Original subtitles

[ Cracking, animal growling ]

♪♪

Narrator: They survived in pairs and in groups,

and now the best of the best

are taking on their greatest challenge yet...

to survive 21 days...

Holy [bleep]

...with no support...

Oh, my God!

...no one to watch their back...

Man: This is my shot.

Narrator: ...Completely exposed.

[ Groaning ]

I'm terrified.

It looks like it's gonna be rough.

I mean, I know it's gonna be rough.

It's like a giant puzzle out here.

I just got to figure it all out, put it all together.

I can't get complacent out here, being alone.

Just can't let my guard down.

I'm gonna have to be extremely alert,

extremely aware.

[ Growls ]

I'm not really sure if I'm 98% excited, 2% scared

or 98% scared, 2% excited.

It's good to have a healthy amount of fear.

It'll keep you alive because this terrain is a lot different

than my last challenge in South Africa.

Last time, I was completely surrounded by mountains,

something that I'm very used to.

There's no mountains around.

This is flat, you know, lots of tall grass.

Predators love to hunt and stalk their prey in the tall grass.

Damn.

My name's Ryan Holt, and I'm from Roxbury, Maine.

And I run a hostel and wilderness guiding service.

I've done three previous challenges...

in the Everglades,

South Africa, and the Bahamas,

and I'm back now for number four.

Narrator: Ryan's solo survival rating, or SSR,

was established based on how he fared on his past challenges

in three categories...

self-reliance, mental toughness, and skills.

On his 21-day challenge in the everglades,

Ryan's partner left on day 16.

He snared an alligator with a handmade boomstick noose,

which helped him survive the remaining 5 days alone.

On his 14-day challenge in The Bahamas,

Ryan was rattled...

Holy [bleep]

...when he came within a few feet of a hammerhead shark,

but ultimately he survived to the end.

On Ryan's 40-day challenge in South Africa...

I feel like if I don't just go on that solo part

of the journey that I'm gonna regret it.

...he left his group to go it alone on day 28.

Wow! Look at that.

He had success finding food on his own,

but then ate contaminated fruit...

Oh, my God!...And had to be

evacuated that same night.

It hurts so bad.

Ryan begins his "alone" challenge

with a solo survival rating of 8.3.

Ryan: I would say that this challenge here

is the most important one by far.

This is a personal redemption.

Because of my last challenge, I came out here with a mind-set

that I'm not gonna eat anything besides meat.

This time around, I plan on hunting big game

with a primitive longbow.

I'm gonna be stronger by the time I leave here.

Mark my words.

All right.

Now it's starting to feel a little more like home.

I think I see some of my items waiting for me.

Narrator: For this challenge, Ryan was allowed to choose

just three essential items to keep him alive.

Brand-new custom knife,

pot here to boil water,

and last, but definitely not least,

I've got my longbow.

Oh, look at this.

Inside the satchel, got my map.

If I can get myself on a game trail around here

and find where it starts to fork,

and you follow it like an arrow, it'll point me to water,

so that's what I'm gonna be looking for.

Okay, and the solo journey begins.

Let's go find water.

Narrator: Ryan will be venturing out

into the semiarid Limpopo region of South Africa,

also known as the "great north,"

where temperatures can reach

a stifling 104 degrees fahrenheit.

In this extreme heat,

he could sweat up to 1 quart of water an hour

and quickly suffer from dehydration.

Being alone, Ryan will also be

an easy target for the most lethal

and opportunistic predators in the world...

spotted hyenas, who will ambush any animal

that strays from the pack

and can chase their prey

at speeds of up to 37 miles per hour;

leopards, who see seven times better in the dark than humans

and can pounce undetected from the trees to make a kill.

♪♪

Ryan: I'm not out here to survive.

I'm not out here to crawl till the end on day 21.

I'm out here to thrive.

This is thick.

I don't like this at all.

Lots of animal tracks already.

These are some big prints.

Before I go any further,

I'm gonna put one in the chamber.

♪♪

♪♪

It's hot.

And I've been walking for quite some time now.

I'd love to find a water source soon 'cause it's hot.

The sun is just beating down on me.

It really just drains me.

I'll probably lose all the water I have in my body

right now, so that could be a real problem.

♪♪

We've got two game paths here merging together,

kind of creating an arrow.

An arrow that points to water.

The further I make it down this washed-out, dried-up river,

as far as I can see through these trees,

I see a little bit of a reflection.

Oh, yeah, this is water.

Looks like a swamp.

Been walking for a couple hours now,

and I just came up on this huge body of water.

It's pretty swampy.

So far, I don't see anything besides water birds.

But food is the last thing I need right now.

As you can see, I'm sweating a little bit.

The minute I stop sweating, that becomes a real issue.

That means I have no water left to sweat out.

So I think I need fire, water, shelter, then food.

That's a good thorn tree right there.

I think I found a winner.

I think this is gonna be a good place to call home.

Changed my mind-set.

I thought I was gonna start with fire first.

Only got a couple hours left before sunset,

and I must have protection from predators before nightfall.

I'm by myself, so I don't have to build a big boma.

♪♪

Thorns, you hate them, but you need them.

The fire and all these thorn trees are the only protection

I'm gonna have at nighttime out here alone

against the big cats.

Just leave that right there.

[ Sighs ]

I'm already starting to feel the early onset stages

of dehydration.

Narrator: Along with excessive thirst,

fatigue and dry mouth

are some of the early symptoms of dehydration.

Dehydration's putting me in check.

There's not a single water source out here

that you can drink confidently.

Without boiling it, you're gonna get sick.

After getting sick on my last challenge in South Africa,

that's the last thing I want to happen.

I got to puke.

No, I don't want to leave.

I'd better get my fire going fast.

I'm still a good hour away from having fresh water.

Take this apart.

And that's if I get fire on the first try.

My spindle, fireboard, and coal catcher.

I'm ready to go.

♪♪

[ Sighs ] Man, I am thirsty.

Dehydration's my kryptonite.

I don't think I've ever felt this weak

in the beginning of a challenge from lack of water.

I got an ember!

Oh [bleep] yes!

Phew!

♪♪

[ Blowing ]

♪♪

Fire is everything, including morale.

I'm already feeling more hydrated just knowing

that I'm about to drink water within the hour.

♪♪

Water's on.

Phew!

Good thing I got it when I did

'cause I don't know how much more I had in me.

Being solo out here means I only have to provide for one,

but expending the energy of one really drains it out of you.

I wouldn't be this exhausted right now if I had a partner.

Oh, yeah. That boils quick.

♪♪

[ Sighs ]

♪♪

Ahh!

♪♪

Yeah, I think this empty stomach...

I'm just pounding this hot brown water.

It's not sitting well in here.

[ Sighs ]

Oh, this is not good.

Oh [bleep]

[ Breathes deeply ]

Ah, man. [ Sighs ]

Starting to feel, like, shaky.

Oh, this is not good.

My mouth's salivating.

Oh, God, I'm gonna be sick.

[ Vomiting ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Vomiting ]

[Bleep] Damn it.

That's not good.

I know after boiling the water, it's definitely safe to drink,

but whatever is in there is not sitting well with me.

I've dehydrated so much faster now that I threw up.

That shelter's not gonna build itself.

I've still got to finish it.

I've got to rally.

[ Sighs ]

♪♪

♪♪

Phew!

I am beat.

That's good enough for now.

♪♪

I just woke up.

Figured I'd let you know that I'm not dead,

but that dehydration sucked.

Unbelievable how lack of water can be a game-changer.

I think I was on the verge of needing a saline bag.

Hopefully I'll still be here in the morning.

♪♪

[ Animals chittering ]

♪♪

There's something right outside my boma.

♪♪

I've been making some noise in here.

It's not scared.

I can still hear it.

Get out of here!

♪♪

♪♪

I'm not gonna lie.

Day 1 kicked my ass.

I am beat. I have no idea what time it is.

I've never felt this low on energy.

I've never spent this much time in the boma.

[ Sighs ]

And I'm just frustrated with my physical state.

What I'm feeling right now is surely not what I felt

when I ate that damn fruit,

but it definitely makes me question, you know, things.

And the only thing I'm scared about

is not making it to day 21.

And that's hard for me to admit.

♪♪

[Singsongy voice] Good morning.

[ Normal voice ] Day 3.

And I'm not miserable anymore.

Don't feel terrible.

First 2 days have been kind of rough due to the dehydration,

but my body and my stomach's getting used to

all that poo-poo water, and I'm starting to settle in.

And I'm still looking forward to kicking ass out here

and kick off day 3 with new energy.

I'm taking off on my morning walk nice and early

before it gets too hot,

and look for a spot to build a blind for the big game,

so that's the game plan today.

Now, if I don't eat something today,

it'll be day 3 without any food, and that will be the longest

I've ever gone on a challenge

without putting some sort of subsistence in my stomach.

I think this tree right here

looks like a beautiful spot for a blind.

There's just [bleep] everywhere.

Impala, wildebeest.

It's where they all hang out.

Yeah, let's get to work.

♪♪

Looking good.

Right to my right, two female kudu came in...

Directly in front of me, maybe 40 meters.

♪♪

I probably should have taken a shot.

[ Breathes deeply ] My adrenaline was skyrocketing.

Day 4. Back in the blind.

I'm just hoping for one to come a little bit closer

and give me that perfect opportunity.

♪♪

Oh, yeah.

That's a big buck.

♪♪

♪♪

There's really no sense in having a ground blind here.

All the animals sense something harmful is in the area,

something's out of place,

and they don't stick around very long to find out what it is.

♪♪

Ah! I'm hungry.

Nothing today. No game.

You know, day 4 without food...

the longest I've ever gone on any challenge

without putting a bite of food in my mouth.

My body is starting to change a little bit.

Starting to lose a bunch of fat.

If you ever want to get ready for summer,

I suggest trying the "Naked and Afraid" diet.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Growls softly ]

♪♪

Super-late at night. I'm not sure what hour it is.

[ Growling softly ]

♪♪

♪♪

Get out of here!

Get a leopard 6, 7 feet away from you,

sniffing around...

No one's gonna hear me scream.

I'm all alone.

♪♪

♪♪

Okay, I made it through night 4.

I am feeling tired.

Narrator: An average human loses 1 pound for every 3,500 calories burned.

Four days without food and a bout of dehydration

have left Ryan 7 pounds lighter and weaker.

Ryan: I don't have any calories to burn.

I do notice my energy levels drop quickly.

There's just nothing left in the tank.

Nothing there.

I wish there was a tree that I could get up in around here.

Ground blinds just don't work here.

Now, if I can get up off the ground,

above the wind, above the scent,

I think that's my best bet to get some big game.

And this end of the lake has got some big trees.

Oh, this is gonna take some effort.

Luckily, I'm good at climbing trees.

♪♪

Oh, hell yeah.

Big game wants to come here to drink.

♪♪

♪♪

And now this huge giraffe just came out of nowhere.

I'm 15 feet up in my tree blind,

and that giraffe stands over 15 feet tall.

And it's looking eye level with me.

Oh, my God.

♪♪

Look at that.

♪♪

Wow!

That was an experience of a lifetime.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Bleep]

Got to be kidding me.

Just missed.

I mean, it went right into the group,

and it didn't make contact, so...

[ Sighs ]

This is [bleep] exhausting, being in a tree.

[ Sighs ] I'm done.

[Bleep]

Aah!

♪♪

[ Sighs ] I'm done.

Aah!

♪♪

One of the branches broke, and my back slammed

right into one of the trees that had a broken branch on it,

like, a spiked piece of wood, and it really messed me up.

Ah, hell.

Day 5. No food yet.

Coming home empty-handed can discourage you.

Whew, man! I'm hungry.

In my past challenges, I've always figured out

how to get protein.

I speared a monitor lizard my last time in South Africa.

Yeah! Whoo!

And I also nabbed some catfish when I was in the everglades.

[ Grunts ] Ha ha!

You know, I've got to add something to my body.

Got to start small sometimes.

♪♪

I'm going into night 8.

Got big plans for tomorrow.

In the morning, I'm gonna head down to the north side

of the lake, where the other giant thorn tree is,

and that's where the geese are.

I mean, geese aren't predators.

I am.

♪♪

[ Geese honking ]

[ Sighs ]

Narrator: After 8 days alone adapting to his environment,

Ryan's senses are sharper, but no food means he's losing

an average of a pound a day, compromising his motor skills,

including his balance and coordination.

♪♪

Oh, hell!

[ Sighs ] Damn it.

♪♪

[ Sighs ] [Bleep]

♪♪

[ Sighs ]

Got to get something.

Wow.

These arrows skip when they hit the water.

As long as my alignment is good,

I can hit the goose just by skipping the arrow.

♪♪

[ Sighs ]

Missed that one by, like, an inch.

I'm getting closer.

[ Geese honking ]

♪♪

♪♪

Yes!

Yes!

Whoo!

Whoo!

Ya-hoo!

Ahh!

Ooow!

I'm so grateful.

The universe is so good.

Just never give up, keep pushing forward,

and you will be rewarded.

Did I say it was gonna be a beautiful day or what?

Now let's go eat this guy.

The sacred heart...

Right there.

I'll take a bite of that heart first in honor of this duck.

♪♪

Mmm. Mmm!

Look at that.

That is [bleep] beautiful.

[ Chomping ]

Tastes even better when you just make

all the noise you can with it.

Ooh!

What's that?

That's my final bite.

I'm really gonna enjoy this.

I don't know if I can sleep after that,

but I'm just gonna lay here with a big-ass smile on my face.

♪♪

Today, I'm just letting my body heal a little bit.

After hunting geese,

collecting firewood, climbing trees,

I think I've got a dozen new cuts that are actively bleeding.

It starts to take a toll.

Ah, man, that's not good.

My feet are my wheels.

Without those, I can't do anything,

and there's no way I'm gonna make it to day 21

laying dormant on the ground.

I just need to take a day to let my body heal.

Maybe I'll make a necklace out of these duck feathers

from all the roasted duck that I had.

For my first project here, feather necklace.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Arrow fires ]

[Bleep]

[ Groans ]

Too high. Right over their back.

I need to aim, like, 10 inches lower than normal.

That guy should have been dinner.

Super-frustrating, that one.

Mm!

That was just such a [Bleep] beautiful impala.

And it should have been the climax to my challenge.

It's still weighing down on me.

Sometimes I feel like a worker ant without my colony.

I'm just by myself, so...

One ant can still get a lot done,

but it can be really overwhelming,

and it could put me down.

♪♪

It is the end of day 14.

Today [sighs]

Today really got me down.

I'm more frustrated with myself for letting myself

get frustrated about the situation

because I did learn something from it all,

but I should know better to let things weigh on me like that.

But I guess that's what 14 days of being out here

does to you... alone.

♪♪

If something comes into that water source in front of me,

mark my words... I will be having breakfast,

lunch, and dinner for the next 6 days.

♪♪

Come on, baby.

♪♪

[ Arrow fires ]

[Bleep]

[ Sighs ]

Oh, my gosh.

They're not running off.

I'm gonna get another shot.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Arrow fires ]

Good hit! [Bleep] Yeah!

I'm, like, shaking from that.

Yeah, that's fresh hair.

It's impala hair. Blood all right here.

Just came right through here.

Oh, I think that's it!

♪♪

That makes me so much happier.

This is amazing.

Day 15. I've been waiting for this since day 1.

That was a bull's-eye.

I can't believe this.

[ Breathes deeply ]

Man, I don't even know what to do right now.

I really do honor this animal.

My intentions for getting this girl right here

was to sustain my own life

and to pass that threshold of surviving

into the highest level of what it means to thrive.

That's the liver.

I'd say it's a little bit bigger than the duck liver, huh?

Who needs foie gras?

Last, but very not least,

this impala heart.

And, in honor of this animal and South Africa,

this heart goes to the hunter.

♪♪

Absolutely thankful for this animal.

I've lived a lifetime in one day today.

I'm speechless, man.

♪♪

[ Lowing ]

♪♪

You know, this meat is more than enough

to get me to extraction day and beyond.

[ Grunts ]

I've got to keep in mind that this is still

a very wild and dangerous environment.

I've got a ton of meat and blood in the area,

which is going to bring in bigger predators.

Whatever meat I don't consume tonight,

I have to put it up in a tree as high as possible.

Hell yeah.

♪♪

[ Sizzling ]Mmm. You hear that?

That's a beautiful heart.

It's about to replenish my heart,

and chef's going to enjoy

the fruits of his labor,

commitment, persistence.

The first cooked heart steaks

right here.

It's gonna take me awhile to eat this.

Mmm.

♪♪

[ Geese honking ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Honking stops ]

♪♪

Ohhh.

[ Growling, rustling ]

♪♪

[ Cracking, animal growling ]

♪♪

♪♪

It's day 16. Feeling good.

I could have sworn I heard something down here last night.

You can see the main carcass is still up there,

but two of the legs are gone.

The hindquarter leg and one front leg are gone.

No flies, but the ants definitely found their way.

Ah, it's all fresh, though, still.

This is amazing.

So the plan worked, wrapping it in the hide,

so I'm gonna be eating steaks for the next 3 days

and probably biltong for the last day

and biltong snacks all the way to extraction.

The best preservation you can do for your meat out here...

just let the sun dry it out and make my jerky for me,

also known as biltong.

Now I'll put all the meat on sticks, all the way down this.

And this meat looks so good raw.

It looks like sushi.

There we go. That's a good strip.

Narrator: To make biltong, or jerky,

Ryan will have to dry the meat for around 8 hours in the sun

until all the moisture is removed so it can't spoil.

Ryan: I'm gonna have to keep the rest of it away

from any predators.

I might bury it.

Got nice soft, cold mud to work with here.

A decent elephant footprint here.

That is cold down there.

That mud is cold.

And if it's protected by the animal skin,

then I could bury it, put some more clay on top of it.

It'll stay cold.

It'll stay absolutely preserved.

Wouldn't even know that's there.

Pretty humble guy, but this is [bleep] brilliant.

[ Laughs ]

This is my reward. Here, let me show you.

This is all biltong.

It's about 5 pounds of dried meat.

I know it's a risky move,

but I'm chancing keeping the meat inside my shelter.

I'm gonna keep that fire roaring, but, man,

I am full and tired.

I got to lay down.

♪♪

Oh [bleep]

[Bleep] Hell!

Oh [bleep]

No, no, no!

Oh, my God!

♪♪

I am pumped up.

Literally pumped up.

I spent the last hour doing my workout routine.

Bushcraft body building.

My body could use a little conditioning before extraction.

Been doing 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups every day

since I got that impala.

Hold that last one.

15.

Biltong strong right here, all the way.

♪♪

♪♪

Ryan: Oh, my God!

[Bleep]

Oh [bleep]

Oh [bleep] hell.

♪♪

Morning. Day 18.

Last night, it was kind of scary.

My bed here just went up in flames,

right in between my head and the fire.

This grass is real flammable, and I keep my fire close,

so I got to be more vigilant about that.

If I had had a partner, we could have taken turns

watching this fire.

Really, I mean, it woke me up,

but all that matters is that this is still intact.

Extraction's coming. It's right around the corner.

Let's go see what I can come up with for some footwear.

There's one.

Ahh! New shoes!

I'm gonna use the rest of this impala hide

to make me a hat.

Keep the sun off of my head, my shoulders,

anything that's gonna help with my dehydration issue.

Now I need to shape the brim.

I need to build a mold, sort of lift up each side.

It has to dry in place like this,

and then the brim of the hat

will have a nice little twist in it.

It's gonna be styling all the way to extraction, huh?

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

Morning. Day 21.

I love you.

Still got to make it to extraction.

It's gonna be a long haul.

Day 21. Let's do this.

Taking a look at the map here.

Here's my water source, where I've been living.

Looks like there's a dried-out riverbed here.

I see some bones on the way to extraction.

Some of this area is a lot more dense than I'm used to.

Lions, leopards, packs of hyenas...

I got to be ready for any of these predators out there.

Narrator: Ryan will be embarking on his longest journey yet...

5 miles across thorn-strewn grasslands

camouflaging deadly predators.

Ryan: There are just thorns everywhere.

Every step I'm taking is very slow,

and I'm really happy right now that I made a pair of shoes.

Narrator: He'll also be exposed to the suffocating heat

and will be in danger

of experiencing dehydration once again.

Ryan: I hydrated last night.

I hope it's enough to carry me through on this long trek.

Out here, this is the tallest grass

I've seen since I've been out here, and it does not sit well.

Not only do predators stalk and prey in this area,

but, also, the venomous snakes that are out here...

spitting cobras and black mambas.

They hang out in the grass, too.

Narrator: Lethal and highly aggressive,

black mambas can grow up to 14 feet long.

And they can move at a speed of 12 miles per hour.

Ryan: I am, like, eye level with this grass,

and I don't see it opening up any time soon.

[Bleep] This grass.

♪♪

It's starting to get hot.

The sun's coming up.

I can already feel it.

As I walk out here, it's gonna be a lot hotter.

I won't last long. Not in this heat.

The last place I want to be... in here.

Quite thick, huh?

Hopefully it opens up here soon.

Taller than me.

The adrenaline rushing through my veins

because of how tall this grass is around me.

I'm still not out of it yet.

Ah, man.

[ Breathes deeply ]

Going through all that tall grass,

I really feel like I can't breathe.

[Bleep]

[ Breathes deeply ]

This bow is getting heavy.

Doesn't seem like I'm doing a whole lot of work,

but when you're sort of, like,

walking that slowly through tall grass,

and your heart rate's going that fast for that long,

when you get a second to breathe, you're tired.

You just feel tired.

Phew! It feels like a...

Finally, I think it opens up.

I'm alone. I mean, I'm clearly alone.

Man, this is a trek.

Yeah, it feels like I should have been there by now.

Wow, that is gnarly.

I'm seeing more and more bones in this dried-out riverbed.

Oh, damn!

That's a leg.

That's a fresh kill.

Close by.

I'm getting the hell out of here.

Nothing is gonna stop me from finishing this walk.

[Bleep]

They just scared the [bleep] out of me.

I'm still alive!

There's a paradise of a water source straight ahead,

and it looks like right at the end of it is my "X."

From here, extraction is real close by.

I can feel the end really nearby, and I'm, like, hesitant.

I kind of want it, but I kind of don't.

[ Chuckles ]

Leaving it feels like you're leaving

a little piece of you behind, but that's all right.

Life is good back home.

Lots to look forward to.

And I'm bringing a whole new energy back with me.

♪♪

Oh, boy!

Looks like that's my ride.

I had a really amazing challenge out here.

It was the most powerful one I've been through.

One of the most powerful experiences I've ever had.

[ Voice breaking ] And I don't want to get on that.

I know I have to, but my transformation

was so huge out here.

You know, that climactic battle between just mere surviving

and thriving, and I thrived.

This was an epic redemption.

To be able to come out here, back to South Africa,

and kick it off alone, finish alone,

and do everything in between by myself

really opened my eyes to what I'm capable of.

Narrator: Ryan lost a total of 17 pounds during the challenge.

He fought his way back from debilitating dehydration

and thrived on big game.

His solo survival rating rises to 9.8.

I pushed my limits much further than I ever thought.

None of those victories, all of the...

the harvest, the impala...

none of it would have been as sweet

without the trials and errors,

the struggles in the first 2 weeks.

Ow-ooooowww!

[ Trilling ]

21 days! Alone!

I lived out here more than most people live in a lifetime.