Original subtitles

- 1 am officially tapping out.

No amount of glory is worth harming yourself

to the level that starvation can do.

- Yes! Oh, thank you, fish.

1 am all in right now on fish.

I'm going to spend a lot of time on this boat.

- There's so many reasons I want to make a pit house.

They are incredibly efficient at keeping in heat.

- I'm not living up to what I want

to live up to as a survivalist.

1 am officially tapping out.

Family is more important then my ego.

1 want 10 be driven by what's in my heart.

narrator: In "Alone's" most terrifying location yet,

10 participants face the deadliest predator

in North America.

- There he is right there. - Grizzly bears.

- Hey, bear!

- There's a lot of grizzly here.

I'm gonna have to live with them.

- Go on, get!

- Every second we're on the land,

we're being hunted.

- Holy [bleep], mountain lion.

- It's circling around my shelter.

Narrator: Bone chilling cold.

- Winter is coming.

You combine the wind with the rain and the cold,

this place could make the Arctic look easy.

Oh [bleep].

Narrator: And complete isolation.

- You cannot hide from yourself,

mentally and emotionally.

- Ahh!

- There's no place to go.

- I am suffering from loneliness.

Narrator: Who will survive?

- Yes, yes!

- This could be the end.

- 1 don't want o tap, but 1 don't want to die either.

- You have to suffer before you can succeed.

Narrator: The last one standing wins.

- AL what point do 1 push the button?

- [whispering] I just shot a buck.

Oh, my God.

Oh...

Oh, my God.

I killed it.

Yeah!

Mm. Whew!

Hunting is something that I've done my whole life.

But I've always had support,

I've always been able to bring things.

But to do it completely on your own, self-supported,

just from what the land provides,

that's a different story.

Backstraps tonight!

I'm going to go ahead and drop the guts right here,

and then drag him away.

Cut those hind quarters off and take those.

This location is different

because there is a major predator here.

So 1 have to get this thing gutted,

I have to get it quartered out,

1 have to get the usable, good meat,

because the last thing that I want to do

is have to deal with a bear coming in here

and wanting to take this Kill.

I don't have my pack, so I have to start shuttling the meat

in stages back to the shelter.

Oh, man, first load done.

- Checking myself here real quick.

1 don't remember having any gray in my beard

before this started.

Maybe a little.

1 haven't seen any deer.

But every morning, 1 pick 100 onions,

rose hips, and cranberries.

I'm just working on foraging

'cause that stuff's gonna go away when the snow comes.

Mmm, mmm.

Plants, man, they provide.

Oh, there's my onion friends.

Be with you shortly.

Cranberry hole.

Tiny, but sure are tasty.

These cranberries have been in this hole for almost 3 weeks.

Still are good.

It's calories over comfort right now.

Every spare minute 1 have has 10 go

to trying to acquire calories.

Moderation, eat 'em in moderation.

1 have to pick onions.

1 don't know when they disappear.

Unfamiliar with the land.

All right, let's go.

If they disappear and I don't have 1,000 or more,

that's a big shame on me.

It's almost like harvesting out of the garden,

which 1 would be doing right now if 1 was at home.

I'd really like to start community farms

in rural Alaska.

1 want to use the money that 1 could win

to expose people to wilderness

and wild places and intact ecosystems.

Two thirds of our planet lives in urban areas,

which is fine, but it's hard to get a population

that care about wild places like this

if they've never been in it.

So, for me, winning the money

means being able to start my dream of a school or a camp.

I want to build that.

I like this foraging business, man.

Sitting on my ass picking calories.

Keep doing it.

- Close up of my face.

Look at those cheek bones.

Seriously sunken in.

Look at that brow.

Look at that skull structure.

You think that that's not,

like Cro-Magnon or like early human?

Those high ridges.

It's a tough skull.

Trust me, it's a tough skull.

It's getting dark.

I'm gonna head up and check my lines.

I would like to believe there's a fish on my line.

Tell you what, 1 miss my family.

The struggle for me is the value

that 1 place on my responsibility

to be a dad, since 1 didn't have a dad.

When you don't have that resource,

especially for boy stuff,

you kind of learn from another kid.

But there was no heart in it.

That's what 1 think is interesting for me.

Not having a dad that has a passion.

1 feel like my passion is my family.

Maybe that's because of my own upbringing.

Super exciting.

We all come from a struggle.

At some point, we all struggle, no matter where we come from.

Big fish.

Easy, big fella.

Come on, come on.

[bleep]!

No!

[bleep]!

Damn it.

That was a huge bull trout.

My jacket's wet.

1 saw that it was just barely hooked on the nose.

Son of a--[bleep]. Dang it.

1 saw him slip off right when he got in the shallow water.

God dang it.

All right, we're gonna set it again.

That's a meal for a few days.

That's so many calories.

I could start to replenish stored fat.

It's just such a blast to your time spent.

So I've got to figure this out.

Can't let that happen again.

- I just got back to camp with the last load.

I don't think I've ever-- I know I've never--

I've never reacted like that to--

to killing a deer or an animal.

But there's--1 don't know, being out here and...

Being--having the fish situation be what it is

where it's just, like, staying

maybe just a day or two ahead,

you know, that's all 1 can do is stay a day or two ahead.

It's just, it was kind of--

that was worrying me.

That was stressful.

And to have all of that just poof,

lifted off your shoulders is like...

That is a beautiful sight.

[sighs] Man.

1 have to get all this stuff cut into strips.

Gotta keep it from spoiling.

Gotta keep a bear from taking it.

Backstrap.

That's the rib meat.

Tenderloin.

That's dinner tonight.

Heart.

That's always the first thing.

You got to eat the heart first.

I've got to take it all back there and hang it now.

There is a real risk of having meat

hanging in your shelter where there's bears around.

1 want to make sure that it's up off the ground

and protected, because that is my future.

Never had to haul meat so far without a pack.

Yeah, that'll work for now.

Revamp it later.

Man, that deer heart is gonna be good tonight.

The first meal of any deer or elk that I ever Kill,

1 always eat the heart first.

It's just kind of a significant thing to me.

Buck heart fried in buck fat.

Man, oh, man.

There's the end of the heart.

Oh, my God.

Mmm.

Oh, my God, that's good.

Whew!

That may be the best thing 1 ever ate.

Thank you, young buck.

Thank you, thank you.

Mmm.

- Mm...

Having a slow, slow morning.

It's windy and rainy, cold.

Kind of set it out where my goal is, like, 100 days,

so I'm 23% of the way there.

Every day is just one more percent.

1 put that goal out there, mm,

but food, 1 need food to get there.

1 need to get some passive fishing going,

so I think I'm gonna build a fish trap.

Before 1 get to work, it's breakfast time.

All right, shelter, see you tonight.

My little breakfast cranberries, have a few.

Gonna stop by ol' cranberry hole.

This fish trap, I'm pretty excited

about catching fish for me passively, 24/7.

Lots of excitement.

Ooh.

Something has been here.

Something big.

Tore up my fire pit.

Ate my cranberries.

Hey, bear!

1 think we had a bear.

That ain't to squirrel moving those rocks.

Ate half my cranberries.

Oh. Any good ones left?

Smell them and see if 1 can smell the bear's breath.

Tm worried about bears, but 1 need to get calories.

1 am building a fish trap today.

God, it'd be sweet if this works.

Some passive fishing.

Last year there was a land slide

that blocked the Chilko River,

so now it's made it inaccessible

for the salmon to reach the lake.

Got a little system going here, guys.

Migratory bears are showing up to get fish,

and there ain't fish there.

Now they're hungry and they're moving through your territory.

Those bears probably scare me the most

'cause they're the least predictable.

Oh, that smell.

Hey, bear!

1 just caught wind of something.

It's a little unnerving to know,

like, what are they gonna turn to, skunk cabbage?

"Alone" contestants?

These bears aren't gonna come here and turn around and say,

"Oh, the fish aren't here” and back out of here.

They're gonna stay here,

and they're gonna get desperate.

Ah it looks fantastic.

There's the entrance,

this comes out and there's the trap.

Fish go right in, can't get out.

I'm gonna tie it on and go get it in the water.

It's gonna be a producer, man.

- Here we go, setting the fish trap.

1 have no idea how deep it is.

All right, trap, catch some fish, please.

Fish trap in.

That's my buoy.

It didn't sink. We're good, man.

Let's get the boat put away.

- Is there a point in getting out of my sleeping bag?

Mm,

My lips are okay and I can still smile so it's alright.

My shirt needs a wash though.

The reason 1 want to move into the pit house,

'cause then 1 can wash clothing

even when the weather is nasty

and then 1 can dry it over the fire.

Yep, really, really ready,

really ready to move into my house.

Al right, before 1 move in,

1 need to get this fireplace area sorted.

With the tarp over the smoke hole,

I'm not really sure how this is gonna work out

ventilation-wise, so this is kind of a test.,

So far it's a smoke house.

It's pulling all the air in from over there,

just bringing the smoke inside.

1 have 10 figure out a way to temporarily open

part of the smoke hole up top.

Let me just go--

Tm gonna grab a pole and see if 1 can do that.

It's not calm here very often.

It's very, very windy,

and 1 have drafts around my door.

So when the wind comes from the north,

my fireplace does not function well.

Potentially that actually made it worse.

This isn't working. 1 can't move in.,.

This is not gonna be good for my lungs.

Smoke inhalation over a long periods of time

can make you feel utterly rubbish.

It's low level carbon monoxide poisoning.

But 1 can't completely not have a fire.

- Good morning.

It's about five degrees colder today, noticeable.

I'm gonna drink some hot water

for my morning wake up, hot like coffee.

Wow, that's warm.

Holy warm. That's really hot.

Might as well go back in for seconds, though.

Just dumb enough.

Yep, just as hot as the first time.

All right, back to work.

First thing's first.

Let's remedy the fishing situation

so we don't lose another fish.

I'm just gonna evenly space these around it,

and just keep sectioning it down

until we get to the desired size of the net we want.

Awesome.

It's a good start.

Fishing, it was almost what's for breakfast.

I would say I'm in one of the worst of times.

I'm not catching any or killing any food.

This is the longest I've ever gone without eating.

Well, task one has been completed.

I'm happy with it.

It should serve its purpose.

Perfect.

It works.

Get to test out our net.

I'm always optimistic about tomorrow.

But 1 find myself very thin

and concerned at how much weight I've lost.

1 know that physically Tm in a dangerous place.

Al right, 1 think 1 got a fish.

1 don't know how big it is, but its moving the line.

Oh, wow,

[bleep] Here we go.

Whoo-hoo.

There was a bull trout

with this 12-inch rainbow in his mouth on the hook.

I'll take it.

You can see his teeth marks.

So this guy was food.

That's crazy.

It means the fish are back.

I'm sure happy to see 'em.

It means we're still in the game.

Well, there's no flies on it, so good,

I'm just gonna leave it.

It's kind of a race now.

1 have got to get my deer meat dry so 1 can preserve it.

I'm gonna have to build a smoke house.

Here's what I'm thinking, let's do a log cabin style.

It's going to make it stronger, simpler.

1 have to build a smoker that's pretty sturdy.

And 1 know 1 can't build something

that's going to stop a bear.

I mean, they're so incredibly powerful.

But I can build one that'll slow one down long enough

for me to hopefully come outside and deal with it.

Man, I'm glad 1 brought this saw.

It was a last-minute item.

1 don't have the advantage of cold weather like they have

with other big game kills in past seasons,

where you can just leave whole quarters out here.

In order for this meat to dry out enough to keep,

you have to reduce the moisture content so low

that bacteria and things like that won't grow.

1 think my shoulder is gonna feel this tomorrow.

I got to get this done.

Ideally what you want to do is dry those quarters,

and it creates a rind on the outside and protects them.

In relatively warm weather,

they'll be good just hanging for days.

Stringing this wire in there

so I'll have a place to hang that meat.

Gonna chink the cracks.

All right. I'm gonna do the roof.

Now 1 just need some moss.

1 think once 1 get all this done,

I'm gonna have to start just chilling a little bit.

I have some little projects that don't really

require a big expenditure.

I've been working hard, burning a lot of calories.

But 1 have to protect this meat.

I'm not about to give this up to a bear.

Al right.

This thing is gonna be perfect size

to fit all this meat.

I just need a fire.

Started with some of this pine,

and then I'll put that alder on there.

Oh, look at that. Bam.

Now, that's just cool.

- So not gonna lie.

Yesterday after the rain when 1 got up that morning,

I had left my pot lidless,

and it had collected that 2 inches of water.

It wasn't very light out when I was drinking out of it.

And when it did get light,

1 swear there were squirrel turds in my water.

Not gonna lie.

1think 1 drank squirrel poo yesterday.

Hopefully there's nothing wrong with it.

But 1 didn't get sick.

What to do today?

Well, I'm getting lighter by the day,

so I got to build up my caloric intake.

Plan is to build a fishing rod and reel.

Being able to cast out quite a ways,

might be able to pull a bull trout a day.

That's gonna fit into there.

1 think that the fishing rod and reel might change things,

put more gas in my tank.

Trying to, you know, open this belt up some more.

So after seeing the size of the bull trout,

1 think it's advisable to use the 15-pound test,

if I'm gonna throw that big minnow lure on.

1 need that extra fat back.

Otherwise, it's gonna be a daily battle.

Al right.

1 think we should do a double wrap 10 a single.

1 definitely don't want {0 go anywhere.

My desire is to stay here the longest.

That's what 1 want to do.

But 1 always miss my family.

Let's see how well it winds.

1 miss cooking them dinner.

1 miss hanging out with my boys.

Miss my wife.

1 need 10 stay positive and stay healthy.

1 want to see this through for them.

I'll tell you right now, if the fish keep coming,

1 am not going anywhere.

Can't get me out of this game.

No, sir.

Okay. Here's what's happening.

When you're out here

going through this type of situation,

you pay attention to your body,

and about 2 hours ago, 1 started feeling nauseous.

So we're gonna just see.

Just gonna let it play out and see what happens.

That water 1 drank concerns me.

But that would be crazy.

I mean, it's squirrel poo, I guess.

But 1 don't know what a nut, mushroom,

seed-eating squirrel would carry.

Probably nothing, though.

Probably nothing.

Just a symptom of starvation.

Mm. [sighs]

This, 100, shall pass, 1 guess.

1 need to get my fire going again.

Well, that's [bleep] special.

Son of a [bleep].

Now 1 have the shakes.

That's awesome.

That concerns me.

1 can be as oplimistic as 1 want

and as stubborn as 1 want, but this is troubling.

1 know my body, and my health is important to me.

And I'm not interested in battling

whatever it is that's going on in my body right now...

with also being on a starvation diet.

It's more important to me to be healthy,

so I do apologize if I let anybody down that...

But I'm not gonna get sick or put my body

in any harm for anything.

So I wish I could have gone longer,

but 24 days is my limit.

Hi.

Um...

I'm officially tapping out.

I'm done.

I'm out. I'm done.

Just like that.

- You seeing this weather?

This is the day when it happens.

The second I tap out, it starts snowing.

- How you doing, Nate? - Um, I'm all right.

Emotionally, I'm all right.

I've got waves of nausea still.

My body's in a process now

where 1 think it's slowed everything down,

including heating itself.

So it's enough for me to know my priority is my health,

and I'm not gonna compromise it.

My family rely on me.

And 1 have to remember that it's not about me.

So 1 have to stay healthy, and 1 have to recognize that.

And I'm conscious of my body.

Life, when you're mission-focused,

it's like a train on a track.

And I've just been on the tracks.

I've been so mission-focused on the homestead

and getting my family in a comfortable place

that I've neglected other places,

my family, my kids.

I got to give my kids more of me.

This provided me a station stop on my train.

It forced me to stop and take a break

and look at my life

and remember what's most important.

And that's what 1 did.

- Good morning.

Let's read my personal rules list.

Carry bow always for potential game/threat

any time you're out.

Be aware. That's a good rule.

Wear gloves any time I'm using a blade.

Keep track of all critical gear.

And last but not least, don't push the [bleep] tap button.

Trying to keep that one going.

Sounds pretty calm out there, so I think I'm gonna get up

and go try some fishing.

Wonder if there's any fish hunkering down

in my fish trap yet.

It's worth checking my fish trap, right?

Maybe something's hiding out in there.

1 definitely expected to have some fish in me by now,

'cause back home, I'm a pretty big fisherman.

But out here, it's, like-- it's different,

1 haven't been able to catch one fish.

Please have fish in there.

You don't have no fish in there.

Oh, well.

Gonna try something different.

It's funny, when I was gearing up to come out here,

I wanted lure fishing to be my last resort fishing.

I didn't want it to be, like, my main fishing thing.

So it's kind of funny to find myself in this situation.

Trying not to get mad, but it's hard.

Hard not to get mad when things don't work

all the time.

Normally, I love fishing.

It's relaxing, it's fun,

but fishing out here just frustrates me, man.

But so much rather be doing this than my old job.

1 mean, there's no comparison.

Breathing in fiberglass, building trailers all day.

My dad thought 1 should bring a photo of my old work.

He was like,

"That'll give you more incentive to not leave."

Totally right, man.

But I'm a fighter,

and I'm gonna hang on as long as I can.

1 got one.

Come on, baby.

Come on in. Come on in, baby.

Yes. Yes.

[bleep] yes!

Beautiful rainbow trout.

Thank you for your life, fish.

Thank you.

Oh, yes.

Finally, a decent meal.

Oh, that's so exciting.

Caught my first fish.

Oh, I'm gonna eat fish today.

That's so awesome.

Thank you, gods.

Thank you, Chilko.

It's time to get this sucker rolling.

1 can't tell you how excited 1 am 10 eat a sizable fish.

Gonna be tasty, my friend.

I'm gonna have my first protein out here.

It's a morale booster, and hopefully it's a turn

in my ability to get food out here.

That's gonna be a decent meal, right there.

Super stoked.

I got to say, it kind of sucks to be constantly, like,

stressed about my surroundings while cooking,

'cause these grizzly bears will just walk right up

and take what's yours,

'cause they know they're big and bad.

So I try to make a lot of noise while I'm cooking fish.

Oh, yeah! Fish, baby!

Smells like breakfast over here.

1 normally scrape out the spine.

But out here, I'm eating that black stuff.

Tm sure it's got some kind of nutrients in it that 1 want.

All right. here comes my dad's favorite part,

the sucking out of the eyes.

Here it goes, Dad. This one's for you.

Let me see!

That was something my dad used to do when 1 was a kid.

When we'd catch trout and cook them up,

he would suck out the eyes and yell,

"Let me see," which of course would freak me out as a kid.

But now 1 do it for him.

Well, hello, little trout brain.

Do you mind if 1 eat you?

- Going to wash my hair with hot water.

Hope 1 get smell of smoke off me.

Oh, man, that feels lovely.

Yeah.

Sometimes the little things in life

make everything better.

I'm so tired of the wind.

The wind direction is southwest in the fall.

It's from the north in the winter.

If it's from the north most of the time this time of year,

I'm in a real pickle.

So all right. We're gonna push today.

We're finishing the fireplace.

So I'm gonna keep on with the rocking all the way up

to where 1 think approximately where the posts will be.

Yeah. I think that'll help a lot with the smoke.

So we are gonna set that in sand.

Try to actually make the chimney narrow

a little bit here.

See if that helps.

I need a nice, long-ish big one.

That's spot-on.

Fireplace and the chimney, they're incredibly important.

Fall is probably coming to a close here,

and winter is coming, and it is gonna get colder,

and 1 want to have a fireplace with a chimney,

and all sealed up so that when it is cold

and the weather is atrocious,

we can sit all nice and toasty warm in our house.

And we can go there.

Is that tightened? Yeah?

We happy? We're happy.

1 think T might just steal some of these rocks

just to make the chimney, because they're really

unnecessary where they are right now.

1 have a well-managed,

but fairly strong component of OCD.

1 have very specific routines.

And to feel like I have not completed a thing

makes it very difficult for me to move on from that.

So that makes "Alone" an absolute juggling act,

both mentally and physically.

That works.

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

This is the inside.

When all of this rock heats up,

it's gonna reflect a lot of heat back into the house,

you know, overnight even after the fire dies down

or even dies out.

And here is the chimney.

Oh, I can tell there's a much better draw now.

The flames are staying lit of their own accord.

Fantastic. It means that I can go and move in here.

- Moved everything out of the tarp

and into the pit house, which is where 1 now am.

Feels really nice to have worked in here all day,

and just crawl in bed.

Not have to faff about with going back and forth

between two different shelters.

This is my new reality.

In my adult life, this is the first time

1 have had my own home.

1 have never lived anywhere where it was just me.

It's me inside and out, and it's solely mine.

If I wanted to do projects,

1 could do projects Tl 2:00 am.

There's no one to keep awake but me.

It's warm enough in here to actually stand up,

take all of my clothing off normally.

Crawl up into my sleeping bag on my nice raised bed.

Uh, yeah.

So...okay.

Good night, camera.

- Good morning.

That was probably the most restless night

of sleep I've had.

That wind is brutal.

It's a good indicator for what's to come for winter,

s01T want to make sure that 1 get this door done.

The cold weather is coming, so I definitely need

to get this buttoned up pretty good here.

Man, this wind.

It's not usually windy right here.

1 hope that that's not

what this winter is going to be like.

I think I'll just make that door a triangle shape,

so at nighttime I can put up against it.

And I'd really like to have that frame nailed,

'Cause I'm gonna be moving it all the time.

Let's see if there were any other nails

that 1 could salvage.

He did have a nail.

And so did that guy.

The longer I'm here, my life back home

weighs so heavy on my mind.

My life changed so much 4 years ago.

Someone had broke into my little store

and stole a lot of stuff,

and so I suffered a really big loss.

At the same time, my marriage was ending

and my son went away to college.

Everything that 1 knew, being a mother, and a wife,

and my store just kind of came to a screeching halt.

So 1 thought, "What am 1 gonna do?

1 don't know who 1 am anymore."

It was like someone kicked me in the stomach.

This is a good, solid frame

using those old nails.

That's pretty cool.

Now pine again.

I think I'll just start filling that in.

I'm very purpose-driven.

And to just exist without a great purpose

wasn't something that 1 was gonna be able to do.

So 1 just started doing what 1loved.

So it became my quest to teach the next generation hunting,

hide tanning, and why it's beneficial to our environment.

If I wouldn't have started to do something

that 1 felt So passionate about,

1 would have been in really bad shape.

1 think maybe that's how 1 have 10 feel

about this challenge that 1 have taken on.

Being on "Alone," 1 can do this.

There's no reason that 1 can't.

I'm just gonna put that wire up there.

And then it will just kind of hang right there.

So at nighttime it will help block that wind a little bit.

- Look at that. That is just gorgeous.

A double rainbow.

1 don't know what 1 did to deserve this.

Look at that. That is just unbelievable.

It's right there.

Can almost reach out and grab it.

This is something that I've always wanted to do.

I've always wanted to see if all of these skills

that I've spent my life developing

could actually see me through

a real-life wilderness survival situation.

Nature is amazing.

And it's a test of will

when you grind against having not enough to eat,

and in total isolation from your family.

Those things suck.

But suck is the price you pay to be out here.

You don't get that sitting on your couch.

I don't know if I've ever seen one so spectacular

and so close-looking.

Beautiful.

I've studied Stoic philosophy for years.

And you can know these things logically.

But until you go through a time of struggle,

you can't know it in your soul.

Right now, that deer is everything to me.

But it's not going to last forever.

1 want to win this thing, but that is a long way away.

Maybe there's a pot of gold at the end.

- Nate, thanks for joining me.

- Thanks for having me. It's good to be here.

- You were a corpsman in the Navy,

which is essentially a medic.

You seem to really understand your body and what it needed.

You know, when did you realize that you were near your limit?

- 1 always had an idea. 1 mean, T've been thin before,.

My experience as a wrestler-- I know, I've been fasting,

and I've lost a lot of weight

and been below 3 percent body fat in the past.

So 1 knew my limitations in my mind.

But 1 also have a stubborn side,

which likes to take on that challenge

and push myself as far as 1 can possibly push myself.

And 1 pushed it.

1 pushed past it until 1 got sick.

And then that was the end for me,

where 1 knew 1 had gone beyond my red line

where 1 was comfortable taking my body.

- I learned a lot of new ideas watching you out there.

Your creative problem-solving was brilliant.

Let's talk about that pier.

That was an engineering masterpiece.

- 1 mean, 1 went through a whole bunch of different

design ideas and how to put it together.

But ideally, I didn't want to use any of my cordage for it,

'cause I knew it would take a lot of cordage

to hold something together like that in those waves.

So I just decided to peg it and build it that way.

What the [bleep]?

1 mean, 1 failed a bunch of times on the shoreline

before 1 tried to carry the second attempt out.

But, 1 mean, for me, failure, that's the process.

- Yeah. It's the only way you can make something work,

is by making a ton of mistakes.

- Right. - How did it feel

to finally have that pier in place?

- 1 was super excited, 'cause 1 had put so much into it.

And 1 saw so much potential in fishing beyond it.

Perfect.

- You found some really creative ways

to make yourself more comfortable out there.

That bed spring mattress was awesome,

- I've had two spine surgeries in my life.

So my back is a concern of mine.

It's great normally, but the second you start losing weight

you start to lose a lot of the fat pad

that you're used to having.

And that's your comfort when you're lying down.

So 1 figured the best way to remedy that would be

to make a suspension bed.

Oh!

- That thing was sick.

It must have been just so nice and, like--

- Changed everything. - I bet it did.

So let's talk about your mental game.

"Alone" can be a real challenge for people,

not just physically but mentally.

How did you think that your military training

and your experience was gonna help you on the show?

- 1 think my military experience,

or just my experience over the last 3 decades,

it involves deployments and being away from family.

I've been there before, so I know

that my separation from home

and that trusting my wife will take care of the house,

and not having to worry about my kids,

and stuff like that,

that alleviates a lot of stress.

Challenge is can you be alone?

Oh, 1 think 1 can be,.

But this game is just a little bit different

when it comes to that, 'cause you are isolated.

You don't have that conversation piece,

except with yourself.

So it really does force you to search yourself

and try to figure things out.

So it wasn't that 1 had

a tremendous advantage in that sense.

It's just that I've been through the process before.

But what 1 found was the hardest part was that,

when 1 was in the military and separated from family,

1 didn't have a choice, - Mm.

- It was an obligation and I was there.

1 couldn't just go home.

And being out here, you had that freedom.

1 had the opportunity to get on the radio

or the phone and say, "Hey.

I'm gonna go back to where I'm comfortable."”

So that was a challenge for me.

Almost completely convinced myself

that it was perfectly fine to tap out this morning.

What a weird day.

- There's a lot of long, dark nights in our shelters.

- The rainy days were the hardest.

You're in your thoughts and in your head most of it.

It was a struggle.

When you're out there,

you start to put things in perspective.

1 know that if 1 talked to my wife,

she'd be like, "You're done."

My life's just always been this fast-paced

mission completion and stay focused on the tasks.

And 1 never really take time to pause

and think about what's going on.

You know, you just make quick decisions and try to adjust.

So this really slowed me down and let me take pause

and think about my life and what's going on.

- Nate, it was a real pleasure meeting you.

I learned so much from your journey out there.

Thanks for sharing it with us. All the best.

- Thanks.

- Man, it's freezing.

- I think I'd like to start

bringing rocks up for the fireplace.

Oh, [bleep].

- Oh, [bleep].

There are bear tracks right through camp.

That little bastard.

1 have 10 be prepared {0 engage a bear.

- Oh, there he is. Right there. [bleep].

Get out of here! [air horn blares]

There is a point that this is not worth it.