For the first time in Alone history, the 10 participants were dropped in polar bear country – Labrador, Canada. The season nine survivalists will be facing frigid weather, a wide variety of predators, and some of what The History Channel describes as the harshest conditions of any season to date.
Episode one, “Drop Shock,” kicked off season nine on May 26, 2022 by briefly introducing the 10 survivalists. The first episode focused on six of the 10 participants and chronicled their adventures over their first four days alone in Labrador.
And here we go with the recap…so prepare for spoilers!
We’re informed 6,000+ polar bears roam the area and wind gusts can reach 60 miles per hour. Plus, the area gets 60” of annual rainfall.
Among the items provided to each participant this season are bear spray as well as five Flies to use as fish bait. All the sites have the same essentials and have been selected at random by the participants.
Benji Hill (Bellevue, ID)
Day 1, 10am. Benji’s a 46-year-old hunting and pack-goat adventure guide, with 30+ years of bowhunting experience. He’s really experienced at killing big game and describes this area of Labrador as “bear heaven.”
He’s lived his whole life in the Rocky Mountains and is at peace in the woods. Benji’s résumé includes playing Division 1 sports and was a world champion in weightlifting. Married with a young daughter, Benji’s goal is to last 102 days and set a new Alone record.
Benji’s going to make sure he has his bow with him at all times. He’s pretty sure the fishing will be good because of the slow-moving water.
He finds bunchberries right away and is more concerned with food than shelter to begin with. He believes just a tarp over his head will be okay. He’d rather look for fish, bears, and other edibles the first 30 days.
Benji misses with his first shot but hits a squirrel with his second. Rain sneaks up on him before he gets his tarp up. He gets soaked and regrets not getting a shelter up first. That was his first mistake.
The second time we visit with Benji is on day 4 at 1:31pm. He explains he put on 36 pounds to prepare and was 231 at his weigh-in. He plans to make this his video journal of weight loss over the coming weeks/months as he becomes a hunting machine.
Day 4’s goal is to build a tenkara fishing rod and get some fish. After making the rod he tries it out in a little pool he discovered where fish get stuck when the tide goes out. (He’s been fishing since he was six.) He’s unsuccessful at first and yells at himself – or maybe at the fish – “Come on, dude!”
Benji’s patience finally pays off but the first fish he pulls in is a puny brook trout. Still, at least it’s something. He continues fishing and gets another sardine-sized fish. He’s got the technique down and pulls in a few more – enough for dinner if he puts all 12 together. He’s decided not to ration them and will eat them all at once.
One of Benji’s 10 items is Himalayan salt which acts as a woodsy multivitamin mineral.
His approach to this challenge is to move forward in small steps and win little battles.
Jessie Krebs (Pagosa Springs, CO)
Day 1, 1:32pm. Jessie forgot to film herself working for the first few hours. She confesses she finds it weird being on camera and speaking her thoughts out loud.
Jessie thinks Alone isn’t about survival – it’s about primitive living. We see her back at home sucking on a worm (which is truly gross) and then slurping it down. She’s a survival instructor who takes groups out and teaches them how to take care of themselves. She’s also a former Air Force SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) instructor and taught military members how to survive in hostile conditions. Her passion is to start a school – OWLS Skills, with OWLS standing for Outdoorsy Women Learning Survival.
Jessie has a huge family and a big support network, plus a boyfriend. She believes she has the skills and ability to win season nine.
First, she scouts the area, looks for a shelter site for the night, and for resources. She finds a creek with a fresh bear print on the bank. “That’s not good,” says Jessie.
It’s been rough watching the seasons go by without a woman winner and she says female primitive living instructors and survivalists are still rare. Jessie’s goal is to be the first woman to win Alone.
She sets up a temporary shelter with her tarp, tree branches, and boughs.
At 11:51pm she wakes up to find a bear within 100 feet moving in her direction. She believes it’s circled her camp and is just trying to get around her. He leaves and she goes back to sleep.
Karie Lee (Sandpoint, ID)
Karie stumbled out of the helicopter while being dropped off but is fine to continue with the challenge. It’s 61 degrees and Karie describes her area near the river as incredible.
Karie says she’s spent 50 years preparing to do this. She’s living this lifestyle all the time at home and absolutely loves the wilderness. Karie collects her own rainwater, and firewood is her only source of heat for her cabin. She’s used to the snow, used to foraging for her own food, and can hunt. She works as a primitive skills instructor and if she wins Alone, she’ll use the prize money to build a wilderness school.
She has a boyfriend and a supportive family.
A storm’s moving in so she hurries to put up the tarp and grab tinder. She finds a flat area to make a “bungalow” for the night. She’s in her 50s and is the second oldest participant in Alone history. (Peter Brockdorff from season four was 61.) Karie knows she needs to keep her energy level up and vows to work smarter, not harder.
Day 2, 10:24. Karie’s being bitten by black flies and has bumps all across her neck and chest. They itch like crazy, constantly.
She grabs her bow and heads out to scout the area. The trees are thick and intimidating but she doesn’t want to build a shelter in an exposed area either. She finally finds animal tracks but can’t tell what it is. She decides to follow its trail in case it’s heading toward the water. She wants to take her time, be smart, and not take any unnecessary risks.
Karie spots a grouse and misses with her first arrow. The grouse flies off a short distance and she spots him on a branch. He jumps off and she tracks him down but doesn’t realize he’s right in front of her. He flies off again before she can take a second shot. Fortunately, he flies toward her once more and her second shot kills him.
Getting a grouse (a great source of iron and protein) on day 2 boosts her confidence. “I see wilderness survival as not just about the skills. It’s about the attitude, the positive mindset, and being in a place of gratitude and awareness.”
Juan Pablo Quinonez (Pinawa, CAN)
When we catch up with Juan on day 2 at 2:49pm he’s just stumbled while walking through the woods. He’s looking for a permanent site and expects to be miserable all the time. Juan believes it’s good to expect nothing and if something good happens, then he’ll be thankful.
30 years old, Juan was born and raised in Mexico and was always out trapping and hunting. He’s had a lifelong love of the wilderness and recently did a 100-day expedition foraging, hunting, and trapping. He got super thin and learned what it really means to be cold. (It was -27).
Juan has a girlfriend who’s everything to him. $500,000 will allow him to buy land and let them start a family. He’s not willing to quit.
He comes across a fresh pile of bear scat and hopes that means he can shoot a bear. However, he knows a lot can go wrong when you hunt with a bow.
He finds an open, flat, dry spot, with great access to the water. His shelter strategy is simple. He’s going to make a tent with the sidewalls using the tarp. He’ll block the entrances with wood. He doesn’t think he needs insulation as long as he has a fire with a chimney.
He put on 60 pounds to get ready for this challenge. (Lots of milk and olive oil.) Plan A: get a bear. Plan B: live off his body fat.
He pauses in his shelter building to chase a squirrel but it runs off. He hears a big animal but it moves away before he sees it. Instead of hunting, Juan turns into a gatherer when he spots dozens of empty cans.
He builds an impressive stove and chimney out of the cans. He then cuts up his gaiters to use them to fireproof his stovepipe. He uses a piece of wire as a needle and paracord as thread.
He’s used to improvising in survival situations and goes with his intuition.
After he’s finished setting up the stove inside the tent – with the chimney through the roof – he surrounds the whole thing with clay. That will provide thermal mass and seal the holes.
Juan notes that he’s never cared about money; his concerns have always been water, shelter, and food. “If I have that, I’m okay.” But to get married and start a family he believes he needs financial stability which an Alone win will give him.
Jacques Turcotte (Juneau, AK)
Day 3, 7:54am. Jacques has set up his tent and is humming a weird jingle that’s been stuck in his head for years. Its name? He has no clue.
23 years old, Jacques is a glacier guide specializing in ice climbing along with bear viewing. He’s been charged by numerous bears and lives where there’s 42’ of snow. He’s season nine’s youngest competitor but his rough childhood taught him how to be resilient. His parents split up when he was five-ish. His dad was a hard man, and Jacques would hide in the woods to be away “from the hurt.” He was also bullied as a kid.
He advises young kids who feel lost to follow their passions.
Jacques is proficient at fishing, hunting, and building shelters. He currently lives off the grid with his girlfriend and his dog.
On day 3 he spots his first bear scat in the area and it’s still wet. Unfortunately, it’s within eyesight of his shelter. Jacques points out only three things hunt humans: polar bears, lions, and other humans. “That’s terrifying. You have to be insane to say that doesn’t terrify you that there are polar bears here.”
He finds a jaw-based bear trap that’s rusty but still works. He sets it up and demonstrates how an animal can get caught.
Day 4, 10:47am. His stomach growls and it sounds like, fittingly enough, a bear. He spots a squirrel from his sleeping bag and quietly makes his way out of his shelter. His first arrow hits its mark. He thanks the squirrel for providing him with sustenance.
As he’s working on the squirrel, he spooks a grouse. He shoots it but has difficulty locating the body or his arrow and realizes the arrow’s in the bird. He hopes it went off to die.
He spots his arrow and it is in fact in the grouse.
He’s set up a rock stove and makes grouse and squirrel stew, happy he’s had an epic morning. And it’s all been within a few yards of his shelter.
Igor Limansky (Bountiful, UT)
Day 4 at 7:23am gives us our first look at what’s going on with Igor. He fell asleep on some rocks in the open – wrapped up in his tarp – because he was hiking around looking for building materials and it got late.
He’s explored the area and is burning calories without finding where he wants to set up a shelter. He hasn’t consumed any protein since he was dropped off.
Age 39, Igor is Armenian, Egyptian, French, and Russian. His ethnicity has been a large influence on his life and work. He works creating programs for refugees but also has a background in bowhunting.
He’s married and has a dog. He thinks 100 days is just a blink of an eye in a lifetime.
9:34am. Walking through the thick brush is wearing him down. He’s also being bit by flies.
The risk element of Alone will allow him to push the conceptions of where he thinks his limits are.
After four days of wandering around, he chuckles when he admits he’s going to build his shelter where he was dropped off by the helicopter on day 1. The area’s close to the stream, has good rocks, seaweed, and makes for a good shelter.
He gathers up bladderwrack (a brown seaweed) for stew and has his first meal. He wonders if he’ll see polar bears and thinks spotting one would be both awesome and terrifying.
The season nine participants who weren’t spotlighted are Adam from Fayetteville, AR; Terry Burns from Homer, AK; Teimojin Tan from Quebec City, CAN; and Tom Garstang from Earlysville, VA.
No one tapped out in episode one.
- Alone Season 9 Episode 2 “Consequences” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 3 “Law of the Land” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 4 “The Beaver” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 5 “The Land Giveth” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 6 “The Weasel” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 7 “The Birds” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 8 “Gut Feeling” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 9 “The Ice Up” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 10 “Winter’s Grasp” Recap
- Alone Season 9 Episode 11 “Fight, Flight or Freeze” Recap
