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Watch a survival documentary. 10 contestants, many battle-hardened. The conclusion after watching 5 seasons of "Alone" is -- its all luck. The fittest didn't

Watch a survival documentary. 10 contestants, many battle-hardened. The conclusion after watching 5 seasons of "Alone" is -- its all luck. The fittest didn't win, it was the person who happened to be dropped off in a relatively safe area, with access to resources, and had some good luck day to day. The people who randomly dropped into areas filled with predators or hazards, they were forced out (despite many being hardened survivalists). People with random equipment failures, or where the fishing suddenly dries up, they have to quit too. No matter how hard your will, if the resources disappear you aren't going to win (one contestant stumbles on a moose and literally has hundreds of pounds of food fall in his lap, only to have the fat stolen by a wolverine).

buboard 7y ago
you watched a survival documentary, not real life
ksdale 7y ago
I think I watched a few episodes of that with my father-in-law and all I remember is that several of the contestants spent the first 8 hours or so building shelter (and if I recall correctly is was summer, so freezing was not an issue) and only then started to think about finding food. If they had any trouble at all finding food (which basically everyone did), then pretty soon they were too weak to continue searching for food because all of the physical activity had caused them to burn far too many calories for their meager food intake. The people who had a lot of experience hunting and fishing tended to know how long it would take them to find food and went about it with much more urgency. I do remember bad luck striking as well for sure, but it seemed like strategy was at least as big of a factor as luck for many of the contestants. I agree that no matter how hard your will, you can't make it past certain things, but a lot of contestants hamstrung themselves right off the bat by badly underestimating how many calories they would need or not accurately predicting which sorts of problems would instantly end their bid.
jiveturkey 7y ago
> Watch a survival documentary. 10 contestants, many battle-hardened. The conclusion after watching 5 seasons of "Alone" That's a reality TV show, not a documentary. That aside, the conditions for basic survival in harsh, solitary, conditions are vastly different that those for economic success in first-world society.

buboard 7y ago

you watched a survival documentary, not real life

ksdale 7y ago

I think I watched a few episodes of that with my father-in-law and all I remember is that several of the contestants spent the first 8 hours or so building shelter (and if I recall correctly is was summer, so freezing was not an issue) and only then started to think about finding food. If they had any trouble at all finding food (which basically everyone did), then pretty soon they were too weak to continue searching for food because all of the physical activity had caused them to burn far too many calories for their meager food intake. The people who had a lot of experience hunting and fishing tended to know how long it would take them to find food and went about it with much more urgency. I do remember bad luck striking as well for sure, but it seemed like strategy was at least as big of a factor as luck for many of the contestants. I agree that no matter how hard your will, you can't make it past certain things, but a lot of contestants hamstrung themselves right off the bat by badly underestimating how many calories they would need or not accurately predicting which sorts of problems would instantly end their bid.

jiveturkey 7y ago

> Watch a survival documentary. 10 contestants, many battle-hardened. The conclusion after watching 5 seasons of "Alone" That's a reality TV show, not a documentary. That aside, the conditions for basic survival in harsh, solitary, conditions are vastly different that those for economic success in first-world society.