narrator: This season on "Alone,"
10 new participants will be dropped into
the coldest location in series history.
[dramatic music]
♪
Deep in Canada's rugged north,
125 miles above the Arctic Circle
and just south of the Arctic Ocean,
the traditional land of the Gwich'in
and Inuvialuit First Nations,
the Mackenzie River Delta covers
an astonishing 4,700 square miles.
The silty river system is a bewildering maze
of intertwining channels, lakes, marshes, and ponds.
[wind howling]
Here, Arctic winds drop temperatures to
a staggering negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Snow and ice blanket the area for up to eight months a year.
This far north, sunlight quickly vanishes
as winter sets in,
potentially forcing participants to grapple with
weeks of total darkness.
♪
Over 5,000 grizzly bears
and 4,000 wolves call this area home.
[wolf pack howling]
Along with 40,000 moose,
freshwater fish and wolverines also inhabit
this pristine river delta.
The vast expanse offers a bounty of natural resources
for those strong enough to survive.
♪
- Come here.
All right, yeah, so--
fire making, my go-to method is a hand drill.
Fire!
narrator: It takes about a year from the time
casting submissions are received, sorted,
and vetted before the final 10 are ultimately selected.
- Boom.
Right now, it's 80 degrees out.
I'm sweating like crazy. Ha.
- They call me "Good Luck Tuck."
Found a four leaf clover. Lucky.
- Oh, are you kidding me? Right off the bat.
- My coworkers know that I do some outdoor stuff.
I don't think they know the level
of outdoor stuff that I do.
Basic A-frame.
Fireplace is working great.
- I just got some really badass photos of my restaurant,
to put on Google.
So check out the photos, give me a like,
come to my restaurant, eat what we got.
- I wanted to show you something that I bush crafted,
which is these sunglasses.
[laughs]
narrator: Once they've made the cut,
they're given a general idea of the location
and have about a month to prepare,
leave their families...
- Bye, sweetheart.
Hey.
In it to win it.
narrator: And then, make the trip north.
- Here we go. [chuckles]
[bell dings]
[soft tense music]
♪
- Of course I have a really heavy load.
narrator: Meanwhile, the "Alone" crew is building out
all the infrastructure required to operate
in the harsh winter environment
for the next four months.
- So what's essential for "Alone" is boats.
Because we're on the river this year,
we're always doing our regular maintenance,
checking oil and making sure things are running
as well as they can.
- I'm Dave Holder. I'm the lead survival consultant
on the "Alone" show.
Right behind me, we're unloading the barge,
which has just shipped in all the gear that we need.
And believe me, there's a ton of it.
The crew are working hard and shipping everything up
into our production office.
narrator: Once the home base is established for the crew,
attention turns to the orientation camp
where the participants will be staying.
- The main focus of orientation camp is to
bring the cast members from their everyday lives
to a setting that is a transitional space
between their everyday life
and being totally immersed and alone in the wilderness.
It just gets them in the mindset
and gets them feeling focused and ready to
survive in the wilderness for as long as they can.
- We're way behind schedule here.
You know, they're showing up tomorrow.
Right now it's 11:00 at night.
The sun stays out till 1:00 in the morning here.
[chuckling] So it's been long days.
Long days.
♪
- I did it. [laughs]
♪
narrator: The cast arrives and are brought in on boats
to get a first glimpse of where they will be living
for the next eight days
as they are oriented to their new surroundings.
- That's badass, dude. - That's so badass.
- Base camp.
♪
- We have arrived. [chuckles]
♪
Whoo! - [chuckles]
- I didn't fall in. - Welcome.
narrator: In just a few short days,
they will be entering the site
they will attempt to survive on
for a chance to win $500,000.
- I'm like, last one. I want the last one.
- Last one? Well, I'm the next to last.
I rode with you all the way here.
I'm gon' stick with you. - All right, man.
- Yeah, we got a sink, nice little foot pump.
Look at that.
[blows raspberry] Come on.
- Cool door.
Oh, wow.
- Oh, snap. Hello, gorgeous.
Look at this. Oh, my God. That's so freaking cool.
- Hi, there. [laughs]
- This is a nice home away from home.
[dramatic music]
♪
- There's our camp. Just right there.
Coming down through here,
this is all grizzly.
Grizzly tracks, huh, Dusty?
Good Lord!
- Chilling in the Northern Territories.
- Meet the first of this year's "Alone" participants.
- I could call in a turkey.
[beatboxing]
Now, you want him to come strutting,
so you got to put a little something to it.
[turkey call]
[beatboxing turkey call]
If I'd have just heard like a turkey right now,
I'd have lost my mind. [laughs]
My name is Isaiah Tuck.
I'm a game warden from West Virginia.
Already seeing some deer tracks.
Our job is to protect the natural resources
that we enjoy from poachers.
Oh, we got some bunny tracks.
People that hunt and trap,
they get up hours and hours before the sun comes up.
They do all this prep work.
What they don't know is hours before they start theirs,
we're doing ours.
Man, it's a good day for a walk.
This show is as real as it gets.
♪
What's going to drive people out from here is
hunger and cold.
This is the coldest location possible.
The progression of winter is very prominent,
and it's coming hard.
The food is out there.
You have a good chance of killing small game
or some other animal.
But then, you have another good chance of something killing you
while you're trying to eat it.
Like, this place is going to suck.
There's no illusions in my mind that this is going to be easy.
- I think it's done. Oh, that's--
- That's very done, bro. - That's done.
Oh! You guys get some of that.
- This has to be the most talented group you've had
on this show.
Every one of them, they do this all the time.
And beyond the survival stuff, they're just terrific.
Hey. Hey, buddy. - What's up, everybody?
- But I still got to beat them.
That's a chance for me to give my family a better life.
[laughter]
♪
narrator: The first full day of orientation camp
begins with a camera class
to review all the equipment provided to the participants
for their time in the field.
- Always have a camera on you.
That's kind of rule number one.
Even if it's just a GoPro or whatever,
always just have a camera.
- We're good.
- Found you. - Dusty. Your new friend?
- I've been looking for you all my life.
- Nice. Sarah. Here we go. Hell, yeah.
- Cast was given all our camera gear.
One of the most exciting moments I've had
since I've been here because I freaking love camera gear.
And I know the significance of this gear
because it's gonna be in my hands
for the next few months.
- I'm excited. They taught us how to use them and everything.
So here is the main camera right there.
- This is our microphone. And wireless lav mics.
And then, what I've been learning today is
you have to put it all the way underneath your clothes.
There is a lot to this.
Not only do I have to somehow survive longer than anybody,
but I have to film everything.
- Everything became real.
This is where the rubber meets the road.
♪
You are not going to believe what I just came up with.
I'm going to make a bushcraft violin.
My name is Waldemar Paetz. I go by Dub.
This is called "Catfish on the Rotisserie."
♪ Because we have catfish, catfish, catfish ♪
♪ Catfish on the rotisserie
Born and raised in the outdoors.
And I feel confident that I should be here
and I'm going to do good here
because hunting and fishing, trapping,
I mean, everything here that I need to survive,
I have been cramming my entire life.
That's all I care about.
This season is bar none
going to be tougher than any other season.
Reason number one, we're in the Arctic Circle.
Nobody has been in a place this cold ever on "Alone."
In addition to the cold,
right now, we're losing eight minutes per day in sunlight,
which means in less than a month and a half,
it's going to be pitch black almost the entire time,
which is insane.
24 hour darkness, Arctic Circle, grizzly bears.
It's like, how hard do you want to make the "Alone" show?
How much is everybody gonna be able to take?
It's gonna be tap--
it's going to be rat-a-tat-tap out there
right out of the gates, I think.
There's nine competitors and they're all damn good.
Jake's gonna be... - All right.
- Hard to beat.
I see it--I see it in Jake.
Watch this one. - [chuckles]
- Overall, my confidence level for winning this
is extremely high.
I think I got what it takes and I know damn well
I'm just stubborn enough to do it.
[bowstring snaps]
I would not want to compete against me.
narrator: With only seven more days to go,
the crew heli slings in the radio towers
needed for emergency response and communications
across the miles of terrain they'll be operating in.
- Check on repeater one.
Check on repeater one. Luke, copy?
[dramatic music]
[satellite phone beeps]
- I hope I didn't short something out there.
[satellite phone beeps]
- Repeater one, check. Repeater one, check.
- Hey, go ahead, Lars. I got you loud and clear.
- Copy that. Thank you.
Now we have established full coverage
on the entire operating area.
And because it's late in the day now,
we're gonna walk out rather than get a heli flight out,
'cause it's too late to fly.
[dramatic music]
♪
narrator: Back at camp, participants have
an opportunity for some last minute target practice.
[bowstrings snapping]
- Oh! [laughter]
- You nailed that sucker.
[dramatic music]
- This is how the branch starts out.
But when you heat it up in the fire,
now it's going to cool off and it's going to be rock solid
and hold my nice wall together without the use of rope.
My name is Michela Carriere.
I'm from a place called the Saskatchewan River Delta,
so very similar to here in many ways.
I would describe a delta as a heart
with all these arteries flowing and it's very alive.
On my dad's side, he's Cree-Métis.
And part of the Cree-Métis lifestyle
is to live off the land.
So that's hunting, trapping, fishing,
no electricity, no running water,
just basic cabin living with my family.
I know that this will be the most difficult thing
I've ever done in my life.
I am about to go out into the wilderness,
into a landscape I've never been before,
that is the traditional territory of
the Gwich'in and the Inuvialuit.
And it's hard to compare myself to the men.
They seem like they're all gonna be going a long ways.
But sometimes, the women seem to last longer,
so I'm comparing myself to Sarah.
And she's from the north,
so she's a northerner as well and she's really tough.
But I want to be on a season with tough people.
Oh, look at that. There's the little--
there's the arrow mark, right there.
I am an Indigenous woman.
And we need more positive stories as Indigenous people.
And I hope that I can be a role model.
I hope my story shines through and that it is a good one
and that people see that and get inspired by it.
- Oh, that's fantastic.
- You're going to be able to look back
while you're out there alone
and think of fond memories.
- "Oh, those good times when I was with people."
[laughter]
♪
[zipper rasping]
- Morning. Welcome to a day in the life
of "Alone," season 11, orientation camp.
♪
My name is Peter Albano.
I live in Castlegar, British Columbia,
and I am a librarian.
I don't think there's ever been a librarian on the show before.
[laughs]
When I was 12 years old I discovered this book,
"The SAS Survival Guide."
In that book, there was how to build shelters
and how to build traps and how to filter water
and I was like, "wow, I can't believe
people know how to do this."
Oh. Hard trap.
That was an eye-opening book for me
and that set me off on this path
and really showed me what was possible out there.
Something that makes me different is
I'm always trying to learn something new.
There we go.
We're just south of the barren lands
and just short of the Arctic Ocean.
Not too far from here is the tree line
where trees don't grow anymore.
That's how far north we are.
I think this season might be one of the shorter ones
just from our extreme location.
[wind howling]
Of all the other people here,
I think my toughest competition is William.
- That was a pretty cool tutorial.
Really enjoyed that.
- He lives in Labrador.
That's one of the coldest places on Earth.
He's used to the cold,
which is the big thing out here, I think.
But I'm 100% confident in my ability to succeed out there.
I think I have the mental fortitude it takes
to keep going even through the darkness and through the cold
and through the hunger and through the loneliness.
I think that's what's gonna get me through.
[soft music]
♪
- OK, well, first things first.
Mic yourselves up.
From this point, it's just probably good for you guys
just to get into the routine, you know.
narrator: Only six days remain before launch day,
and the participants are broken into two groups.
Some will be interviewed by the production crew.
- Rolling. - OK, all right,
so let's start pretty easy.
- So really simple question off the bat.
Who are you? Where do you live? And what do you do?
- What do you do and where do you live?
- Uh, so, my name is-- I can't--
I keep looking at the camera.
- This is freaking awesome, man.
narrator: The others practice their camera work around camp.
- OK.
narrator: To get a feel for what it'll be like
to do it in the field.
- Well...
that's the bathroom.
- [imitates launching arrow]
Thunk. Dead moose.
[rustling]
- Is that a grizzly? [chuckles]
- Did you hear that? - I heard that.
- Oh, [bleep].
Oh, man, I just [bleep] up.
- That's not--Dub, is it?
Dub took his camera, went out into somewhere.
- Oh, it could be.
- They're doing an interview over there
and I just walked in on them.
What a [bleep] idiot.
- [chuckles]
[dramatic music]
- My name is William Russell Larkham Jr.
I grew up in a little isolated community
in the South Coast of Labrador called William's Harbour.
Population was 74, so it was quite small.
Little tutorial on how to split a catfish.
I've been a fisherman all my life.
I've been hunting and trapping ever since I was a little kid.
And now, I'm taking myself out of my environment,
going to a strange one
and see can I accomplish something with that.
Kiss the cod. [kisses, laughs]
[soft dramatic music]
- Old Dusty Blake here
called that shot right there. Look at that.
- That's between the eyes as you can get right there.
- But I grew up and survived in a tough environment.
I can't see why I can't survive in another area.
So there's no better way to do it than on the "Alone" show
because they put you in places where they're going to mentally
and physically test you to your limits, and that's what I want.
♪
narrator: After exploring many different
potential survival sites over the past two weeks,
the crew must now compare the pros and cons of each one
and officially lock in the best 10 for the cast.
- This site has the three major foliage categories,
which is the bush on the river.
Then you have access to this nice boreal, like low bush,
sparser trees, smaller trees. - Yeah.
- And then, we'll walk over to the lake
where you have grassland and some lake.
- Oh, sweet.
♪
- You look over to some of those flat areas over there
where it's all been knocked down.
Yeah, that's possibly moose knocking it down
or even bear just wandering through, rolling around.
- "Itchy bum berry."
- The seeds are covered in hairs
which are very high in silica.
So if you just swallow them,
those hairs, which are very high in silica,
can get caught up in your ass and you get the--
very itchy. - Oh, you get the itchy bum.
♪
- So here we've got a small grizzly track--
grizzly bear track. - Yeah.
- So I'm looking for the effect that my fingers have
on the mud when I push in.
Is it cracking the mud?
And are my cracks similar to the cracks around the track?
And if they are, it tells me that
the passage of this creature was quite recent.
- Dense population here, of grizzly?
- Yeah, relatively dense population here.
We've seen a lot of-- a lot of track.
♪
narrator: With only three days until launch,
Gwich'in First Nation elders visit camp
and welcome participants to the land.
- My name is Mary Snowshoe and welcome to our land.
I'm so happy to be here to meet all you wonderful people
that we see on TV.
A lot of times, I feel so sorry that-- [laughs]
Why don't they just go home?
[laughter]
Now, you're in--on our land.
So...
- Amen. - Amen.
[speaks native language] Thank you.
all: Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you. Thank you very much.
[indistinct]
- Thank you very much.
- This is a elk hide drum.
So this is from the Cree people in Saskatchewan.
- Thank you.
- Thank you for having us.
- Pleased to meet you. Good luck.
- Thank you. And your prayer was very special.
It means a lot. Thank you.
[soft dramatic music]
♪
My name is Timber Cleghorn.
I live in Salem, Indiana, with my family
and we work in humanitarian aid.
I'm going to make a water filter.
Most of my formative years,
I was raised without any electricity at all,
no running water.
I mean, we did all the work for living
with our own hands.
Now, this baby's gonna sit there
and make my activated charcoal for my water filter.
I've really cultivated certain aspects of that
in my adult life.
I've cultivated survival tactics.
I've really cultivated my snaring and trapping,
my food procurement, and my managing of myself.
And I think all of those will make me
a strong contender here.
♪
We are way above the Arctic Circle.
There are so many challenges with this.
Wolverines are raiders. Think of the Vikings.
What they did to Europe was take their resources.
You know, wolverines are coming to get what you've got.
The solitude is different in the north country, I believe.
You're so far from anything you've known.
And I think that actually
might be different for some people.
We'll see how it affects people.
I hope that-- I love all the contestants,
but I just hope it steals their souls
and drives them home. [laughs]
[deep, gruff voice] Where's your library card?
Peter. He's a librarian with cauliflower ear.
So you look at him and you're like, oh, he fights.
Um, what else does he do?
And then, you look at his skills that he brings to camp
and you're like, he does a lot of stuff.
What's he been reading in those books?
So I got my eye on him.
But really, truly, I have what it takes to do it.
Will I be the winner?
I don't know. I'll find out.
[chuckles]
[soft tense music]
♪
narrator: With only two more days before launch,
the safety crew drops the participants' camera gear
and tests the landing zones
they've created for the helicopter.
♪
- These drops are typically a bit challenging
just because of all the bush and brush and the sloped beach
and water levels coming up and down.
So we have to do some adjustments
and things like that.
Here, with a helicopter like this,
we put two large heel logs in here
to level out the landing zone.
But we're gonna do a bit more trimming
just to give him a bit more clearance on his rotors.
The clearance is good, but they're tall.
And when we come in, they're bending over a bit.
[dramatic music]
♪
- So it's a clove hitch.
And then, I take an extra turn under here to anchor.
narrator: Back at orientation camp,
the participants are taking the precious
last bit of time they have brushing up on the skills
that will help them survive in the wilderness.
- Look at that. - Good job, buddy.
- All right. - Is that your first pike?
- Yeah. Well, no. Actually, the second pike.
First pike I got, he ate it.
[laughter]
♪
My name is Dusty.
I live in Arkansas, Stone County.
It's a little small community.
And that's how you make cordage.
Live way back in the woods.
They call me the wild man because the way I grew up
hunting and fishing.
I was always out doing something.
For a rabbit, you want it wider than you do tall.
Because if a rabbit touches his whiskers on this wire,
he's not gonna go through.
Love to trap. Grew up doing that.
Just learning on my own.
Love to deer hunt...
About any way that you can. [laughs]
I'm doing this because it's the ultimate that you can do.
Y'all send us out there.
And the only time y'all will intervene is if we're dying.
So you push yourself to the red line limit.
And I want to see how far I can make it by myself.
What you gonna do then?
There's a lot of wind on the river, too.
You want to get away from the river
when you set up your camp because
you could freeze to death just because of
its own natural wind.
The other participants, they're the real deal.
Like me, they're gonna be hard people.
Some of them, really, really hard people.
One that pops right up in my mind, my competition,
I honestly believe in Cubby.
We're out here exploring. - Exploring.
- [chuckles] But, uh,
I'm ready to go.
Getting this close to launch, I am ready to go.
[laughs]
♪
- Holy [bleep]. [laughs]
All right, so walked in to our mess hall
to get some water and I saw the--
the whiteboard.
So let me show you what I saw.
We've got breakfast.
Laundry. Good, I need that.
Got our little slow-mo shoot.
Shaving, which I'm not partaking in.
Good old lunch.
Photoshoot, 10 items shoot,
and, oh, what's that? Uh, "Lottery site pick"?
I think that means we're leaving tomorrow.
♪
[in silly voice] Hello.
My name is Cubby Hoover. I live in Missouri.
I'm a homesteader, which means I hunt, of course.
Head shot.
I've spent a lot of time honing in these skills,
fire making, trapping, snaring.
Something I've really got going for me
is shelter building. I've built a lot of houses,
a lot of apartments,
so I really think that background is gonna help me
make something that's gonna be able
to keep me warm, safe, dry.
I think this is going to be the most difficult thing
I've ever experienced in my life.
This season, I mean, it's in the Arctic.
The landscape, the snow, the cold,
all of that is a little more intense
than what I've seen in the past.
So a good dose of fear is healthy, I believe.
Any animal, I think you have to have
a certain respect for,
but moose is massive.
It's like a train coming at you.
Especially during the rut season.
They're protective.
They're territorial. They're aggressive.
A moose will absolutely charge through here,
knock every tree down,
and smash you into the ground and not stop
until you stop breathing. Moose is terrifying.
I really am floored by all the people here.
They're just so freaking cool.
But I would say the people to watch, I'd say Dub.
- Look at Santa.
- You like my PJ's? - Nice, man.
- Yeah, this is the young Santa look.
- [chuckles] - That dude is awesome.
And he's got a mind that just goes nuts in the woods
and he can build anything.
But I'm gonna win.
One way or another, I'm gonna thrive,
get up, get out there,
do what you can, keep on going.
[dramatic music]
♪
All right.
It's time to figure out our sites.
narrator: The participant sites are chosen by
each person besting their competitor
in a high stakes game of
"rock, paper, scissors."
- Oh!
[laughter]
[both exhaling]
- [laughs nervously]
Oh, he's going to beat the crap out of me!
- Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.
Got me. - Oh!
narrator: The selection process culminates
in choosing a small cake
that has the name of their survival zone baked in.
- "A river runs through it." - [chuckles]
- I'll take it.
- "I rock."
Yes! [laughter and applause]
I love that description!
- "The Highlands."
[chuckles enthusiastically]
- "Long Lake."
- Ah! - Ooh.
[clapping]
♪
- About minus 22, eyelashes start to freeze.
My name is Sarah Poynter.
I'm from the Talachulitna River, Alaska.
And I own and operate a fishing lodge with my husband.
Off the road system, off the grid,
everything takes work.
Just to live is a full time job.
[sled dogs barking]
I believe I in particular am suited to
thrive at this experience because of my lifestyle.
I live in a place that
you have to think outside of the box.
You have to be willing to work with nature, not fight her.
♪
I think the Arctic environment is going to make this
one of the most extreme shows you've done.
The bleakness of winter can be soul sapping to some,
which allows your brain time to go to places
that maybe you don't want to be dwelling on.
♪
I think Michela's amazing. I do.
I think she's well-rounded in her knowledge.
I think she really draws strength
from her Cree heritage.
I think she'll be a strong competitor for sure.
So there's people here that I don't want to see fail,
but I want to beat 'em.
I'm sad that there's not more women on this show.
I understand. There's not many women that participate
in the primitive bushcraft.
Women are strong, though.
You know, we may not have the physical strength
most of the time to match a man,
but the mental strength is beyond anything a man has,
as far as I'm concerned.
I absolutely do believe that I have a really good chance
of being the last one standing.
[dramatic music]
narrator: With only hours to go before launch,
the crew has a final meeting
to prepare the morning's logistics
before sending the participants
out into the wilderness.
- So, tomorrow, 5:00 a.m. to 5:30,
search the participants
before they can ever even touch their bags.
So we search them, we make sure
there's no lighters missing from inside their shelters,
all of that stuff.
We're gonna search 'em twice tomorrow.
6:15-ish, we'll have a drone up, getting what we can.
If we need to push it a little later for the light,
then we'll do that. - Do it twice.
One for drone and then-- - And repo.
- On the ground. - Yeah.
- Everybody, thank you for everything you've done
to get us to this point. It's been a lot of work, so.
[applause]
♪
- This is my tent.
And this is my chair.
And when I sit in it, it sinks.
For two reasons: one is because
the ground is really soft
because we live in
the Arctic version of the Everglades.
And the other reason is because I'm fat from eating.
Look at this. I've already sunk like 4 inches.
Fat from eating.
But pretty soon, I will not be eating as much.
[dramatic music]
♪
Somebody once told me that I could be dropped in the woods,
and if left there for two years,
I could drive out in a car.
Now, that's a little exaggeration,
but I have everything that's required
to do something like this.
Not only can I trap for food,
I've been a fisherman my entire life.
I've been a hunter since the time I could walk.
I don't have a weakness out there.
This is not a temperate climate.
Right now, we've got a little bit of rain.
But in less than a month,
this is gonna be ice and snow.
Throw on top of that
one of the highest grizzly populations
on the continent,
I don't think that "Alone" has ever
had a more hostile environment than this.
There are a few contenders here that I think,
wow, that guy can go a long way.
Tim.
Tim wants it. - I ain't no fisherman,
but I've caught the first fish for base camp so far.
- Caught him on a hot dog. [laughs]
With a set line. [laughter]
I think Tim's got that heart, that drive.
But I don't think anybody has the determination,
the skillset, the drive,
and the desire to do whatever is required
the way that I am.
[dramatic music]
♪
narrator: The day before launch winds down
with final medical checks...
- Just breathe normal.
[monitor beeping]
- Phone calls home...
- Can you send a picture of yourself
so I won't forget what you look like?
I just want to keep a fresh memory of you.
- OK, buddy. OK. I'll send a picture.
narrator: And a gear inspection.
- Yes, sir. - All right here.
- And the hat you're wearing is gonna go in the field?
- This is my field hat.
- And that's the shirt you took--
- Yes, yeah.
- Let me make these look pretty for you.
- Fishing line.
narrator: Participants then forfeit all their belongings
and are left with just the clothes on their back
and their sleeping bags.
- All right, my search is complete.
- They gathered our bags, double checked them,
made sure that there was nothing in them.
- Everything else is gone.
I'll get it back at drop off.
narrator: The only thing left to do
is to settle in for the night
and prepare for launch in the morning.
- Now there's a lot of anticipation in the air.
There's almost a little bit
of fear in the air too, I think, tonight.
But I'm gonna sign off.
And say sweet dreams.
[fire crackling]
Tomorrow is the day.
[dramatic music]
♪
- 5:00 a.m., launch day.
I just used my last piece of toilet paper for months.
- We're going through checks.
Make sure we ain't hiding no contraband.
[laughs]
- OK.
- In just minutes, there will be
no more base camp, no more tents.
It'll just be us and our tools.
- I feel ready.
How you feeling? - [chuckles]
- I was born ready.
- Now we're ready to go.
- The adventure of a lifetime
starts now.
[dramatic music]
[drone whirring]
- William, walk.
♪
- [giggles]
- It's hammer time.
- I love it! [laughs]
- [exhales] Here we go.
♪
- [chuckling] - Good luck out there, man.
- Michela. - I'll see you when I win.
- Oh, you betcha, sweetheart. Girl power.
Oh, man.
- [chuckles]
- Do great out there, buddy.
Not too great, though. - OK. [laughs]
- I am so excited.
So excited to get this started.
It's the battle of the wills with nature.
It's going to be amazing.
♪
- Whoo!
How many people on Earth ever get a shot
to do something like this?
- I've been through a million military trainings,
but this seems like the absolute pinnacle
of anything I could ever try to do.
I can't believe that I'm about to go do this.
- I'm ready to get out there and get it done
and last the longest.
- By far, this will be the greatest adventure
that I've ever done, and I've had some doozies.
- Whoo. This is definitely
the craziest thing I've ever done.
I'm feeling blessed.
This is the closest to the Creator I've ever been.
♪
- Back home, somebody's always a phone call away.
Out here, there's nobody.
It's the most alone I'm ever gonna be
in my entire freaking life.
♪
- Never been stuck with my own thoughts
for this long a period before.
Never been away from home for this long either,
so this will be the hardest thing I've ever done.
I think it'll be hugely life changing.
- So beautiful. I hope it provides for me.
[exciting dramatic music]
♪
narrator: "Alone: Arctic Circle" starts now.
♪