Narrator: In the wild, the right skills can make
The difference between life and death.
[fire crackling]
- [screams]
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:
Lucas miller, 39-day survivor from season one...
- Gettin' there slow, but sure.
Narrator: Britt ahart, 35-day survivor from season three
And runner-up from season five...
- The tables have turned.
Narrator: And jordan jonas, 77-day survivor and winner
Of season six.
- Oh, man.
Narrator: Let the challenge begin.
- [groans]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- My name's clay, and I won season eight of "alone"
After taking a deer with my handmade longbow.
Yeah!
And I came up with a great challenge for today's experts.
I cannot wait to see what they come up with.
- What is in store for me?
- Another mysterious box.
- Let's get at it.
- Open sesame.
♪ ♪
- A brown envelope.
- You wanna smell it?
♪ ♪
Our challenge this week is to build a large deadfall trap.
- [laughs] cool.
- To complete the challenge, your deadfall trap must be
Heavy enough to kill a small animal,
About 25 to 30 pounds.
Since we're not actually killing any animals,
Your trap must be big enough
To fit a watermelon in as a decoy,
And fall with enough force
To at least crack the rind of the watermelon.
All right, I like building traps.
- Don't worry, kiddos.
No bunnies will be killed this week.
- I'ma only use the tools in the box,
And I'm up against britt, jordan, and lucas.
I'm not up against britt.
Actually, I guess I am.
That's who I'm always up against.
All right, what do we got?
I've got a kukri in here.
That's a beauty.
Second thing I have is some bank line,
And the last thing I have are some animal bones.
Well, this is gonna be a lot of fun to do.
- It's time to get to work.
- I'm definitely up for the challenge,
So good luck to jordan and lucas.
I think I got this one, though.
Thanks a lot, clay.
♪ ♪
- So what exactly is a deadfall,
And how does it work?
Well, there's lots of different kinds.
If you've watched "alone," you've seen deadfall traps,
Especially small ones that kill mice.
So deadfall is relatively easy to understand.
We have a heavy object. This could be a stone.
It could be a big log. Here's a solid thing
For it to land on, so it crushes.
It's attached by a line over a high point.
Here's the trigger system.
This one would be pounded into the ground.
This one would be held up top.
It makes contact, and the weight of this log
Holds these in place. However, when an animal
Comes along and breaks that connection...
[percussive beat]
The heavy object falls on the intended target.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
So I'm going to be designing
A mojave scissor deadfall. [verbalizes scissor snip]
This is different from a standard deadfall
In that the crusher log is bound at one end
To the base log.
So basically, there's gonna be a bottom scissor
That doesn't move, and there's gonna be a big log
That goes-- [verbalizes falling]
Now we need to find our scissor logs for the deadfall.
Even though we're building this to crush a watermelon,
I'm gonna make it strong enough
To kill something that weighs around 30 pounds.
I'm looking for a log that has a lot of weight.
I need something over 100 pounds of crushing force,
And I found a straight one right behind me here.
I just wanna remind everybody
This is all we got to take it down with,
So enjoy luca struggling for the next two hours.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I'm pretty good with deadfall traps,
But only small deadfall traps for mice.
Making a big one, that's gonna be a real challenge.
So I have an idea for one, and I'm gonna create it
On a larger scale than I have previously.
I'm gonna need one heavy killing log.
♪ ♪
Okay,
I'm gonna need a couple of wide sticks here--tall ones.
These are gonna be my supports
That will hold up the killing log.
Wish I had a saw.
Could've put a saw in the box.
♪ ♪
All right, I got those two portions ready.
♪ ♪
Next thing I wanna do is I'm gonna start hammering
These down into the ground.
These are gonna have to be really stable,
Or the trap is gonna collapse.
Man, working with this stuff is difficult.
It goes right in...
♪ ♪
About four inches and then stops.
This is what makes it a difficult build too--
Just trying to deal with this soil.
It's way too sandy. Man, if you can't stake stuff
Into the ground, what do you do?
Look at that.
Couldn't even turn my back on it.
Oh, my god, do I have to relocate?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- You don't want the deadfall trap
To smash the animal into this dirt,
Because this dirt is soft.
You want it to smash the animal into a hard point
At which to break its back.
Nice log to get crushed against.
I'm just setting some guide poles in the ground.
They'll keep the top log in position so it falls
Directly onto the bottom log.
So I'm gonna prop that thing up about where it needs to be--
Like that.
You want your little critter crawling through here,
Reaching for the food. [vocalizes splat]
That's exactly what it sounds like too.
♪ ♪
- The problem I was running into before is that I can't
Stake stuff into the ground.
So I've got to switch it up.
I can still use the same location.
I just gotta change my materials.
I'm going back to a staple of mine around here.
I'm going to make a tripod out of my bamboo.
This tripod's gonna have to be strong enough
To hold up a really heavy log.
♪ ♪
See if this can hold me--
Hesitant to let my body weight go.
Ah, damn it.
That version did not work, but I think I have a solution.
I'm gonna probably, maybe braid some bank line
And get three times the strength in there.
All right, I got my three pieces.
Not the prettiest braid, but just as effective.
[grunts]
This is a lot weight
That's gonna be hanging right here.
Let's see if that holds.
It's dispersed pretty well.
♪ ♪
Ooh, that's gonna come down
With definitely some bone-crushing force.
Now I have to get the killing log
Lifted into place.
The bank line goes from the killing log
To the trigger stick, and I just gotta lever
The stick and line it up over the stand and back down
To the base and then wedge it in place.
Don't break my arm.
♪ ♪
[sighs]
There we go. Whoo.
[chuckles]
I'm still nervous about how this trigger's gonna hold.
♪ ♪
It's too heavy.
♪ ♪
Nah.
♪ ♪
Boom.
Shoot.
Trying to think for a minute.
♪ ♪
- I wanna try using my coyote leg bone here
As the trigger mechanism.
The bank line runs from the crushing log...
Tie this on. And down to the trigger.
Add a little notch in the back here.
Put our trigger in. Oh, is it gonna hold?
It might. Let's see.
When the trigger gets bumped, the whole thing
Will come down on the animal.
I'm gonna pop the safety out and set the trigger.
It might rip up the roots of that trigger,
But we'll see.
Eh, really got to a lot of play.
♪ ♪
It did hold.
Whoa! No, it didn't.
[groans]
♪ ♪
- I have a feeling I'm just gonna fall on my ass.
♪ ♪
Come on.
♪ ♪
Oh, yeah.
Woosh.
♪ ♪
Time to get moving.
Oh, my gosh.
The strings that I'm tying right here at the base
Of the mojave scissor deadfall act as a hinge,
Like to a door.
They're what connects the jaws of the scissors.
I'm putting a safety log in here to hold this thing up
While I'm working.
[grunts]
So all I'm trying to do right now is to create a pen
Or a container where the only way in through that pen
Or container is underneath those logs,
So that no animal can hypothetically get into it
Without first entering through the front door
Of the trap, and that will lead them right to my trigger.
Finishing up the trigger parts to the trap here.
♪ ♪
Kay, so I'm gonna remove this safety brace
And see if the trigger can hold the weight
Of this crusher log.
Here goes nothing.
Will it hold?
♪ ♪
It's holding.
So that trigger is loaded.
You can see right there. That's great.
I placed the bait near the trigger stick.
Prey takes the bait, hits the trigger,
Releases the crusher log, and that's it.
My deadfall's ready to go, and I got a whole day left too.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- It's day three, and I gotta tweak the trigger.
Yesterday, it wasn't quite working right,
So gotta make it happen today.
I'm gonna put this stick in here,
And we're gonna make the trap trigger
Latch onto that.
Let's see if we're still the right length here.
You got your trigger here.
Just clip it onto this flat underside.
You're gonna adjust how much of a hair trigger
It is by, you know-- lock it all the way in,
Or you can try to cheat it out
And get it as hair trigger as you want.
Put some weight on it again.
There you go.
Now we're talkin'.
So we got her set.
Now, deadfall traps take a lot of weight to kill,
So I'm gonna wanna add weight to this
Before all is said and done.
But first, I'm gonna finish closing in the outside.
So once the animal crosses
The threshold of that bottom log,
When it grabs the bait, it'll set off the trigger.
Time's ticking.
♪ ♪
- I am rapidly running out of time
Working the kinks out of my trigger here.
I think my next step is probably to try something new.
Instead of a trigger, I'm thinking I'm gonna go
With more of a treadle trigger mechanism.
So the first thing I'm gonna do is make my platform.
Nothing pretty about this.
I just wanna keep it together.
I'm getting to that point in my build where I feel
Like I can see the finish line,
So it's got my brain kind of getting excited.
♪ ♪
I hope it's fine.
This is gonna be what's gonna hold my trigger in place.
I'll show you how.
My hope is, with the bait underneath here,
The animal comes in looking for the bait, presses on this,
Boom. It's gonna pull
This loop loose, releasing my deadfall--boom--right on top.
♪ ♪
- Since I've finished my deadfall,
And I have a little time,
I'm gonna build a little bonus trap.
♪ ♪
So I'm looking for trap parts, and I find that cat's claw,
Where I live, is superior material to use.
I think it's important show trap that would be essential
For my area here in the desert.
One thing that we do have an abundance of in the desert
Is birds. I'm going to make a net
That's gonna fall from the sky and aim for birds.
Kay, now, essentially, what I wanna do is to connect
These four pieces I have to make a window frame.
♪ ♪
Time is ticking.
It'll be tied together-- a lot of bank line.
I think it'll work great.
So now we got the picture frame up, what we're gonna do next
Is put netting in it, and we gotta make it.
So to begin this, I'm just gonna put an overhand knot
And then run my line through it and around the log.
Okay.
It's lookin' pretty good,
But it's gonna take a lot to impress clay.
He's a master woodworker.
Okay, we got the trap set, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow.
- We're just trying to deter animals
From coming through here. They're just like you and me.
They're lazy. They wanna take the path
Of least resistance.
We're gonna cover over the top, just to make sure nothing
Thinks it's easiest to hop in that way.
- Now's the time when the tires hit the road.
♪ ♪
Watch your feet, britt. Watch your feet.
- We just need to add as much weight as we think necessary.
It's gonna put a lot of pressure on whatever
Gets caught in there.
Let's see if that trigger holds.
♪ ♪
- Scary, that is scary right there.
[sighs]
That is a delicate contraption.
- Whoo.
Now we're talkin'.
♪ ♪
- It's testing day.
This week's challenge was to build a deadfall trap.
I sent 'em a kukri knife, some bank line,
And some bones. Now, the requirements
For this build were, it must be heavy enough to kill
At least a 25- to 30-pound animal, big enough to fit
The watermelon, and fall with enough impact
To at least crack the watermelon.
Let the testing begin.
♪ ♪
- There's my deadfall, larger-than-life deadfall--
Loch ness monster, crazy sasquatch,
Just a big-ass deadfall.
So this watermelon should be no match for it.
♪ ♪
[grunts] come on.
Okay--whoa.
Oh, [bleep]. Oh, [bleep].
♪ ♪
[sighs]
Well, that sucked.
It's okay, I'll just set the trap again.
♪ ♪
Now is the moment of truth.
♪ ♪
And that would definitely put some damage
On whatever's underneath it.
Britt-craft. [chuckles]
Maybe not the prettiest, but we got the job done.
Yeah, I know jordan and lucas have skills,
But I don't know.
I'm actually pretty proud of what I did.
Now I get to enjoy the spoils of battle.
♪ ♪
- All right, I'm here with lobo at my trap.
[dog panting]
You're in my way of the shot, so go somewhere else.
[laughs]
All right, the mojave scissor deadfall that I designed--
It's got enough weight to drop
With a force to take out an animal
Anywhere between 20 and 60 pounds.
This bait box will have a trigger stick that,
When agitated, will be triggered,
And then the log will fall.
Okay, it's set.
We're gonna find out just how much crushing power
This thing really has.
Three, two--
I was hoping for a squish.
[grunts]
That's what happened folks-- not enough.
Yeah, I'm not super impressed, to be honest.
Okay, so we have our bird trap right here.
I don't know if clay's gonna give me creativity points.
Either way, I think an extra credit project
Is pretty much the only thing
That can save me at this point.
I just wanna introduce you to my good friend,
Rubber ducky.
Rubber ducky's gonna taste amazing,
And then he goes looking for drain.
Oh, rubber ducky.
♪ ♪
To set this thing, I use a safety stick.
Even though this size log isn't gonna kill me,
It would definitely hurt me. All right.
We're gonna stick a watermelon under it to replicate
An animal and see what it does to it.
You want this string pointing down,
And then we will clip it under here.
So next, I am going to add weight to this.
The heavier the deadfall, the cleaner the kill.
Yeah, here comes the predator.
Hey!
Crushed it.
Mmm.
♪ ♪
- So there was a lot of factors to consider here.
So we'll start with britt.
I liked that britt shows some good adaptability
When he runs into some trouble.
He makes good use of the landscape,
Harvesting bamboo to create tripod for his deadfall.
As far as meeting the criteria,
Yeah, britt cracked that watermelon--
Probably would've killed a 25-pound animal too.
Moving on to jordan.
Jordan using additional logs leaned up against it
To increase the weight and the killing power--
That's a great, great use of materials.
- Hey! - Jordan's deadfall
Absolutely demolished that watermelon.
Jordan built his deadfall for a much bigger animal,
Like a bear. Anything smaller than that
Could get absolutely demolished
Like that watermelon.
All right, moving on to lucas.
One little detail that I really liked
Is that he takes some cordage and makes a couple of wraps
Around that pivot point.
Now, this allows that top log to exert the maximum amount
Of pressure that it can,
Because when that trap is triggered,
It can't pivot off of the animal.
Lucas' deadfall didn't quite meet the criteria,
But lucas also built a bird trap,
Which wasn't really part of the build,
But I kind of liked that he said,
"well, to hell with that. I'm gonna build
What works here."
So this was a tough choice.
Everybody gave their best efforts
In making these deadfalls,
But jordan and britt are the only ones that really cracked
The watermelon. So between those two,
I think I'm gonna have to go with...
♪ ♪
Jordan.
He built a trap that I feel very confident
Could actually catch a very big animal.
Congratulations, jordan. You did an amazing job.
- Well, all right, that's awesome.
Thanks, clay. I really appreciate the vote.
Britt, lucas, it was an honor to take part in the challenge
With you, and everyone, I hope you learned something.
Cheers.
♪ ♪