Six survivalists remain in the competition as History’s Alone season 11 episode six kicks off. The nights are getting colder in the Arctic Circle, and the six remaining participants are, for the most part, struggling to get enough protein. Timber is in a much more comfortable position than his fellow survivalists, stocked up on moose meat and with his shelter nearly complete.
Episode six checks in with all six of the participants, with five still standing as the episode ends. And now on to this week’s recap – spoilers ahead!
Dub – Age 44, Frederic, Michigan
Day 19, 1:29pm – Dub shows off his auctioneer skills, entertaining himself while he chops wood. Food and firewood are the two things that’ll be tough to obtain in a month. But it’s the period of a few weeks before the ice thickens on the river that has him concerned. He needs to have food stored for that two-week period or he won’t be able to eat. He’s already lost 24 pounds.
His gillnet is empty, so he gets busy fishing. He’d rather be hunting but fishing is the best use of his limited calories right now. His L7 trigger rig moves and he gently pulls in the line. He’s caught a 36” pike but he drops it as he’s celebrating and showing it off to the camera! It escapes and Dub’s briefly speechless.
Ultimately, he describes it as heart-wrenching to lose five days of food. He calms himself and promises to never let it happen again. (Dub realizes he’ll look like an idiot when this clip is shown.)
Day 22, 12:36pm – Dub’s super upset because he just smashed his glasses. He decides the best option is to try and melt it back together, and that semi-works. He follows the welding job with pine resin glue and voila! – his glasses look good as new.
Timber – Age 35, Salem, Indiana
Day 19, 8:58am – Timber takes a break to shave with an arrowhead, which happens to be the same one that killed the moose. He admits to being cold and has decided the only work he’ll do today is construct his bed. He’s hauled 600 pounds of moose meat, it’s all smoked, and he’s at the point where he believes his meat cache is secure.
He’s ready to finish up his shelter, doing the bare minimum physically after spending 10,000 calories moving moose meat. The moose changed his strategy, and he may have overdone it physically. He needs to take it easy because he’s exhausted. If he doesn’t recoup his energy, he won’t last much longer.
A while later, Timber’s figured out he must be getting sick. He’s been alternately getting the sweats and chills and admits the moose might be the thing that takes him down.
Jake – Age 42, Fremont County, Idaho
Day 19, 3:21pm: Jake has made a “Hobbit” pipe out of natural clay, putting it in the fire and turning it into a ceramic. Jake smokes some kinnikinnick, using red osier dogwood as the pipe stem. After taking a short break to relax, he sets to work on his wickiup after finally selecting the perfect spot for a permanent shelter.
After a time-consuming search for a spot with small trees, Jake discovered the best spot was right behind his temporary shelter. He strips as much bark off as possible since conifer tree bark is highly flammable.
5:52pm – He makes a lot of progress on his shelter and then heads down to fish. So far, he’s caught six fish, but his gillnet is empty when he checks it out. He made his handline out of strands of paracord cord but has had much better success with his net. Jake uses some pike meat as bait, but he’s worried about pike teeth. (They have 700 and they’re razor-sharp.) He doesn’t want to lose his hooks and uses a super strong material from his bootlaces as a leader.
Jake uses one of his treble hooks and isn’t having luck, so he casts the line further out into the river. (Each treble counts as three hooks, with 25 hooks the maximum allowed.) He thinks he has a fish, but his main line snapped. Jake can’t lose his leader, so he’s forced to go swimming. Fortunately, he’s able to retrieve it but needs to hustle back to camp to warm up.
8:09pm—Jake’s permanent shelter is close to being completed, but his tailbone and abdomen hurt. He finally confesses he hasn’t had a bowel movement in 12 days, and he’s eaten 30 pounds of food. That explains why his abdomen hurts. He’s been trying to eat fiber, but it’s not helping. Jake’s committed to finishing this adventure and refuses to tap.
Day 21, 9:13am – Jake’s alerted that there’s a med check today and he’s not thrilled. The pain in his abdomen is strong, but he’s not complaining. He’s still not going to tap and hopes he passes the med check.
After Jake confirms he hasn’t had a bowel movement, the medical team pulls him. They’re worried about a bowel obstruction which could turn serious.
Jake asks if they can give it a few days but is advised it’s not safe to continue. He cries as it hits him. His brother had an obstruction, and they took seven feet of his intestines. Jake is deeply disappointed but concedes that it’s probably the right call.
He realizes that it’s okay he didn’t win the prize; he gained wisdom through this experience. This tested his character and he’s going to keep this state of vulnerability. His kids will see a happy version of their dad, and he’s going to be a better version of himself.
William – Age 49, Happy Valley Goose Bay, Labrador
Day 20, 10:04am – William’s doing an amazing job catching fish. He’s also boiling birch bark for its starch, sugar, and vitamins. It doesn’t taste great, but he needs to balance out all the protein he’s getting from fish.
Next, he takes off to search for berries and collects bearberries as he’s walking. A pine marten gets his attention, and he tries to scare it away. It’s found a nest in a nearby tree and squeaks at him, as William points out that they aren’t allowed to hunt pine martens. He’s decided to name it Sassy because it has an attitude.
He makes it to his food cache and discovers there’s not much left of three pikes after Whiskey Jacks and Sassy got to them. So far, he’s lost grouse, fish, and berries to the thieves. William realizes he needs to find a better way to secure enough food to keep him going.
He heads to the river and discovers a lake whitefish caught in his net. He’s overjoyed by the change in fortune after losing his pikes. The timing is perfect. William comes up with a new plan to store food: he’ll hang it out over the bank so Sassy can’t get to it.
Sarah – Age 48, Skwentna, Alaska
Day 21, 2:19pm – Sarah uses ptarmigan bones to bait six hooks. She cusses out a Canadian jay that keeps robbing her, but she can’t do anything about it. (Regulations prevent participants from hunting these birds.)
After yelling at the bird, she checks her longline with its multiple hooks. She’s feeling depleted and needs protein but is grateful she survived the med check. It’s been 10 days since she caught the ptarmigan and she’s lost 19 pounds. However, on the way to check her lines, she spots a bird. It’s far up in a tree but she takes a shot anyway. She misses but sees another one. Her second shot also misses and a raven laughs at her, which she doesn’t find funny.
Sarah heads to her lines as she reveals she spent most of her adult life overweight. She inherited an addictive personality, and her mother was an alcoholic. At 17, her mother told her she was on her own. It left an emptiness that she filled with food and alcohol. Her life changed when she got pregnant, and her daughter is now an amazing mother. Sarah believes each generation of her family gets better.
Her lines still have their bait but no fish. She returns to camp and allows herself to cry a little, even though someone told her they hate the female competitors who cry. Her confidence is low and she’s questioning her abilities. Sarah admits she promised her hubby she’d tap before she broke physically or mentally. She may have just reached that point.
8:22pm – She’s having an emotional breakdown and feels vulnerable. Sarah normally tries to project an image of having her stuff together, but sometimes that just doesn’t work out. She knew coming in that the publicity would be one of the scariest parts of the game. Sarah realizes it’s her body trying to convince her mind to go home, but she’s not ready to tap. There’s still fight left in her.
Day 22, 2:47pm – She’s frustrated she hasn’t landed a shot yet and takes a walk, hoping to shoot at something.
3:52pm – Sarah had an amazing afternoon, but the camera didn’t work. It doesn’t really matter, but viewers did miss her shooting two spruce grouse. She’s feeling proud as she works on plucking out the feathers. (The birds should give her 640 calories.) Sarah thinks this means she’ll be around for another two weeks. Plus, she has more bait for fishing.
Isaiah – Age 35, Ghent, West Virginia
Day 22, 10:04am – Isaiah is putting the finishing touches on his cabin and then rests, overjoyed that it’s new socks day. He’s been working non-stop on his shelter so today’s his day to just rest and enjoy nature. He’s had some chest pains and has decided he needs to relax more.
Isaiah takes a seat by the water and washes his underwear, which he’s worn for two straight weeks. Next, he boils water because he’s dehydrated. He uses birch bark as a firestarter instead of using his ferro rod.
Isaiah has realized he needs to be present, slow down, and spend time with those he loves. As he’s walking near his camp, he finds a tangled-up gillnet that he can use. He hasn’t spent any time making a gillnet, so he feels incredibly lucky. Isaiah immediately sets to work fixing the net, hoping this will lead to a big win.
Day 23, 11:41am – Isaiah’s got crazy hair going on when he proclaims that today is Untangle a Dilapidated Gillnet Day. He had food dreams last night, maybe because he’s gone eight days without protein.
First up, he checks his lines and nothing. He feels like his mind’s still strong but his body’s acting weird. There’s a discomfort in his chest. But he’s determined to carry on and starts work on untangling the net he just found. He believes his brother Josh is in heaven watching him and laughing.
5:07pm – He’s getting a throbbing pain in his chest due to lack of food. Isaiah confesses he’s feeling nervous as he keeps working on his new net. Gillnets can’t be larger than 12’ long and 10 meshes wide. His net’s too big and he cuts it down to the right size. He also cuts down a spruce pole to hang it on. Just doing that makes his heart go nuts and he’s losing his breath.
Isaiah can feel his heart pounding when he’s just standing still. He needs food or he won’t last much longer.
Episode six ends with Isaiah doubled over in pain.
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- Alone Season 11 Episode 1 “Enter the Circle” Recap
- Alone Season 11 Episode 2 “Opportunity Cost” Recap
- Alone Season 11 Episode 3 “Fortune” Recap
- Alone Season 11 Episode 4 “Legacy” Recap
- Alone Season 11 Episode 5 “Something in the Air” Recap
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