‘Alone’ Season 11 Episode 8 Recap: An Icy Plunge
Just four contestants remain in the running for the $500,000 on Alone Season 11. After a month in the Arctic, only Dub Paetz, Timber Cleghorn, William Larkham Jr., and Sarah Poynter are hanging on, thanks to a combination of skill, grit, and luck. But with winter finally here, it may not be much longer until the number of survivalists dwindles even further. In episode 8, all four contestants are taking steps to hunker down in the cold and darkness. But all face big potential challenges on the way to the finish line.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Alone Season 11 Episode 8.]
Dub takes an icy plunge in ‘Alone’ Season 11 Episode 8
So far on this season of Alone, we’ve seen more than one contestant tap out due to mental health struggles and feelings of isolation. But Dub is a loner whose experience of childhood bullying taught him to be comfortable on his own. “It’s just safer for me to be a hermit,” he says. However, after weeks with just his own thoughts for company, even he feels like he “kinda [want]s to hang out with people.”
Dub might have the mental fortitude to survive this Alone challenge, but the harsh environment is still a major threat. As he attempts to set a beaver trap, he slips and plunges into the icy river. The misstep puts him at serious risk of hypothermia, especially when he gets lost on his way back to the camp. Eventually, he returns to his shelter and manages to warm up by the fire. Still, it’s an alarmingly close call and a reminder that it doesn’t take much for things to go badly wrong for an Alone contestant.
Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom for Dub. While he’s not able to get a good shot at a moose on the other side of the river (his second close encounter with big game), he does catch a large inconnu and pike, which will provide another two to three days of food.
“All we gotta do now is stay safe and keep warm,” he says.
‘Alone’ contestants vs. pine martens
The Alone survivalists are sharing their space with moose, grizzly bears, and wolves. While no one wants to come face-to-face with a major predator, it might be the smaller animals that actually pose the greater threat.
William has already lost multiple food caches to scavengers. In this episode, he catches a sneaky pine marten – which he’s nicknamed “Sassy” – in the act of chewing through a bag that holds some of his valuable rations. It’s a setback, especially because William has not had great luck procuring food recently. Later, he does manage to snare a beaver, but even that is not quite the win he hoped it would be. The animal is small and won’t provide as many calories as he hoped. Still, it’s an important source of nourishment. But will his new rock cache keep it safe from Sassy?
Timber is also battling wild creatures that would like a piece of his hard-earned fish and game. Thanks to his moose kill, he has resources the other contestants don’t. He uses the moose hide to create a liner for a primitive cooler, which should keep smaller animals away from what’s inside. Even so, he still has to use a couple of his bear bangers – devices the contestants have been given to deter grizzlies – to scare away an inquisitive pine marten. (Pine martens are protected, and contestants are not permitted to kill them.)
Aside from protecting his food – which includes a potentially game-changing amount of moose meat – Timber is working on preparing his shelter for the winter. Unfortunately, he discovers that his snug shelter has a design flaw. When he moves his fire inside the log structure quickly fills with smoke.
“I don’t know if there’s a way to fix this problem,” he says. “I may have to have a zero fire shelter. And that does not bode well for when the temperature really drops.”
Sarah looks forward to a Canadian winter
On day 32, the survivalists wake up to a winter wonderland. Sarah, who lives in a remote fishing lodge in Alaska, welcomes the change in the weather.
“There’s snow on the ground,” she says. “This is going to complicate and this is going to help. So, let’s go with the positive.”
So far, Sarah’s had no luck fishing and little success with hunting. She needs protein, and she’s hopeful that the snow will make it easier to track her prey.
“My body is starting to degrade. I’m not feeding it right,” she says. “I have a food cache for the winter, mushrooms, berries, root vegetables. And hopefully I can just store up the carbs and keep hunting the protein.”
“God will watch over me,” she says as she relaxes by the fire in her shelter. “It will be OK.”
New episodes of Alone air on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on History Channel.
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