ADVERTISEMENT
Back

WHAT TO WATCH ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL THIS MAY: Alone S9

Posted By: Dragana Kovacevic
|
May 18, 2022
WHAT TO WATCH ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL THIS MAY: Alone S9

ADVERTISEMENT

About Alone Season 9:

Season 9 of The History Channel’s hit survival series Alone delivers a fresh set of dangers and challenges for ten new participants. Equipped with just ten items of their choosing, the survivalists are dropped into a remote wilderness valley in Labrador, Canada. While documenting their experiences, each participant must survive in total isolation, with hopes of outlasting everyone else to claim the $500,000 prize. Not only must they endure hunger, loneliness, and the elements, but this season, they’ll become the hunted as they discover their location is situated deep in polar bear territory. No camera crews. No gimmicks. It is the ultimate test of human will.

Tune in May 26th to catch the season premiere.

Meet the Cast:

TERRY BURNS

Age: 30

Hometown: Hurricane, West Virginia and Homer, Alaska

Profession: Commercial Fisherman

Terry Burns was born and raised outside of Hurricane, West Virginia. Growing up, he was consistently drawn outdoors and hunting and fishing nearly every day possible. At age 21, he was in a life-threatening car accident that ended in him being hit head-on by a semi-truck. That near-death experience gave him a new perspective on life and made him realize there was much more to life than the materialism and rat race to which he had grown so accustomed. Realizing the only rational thing to do was move to Alaska, he did just that. Terry has pursued his passions across all 50 states and seven continents, accumulating more than a few close calls and scars from his annual 3-month long expeditionary backpack hunts and fishing trips. He’s a man with many stories: from nearly losing his feet to frostbite, to surviving a plane crash in the Amazon, to nearly breaking his back on a caribou hunt in the Arctic. These opportunities have also made it possible for him to abstain from buying meat for the last nine years.

Here are the ten items Terry selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Ax
  2. Sleeping bag
  3. Bow and arrows
  4. Fishing line and hooks
  5. Ferro rod
  6. Paracord
  7. 2-quart pot
  8. Trapping wire
  9. Multitool
  10. Cross-cut Saw

 

News

TOM GARSTANG

Age: 35

Hometown: Earlysville, Virginia

Profession: Prescribed Fire Practitioner, Regenerative Agriculturalist, Leatherworker

Tom was born in South Africa where his father was a game ranger and would later become a well-known Conservation Biologist. It was this combination of naturalist and nurturer that sowed the seeds of adventure in Tom’s heart. His family later immigrated to the United States and settled in the Piedmont region of Appalachia.

Restless for adventure and wanderlust, he left high school early and began working varying trade and service jobs, spending his time hitchhiking, riding freight trains and following old-time music festivals up and down the east coast. Later he took a career in fine leatherwork and currently works as a Prescribed Fire Practitioner and regenerative agriculturalist, bridging the gap between farming and natural ecosystems on his extended family’s farm in Earlysville, Virginia. The culture, legend, and lore around these Appalachian food staples and the wily ways in which the old-timers acquired them fascinated him, filling a void left by the distance he had come to feel with the developing world of his childhood abroad with his dad. Alone is the culmination of all of these events, a way to honour the inspirations and mentors who have moulded him as a man and to test and humble the person he has yet to become. 

Here are the ten items Tom selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Bow and arrows
  2. Ax
  3. Paracord
  4. Ferro rod
  5. Trapping wire
  6. Fishing line and hooks
  7. 2-quart pot
  8. Multitool
  9. Sleeping bag
  10. Folding Saw

 

News

BENJI HILL

Age: 46

Hometown: Bellevue, Idaho

Profession: Hunting and Packgoat Guide

Born in San Diego, CA, Benji spent his childhood navigating an urban life. Sports and fishing the local bass lakes with his Dad and brother were his primary joys. Spending mornings on the boat and afternoons exploring the shorelines were the foundation of his love for the outdoors. A ski trip to Squaw Valley, CA was accidentally booked to Sun Valley, ID and that opened the door to a mountain life. After the ski trip, Benji and his younger siblings begged and pleaded to move out of the city. The following fall, at the age of ten, school began in the high, thin air of Ketchum, ID. The mountain life transformed Benji into the adventure seeking hunter that he is today. Bowhunting elk before high school in the mornings in September and antelope after soccer practice was the norm growing up. Once the love for all things wild was born, there was no going back. Teaching kids wilderness skills in the summer and guiding big game hunts became his livelihood. Pack goats were also added to the mix, and have been an amazing part of his life, allowing for longer and deeper treks with friends and clients into Idaho’s remote country.

Here are the ten items Benji selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Sleeping bag
  2. Bow and arrows
  3. Multitool
  4. Salt
  5. 2-quart pot
  6. Ferro rod
  7. Ax
  8. Paracord
  9. Trapping wire
  10. Fishing line and hooks

 

News

KARIE LEE KNOKE

Age: 57

Hometown: Sandpoint, Idaho

Profession: Wilderness/Primitive Skills Instructor

Going backpacking at 6 months old strapped to her father’s back, it’s natural to say Karie Lee has a lifetime of experiences in the outdoors. Growing up in a small town, playing in the woods and making shelters, she dreamed of someday walking off into the mountains with just a knife to survive. That would take longer than she planned though as life swept her away to college, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in both Computer Science and Business Administration along with a minor in Psychology. After 10 years as a Systems Analyst Consultant in Seattle, she escaped the turmoil of the corporate world, moving to Sandpoint, Idaho in 1997. Now you can find her happily teaching wilderness and primitive living skills at gatherings around the country. Karie welcomes all walks of life on her facilitated trips into the backcountry where she shares that magical connection that only the wilderness can offer. She also delves into the world of Energy Medicine work and supplements treatments for suffering patients with hand-foraged, wild-crafted herbal remedies and flower essences. Karie’s home is a 30′ off-grid yurt deep in the woods, not connected to anything. She is surrounded and supported by the natural world around her: water comes from the sky; warmth from the trees; food and medicine from the plants and wildlife; all “waste” is composted and returned to the forest to be recycled. She even built a gravity-fed, fire-heated bathhouse containing a shower and sauna! 

Here are the ten items Karie Lee selected to bring on her survival journey:

  1. Paracord
  2. Sleeping bag
  3. 2-quart pot
  4. Ferro rod
  5. Fishing line and hooks
  6. Bow and arrows
  7. Trapping wire
  8. Multitool
  9. Ax
  10. Emergency rations

 

News

JESSIE KREBS

Age: 49

Hometown: Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Profession: Wilderness Survival Instructor

A latch-key kid, raised by a single mom, Jessie’s childhood environment was a pretty common one for the 80’s. An only child until the age of 10 she spent a lot of time on her own, outdoors whenever she had the chance. Also sadly common, she is a survivor of infant and childhood abuse; quiet and shy she preferred the company of trees and cats to people. Fire forges strong tools however, and like many other abuse survivors she was drawn toward opportunities to test her strength. With a dream of escaping to exotic places, she joined the Air Force. Instead, she found herself in Washington State a few months later, carrying a backpack almost as heavy as herself up and down mountains and learning to teach other people how to survive in hostile situations. After putting in her four years of enlistment as a SERE Specialist (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), Jessie finally got to travel and work overseas while getting a B.A in Educational Psychology. Rarely as an adult, has she had the opportunity to spend time in the wilderness alone, though as a child it was her refuge. Since 2017 she’s worked as the head instructor for SERE Training School, which teaches the global survival and evasion techniques she learned and once taught in the military, now primarily to civilians. Her main passion is teaching women and marginalized demographics wilderness survival skills which she hopes to do through opening her own school: O.W.L.S. Skills (Outdoorsy Women Learning Survival Skills), in 2022.

Here are the ten items Jessie selected to bring on her survival journey:

  1. Sleeping bag
  2. Multitool
  3. Ferro rod
  4. Trapping wire
  5. Saw
  6. Salt
  7. 2-quart pot
  8. Machete
  9. Paracord
  10. Bow and arrows

News

IGOR LIMANSKY

Age: 40

Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah

Profession: Community Leadership

Igor is a first-generation American and son of an Armenian-Egyptian mother and a French-Russian father. His connections to his familial cultures and his American culture has guided his work in community organizing and leadership for the past 13 years. He believes that the way we treat the land is the model for the way we treat each other. He is dedicated to experiencing wilderness living through thanksgiving, reciprocity, and presence. As a meditation practitioner with 15+ years of experience he sees his time on Alone as an opportunity to deepen his relationship with the land, draw on the wisdom and experience of his ancestors, and engage in an extended wilderness meditation retreat. Igor is a community organizer and leadership consultant “by day,” and bowhunter, wild game chef, traveller, and writer “by night”.

Here are the ten items Igor selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Sleeping bag
  2. Bow and arrows
  3. Multitool
  4. 2-quart pot
  5. Ferro rod
  6. Trapping wire
  7. Fishing line and hooks
  8. Paracord
  9. Folding saw
  10. Ax

 

News

JUAN PABLO QUIÑONEZ

Age: 30

Hometown: Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Profession: Outdoor Professional

Juan Pablo Quiñonez is a survival specialist, outdoor professional, and wilderness first responder with over 10 years of experience in outdoor recreation and survival. He holds a B.A. in Applied Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership. Juan Pablo grew up in Mexico, where he loved going into the forest to trap rattlesnakes, scorpions and lizards. His outdoor and survival experiences include backpacking the entire Pacific Crest Trail (2650 miles) in 99 days; paddling over 1500 miles during numerous whitewater and flatwater trips

(including the Hayes River to Hudson Bay); living for six months in the wild with his partner, Jennifer, foraging to compliment their semi-starvation rations; and spending 100 days foraging in solitude during the boreal winter, supported only by small rations. He believes it’s important to practice and share the skills and wisdom of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, that strengthening a genuine connection to the land is key for resilience in these times of disruption and decline. 

Here are the ten items Juan Pablo selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Ferro rod
  2. Paracord
  3. 2-quart pot
  4. Ax
  5. Fishing line and hooks
  6. Saw
  7. Bow and arrows
  8. Sleeping bag
  9. Trapping wire
  10. Multitool

 

News

ADAM RILEY

Age: 36

Hometown: Fayetteville, Arkansas

Profession: Alpaca Shearer, Treehouse builder

Adam has always had a thirst for adventure. When he was nine years old he and his family immigrated from England to Florida, and as a rosy-cheeked British kid, he had his first taste of swamps and wildlife. He spent his childhood in the woods catching snakes and building forts, and when he graduated high school he quit his job as a professional alligator wrestler, bought a ticket to Madagascar, and spent four months exploring the island’s jungles and mountains. Upon returning to the US, he moved to the desert southwest and worked as an instructor at a wilderness therapy program where honed his backcountry and survival skills. Adam spent the next fifteen years exploring remote wilderness on every continent. He returned to the U.K. to complete his Bachelors in African Studies, and while doing so took on an apprenticeship with a professional shearer. In 2008 he set off to travel overland from London to Singapore. He bought a horse in northern Mongolia and spent two months crossing the steppes, learning traditional skills from the people of that region. In 2010 he bought a van in Australia and drove across the interior outback, looking for surf and reptiles. In 2013 he purchased his first sailboat, convinced one of his buddies to join him, and taught himself how to sail across the Caribbean. That first chaotic season encountering storms and running into sandbars opened up a whole new world for him. In 2015 he spent four months in the Peruvian mountains living and working in remote Quechua communities, shearing alpacas and exchanging skills. Family health problems brought him back to his family farm in Arkansas, but after attempting (and failing) to settle down into a normal life, he took off once again for his most daring adventure yet, a single handed crossing of the pacific ocean. Adam currently enjoys fishing and hunting in the beautiful Arkansas Ozarks, where he works as a carpenter building custom treehouses. 

Here are the ten items Adam selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Sleeping bag
  2. 12×12 tarp
  3. Ax
  4. Folding saw
  5. Multitool
  6. Ferro rod
  7. Fishing line and hooks
  8. 2-quart pot
  9. Trapping wire
  10. Bow and arrows

 

News

TEIMOJIN TAN

Age: 31

Hometown: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Profession: Physician

Teimojin grew up in Montreal and had a very worldly upbringing. From taking his first steps on a plane as a child to solo travelling through developing countries in his youth, he was never one to feel stuck in one place. As he travelled, he developed a fascination and appreciation for indigenous cultures. As he learned about plant-based medicines, survival, hunting tactics, and local customs, he was also exposed to the health disparities and challenges facing impoverished communities. Seeing people in need and feeling helpless to render aid inspired him to work for non-profit organizations in South America, Ghana, and East Africa and to pursue higher education. But coming from a single-parent household, he wanted to be financially independent so at the age of 17, Teimojin joined the Canadian Army Reserve as an Infantry soldier. He took a special interest in Cold Weather Warfare & Survival and would spend weeks to months in the Subarctic learning how to make improvised defenses, conduct patrols, assaults, search and rescue missions, and employ strategies to procure food and shelter that he learned from the native Cree Rangers. Eventually, Teimojin found his way to medical school and became a doctor. . He plans to work in the rural Emergency Departments, Hospitals, and Clinics of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. These seemingly contradictory life experiences in fighting and healing, with a healthy obsession with the outdoors and survival, lead him to further specialize in Wilderness Medicine. 

Here are the ten items Teimojin selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Sleeping bag
  2. Ax
  3. Multitool
  4. Ferro rod
  5. 2-quart pot
  6. Bow and arrows
  7. Paracord
  8. Trapping wire
  9. Fishing line and hooks
  10. Emergency rations

 

News

JACQUES TURCOTTE

Age: 23

Hometown: Juneau, Alaska

Profession: Wilderness Expedition Guide

Jacques found the outdoors from a very young age. He started out with hunting and fishing and immersed himself into the world of bushcraft before hitting his teenage years. All throughout school the outdoors always came first; you’d be more likely to find him building primitive shelters behind his family home than studying. He’d take every waking moment during high school to drive up to the north woods of Maine and New Hampshire, where he’d hike, mountaineer, and explore the natural world through the use of bushcraft and primitive skills. Fresh out of school, he headed west for the first time, where he spent 90 days traversing the Rocky Mountains, off trail backpacking, white water canoeing, canyoneering and rock climbing. The west called to him like nothing else ever had before. He realized this is what he wanted, not for the outdoors to be a hobby but to be his entire way of life, his source of income, and his home. So that’s what he did. Jacques went back east, purchased an old yellow school bus and turned it into his off-grid home. From there he started teaching science and wilderness survival in the mountains of California, wrangling bison in the canyons of Utah, and guiding ice climbing on glaciers, canoe trips on freezing lakes, and bear trips deep in the forests of Southeast Alaska. His last 5 years have been spent chasing his passions across the wild American west, and in that time he has developed an understanding of what matters most in this life. He’s learned what true suffering means, the power of kindness and love, and how to thrive in wild landscapes.

Here are the ten items Jacques selected to bring on his survival journey:

  1. Sleeping bag
  2. Ax
  3. Knife
  4. Multitool
  5. Ferro rod
  6. Bow and arrows
  7. Trapping wire
  8. Fishing line and hooks
  9. 2-quart pot
  10. Emergency rations

Alone S9 Gear List:

Each Alone participant brings clothing, safety, and survival gear to the Arctic. Here’s a list of all of the standard items the participants are given, as well as the master list from which they are allowed to select ten special items.

Clothing/Apparel/Personal Effects

*These items do not count towards the 10 special items, but may not exceed the approved quota for each.

How does one keep warm in the arctic? Participants are allowed to bring 2 hats.

  • 1 pair of high-leg hunting boots
  • 1 pair waterproof Arctic winter boots
  • 1 T-shirt
  • 1 fleece/wool shirt
  • 2 wool, fleece or cotton sweaters
  • 6 pairs wool socks
  • 2 hats
  • 2 buffs or neck gaiter
  • 1 shemagh OR scarf
  • 4 pairs of gloves
  • 2 pairs of underwear/briefs
  • 1 insulated parka-style jacket
  • 2 pair of outdoor pants/bibs
  • 1 pair of fully insulated or waterproof winter pants/bibs
  • 1 waterproof un-insulated shell/Jacket
  • 2 pairs of thermal underwear
  • 1 pair of gaiters
  • 1 leather belt
  • 1 toothbrush
  • 1 pair of eyeglasses
  • 1 personal photograph

Clarifications:

  • Any garment with a full zipper is considered a jacket.
  • A buckskin garment is considered a shirt if it has either a 1⁄2 or 3⁄4 zip maximum, or a full set of buttons.
  • A buckskin garment is considered a sweater if it is a pullover.
  • A buckskin garment is considered a jacket if it has a full zipper.

10 Items Selection List

*Participants select 10 items from the following list.

*Participants are responsible for sourcing and purchasing their 10 items.

Participants may only choose up to 2 Food items.

*No duplicate items can be taken from the following list.

Any loops of string attached to any tool, weapon or used as a neck loop will be deducted from the participants 80m of paracord, cotton cord or trapping wire allowance.

Shelter

  • 12×12 ground cloth/tarp
  • 8-mm climbing rope – 10M
  • 550 Paracord – 80m
  • 3-mm cotton cord – 40m

Bedding

  • 1 multi-seasonal sleeping bag
  • 1 bivi bag
  • 1 sleeping pad
  • 1 hammock

Cooking

  • 1 large pot
  • 1 steel frying pan
  • 1 flint or ferro rod set with standard-sized striker
  • 1 enamel bowl for eating
  • 1 spoon
  • 1 canteen/water bottle

Hygiene

  • 1 standard size bar of soap
  • 1 8-oz tube of toothpaste
  • 1 face flannel
  • 1 40-mm roll dental floss
  • 1 small bottle bio shower soap
  • 1 shaving razor
  • 1 towel
  • 1 comb

Hunting

  • 1 300-yd roll of a single-filament fishing line up to max of 20 lbs weight test + 35 assorted barbless hooks
  • 1 Primitive Bow Recurve or longbow + 9x Arrows
  • 1 small-gauge gill net
  • 1 slingshot/catapult + 30 steel ball bearings + 1 replacement band
  • 1 net foraging bag
  • 2 lbs of 20, 21 or 22-gauge stainless steel and/or brass trapping (snare) wire
  • 3 lbs of one solid block of salt

Food (2 items max)

  • 2 lbs of beef jerky
  • 2 lbs of dried pulses/legumes/lentils mix
  • 2 lbs of biltong
  • 2 lbs of hard tack military biscuits
  • 2 lbs of chocolate
  • 2 lbs of pemmican
  • 2 lbs of GORP
  • 2 lbs of flour
  • 2/3 lbs rice / 2/3 lb sugar / 2/3 lb of salt

Tools

  • 1 pocket knife
  • 1 hunting knife
  • 1 Leatherman multi-tool or similar
  • 1 sharpening stone
  • 1 roll of duct tape or 1 roll of electrical tape
  • 1 small shovel
  • 1 small sewing kit
  • 1 carabiner
  • 1 LED flashlight
  • 1 pair of ice spikes
  • 1 scotch-eyed auger
  • 1 adze
  • 1 2-handed draw knife
  • 1 hatchet
  • 1 saw
  • 1 ax

Prohibited Items

*This list is not exhaustive, any item not listed in the preceding lists inclusive above are prohibited items; this list serves as an illustration.

Don’t get caught with a compass on ‘Alone.’ It, along with the items below, is forbidden.

  • Fuel, lighters or matches
  • Bug spray/mosquito repellant
  • Sunscreen/chapstick
  • Sunglasses or prescription transition lens eyeglasses
  • Goggles
  • Beauty products
  • Map
  • Compass
  • Unapproved technology
  • Professional snares
  • Firearms of any kind
  • Ammunition
  • Explosives or gunpowder
  • Animal poison
  • Professional fishing rods
  • Fishing lures, flies, bait kits
  • Fishing traps
  • Food/beverage
  • Decoys
  • Animal calls
  • Tree stands
  • Professional bows/crossbows
  • Scopes of any kind
  • Tents or shelters
  • Stoves, pressure cookers or other cooking appliances
  • Hydration packs
  • Fire pits
  • Electric or propane lanterns
  • Inflatable boats
  • Filtration, purification devices, iodine tablets
  • Coolers or food storage boxes