narrator: In the wild,
the right skills can make the difference
between life and death.
[flames crackling]
- Ugh!
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!
- 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.
- Mwah. [laughs]
narrator: Callie North,
72-day survivor from season three.
- Boo-yah, baby. We got fish.
narrator: And Clay Hayes...
- Oh, my God.
[dramatic music] [bear growls]
narrator: 74-day survivor and winner of season eight.
- Hot dog, I got another one.
narrator: Let the challenge begin.
- Get on up in there.
[suspenseful upbeat music]
- Hey, this is Britt Ahart
from seasons three and five of "Alone."
♪ Gonna have fish dinner tonight ♪
This week, I've challenged Clay, Callie, and Amós...
- [sighs]
- I've sent them the tools,
and after they complete their build,
I get to pick the winner, so let's get going.
[upbeat rhythmic tapping]
- All right, guys, we're gonna open this thing up.
- This is my favorite part of the whole thing.
♪ ♪
[cymbals clash]
- See what we got in store.
- I'm gonna see what kinda challenge this is going to be.
I'm super excited about this.
Okay, build a wilderness oven.
[chuckling] Awesome.
Never done one, so it's gonna be a challenge,
but I always wanted to do one.
- Already, the wheels are turning in my mind.
- Let's see what kinda tools we got to work with.
[chuckles]
Okay.
So we've got a machete,
a saw,
and a tarp.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do with a tarp.
- I like the color.
♪ ♪
- "To complete this challenge,
your build must fit a cast iron skillet,
be hot enough to bake bread, be fire-safe--
not burn down during use."
I'd hope so.
- All right.
Let's make it happen.
- I better get going.
There is no time to waste, man.
♪ ♪
I think this is a pretty good place to build it.
I know I need a good foundation,
so first, I need to clear away all the plants and rocks.
Where I'm from in El Salvador,
when I was a kid, with my grandma,
we went to my great uncle.
They were the bread-makers in town,
and they had a huge adobe oven.
So heavy.
So in honor of my ancestry,
I'm going to make a traditional-style oven,
so it will need to be off the ground.
I'm gonna build it up with rocks, sand, gravel.
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[rocks thudding]
Tough project for the work.
[grunts]
Not being able to finish the oven
and not being able to dry it, that's my main worry.
[grunts] Pinch a finger.
But that's why it's a challenge.
[grunts]
Perfect.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[sighs]
All right, so here's what I'm thinking.
Partial excavation,
partial cob earth oven.
All right, I'm gonna go ahead and take my machete
and just use that as my digging tool.
♪ ♪
My plan is to build a frame
kind of like an upside-down basket to cover this,
and then I can start packing that cob mixture around that
to form a dome.
I'm gonna have to fire the cob to harden it.
That'll take some time.
I'm gonna get some hate mail
for treating the blade like this.
Big, ol' pine root right there that's gotta come out.
The big thing I don't want is for this fire to hit a dry root
and run underground,
because that's a good way to start a ground fire.
♪ ♪
I'll have to be sure to line these walls with cob
to prevent that.
♪ ♪
There we go.
Get that sucker outta there.
♪ ♪
Be nice to have a shovel.
♪ ♪
[Clay sighs]
♪ ♪
- Start making our bricks. [branches snapping]
I mean, that is beautiful clay.
I am going to be making a cob oven.
And for the base, I'm gonna need to have firebricks.
♪ ♪
The firebricks are really important,
because food is cooked on top.
Probably the biggest challenge of this task
is gonna be timing,
because they're gonna be made from wet clay, dry out,
and then I'm gonna actually fire them.
That way, they won't crack.
♪ ♪
I want these to be super uniform bricks
that the oven is gonna sit on top of.
So the next step is going to be creating a mold.
[clay thuds]
♪ ♪
I wanna roll this out as flat and evenly as possible.
♪ ♪
Now I need them to dry by the fire.
Ideally, you'd want your bricks
to dry out a lot slower,
but with this challenge, I only have until tonight,
so I'm putting them by the fire.
If they're not ready at that point,
then this plan is toast.
♪ ♪
[birds singing]
♪ ♪
- So it's the evening of day one,
and I have been drying my firebricks.
Now, what I need to do is fire them.
I'm really hoping that my bricks are bone dry.
If they're not, they can crack.
I want every one of the bricks
to be saturated in that intense heat.
♪ ♪
So now we've got a super-big bonfire.
In the morning,
we'll come back and check to see how our bricks are.
Um, I think I already heard one pop,
but we'll see.
Fingers crossed.
♪ ♪
- Ooh, that water's cold!
Oh, that's good-looking clay right there.
This'll be the perfect base for my cob mix.
[upbeat music]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
Best keep track of your fingers.
The dry grass acts as a binder.
♪ ♪
That works better.
All right, I think this is where I want it to be.
This tarp came in useful after all, didn't it?
Just gonna take the branches off these twigs,
then I'll dome up over the hillside here
so that I can then put the cob mixture over the top.
I like it.
I'ma just gonna use this
so my cob doesn't seep in there too bad.
[thunder rumbling]
[groans]
Do I get extra credit for working in the rain?
This is not good for getting this cob to dry,
so I'll just cover it with a tarp overnight.
Kinda pack something around that back wall.
Put something between the fire and the roots.
It's better to let it dry as long as you can
to keep this from cracking too bad,
but we don't really have that luxury.
Get on up in there.
[grunts]
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Did pretty good. Check it out.
And this form is gonna dictate
the shape and the size of the whole thing.
Pretty big leaves.
You're gonna put that underneath
and on top of the sand form
just so when I'm taking the sand out,
I know where to stop.
♪ ♪
Too high, too short,
then your baking won't be as good.
You're gonna be losing a lot of heat.
[sighs]
Think this is good for a little one.
Now I need some clay and water
to make sure my leaf floor is sound
so I can start covering my mold.
♪ ♪
You can do the twist.
Okay. Feeling pretty good.
Let's get this thing covered.
♪ ♪
[birds singing]
Now I just need a big hairdryer here.
♪ ♪
- Okay, I've got the base
for my oven filled with debris,
so now I'm gonna work on putting sand and clay
where the oven is gonna go.
♪ ♪
Okay, back to my firebricks.
We did a big fire last night of the bricks,
and we're gonna reveal and see how we did.
♪ ♪
That looks good.
Oh, we have a cracked one. [whistles]
Oh, this one really cracked.
Okay, we have a couple of cracked ones,
but I'm super excited about how many did survive.
Let's put these on the base now.
I'm going to be making it really level.
And this will be where the entrance of the oven is going.
All right, there is the floor.
So next, I'm going to be working on making my sand mold.
♪ ♪
Yeah, so this stick is gonna be my height.
The most important thing is
that I'll be able to fit my skillet,
so I really hope it's big enough.
♪ ♪
Perfect.
But this is gonna be my first thermal layer.
♪ ♪
Time is tickin'.
♪ ♪
One day left.
♪ ♪
[birds singing]
♪ ♪
- All right, day three.
I'ma go ahead and start a small fire
on top of this thing.
♪ ♪
There we go.
Ideally, you'd let it dry for weeks,
but I'm running out of time here.
[flames crackling]
♪ ♪
A little on the hot side.
Start a little fire on the inside,
try to keep it as low as possible
so that we can dry it out
without burning that frame on the inside.
That's the idea.
Hopefully by this evening,
I'll just be able to really bake it hard.
I'm a little bit concerned
it's not gonna have enough structural integrity
to support itself.
♪ ♪
[stick tapping] - Super wet.
I think it's time to speed up the drying process.
♪ ♪
We don't have that much time.
♪ ♪
I'm now moving the fire around.
There's no other way.
I don't want it to collapse,
but I also want the airflow.
♪ ♪
It's time to remove
the sand mold from the inside.
Hold together, now.
That's where it's gonna crack. Right there.
Yeah, right there is collapsing for sure.
Let's figure something out.
♪ ♪
- So far, so good
with maintaining its structure and not collapsing.
So here we have our drying fire going.
So now I'm gonna cob over this whole thing.
This is basically gonna be the, like, you know,
down parka that covers the oven to really hold in the heat.
♪ ♪
You know, ideally, I wouldn't have my fire going,
and this would be all dried out,
and I'd have all the time in the world,
but this is like speed cob.
♪ ♪
I did make a very small oven. Hopefully it works out.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna work on a little sculptural aspect.
I want this oven to really stand out.
♪ ♪
- I'm gonna have to fix that and make the support here.
I gotta finish this.
♪ ♪
Yeah, that will hold it for a little bit.
It's not easy, man. I'm rushing it like--
like if I'm on day three-- oh yeah, I am on day three.
♪ ♪
Oof. It's hot in there.
♪ ♪
- I'm gonna put kind of a small shelter over the top
in case it rains.
♪ ♪
- Tomorrow's the test day.
Tomorrow is a big day.
So this needs to be dry.
♪ ♪
- Oh, you--[bleep].
Would you--[bleep].
- A sun is a little bit of a classic cob oven aspect.
The big issue is if it dries in time.
♪ ♪
- Suppose that'll work.
- It's a big challenge.
- Thanks, Britt.
♪ ♪
- Think I'm gon' call it done.
[grunting sigh]
♪ ♪
- Three days ago, I sent Clay, Callie and Amós
the tools they were gonna use for this build,
a machete, a saw, and a tarp.
For this oven,
they must be able to fit a skillet inside,
bake a loaf of bread,
an obviously, their oven can't burn down.
Seems pretty simple, right?
It's not, so let's see how they did.
[tense music]
- This is my build.
This is my good-looking baby bear.
[sighs]
So with the firing today, it will help.
♪ ♪
Think it's gonna work.
I have faith in you, little bear.
Just gonna make a really healthy bread.
Let's try it.
Hope I don't burn it.
Raining. Oh, come on. [thunder rumbling]
That's it. Let's go for it.
This oven will definitely fit my skillet.
I'll bake it the way my ancestors did:
right on the clay.
Gonna be awesome.
[thunder rumbling] Close it.
Okay, baking bread in the rain.
[thunder rumbling]
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Baking bread in the rain.
It's been an hour, so let's get this bread out.
Moment of truth.
Oh, yes, a little steam coming out.
That's really cool.
[imitates fanfare]
♪ ♪
[finger thumping solidly] And that's good to go.
Wow, man.
The rain's being nonstop.
♪ ♪
[soft upbeat music]
- Welcome to "Wilderness Baking with Callie."
I am your host, Callie.
I am going to be making Callie's famous bread.
♪ ♪
Gonna mix my water and yeast into my flour here.
♪ ♪
Think I'm just gonna push some of these coals to the back.
I don't want it to be too smokey,
but I don't mind having some of the coals in there.
I'm gonna put this in the oven...
and we'll come back in about a half hour.
♪ ♪
So I honestly don't know how to tell
if my loaf is gonna be done,
and I'm just gonna give it look.
[sighing] Oh!
[laughing] Oh, my!
I literally feel emotional.
Oh, my goodness. Wow.
Mm.
♪ ♪
Mm!
Wonderful! As my grandma would say.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- All right, we're getting ready to fire this thing up
and cook us some bread.
♪ ♪
All right.
This is some sourdough that I made.
Put yeast off of the aspen trees--
if you rub on an aspen tree, there's this white powder.
♪ ♪
All right.
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
[bread scrapes in pan] Sounds like bread.
There you go.
Well, just a earth oven and a basket full of bread.
Well, they didn't get as brown as I would've liked, but...
[upbeat music]
Nothin' wrong with that.
♪ ♪
- This is gonna be really exciting.
All these participants have different skill sets,
all have different methods.
♪ ♪
I really loved Amós' build. He did it in adobe.
It looked like back-breaking work.
- [winces]
- I appreciate the time he put into it
with all the sand and stones.
Oh, and his carving made me laugh.
He said it's some sort of animal
that bakes bread really good.
So I thought his design was really neat.
Next was Callie.
I thought she had a really cool construction.
I loved the bricks that she made inside the stove.
I loved the pond lilies
that she used for the internal structure
to hold the clay up as it dried.
Thought it was a very creative design.
I really liked Clay's build.
His is something like more like what I would do,
utilizing the landscape
so it didn't have to be totally free-standing.
He was able to put it into the side of the hill.
I love how he wove the basket design
to act as the infrastructure
to the clay that he added on top.
I thought that was very, very smart.
I also liked the free-standing cover.
Kind of like an oven hood. It was very good.
Everybody did a fantastic job,
and they met every criteria
for that challenge.
But I think
for the most finished,
polished build...
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
I have to say the winner
of this week's challenge was Callie.
[soft upbeat music]
I loved the ornate design of her whole layout,
the sun shape that was on top.
I thought it was really pretty,
and obviously very functional.
It made the bread really, really well.
Great job to everybody.
Congratulations, Callie, for the really good build.
- I'm so grateful. That was such a fun challenge.
It was so much work, too,
but I feel really proud of what I built
and can't wait to just break bread together someday.