I'm curious, what do you all think of The History Channel's show "Alone?" All the contestants appear to be Youtube guys, which makes sense since they have more experience with video, etc. I have great respect for them putting themselves out there like that. But many seemed to not have much experience spending time alone in the woods considering they are billing themselves as survival experts. After just a day or two, some were crying on camera. One couldn't make fire with fatwood, which is waterproof and burns in the rain. Many could not get a fire going after several days, unaware of how to dry tinder inside a jacket.
Still, I think it is an entertaining show and shows the harsh reality of life in a survival situation. I do think it's overzealous that History branded all of them as "survival experts" just because they have Youtube channels. Some of these guys obviously have good skills and are entertaining to watch, but some have padded their resumes a bit, or else History did it for them. Had they not been represented as survival experts, I would say most of them have done a great job so far.
Maybe History Channel should just remove the "expert" moniker and then the show would better represent itself. I think many people have grown weary of survival shows misrepresenting themselves in this manner. What do you think?
I've been avoiding the show for some of the reasons you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteOne is the fake drama that the producers keep pushing. You would think that everyone who goes into the woods is killed by a bear or cougar. Cougars have killed like three people in the last decade here in the US, and I see bears in the woods almost every month. If you go in the woods regularly, you see bears.
Two, the whole "expert" thing is annoying. These are guys with YouTube channels who mess around with this as a hobby in the hopes of making money from it some day. You can go on any forum and find guys who have been doing the exact same thing for decades longer than any of the guys on the show. I think the History Channel is pushing them as "experts" so that it makes the woods look even more frightening when they go home within days.
The whole thing just blows my mind.
Hi Simon
DeleteI am in total agreement with you here, one reason why I mostly avoid the show myself. It will be interesting to see what other people think
In one word … pathetic.
ReplyDeletei started watching this hoping that the Discovery Network was actually
going to run an above-the-board program. Stupid me.
I wanted to choose a favorite and cheer them on.
The only thing that I can cheer about is that (obsessive/compulsive) Lucas' boat will sink.
The only one that seems to have his $#*@ together is Alan. (so far)
From what I gather the internet survivalists (to put it kindly) are eating it up.
But if anyone thinks that this program has been open and honest from the outset,
they should start counting the tarps used by each contestant.
If I were twenty years younger (a bit above their average age) I'd try to get on.
But I don't think that I could whine and cry on command. It's just sad.
Hell … "Fat Guys in the Woods" is better than this even with their scripted situations.