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Bursting into its Seventh Season, the survival Series Alone upped the challenge by requiring contestants to last 100 days on Northern Vancouver Island. Where before, contestants fought against the environment to survive, and their own mind to stay in the competition, not knowing how long their challengers had lasted, the new condition for victory also came with a greater prize. The winner would walk home with One Million Dollars. Here's a recap of the Alone Season 7 Contestants just in time for tonight's big finale.
Unique in the survival Genre, Alone presents a very personal, in the moment example of what long-term survival looks like as contestants are allowed to take a limited selection of equipment out into the field while they self-document their experience and strategy. Each player an expert in their trade, the selection of gear often doesn't vary as much as could be expected. Rather, it is the mindset that chooses who wins and who taps out.
Age: 40
Occupation: Primitive Skills Instructor
Growing up amidst the El Salvador Civil War taught Amós the way of the wilderness, and how to remain alert in times of conflict and confusion. These experiences crafted his understanding of the world, with a volcano as the backdrop for building the skills to teach primitive living courses.
Age: 47
Occupation: Hunting Guide
All around adventurer, trapper, hunter, and guide in the far reaches of Alaska, Roland set out to make Alone Season 7 his latest conquest. The antiquated tone of his living has given him the ability to say “I have done everything I ever wanted and nothing I don’t feel like.”
Age: 31
Occupation: Ancestral Living Skills Instructor
Living a nomadic life as an Ancestral Living Skills Instructor in the Flathead Valley of Montana, Callie has already walked away from the urban. Callie is a scavenger-gatherer who lives nomadically following the seasons and wild food. She is always striving to understand the role humans play in the intricate web of life. Starting in 2010, she has lived in the wilderness, continually honing her backcountry and survival skills with a herd of pack goats.
Age: 30
Occupation: Traditional Bowyer
Correy Grew up with a bow in hand, and after his time as a U.S. Marine, he returned home to launch his own business crafting primitive bows, arrows, and quivers. His skillset continues beyond the draw, however, as he has looked to Northern Vancouver Island to be his rite of passage.
Age: 31
Occupation: Biologist
Joe began a career in the U.S. National Park Service, where he lost his home to the 2018 California Wildfires. Yet that didn't sideline him, instead, he continues to work in research and land management. Bringing with him experience as a wilderness traveler, fisherman, builder, horticulturist, naturalist and geographer, Joe brought a well rounded skillset to the arctic.
Age: 34
Occupation: Primitive Skills School Owner
A world traveller of 40 countries, often reaching remote locations by sea, Joel's first bushcraft experience began in Tanzania, East Africa. Having taught celebrities, military, families, and children, he's trained with herdsman and hunter-gatherers across the world.
Age: 45
Occupation: Homesteader
For a member of the American Mountain Men, an organization with stringent requirement for living off the land and using equipment from the decades before the civil war, the occupation of homesteader sounds much less strange to a man who already lives the life. With the exception of the challenge of the arctic, and surviving alone instead of with his wife who lives with him on the bank of the Ohio River, Keith's long time in the brush has already included winter. His overall motto is “Do good, don’t die”.
Age: 33
Occupation: Winter Wilderness Expedition Operator
A native of Northern Ontario, Keilyn's business is teaching through long experiences in the wilderness. With respect, not fear, of the winter, her optimism for the challenge of Northern Vancouver Island is tempered by already living where the closest neighbors are 10 kilometers away.
Age: 33
Occupation: Sniper & Survival Skills Instructor
A 10-year veteran of U.S. Marine Corps who partook in special operations, Mark is now the lead instructor at Branded Rock Canyon, near Grand Junction, Colorado. As a Marine, he taught cold-weather mountain operations, he started International Mountain Survival, where he concentrates on sniper, survival, rappelling, and tracking.
Age: 43
Occupation: Tool Maker
Inventor of the “Settler's Wrench,” Shawn runs an online survival channel called “Shawn with the Wild.” His educational approach, paired with the smaller-than-small-town living in Tennessee, as a contender he looks to the arctic as both a challenge and a dream come true.
With 90 days being the longest for any contestant to last so far, the new requirement of 100 days in the field hasn't gone unnoticed. Neither has the $1 Million reward for Alone Season 7.
Unique in that Alone is filmed, not by crews, but by the contenders themselves, each person knows that if they don't capture it on camera, it might as well not happen. On top of water, food, shelter and heat, the additional responsibility of managing a camera brings its own complications. Imagine stalking a deer for sustenance, only to be thinking of where the camera could catch the right shot. Without any directors or script each scene captured shows its authenticity, so long as the survivor has the presence of mind to get the film rolling.
Across the cast, and across the episodes we've seen that Mindset comes into play just as much if not more than the physical skills each cast member brings tot he table. But for all the conversation on mindset, it can be tough to nail down. Examples abound, as each time a food is harvested, a genuine gratitude followed, and for those who kept a positive attitude, it payed off in the long run. Having a strategy, and a proactive approach to maintaining both mind and body is what makes a survivor thrive, especially when alone.
To see the contestants from Season 6 of Alone, go here.
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