Every episode of Alone starts the same way.
Before we dive into the action, the TV screen flashes a quotation from famous historic person, like Winston Churchill or Aristotle. These one-liners are often about the cruel and dangerous potential of Mother Nature.
“If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf,” states one said by Nikita Khrushchev.
But oftentimes, Alone producers select quotes that capture the essence of what is about to transpire on screen. This thematic description isn’t as on-the-nose as the episode titles used by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (“The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis”). But it’s kinda sorta similar. And as an Alone completist, I know that these quotes often foreshadow what’s about to go down.
So you can imagine my feelings of curiosity when the following quote opened episode 2: “Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many.” — Phaedrus
A bunch of questions popped into my brain: What part of Alone Africa isn’t as it seems? Which participant’s first appearance is deceiving? And who is Phaedrus?
Scanning the Episode for a Twist
(Spoilers aheads) After Googling the origin of the quote (Phaedrus was a buddy of Greek philosopher Plato), I dove into episode 2 with a skeptic’s eye, wondering which survivalist was about to deceive me with his or her first impression.
In this episode, we spent time with the five contestants we did not meet in episode 1: Dug, a software designer from New Hampshire; Nathan, a tech CEO from Idaho; Douglas, a survival teacher from North Carolina; Colton, a carpenter from Montana; and Baha, a homesteader from Ontario, Canada.
Baha made my deception antenna shoot straight up. From the moment the camera lingered on Baha, he exuded the type of big personality we don’t always see on Alone. He cracked jokes within seconds of being delivered into the African backcountry, shouting “I changed my mind!” at the departing helicopter, before mugging into the camera and dropping an expletive.
But what made me truly question Baha came shortly afterward, when he made two seemingly serious blunders. First: Baha didn’t like his location, which sat behind a shadow-casting hillside, so he decided to hike two miles to a new campsite. But he did so during the heat of the day, and without stopping to first start a fire and boil some drinking water. The hike left him severely dehydrated.
Then, when Baha arrived at his new campsite, he delivered more bad news: he chose not to bring a ferro rod—a device that starts fire quickly—as one of his ten survival tools. Instead, Baha would start fire with a bow and drill. It didn’t go well, and Baha spent the first two days in Africa with no fire and no water.
Over the years we’ve seen a handful of contestants either leave a ferro rod at home or lose one in the field, and suffer catastrophic outcomes. In season six, Nathan Donnelly, a survival instructor from Washington state, didn’t bring a ferro rod, and instead opted to keep his fire burning day and night. Eventually, sparks from the blaze ignited his shelter, and Donnelly was nearly burned to death.
After watching Baha struggle in the heat, my mind went back to the opening quote, and the twist it seemed to telegraph. I wondered: Is Baha actually the Lebron James of survival? Because his first impression was extremely poor.
But no, Baha eventually made fire, boiled water, and got some rest.
There was nothing about Dug, Nathan, or Douglas that raised any doubts. But there are a number of compelling storylines with each of them that I cannot wait to see unfold throughout the season.
Nathan is the son of Larry Dean Olsen, who is kind of like the Henry Ford of American survival. Fifty years ago he taught backcountry survival and started wilderness therapy programs, and in 1973 published the book Outdoor Survival Skills. I’m curious if Nathan’s famous linage impacts his ability to weather the hunger, heat, and dehydration.
Both Dug and Douglas appear to be school-taught survivalists—guys who have learned techniques but who don’t necessarily rely on them in a day-to-day manner. No, neither guy is a homesteader or hunting guide. I marveled at the revelation that Douglas is an expert in blowguns, and has even authored a book on them, titled North American Blowguns. I sincerely hope Doug gets the chance to build and then hunt with one.
Another Contestant Goes Home Early
So, what was the twist that Alone teased with the opening quote? We had to wait until the final five minutes to see. But what a twist it was: cameras caught Colton completely unravel on his fourth day in the wilderness. He picked up his satellite phone and tapped out. He joined Jit, who quit on day three, as an early departure from Alone Africa.
I didn’t see it coming. Colton came across as a familiar archetype within the cadre of Alone participants: the alpha male. He had all of the qualities to win: hunting experience, tons of personal confidence, and even some early success with procuring food.
But Colton couldn’t manage Alone‘s often-overlooked challenge: isolation. Without access to distractions, Colton’s mind wandered to the deep down psychological strife he was secretly dealing with: he was still devastated from the death of his father more than a decade ago.
Four days in the bush peeled back the barriers he’d placed on his emotions, and they all rushed in at once. Colton tapped out, telling his rescuers he was suffering from depression.
“I spiraled into a bad place—depression—it just came in on me,” he said. “I thought 100 percent I’d come out here and kill it. I just feel like I need help. I feel like I need to talk to somebody.”
We’ve seen this before on Alone. The most recent example occurred in season 11, when Canadian librarian Pete Albano tapped out on day eight, despite having plenty of food and a decent shelter. But the isolation forced Albano to be alone with his thoughts. And after a few days, Albano admitted that he’d spent his adult life bottling up his emotions. Furthermore, he realized he was passing the trait along to his son. He quit because he wanted to become a more emotionally secure person, and he couldn’t waste one moment in the wilderness to get started.
Both sagas are a reminder of the biggest power that Alone champions bring to the show: emotional openness and inward strength. And both are a testament to one of my favorite opening quotes from Alone.
“Being alone is scary, but not as scary as feeling alone.” ― Amelia Earhart
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