But it opened with her first televised comment from the Canadian wilderness: “This is very, very hard — a lot harder than I ever thought possible.” Uh-oh.
One family went home before the end of day two
Other competitors were feeling the strain, too, despite all having received a supply drop that morning. However, some were provided better gear than others based on what their family members at headquarters were able to secure.Woody Kaminer’s son and nephew had sent him a hand drill fire-starter kit, but when he wasn’t able to figure out the method, he resorted to drinking unpurified lake water and soon began vomiting. Other survivalists including Davina Christy and Ashley Tyler also struggled to start a fire, meaning that they, too, were without clean water.
Meanwhile, eighteen-year-old Anthony Banks had it made. In addition to a blazing bonfire and solid shelter, his parents had obtained him a wealth of gear. But when the self-proclaimed bass angler struggled to untangle his fishing line, he decided to call it quits and forgo the $250,000 prize. “I’ve had enough. I’m ready to go. I’ve been begging you all day to hit the button, so hit the button,” he demanded.
“I’m not pushing that button. He has everything he needs,” said his mother. But as night fell, Banks became more agitated, stating, “If I don’t hear I’m being extracted in the next five minutes, we’re going to have major problems when I see you again — both of y’all.”
Disappointed in his son’s lack of resiliency, Banks’ father relented and pressed the ominous red button. As an alarm rang and “extraction” flashed on headquarters’s multi-panel screen, a speedboat set out to withdraw Banks from the competition. One down, eleven families to go.
As the competitors prepared to call it a night, Ryan Willis from Conifer sat comfortably by a campfire and showed off his moss-insulated shelter. Families at HQ were taking notice of his success thus far. “I’m worried because he has a target on his back. We’re not middle of the pack like we wanted to be,” commented his wife. “People are gonna start coming for him.”
Competitors plunged into the third day’s challenge
All remaining survivalists made it through another night and as day three commenced, Hyak’s teammates — Denver-based cousin Kelsey Nichols and aunt Laura Foster — exchanged predictions. “If the challenge has anything to do with speed, certain people like Woody are going to struggle,” Nichols said.Then, a broadcast sounded in HQ, notifying families that in addition to a constant livestream of the survivalists, they would now receive a color-coded summary of their loved ones’ health status. Smart watches tracking heart and respiratory rates, stress levels and sleep determined four condition levels: baseline green meaning healthy, moderate yellow indicating signs of decline, elevated orange flagging a potential need for medical attention, and severe red warning that extraction may be necessary.
That morning, Hyak was listed in yellow, as were Kaminer, Tyler and the majority of competitors. Meanwhile, Christy, who spent a second night without shelter, was in the green, as was Willis. But that would change as the next challenge got underway.
Families at HQ were tasked with designing a raft and selecting tools that would help survivalists reach the other side of the lake. There, shelter supplies were stored in three crates. Arriving first would grant a competitor access to a better cache (such as the gold package containing two tarps, a rope and a thick bear skin), as well as an advantage during the next supply drop.
After the families created blueprints and packed paddles, cords and more into crates, drones delivered the supplies to the lakefront. Kaminer, who had made a miraculous overnight recovery, quickly pulled together his primitive raft and hit the water first.
“How did he do that already?” asked Hyak, breathing heavily after having lugged logs from the woods. “This is where her competitiveness comes out,” said Foster.
Willis plunged in with his raft next and quickly closed in, despite Kaminer’s early lead. They were in the middle of the lake when Hyak and two other survivalists followed suit. Others were right behind, slowly making their way through the 51-degree water, which threatened hypothermia with any more than an hour’s exposure. But Jakoben Thomas and his two knives (snagged in a greedy move during the first episode) were still on shore.
Against the odds, Kaminer made it to the other side of the lake first and stood triumphant with his bear-skin coat in hand. Willis came in second, Hyak took sixth place and Thomas, who had just learned to swim two months prior, opted to stay on shore. Ryan Heavner likely wished he had done the same as partway across the lake, his survival state ticked up to severe red. Unable to feel his hands and toes, he decided to turn back around without any supplies.
Meanwhile, the other survivalists trekked back to camp and began revamping their shelters. Without fire and sopping wet, Heavner shivered in his single sleeping bag. Still, he and all others made it through another night.
Dehydration was impossible to ignore by day four
The next morning, Tyler was regretting that she drank untreated lake water the day prior. Panicked and crying while stricken with stomach pain and diarrhea, she pleaded, “I just want to go home.” “Too bad,” responded her fiance at headquarters who, during the previous episode, was rethinking their upcoming marriage because she couldn’t get a fire going.Thomas and Kaminer also struggled with their fire-making tools, and Hyak was running out of matches. “I need clean water so bad,” she emphasized.
Survivalists and family members at HQ were then notified about the next supply drop. Items included a ham sandwich, three cans of peaches, toiletries, a ferro rod fire starter and a propane stove. But apart from Kaminer, who won the previous challenge, pairs of competing teams were made to split the stockpile.
“Maybe we need to strategically go with teams that don’t need the same as us,” offered Foster. Through his livestream, Willis had vocalized he needed neither a ferro rod nor the propane stove. There was a sense of Colorado camaraderie as Nichols entered the gear room with Willis’s brother. “You need this,” he said, sliding the ferro rod to Nichols, who also secured the propane stove and ham sandwich. But the goodwill was also a tactic to remove the target from Willis’s back.
Not all negotiations went as smoothly, or as strategically. “Fire is important for her, but I don’t want her getting complacent,” said Tyler’s fiance as he willingly passed off both the ferro rod and camp stove. “I assumed that it would be pretty hard to convince somebody to give me a propane stove. I’m sure you tried,” commented Tyler after receiving her crate of goods.
With their new supplies, several survivalists successfully sparked a flame. Hyak, however, went through three matches without lighting her propane stove. “What am I doing wrong? Why can’t I figure this out?” she asked in desperation. Without fire, she would have to go without clean water — and soon without food, as the close of the episode teased.
“She’ll figure it out,” affirmed Nichols — but will she? Find out next Monday, February 24 at 7 p.m. when the third installment airs on Fox.
