Is This the Most Dangerous Reality Show on Television?

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Alone (2015) (2015)

“I’m a rich man for everything but money and time,” said Mikey Helton, a father of five from Rome, Georgia. “I have a family who loves me, and I love them. I have the ability to provide for them. I just don’t have the money to have time with them.” Helton was a contestant on 'Alone' season 10, the American survival competition on the History Channel. His youngest son, Nikolai, is autistic, and he was the primary reason Helton decided to participate in the show, hoping to win the grand prize of half a million dollars. “With $500,000, I can give him all the therapy he needs to help him lead a better life,” he said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change his life, to change my family’s life. It’s a lot of money. People say you can’t buy happiness, but if I had more time with them, I’d be a lot happier.”

Each year, contestants from all over the US leave their families and go to the wilderness, in a remote area, where they must live off the land, all alone, for as long as they can. The winner is the last one to survive the bitter cold, harsh conditions, hunger, and loneliness.

It’s not easy to go through the auditions for such a show. You need to have certain skills, like hunting or fishing and building a shelter, among other things. You need to be fearless as you might encounter bears or wolves, harsh weather conditions of freezing cold and loneliness.

Half a Million Dollars is a Life-Changing Sum

This contest is not for the weak. Not only is it harsh, but it’s also dangerous. Since the series debuted in 2015, many contestants have dropped out due to injuries. One cut off part of her finger, another got twisted his leg, some just got too weak after they couldn’t find food and were slowly starving, and some just couldn’t handle the separation from their children and loved ones. This is why participants are chosen carefully to ensure they have what it takes to survive in the wild alone. But even the most skilled contestants, who hunt for a living and live in areas where temperatures drop to -50 below zero, find themselves struggling.

Alone Season 11, which debuted on June 13, brought 10 new contestants, 8 men and 2 women. They are of different ages, from different parts of the country, and with different backgrounds. None of them is rich, and $500,000 is a life-changing sum for all of them. In the first two episodes, participants are seen being dropped off by boat in remote areas. Some locations picked in the past were Labrador, Canada, northern Saskatchewan and Alaska. This season, the most unforgiving, northernmost location was chosen: Inuvik, Canada. An area known for bone-chilling cold, icy landscapes, and grizzly bear territory. Equipped with a set of cameras (weighing 65 pounds) and 10 chosen items, contestants need to start building a shelter as winter quickly approaches and find food. This last task proves to be the hardest one.

The Contest Presents Real Health Risks

A man with a beard dressed in a winter coat and hat stands in the snow-covered forest

One might think, no big deal, I’ll starve for a couple of months and take home half a million dollars (the longest time a contestant survived was 100 days on season 7). But as fans of the show follow the series with every new season, it’s clear that this is not as easy as it sounds.

The contest presents real health risks to contestants, from eating food they can’t digest to getting injured after falling down or hurting themselves while cutting wood. One contestant got so hungry during season 10 that he cooked his leather belt. Hunger can make you do strange things indeed.

Then there is the issue of thirst. In season one, Brant McGee left on day six after he drank unpurified water. Brant spent days struggling to find water, and when he couldn’t and wasn’t able to put on a fire to purify the water, he drank contaminated water. He experienced intense abdominal pain and began to hallucinate ancient symbols.

'Alone' Can Be Very Dangerous; Cubby Hoover Had an Arrow Stuck in His Leg

Participants know full well the risks, but still, each season, dozens of survivalists audition for the show, and only 10 are selected.

In this season of Alone, viewers meet Jake Messinger, 42, a single father of three. Following his divorce, he had to move to share custody and lost three-quarters of his income. “My kids watched me struggle,” he said. Jake hopes to win the prize to provide for his children and make them proud. Alone has been one of their favorite shows to watch together, and they are their dad’s biggest cheerleaders.

Isaiah Tuck, 36, from West Virginia, and his wife struggled with infertility and tried IVF for a few years until they were finally able to have a baby. Isaiah said the treatments cost as much as a few years' salary, adding, “So $500,000 will change my life.”

For Dub Paetz, 44, from Michigan, the prize money will allow him to pay off his house and his mom’s house. “And for once, not to stress out about money,” he said. “The freedom that it will give me is something I can’t even imagine.” Cubby Hoover, 33, from Montana, joined Alone after being with his wife for 12 years. “We want to have kids, but she has been sick a lot of the time. $500,000 will give us the opportunity to get her healthy, live a full life, and start our own family,” he said. Hoover's chances seemed promising at first as he started building a great shelter, but on the fourth day, he accidentally got one of his arrows shot into his leg and started bleeding. The arrow was stuck close to his femoral artery - that could have been a fatal wound. He pulled it out slowly and painfully. You could see him struggling to make the phone call to say he was officially tapping out, but in the end, he realized he didn’t have a choice. It was heartbreaking for fans who were rooting for him to watch him make that call.

Unlike other contests, Alone requires a great amount of resilience, ability, and perseverance. For most contestants, if not all, it’s not fun to be away from home, battling freezing temperatures and starvation. While it’s nice to win the winner's title, what motivates them first and foremost is the desire to provide for their families, to offer security, make ends meet and help them retire with dignity. They are not aiming to buy a mansion in Malibu or a Ferrari. Winning this prize money doesn't mean extra cash for luxury items; it means an opportunity to ease burdens, get medical treatment, have a child, and live a simple life without worrying too much.

That’s why they are willing to risk their lives, live in bear country, sleep on the hard ground in below zero temperatures, and constantly wonder whether they will eat tomorrow or continue starving. While it might sound depressing to some, this is a true exhibit of resilience and willpower to conquer fears, pain and discomfort for a good cause and this is what makes this show truly inspiring.

'Alone' season 11 is streaming every Thursday on the History channel. Previous seasons are available for streaming on Netflix and Hulu

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