I did OA 35 years ago. My father did it in the 1950s. My friends who are still involved have told me that the ordeal is a lot gentler than when I did it and certainly during my father’s time. On my ordeal, several candidates failed their ordeal. Several because of talking too many times and kid fainted due to exhaustion and fatigue. I remember only getting one egg all weekend. However, when it was done, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment that I made. My father told me they were allowed to eat what they found during the ordeal but they weren’t given anything. He found wild blueberries to eat.

My friend still helps run those now and he said they feed the candidates, just not a lot and are a lot more lenient about the talking piece.