arrow #2 also misses, and he needs to spend time searching for the arrows since he only has nine. (That’s the maximum number participants are allowed.) Fortunately, he locates both arrows fairly quickly. The bird has remained nearby, and this time he hits his target.
“My survival philosophy is just to adapt and adjust and to be aware of what’s around,” explains Taz.
As he’s heading back to his camp, he hears another grouse. His first shot kills the ruffed grouse, and Taz notes that he’s going to eat well. He’s feeling content and that he can win the competition.
Day 28 – Taz continues to work on his shelter that he’s named Sprouse Grouse Lodge. He bunkers down for the day and plays some chess since he has food for a few days. He’s a little worried about food in the long term, and he has a wall and door to finish on his wooden lodge.
His chess board is made from the box he found, and playing helps him think of other things besides the weather and food. Taz thinks his fellow competitors are tough and capable.
A storm is moving in, and Taz needs to get prepared.
Taz’s 10 Survival Items:
Sleeping Bag
Ferro Rod
Cooking Pot
Axe
Multitool
Fishing Line and Hooks
Paracord
Snare Wire
Bow and Arrows
Tarp
James “Wyatt” Black, Age 51, Ontario, Canada
Day 24 – His net’s tangled and snagged on something underwater, but at least it contains a five or six-pound lake trout. Once out of the water, he notes that his net’s in bad shape. Wyatt sets to work on creating a new gillnet.
He knew what this environment was like and what to expect, yet nothing he planned for has materialized. Fortunately, he’s able to adapt and will ration his food.
Wyatt’s happier with his second net than his first.
Day 25 – The gillnet’s set up, so Wyatt works on chopping some firewood. He believes his shelter’s adequate – not elaborate. It doesn’t need to be fancy to keep him in the competition.
Day 26 – His new gillnet catches a monster pike. Wyatt estimates it’s 15-20 pounds and is incredibly happy because it means he’s got 10 days’ worth of food from one fish. Alone informs us that the fish will provide 10,000 calories.
Wyatt knows the best way to preserve his catch in this environment is to smoke it.
Later, he shows off the smoked fish and it looks, in his words, beautiful.
Day 29 – The wind’s blowing at 36 mph in the morning, kicking up whitecaps on the lake and making it hard for Wyatt’s hat to remain on his head. Wyatt’s shelter is holding up well, but he’ll need to touch it up after the storm. He’s never experienced wind that’s this strong and lasted so long in his life.
Wyatt’s 10 Survival Items:
Cooking Pot
Axe
Saw
Ferro Rod
Sleeping Bag
Snare Wire
Paracord
Fishing Line and Hooks
Bow and Arrows
Multitool
Mikey Hilton, Age 32, Rome, Georgia
Day 26 – It’s still dark out, but Mikey can’t sleep. He’s found a couple of rocks to use as a sharpening stone and sharpens his knife while confessing he’s suffering from insomnia for the first time in his life. It’s probably due to the lack of protein.
Today, he’s focusing on finding food and admits he’s so tired he’s not thinking straight. He’s looking for anything he can use on his walk, including berries and game trails. He picks a lot of berries and lucks upon wood with nails in it. He’ll use the nails to put a door on his shelter.
Bushcraft is ingrained in him, and Mikey describes himself as being born in 1990 but growing up in 1932. His family didn’t have electricity, and they hand-dug a well for water. His schoolwork was done by candlelight, and he’d shower in the rain.
Mikey promises his own kids will never have to live like that. He works hard to make sure they have what they need and suffers so they don’t have to.
Day 29 – It’s 1am and Mikey can’t sleep. He finally drifts off, only to wake again at 2:30ish. The storm’s set in and Mikey’s been just lying in bed listening to the rain. He decides to spend the rest of the day in the shelter hanging out.
Mikey works on dice to pass the time and then plays a game he made up to keep himself busy.
At 5pm, the rain has stopped but the wind’s still blowing at 29 mph. Mikey’s done being cooped up and heads out looking for something to eat. He thinks hunting is all about luck, and his luck is good. He spots a grouse and kills it with his first shot.
After dinner, he mixes up charcoal and water in little jars he found to create ink and writes a letter to his wife, Hazel, on a piece of birch bark. He wishes he had more time with them but needs to be away at work to provide what they need. If he wins the $500,000, that will buy him more time with his family.
He reads the letter to his wife out loud but shares that he’ll keep private any subsequent letters. After reading the letter, which basically explains how he created the ink, pen, and paper, he tells his family he loves them and goes to bed.
Mikey’s 10 Survival Items:
Axe
Saw
Ferro Rod
Multitool
Fishing Line and Hooks
Paracord
Cooking Pot
Snare Wire
Bow and Arrows
Sleeping Bag
Melanie Sawyer, Age 54, Essex County, NY
Day 27 – Melanie’s built a solid wind wall around her firepit and reveals she really wants to dive with sharks in Bimini. She laughs about planning more adventures while seated in this remote Canadian wilderness.
Melanie’s collected reindeer moss and is going to process it to eat. It doesn’t taste good but provides vitamin D and simple sugars. It needs to be boiled twice before it’s cooked, and Melanie plans on boiling it and then drying it out. She’ll use it as a thickener for each of her meals.
She heads out to forage for mushrooms and berries and comes upon an area that had a recent fire. It’s a great spot for harvesting blueberries, and she explains that actually living what she teaches is an amazing experience.
Melanie’s walked nearly two miles – farther than she’s walked before on this challenge – and is impressed with a blueberry patch she’s found. (She says it’s about three acres of blueberries.) She thinks she’d be crazy not to visit this spot again.
Day 29 – Melanie’s out in the storm, getting rained on as the wind whips up. It’s currently blowing at 41 mph and is actually pushing her.
Back in her shelter, she shakes her bed moss around to keep it bouncy. Melanie’s going to conserve her energy until the weather allows her to return to the blueberry field.
Day 30 – Melanie woke up the previous evening to a big crash. Her woodshed broke apart from the swaying of the trees it was attached to, and Melanie decides to deconstruct it for now. The berries are her priority, and she may rebuild the woodshed later. She regrets building it around live trees.
She sets up a temporary station to cover her firewood and then takes a break to conserve energy for her trek to the berries.
At 1:30pm, she gets emotional thinking about her fiancé, Brian, and records a message on an SD memory card, believing she can keep the card a secret. Unfortunately, the rules state that she must return it to the producers. Nothing is private on any of the survivalists’ recordings.
She records her feelings about him and that she loves and misses him. She hopes to stay in the game and win the money, and what they can do with the cash is helping her stay focused. She confesses she can’t catch fish but isn’t going to give up. She says, “I can not show any sign of weakness on the camera because they’ll focus on it.”
Melanie does not want the producers to use anything that could make her look weak. (Side note: Melanie’s an incredibly strong woman and showing emotions or missing loved ones is not a sign of weakness.)
Melanie’s 10 Survival Items:
Bow and Arrows
Snare Wire
Fishing Line and Hooks
Saw
Multitool
Sleeping bag
Cooking Pot
Ferro Rod
Food Rations
Food Rations
Alan Tenta, Age 51, Columbia Valley, BC, Canada
Day 27 – Alan’s still having luck fishing and has fish eggs, liver, milt, and heart cooked for lunch. He always eats the organs first since they spoil quickly. He mistakenly eats the gallbladder and hopes he doesn’t get sick.
“I’ve never felt so rich in food as I do now,” says Alan. He’s paranoid about spoilage and builds a smoker to preserve some of his catch. His plan: get more fish, do more smoking, and preserve food for the long run.
He heads back out to fish, planning to process and smoke his fish tomorrow. Alan’s settled into this environment and is enjoying himself while getting food. He catches a big fish, but his spool rolls into the water, which definitely isn’t ideal. He needs to go into the 46-degree water to retrieve it since it’s integral to his survival.
Alan quickly strips to his shorts and steps into the water as the sun’s beginning to set. Luckily, he grabs it before spending much time in the chilly water.
Day 28 – Alan finishes his smoker while admitting he’s looking forward to suffering during this challenge, just to see how far he can push himself. This is his first time smoking fish, and he’s using snare wire as a grill and cooking with alder, birch, and willow.
He’ll smoke these fish and keep them for later when the fish don’t bite. Hopefully, he’ll keep catching fresh fish every couple of days and exist off them.
Day 29 – The wind is wreaking havoc on his smoker, making the smoke go out the door instead of up into his fish. The storm means Alan can’t fish and now he can’t smoke his fish, either.
Alan’s bored, which is tough on his mental state. He’s back in his shelter and can’t do much but wait for the storm to pass through.
Day 30 – His smoker’s still working hard and he’s worried about the fish getting moldy. If he’d known about the storm, he would have sliced the fish into thinner pieces.
He’s going to retire his Lake Trout Baby #1 lure and make a new, improved version. He’s impressed with a piece of bark he’s whittled to look like fish skin and confesses there’s an emotion that feels like physical pain in his chest when he thinks about his family. It’s weird not to be able just to call them, and that messes with his head.
He finishes Lake Trout Baby #2 and heads down to the shore to try it out. He becomes incredibly frustrated when he loses two fish in a row. Alan’s never had such bad luck fishing in his life.
Alan’s 10 Survival Items:
Ax
Saw
Ferro Rod
Fishing Line and Hooks
Bow and Arrows
Sleeping Bag
Cooking Pot
Paracord
Snare Wire
Multitool
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