Alone

Finally a proper survival show. Mind you, it has many flaws. But it is a monumental step forward for this type of shows.

There is no need for you to know this but I consistently write negative reviews about survival shows. There are a handful of reasons for this but, essentially, they let me down.

Not this time. From producers and crew to the "contestants", everyone has tried to do the show the way it should be done.

The heart of 'Alone' are the folk competing. As time goes on and their situation evolves, viewers are presented with a soulful, tearful at times, rendering of woes and struggles.

Some people get "in their own heads", eventually freaking themselves out into an exit. Their rationalizations are poignant, and cruel, and humbling,... and only become more so as the days pass.

Some people endure and the ones that do, do it on a shoestring. Literally. They gradually devolve into physical and psychological miserable existences, bringing to the fore the inherent, real difficulties involved in true survival situations.

This is not Bear Grylls on a weekend adventure... although, I will say, that's a guy that I would like to see competing on this show.

Anyway.

Some of these guys put their very heart (and then some) on the line. Here is a shout-out to their courage and my appreciation for taking us there, to the edge, with them.

Respect.

Shocking, I know. A reality show that actually seems real without interference from producers or outright scripting.

I recommend watching this at a faster speed - I prefer 2x. The show plods along most of the time. The episodes themselves consist of half doing and half talking behind b-roll of the environment, with cliffhangers stuck on each commercial break. There's a lot of downtime with the whole zooming out showing the contestant's area which will have you reaching for the fast forward button.

These downsides are mitigated by the heartbreaking moments in each season. Don't be naive like me and immediately dismiss it because it's a reality show. The reviews here are what encouraged me to give it a shot, so thanks ya'll.

Finally a "non reality" show that captures your interest up to the final episode. I really don't appreciate reality shows and I blame the Dutch for inventing the "Big Brother" and giving birth to this polluting TV Show genre. But I digress..

This show is phenomenal, mainly cause, as previously said by warblerluvr (a fellow IMDb user) it lacks of an annoying all-knowing host figure and there is no competition among participants for food or tool rewards which just brings out the worse in humans.

I learnt a lot of survival tricks and different ways to manage yourself in adverse situations to the point that I would describe this show not only entertaining but highly educational.

Now I really want to experience this kind of survival adventure for myself and learn more about the several techniques involved in the process.

Of course there are also a few downs but really understandable ones:

• You obviously cannot like every single participant and luckily most of the annoying ones are the first and fastest to go, mostly cause they just don't have an inch of what it would take to really embark in such an adventure!

• Lots of repetitions i.e the same footage and lines reused before and after commercials (I watched it without so I guess for me was even worse) but again, I guess that due to the lack of other form of entertainment but the self filming participants it was just bound to happen.

• I would have appreciated the network acknowledgement that of course the show is filled with amazing and clearly professional shot footage of nature in all its beauties and adversities instead of pretty much just going with the "all the footage was self shot by each contender".

All in all this was a great show, my favourite 2 characters from the very first episode proved to be the best and most deserving ones and had an exciting "head to head" finale! Great job History Channel, I thank you for this!

I will definitely enjoy a second season of this as long as nothing changes and its kept as honest and truthful as season 1 has been!

There are a lot of"reality" shows out there that are just not good and most likely staged. This has to be the most"real" show I've seen on TV. Besides that, it's absolutely the most interesting show I've seen. The mental aspect of being alone for so long always seems to catch up to the contestants. The skills are great, but until you can cope with your emotions, it means nothing. Sometimes the drop off location is not as good as others, but that's the part that shows how good of a survivor these folks are.

I highly recommend this show just based on the fact that it is legit and lets you into the lives of very diverse individuals and what they see as important to them. Couldn't recommend this show more.

Although TV series like SURVIVOR can be quite entertaining they are for the more part very much manipulated in multiple ways, the producers put up challenges that they think will benefit certain more interesting characters and conflicts are at times nothing more than a production.

Here we get none of that, no votes or backstabbings or alliances, no competitions to get immunity or extra nurishments etc. Not even any contact with any outside human sources such as a camera crew or anything because they have to film their experience themselves.

The rules are really simple, 10 people are taken to isolated places in the wilderness miles apart from each other. They then have to try to survive off the land, build shelter and find food sources to last them as long as possible.

All while surrounded by packs of wolves, bears and cougars and dealing with often extreme weather conditions.

The person who stays the longest wins, 500 000 dollars.

So there are no gimmicks or game twists merely survival of the fittest and that is why this is a reality series that is definitely well worth checking out.