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Of late I have been enthralled by this show called 'Life Below Zero' (It's on Netflix and I really recommend watching it) - it's a reality TV show which profile

Of late I have been enthralled by this show called 'Life Below Zero' (It's on Netflix and I really recommend watching it) - it's a reality TV show which profiles folks living in the Alaskan Bush. It primarily revolves around 4-5 different folks who live in various extreme remote parts of Alaska. Reading this article, it really reminded me of one of the lead characters, Glenn Villeneuve (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/life-below-zero/articles/glenn-villeneuve/ http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/life-below-zero/articl...), who lives a very spartan and primitive (by his own choosing) hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the Brooks Range (Chandalar, AK). He hunts for all his food and just boils them mostly (and often times eats them raw). He doesn't not use seasoning at all. I am guessing his gut microbes must be pretty robust and diverse. Main difference between Hadza and his place is that food sources are very spread out and thin in Chandalar. Most of the show is just following him trying to find his food. [OT: I generally dislike watching reality TV shows (and also TV in general). But this show has made me change my opinion on reality TV. Or it could just be because Alaska has a special place in my heart :)]

pavel_lishin 9y ago
I really liked Alone, which reminded me a lot of Survivorman. The contestants are dropped off far apart, and told to survive on their own for as long as they can, while filming themselves. The amount of effort varied hugely. Some tapped out and left on the very first night - either due to psychological issues ("oh my GOD there's a bear") or physical ("hey let's drink some of this stagnant water and throw up all night"). Some lasted a long while, but seemed to have a very, very hard time finding enough calories day to day, and at best lived on a feast-and-famine schedule (with "feast" being maybe a whole fish.) A few contestants did so well that their biggest problem was finding things to do to entertain themselves. One completely moved his camp and rebuilt it from scratch, built himself a boat, and made a guitar. Another one made a variant on a chess set that allowed him to play a solitaire game for amusement. And these folks were all separated by less than ten miles.
- ouid 9y ago
  >told to survive on their own for as long as they can surely this is not the actual time constraint.
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    It is. The last person to give up wins the cash prize. (Obviously, they're not told how many people have quit so far; each person, when they're "tapping out", has no idea whether they've won or not.) I really recommend the first season; while there's some tropes of "oh my god what was that noise <cut to commercial>", there's a lot of focus both on the physical tasks required for survival, and on what the contestants go through, psychologically. A lot of parts are very surprisingly funny.

pavel_lishin 9y ago

I really liked Alone, which reminded me a lot of Survivorman. The contestants are dropped off far apart, and told to survive on their own for as long as they can, while filming themselves. The amount of effort varied hugely. Some tapped out and left on the very first night - either due to psychological issues ("oh my GOD there's a bear") or physical ("hey let's drink some of this stagnant water and throw up all night"). Some lasted a long while, but seemed to have a very, very hard time finding enough calories day to day, and at best lived on a feast-and-famine schedule (with "feast" being maybe a whole fish.) A few contestants did so well that their biggest problem was finding things to do to entertain themselves. One completely moved his camp and rebuilt it from scratch, built himself a boat, and made a guitar. Another one made a variant on a chess set that allowed him to play a solitaire game for amusement. And these folks were all separated by less than ten miles.

ouid 9y ago
>told to survive on their own for as long as they can surely this is not the actual time constraint.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  It is. The last person to give up wins the cash prize. (Obviously, they're not told how many people have quit so far; each person, when they're "tapping out", has no idea whether they've won or not.) I really recommend the first season; while there's some tropes of "oh my god what was that noise <cut to commercial>", there's a lot of focus both on the physical tasks required for survival, and on what the contestants go through, psychologically. A lot of parts are very surprisingly funny.