There are a lot of wilderness survival shows out there, but one of the best and most realistic to watch is the aptly named Alone.
In production since 2015, Alone is a reality television series that challenges participants in the show to survive in the wilderness with minimal equipment and absolutely no human contact.
The show follows a unique format where people are scattered in remote locations, with each person equipped with a limited set of survival tools and cameras to document their experiences, which becomes the footage used for the show.
The primary goal is to endure the harsh conditions, secure food, find shelter, and ultimately outlast the other contestants to win a cash prize.
Perhaps the best way to describe the show is as a mix between Survivorman and Survivor, in that each participant is living out in the wild as Les Stroud did in the former but where there is only one winner at the end as like the latter.
The participants on Alone are selected for their diverse range of survival skills. Some are experienced outdoorsmen and women while others are novices seeking to test their mettle in the wild.
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The main theme of the show highlights the mental and physical challenges of living in isolation, pushing the contestants to their absolute limits.
Another notable aspect of the show is how the survival conditions are demanding, with contestants surviving factors such as extreme weather, limited resources, and even encounters with wildlife.
Each contestant is also allowed to bring exactly ten items with them to help them survive.
All of this naturally begs a simple question: what kinds of tools did the winning and runner up participants on Alone use to help them survive?
And what was the most popular tool or item used by the winners specifically?
The answer may surprise you.
The Most Popular Item on Alone
The most popular item on Alone was the same item that every single winner all brought with them to the show.
Want to guess what it is?
A knife? Nope.
Paracord? Nope.
Canteen? Nope.
Water filter? Nope.
Magnesium flint striker? Nope.
Matches? Nope.
Tarp? Nope.
The answer is a sleeping bag.
If you think about it, it’s not hard to see why. A sleeping bag provides you with immediate warmth and shelter. Beyond the obvious comfort it provides, it can play a crucial role in maintaining body temperature, especially in cold or inclement weather.
The insulation they offer essentially creates a microclimate around the sleeper, which prevents heat loss to the ground and effectively shields them against chilly winds. This insulation is particularly vital in preventing hypothermia, which is a very real threat in many of Alone’s cold locations such as Patagonia in Argentina or the Rocky Mountains of Canada.
Furthermore, the compact design of sleeping bags allows for easy transport, making them essential when setting up temporary camps or when changing locations. So if you think about it…it actually makes sense as to why the sleeping bag is the most popular item used on the show.
While a sleeping bag is definitely important for surviving in the wilderness, just having one isn’t enough to guarantee you’ll make it. That’s why this guide is my go-to for learning all the skills I need to really survive in the wild if I have to.
The Wilderness Long-Term Survival Guide teaches you how to prepare for uncertain times and learn from those who made the wilderness their home. It’s packed with essential knowledge for handling tough situations out there. And get this: it’s written by Nicole Apelian, who actually was on the TV show Alone and lasted 57 days on Vancouver Island with basically just her knowledge.
Additional Popular Items
The sleeping bag may be the most popular item used by the Alone winners, but there were several additional items that were very popular on the show as well. Remember that each participant is allowed ten items specifically.
Other popular items included a ferro rod, a fishing kit, a saw, ax, and a two-quart pot. Each of these items were selected by 90%+ of winners, but it’s the sleeping bag that’s the only item that was chosen by 100%.
Surprisingly, a knife was not one of the most popular items on the show, with one study finding that less than 65% of winning participants on the show brought a knife.
It appears that the participants favored the ax or the saw over the knife, perhaps because of the increased versatility of both tools.
Other items that you would think would have been popular among the winning participants, but weren’t, are water bottles, tarps, knife sharpeners, shovel, frying pan, hammocks, soap, multi-tool, and a machete. Each of these items were only selected by less than 50% of participants.
In short, it seems that the priorities amongst the winners were to stay warm and dry (hence the sleeping bag), to gather more food (hence the fishing kit), to get a fire going (hence the ferro rod), to boil water and prepare meals (hence the pot), and to chop or saw wood (hence the ax and the saw, in addition to the multitude of other uses that these tools can be used for as well).
So if you think about it, the winners were actually extremely well-rounded in the tools that they selected and made sure that their bases were covered. When putting together your own bug out bag or survival kit, you’ll want to make sure you do the same thing.
To that end, make a list of the priorities you would have in a wilderness survival situation (finding food, purifying water, defense, shelter, warmth, etc.) and then make sure that you have the right tools for each of those priorities.
Alone is definitely a show worth watching so you can see how ordinary people across a variety of backgrounds can survive out in the woods.
If you went on Alone, what would be the ten items that you would bring with you? Let us know in the comments.
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Many contestants carried a multitool which gave them their knife blade.
The authentic Swiss Army Knife is a great tool for survival. Definitely a good sleeping bag if caught during a Winter bugout situation.
ALONE showed how much the outdoor types can handle being alone in the wild nature. These are seasoned outdoor type people.
How long could the average prepper from rural to suburban home owner last in the wilderness?
The survival websites tell us what to do, but not how long we will last out there or after a SHTF happens.
We are not all like our kin, the pioneers where, many had the survival mindset, others did not survive well.
They had native Americans, criminals, gangs trying to take their possessions. We got about the same thing with an exception, native Americans are replaced by Bidenomics illegals taking our stuff. We are being invaded by extreme bad people. Criminals, terrorists, mental patients that are being flown on Biden’s midnight air flights to the interior of America.
This is not a third world problem, this is a first world problem when we give more power to a beginning tyranny government we see rearing it’s ugly head.
Seems to me most of the contestants succumbed to the isolation more than the lack of skills. They missed their kids or their spouses and simply could not handle being alone. When they tried the concept of pairing up or grouping up in later seasons of the show, they lasted longer on average. In a true survival situation the “contestants” will not have a panic button to tap out around their neck when they get homesick. This will force most to endure much greater hardships. At that point, it’s sink or swim.
Your politics comments don’t belong in this forum.
Speaking the truth about Bidenomics and the destruction of the USA is actually very important on sites like this. If people can’t see clearly what the issue is and what the outcome will be of the Democrat’s and weak willed RINOs success in crippling America and bringing in millions of soon to be armed invaders, then those people need to simply go away. They are as evil as those who have and are bringing in the last days of a free American country.
Always so selfish and rude .
My “kin” we’re here first. You are all on stolen land. This is all Indian land.
Go storm the capital.
Read a quote on a blog that describes illegal aliens being allowed unrestricted into U.S.
WHEN YOU ALLOW THE 3RD WORLD TO IMMIGRATE, YOU BECOME THE 3RD WORLD.
Doesn’t anyone look at Europe and understand why they became the way they are now ?
i’ve noticed a lot of survival enthusiast talk about a magnesium flint striker. what is a magnesium flint striker? do you mean a ferrocium rod? there is a difference. magnesium will not “spark” when struck with a striker. but the ferro rod will. usually you scrape the magnesium rod to get a pile of small shavings of the magnesium onto your fire tender. such as dry grass, certain tree bark, or something similar. then you strike the ferro rod with the striker supplied with the ferro rod or the back of your knife. the metal coming off the ferro rod is around 2,000 to 3,000 degrees. it will be glowing red and is hot. that ignites the magnesium pile, that burns very hot and very quick. thus igniting your tender. take a look at the famous Doan magnesium fire starter. it’s block of magnesium with a ferro rod on the side.
It is good to be aware of all ways to start a fire in case your ferro rod gets lost or broken beyond usefulness.
Speaking of magnesium metal burning at high temperature, imagine someone with a EV car evading people riding over bumpy roads and the batteries get hurt. The batteries will short out causing a fire with all their gear going up in smoke. The batteries compartment is not waterproof so hitting those mud puddles can also short out the batteries and poof there goes your transportation out of the city.
Doan has retired and gone out of business. Unless the business is sold and production restarted, there will be no more other than cheap chinese knock offs.
In my younger days, in the Laurentian Mountains, (about 30 miles beyond the last end of road village), a friend, today deceased, brought me to this fishing hole on a mountain trail. When we got there, we still had a 30-minute hike to the stream, he took the downstream and I the upper. After about 3 hours of fishing, this lightning storm materialized. As I headed back towards the, our entrance point. all I saw was a banana peel.as a reference to the entrance, as it was my first time there. It had already started to pour, and he had left. Being an outdoors guy, I always had a poncho and a light wool windbreaker. It was about 7:30 pm and with the cloud cover starting to get dark. Well, I walked about 300 ft and really could not distinguish the way as there was no path. Only one thing to do at that point, and that was to hunker down and figger out what to do. I found a sand patch and using the poncho doubled, with that wool jacket and fetal positioned myself for the night. In Late July, temperatures in that area drop into hi 40’s- lower 50’s. It was not a pleasant stay. And the mosquitoes a royal pain, but just having what I had made a bit more bearable. Next morning as the sun came out, I walked around and found some blueberries. So, I took a direction away from the creek and came to this wood trail that I didn’t remember when we first got there. It was something. As I started walking in one direction, I thought was the good one out, this trail came to an abrupt end. And just as I turned around This distant wail of a police siren sounded from the direction of that trail end. So, I had to backtrack away from the wail to find a joining trail towards the siren. Some story right. It happened to me, and I was very happy to have had what little I had. Wool Jacket and a poncho.
I guess the author didn’t watch “Alone: Australia” the winner brought a huge fur blanket in lieu of a sleeping bag. She also “brought” about 40 extra pounds so she was able to survive the longest without food.
Now I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the show but, they get more than 10 items. They get a standard list of items allowed (I believe that a sleeping bag is one of those items) and then the get an “accessory list” where there are about 20-30 additional/supplimental items, they can chose 10 off THAT list.
Regardless of what they have or dont have
your list should be more than the list and light weight
when carring packs ozs add up and you feel the weight in time
but when survival is important , knowledge is most important , dos and donts
planning is crucial and preperation is essential
bags 3lbs or less
no pillows , no metal , nothing constituted , all dried and all light
every oz counts
guns, knives, bullets , and such are luxuries so must be prepped
since today you can get almost everything strong, light , and durable with out weight
nothing will make you change like failure in the wild
know your enviornment or you will be food for the wild
remember anything is food in wild , same with the animals , your food for the wild game
plastics, light paracord , lite covers , lite tools , lite items
Alone Australia’s winner didn’t have a sleeping bag. She had made a fur coat and used that as a coat and to sleep in. I would definitely need a ferro rod. Making a fire in a cold wet environment is difficult. Fishing kit, axe, saw, paracord, pot, sleeping bag, multi-tool, wire. The last item depends on where it will be.