narrator: In the wild, the right skills
can make the difference between life and death.
[fire roaring]
- Augh!
narrator: Now some of "Alone's" best competitors
are taking on a new mission.
- This is like some Indiana Jones-type stuff.
narrator: They'll have just three days...
- Whoa!
narrator: And limited tools...
- Here's the fun part.
narrator: For a build challenge
devised by one of their own.
- Time is ticking.
narrator: At stake for the winner...
- Whoo!
narrator: Bragging rights.
- You guys have your work cut out for you.
narrator: Tonight's challengers,
Amós Rodriguez, 58-day survivor from season seven.
- I don't go down easy.
narrator: Lucas Miller, 39-day survivor
from season one.
- Whoo! I got a boat!
narrator: And Jordan Jonas, 77-day survivor
and winner of season six.
- Yeah!
narrator: Let the challenge begin.
- Whoo-hoo!
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I'm Callie from season three of "Alone,"
where I spent 72 days living off the land.
Hello!
I've come up with a tough challenge,
and I think this one is really gonna push them.
I've sent them all a small kit of basic tools,
and I'll be judging the builds.
So let's see how they do.
- Let's open this thing up.
- I hope I got the right tools that I need,
like a jackhammer.
- ♪ Ta-da ♪
♪ ♪
- Okay, we got an envelope.
- Full of cash, hopefully.
Nope, just a piece of paper.
"Your challenge is to build an earth shelter."
An earth shelter is a type of shelter
that incorporates the ground in the structure.
Why? Why would she make me dig an earth shelter
in the Granite Mountains of Montana?
Glacier receded in this terrain,
so it is full of boulders.
It can be a real challenge, digging a big hole.
- "You may only use the tools in the box."
What's in here?
So I have an axe, a shovel,
a saw, and a tarp.
Really cool tools.
- Maybe my dog Lobo will help me,
but she lacks those opposable thumbs.
To complete the challenge, our shelter must...
fit one person, have a working fireplace,
and be 10 degrees warmer on the inside of the shelter
versus the outside.
Okay.
This is gonna be work.
This is gonna be a lot of work.
- Let's get outta here 'cause time is ticking.
- It's a challenge, so I should stretch.
- What do you say, Lobo? You ready?
Don't bite me.
Let's do this. Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- The desert has some advantages and disadvantages.
I know I don't have deep woods
and a lot of trees to work with.
But what I do have is a lot of clay,
so I've decided to build an adobe block house
of some sort.
I'm gonna make a brick mold to make adobe bricks in.
So I'm gonna make simple joinery to connect these,
and it will make a shape of a brick.
Boop!
Adobe might be
the world's most perfect building material.
Cool when you need it to be cool,
warm when you need it to be warm.
Voilà!
Little sand.
Let's go with a little clay.
Grasses.
And then the water is right here.
This is probably the best way to do it.
And it feels so nice.
Let's try it.
First brick, see how it did.
That's one for the good guys.
♪ ♪
Boop!
I'm on a major time crunch.
I need to make a whole bunch of these blocks.
I just don't know if these adobes are gonna dry in time.
♪ ♪
- I'm gonna explore around,
try to see if I can find the ideal spot
to start building an earth shelter.
The ground here can be really difficult to dig in.
Lots of rocks.
I am all about using the terrain's natural features
to your advantage.
I think I've found exactly what I'm looking for.
This trench that I've found, perfect.
I'm gonna be able to turn this into a great little shelter,
and I'm not gonna be wasting my time digging a giant hole.
So my first step in getting this shelter built
is to lay some cross beams.
♪ ♪
We've got our basic shelter in place.
So I lined some rocks around the outside edge
as the fire pit.
Of course, I'm gonna need to take care of the smoke,
so what I'm gonna do, it's something
that I used on "Alone"
and something that I've used a lot since,
is build a hood vent.
♪ ♪
So any of that smoke will just leave the shelter
rather than billowing and circling around in here.
Just flop this up a bit.
Gonna pull back the roof of the tarp, make an opening.
Open sesame.
And then start a fire and see what the smoke does.
We got a fire burning.
♪ ♪
Oh, not great.
Jeez.
The only problem being here is the smoke.
Come on, get the draw to go that way.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I'm breaking ground.
[laughs]
So I think I want to do a hogan type of shelter.
Yeah, the hogan-type shelter from the Southwest,
they have almost like a tripod,
some forks that come together in the back.
So first I need to dig a hole to build the structure on
Getting the hole getting dug out,
this is the hardest part of the build probably.
Whoa, that's a big worm.
Look how big this guy is.
♪ ♪
Uh, no.
[laughs]
I'm not that hungry.
I gotta get cranking.
If can do all the digging today,
then I might be on schedule.
Sweet.
♪ ♪
- It's day two, and I've got to deal
with the smoke in my shelter.
When the wind is coming this way,
it can catch in that pocket and swirl the smoke down
into the shelter,
so I need to make a wind block.
Check these out.
See these thorns?
Look at how gnarly they are.
So I chopped this rosebush down.
I was thinking, what if I set it right here,
like that?
With those thorns sticking up,
it should grab on to the tarp.
♪ ♪
This thornbush is coming in handy
All right.
I like.
Wind block is in place.
I think that'll help send the wind
over the top of the hole,
allowing the smoke to come out.
Just a nice, easy, simply solution.
All right, so there's my shelter.
I think I've finished.
Pretty much got everything in order.
Everything seems to be working.
So, Amós, Lucas, you guys have your work cut out for you.
♪ ♪
- Just like the animals
and all the peoples around the world
who live in hot places,
the nighttime is the best time to work
in the desert,
and so instead of burning out in the middle of the day
when it's 100 degrees,
I'd much rather be out here dusk and dawn hours
doing some of this more manual labor.
♪ ♪
Right now, I'm digging into the clay
with the idea of using it as the back wall of my shelter.
It'll reduce the amount build time
while also allowing me to keep in the heat.
Okay, all done here.
All this work comes down to these bricks drying in time.
♪ ♪
Still a little wet in some spots.
And just 'cause they have a crust on the outside
doesn't mean that they're not wet on the inside,
so I'm kind of concerned.
I mean, I'm not gonna lie, this is pretty frustrating.
I'm gonna have to build my entire structure in one day.
If they're not ready by tomorrow,
then basically, I'm out of the running.
♪ ♪
- I got my hole dug out.
But to complete the challenge,
I also need a fire inside.
Maybe a couple of big rocks for the fireplace.
♪ ♪
Just scouting for resources.
There we go.
[rocks scraping]
Yep, that might be the one.
It would be nice to have a big flat one.
♪ ♪
Whew. Whoa.
That was a heavy haul.
Okay, let's get doing this.
♪ ♪
The clay can be used to line up on the rocks
that I have collected for the fireplace.
♪ ♪
I think it turned out pretty good.
I think so anyways. We'll see what Callie thinks.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- So we're going to go look
for all the wood for this hogan structure.
We're professionals here. [laughs]
♪ ♪
Okay, we got it down.
♪ ♪
Start going up.
♪ ♪
Pretty heavy-duty, but at least
the bottom part will be pretty solid.
♪ ♪
Now I need to seal it up and build the bling-bling.
♪ ♪
I want it to be concealed,
so I want to use the local debris of plants
in order to make it really camouflaged.
First day, I was ahead of schedule.
Now it's like, I don't know if I'm on schedule.
♪ ♪
- Here we are. Moment of truth.
Still a little damp on some of the sides,
but I think it's gonna work.
♪ ♪
I've got my bricks. Whoo!
It's happening.
I'm sure Jordan has built an elevator
to his two-story earth shelter,
so I need to rock this in a good way fast.
I've got mortar that will go on in between the bricks.
That'll glue them together.
And I just need to make sure that I can lay down in this...
♪ ♪
Which I can,
so I make it at least that long.
First brick. Let's do this.
Okay, look at these guys.
Oh, I'm so happy this is happening.
♪ ♪
This is going to be my doorframe.
This is where I'll walk through.
[clicks tongue]
Callie Blue Heron North is judging us for this.
She's from season three out in Patagonia.
She lasted 72 days.
She's gonna need something creative from me
if it's gonna beat Jordan and Amós.
Okay, time to get ripping on this fireplace.
♪ ♪
The more stones I can put in there
the more thermal mass it'll hold
and also less mortar I have to mix up,
so I'm trying to include as many stones as I can.
All right, finishing up the chimney here.
♪ ♪
The fireplace is done.
I'm making good headway,
but it's gonna come down to the wire.
- Bringing it home.
Augh.
thwip!
- [indistinct].
- The sun is starting to set, and I don't have my roof done.
♪ ♪
- It's not gonna win a beauty contest,
but I think it's about as functional
as you can get in the time frame we have.
- This is it.
If I don't finish by tonight
this whole thing ain't happening.
- All right.
- I won't lie, this whole thing is a little precarious.
[chuckles]
♪ ♪
I'd love to say that this was all fun and games,
but actually this was really tough.
It's time for bed.
Oh, gosh.
♪ ♪
- Okay, so today is judgment day.
They had an axe, a saw, a tarp, and a shovel
and had to build a structure that can fit one person,
contain a fireplace,
and be 10 degrees warmer inside than out.
But there can only be one winner.
Let's see how they did.
♪ ♪
- This is my humble entry.
♪ ♪
82, whoo-hoo!
I can stand up in the center over here.
Look. [chuckles]
Big fireplace; I can check the box.
So this is gonna be pretty efficient, I think.
Except a little smoke is coming right out of here.
You see?
♪ ♪
So...
I think for right now it's okay.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Callie, I know you're the shelter master.
Hopefully this'll fit the bill.
I'm really excited about this shelter.
As you can tell, this is pure excitement on my face.
We got a retractable roof.
Temperature is 66.6.
All right, it's warm, and it's got a monster of a fire
in here to warm up next to.
The smoke's going out.
See you later.
Whoo.
This is great.
♪ ♪
Kick back and relax in here.
Pretty good
for a one-man shelter.
Let's see what we have in here.
And we got 92.7. Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
We did it! Yeah!
I'm happy with it.
♪ ♪
- Hey, Callie. Lucas over here.
Adobe blocks. I don't know if you've seen them.
They're warm and toasty when you need them to be,
and they're cool when you also need them to be.
Just checking to see if Jordan's shelter can do that.
Hmm.
Or Amós'? Can your shelter do that?
Hmm?
[laughs]
Just playing.
Shelter has a lot going for it.
First off, adobe bricks all around
dug into the earth
to maintain that temperance.
Simple bark roof is mostly meant to dissipate heat
by just contact.
As you can see, the temperature 61 degrees out here.
Let's take a look inside.
♪ ♪
79. Almost a 20-degree difference.
Another fine feature of this shelter
is that fireplace draws it perfectly up and out.
Also pretty clutch comes this stovepipe.
I can touch it with my hand.
See? It's not burning me,
which means it's safe for this plastic right here.
This build took it out of me.
It was so exhausting, and in the end
so incredibly worth it.
♪ ♪
- This has been a very difficult decision for me.
First off, Jordan.
He used his tarp as the primary shelter
and built upon that.
I really loved his hood vent.
That was using a method that I haven't seen before.
In a true survival setting,
he did exactly what you should do,
which is look for the easiest way out.
But just choosing a spot that was pretty much
already dug out, I felt like he could've gone
a little bit further.
Next up was Amós.
Amós to me really understood the challenge.
He was able to incorporate his hogan-style building
into the earth in a way that was incredibly aesthetic,
and I especially loved his living roof.
I felt like it just blended in perfectly
with the landscape,
but it seemed like his fireplace
was a bit smokey and didn't have a super good draw.
For Lucas, his adobe structure
really blew me out of the water.
I was incredibly impressed by Lucas' bricks that he made.
The desert offers very little in terms of resources.
That dwelling could be one that someone could live in
and be comfortable in.
This was an agonizing decision for me.
Since they all checked all the boxes for the challenge
I'm going to make my judgment
based on ingenuity and creativity.
The person that I am choosing as the winner
of the earth shelter challenge is...
♪ ♪
Lucas Miller.
He put in an incredible amount of hard work and energy,
and I'm actually so impressed
that he was able to pull it off,
so congratulations, Lucas,
on your beautiful adobe shelter.
- I'm honored to have taken this round.
Thank you to Callie for seeing my hard efforts,
and yeah, on to the next one.
♪ ♪