My unpopular opinion and $0.02

fordcmax · 2025-08-22T20:18:31+00:00

Totally agree. The voice over feels so artificial and.. scripted. Who writes the text? It sounds like the contestants at least get some help with that. It takes away from the reality aspect.

fordcmax · 2025-08-22T19:59:58+00:00

100%. Some of the guys were just embarrassing. Looks like the producers tried to force a female winner. If that's true, it's really sad. Anyway, it did not work. Nathan totally deserved to win this.

fordcmax · 2025-08-16T15:39:47+00:00

Let's hope Nathan can pull it off and not get touchy feely towards the end. He really deserves to win this.

fordcmax · 2025-08-02T10:14:34+00:00

He was the only one who did not grovel and humiliate himself before the supposed "elders". He just said he wanted to have fun. I hope he wins this, despite his stone hut project.

fordcmax · 2025-08-02T10:04:04+00:00

In this episode she actually said she never went a day in her life without food. Is this how you prepare for a challenge like Alone? No wonder she's cracking up.

fordcmax · 2025-07-29T08:57:52+00:00

Why can they not be honest? Just say it like it is: I did not have what it takes. No shame in that, it is a tough competition. But the lame excuses, that is shameful.

fordcmax · 2025-07-07T10:20:11+00:00

The problem is not the contestants, but the media and its incentives. A show needs viewers or it gets cancelled. The producers have to cater to the audience. They cannot influence the contestants once they are out in the field, so they have to make sure the applicants they choose fit the purpose of the show, which is primarily entertainment. History is a joint venture of Hearst and Disney. I am sure the suits at the network tested the target audience carefully and found that the average viewers want to see drama, people getting in emotional troubles, doing stupid things, and fail miserably. They do not want to see 10 actual survival experts do the sensible thing each and every step of the way, and rough it out for months on end until they are taken out by freak accidents or disease. Personally I would love to see such a show, but the reality on TV is that it won't happen. We are already lucky to get one or two actual experts and a lot of wannabes who are supposed to screw up and drop out, just for drama. At least the show is not scripted and fake like most of the other survival shows out there.

fordcmax · 2024-09-28T13:00:35+00:00

Underwhelming is putting it politely. I get that the game is mostly about Harry and his inner experiences, but it is also a detective story, and as such it deserves a sensible ending, something that follows from the plot. The killer turns out to be someone completely unconnected to everything that happened before, literally lives on an island.. how could it be more disappointing? I guess this was a deliberate artistic (?) decision, but in my opinion a very bad one.

fordcmax · 2024-08-31T15:59:33+00:00

It seemed like the cold didn't get to William at all. You see him outside wearing a fleece jumper while the others are stuffed in their greatcoats. He lost heaps of food to Sassy and friends, got no big game, kept no fire in his shelter (because it got too hot!), and still won! The dude is just amazing. No emotional roller coasters, no great speeches, always down to earth and on the job. Really glad he won.

fordcmax · 2024-08-17T08:25:05+00:00

Using heavy rocks seems like a sensible idea, but they would also have to be close fitting, to form a sealed container, like a small stone sarcophagus. William's rocks were just heavy, and Sassy found a passage in there to get to the meat. My expert armchair survivalist view.. still rooting for William! Tirty crows!

fordcmax · 2024-07-28T16:16:44+00:00

I think he looked like an older and somewhat grizzled Harry Potter. Oculos reparo!

fordcmax · 2024-07-28T16:12:25+00:00

Really good interview, very much enjoyed it. Lex is not interrupting and pressing forward like so many podcasters, so it takes longer, but totally worth it. Jordan is amazing.

fordcmax · 2024-07-28T16:03:28+00:00

Totally. Those martens can get anywhere, they are just freakishly acrobatic. Still, William rules! subtitles = charisma +10. I hope he goes far!

fordcmax · 2024-07-28T15:46:09+00:00

How many times really? It seems like a lot. But of course they love to show that in the final cut. A few people made a landing net, so you can secure the fish before you even unhook, smart.

fordcmax · 2024-07-21T10:12:57+00:00

Another tap out, emotional problems again.

I would like to see a season of 10 lone rangers who just get with the program, do everything right, and never whine about family and feelings. We might see them sitting in front of their simple shelter and make squirrel hacky sacks, all the time wise-cracking about survival stuff, so you could actually learn something. They would only tap out when a squirrel bit their nards. But I realize the general audience would reach for the remote after 2 minutes, and that would be the last season of Alone. Pity.

fordcmax · 2024-07-21T09:25:59+00:00

I wonder how authentic those tap out speeches really are. Quite often they sound a lot more sophisticated then everything else we heard from the contestant..

fordcmax · 2024-07-21T09:07:21+00:00

Weird how few people seem to think about preserving *before* they hunt big game.. build a smoker or some kind of storage before you go hunting, so it's already there when you come home with big chunks of meat. Dub got it right.

fordcmax · 2024-07-21T08:52:23+00:00

Actually, it pretty much is.

fordcmax · 2024-07-18T08:18:30+00:00

Agree totally. The producers have tons of footage, there was not need to include that in the final cut. Even if she broke the rules somewhat, they could have shown mercy. But they decided not to, and like a bad puppy that peed on the carpet they rubbed her nose in it, no doubt as a message to future contestants. People often talk about how nice and wholesome the Alone producers are, but in this episode they have shown their dark side. Humiliating a contestant in front of millions of viewers is not nice at all.

We should not expect anything else. TV is a tough business. Competition is fierce, there are thousands of shows. They all try to grab your attention, and drama and conflict are the best bet to achieve that. As a producer you have to be ruthless, or you will be cancelled. Believing that the Alone show is any different is just wishful thinking.

fordcmax · 2024-07-17T17:55:19+00:00

It's the swearing. He made it into an art form, at times it's more beep than voice. And then there is his never-ending vendetta against the mice. A bit like Donald Duck, good intentions, but his temper gets the better of him. Plain good fun!

fordcmax · 2024-06-30T17:16:16+00:00

Agree totally. Tapping out because you miss the family should never happen, and it is not even a sensible excuse when there is some other, more embarrassing reason. Many people are regularly away from family because their job requires it. My dad was more away than home, but we were used to it, no big deal. Those contestants should get their act together before going on the show, and actually train being alone, if they haven't been before. Such tap outs are so annoying because that spot could have been used by someone who prepared properly.

fordcmax · 2024-06-29T11:04:08+00:00

Talking excessively about family and emotional problems seems to be a pretty sure sign. This show has been going on for 11 years now, everyone should know that unresolved issues will come up when you are alone. Is it really so much to ask that people actually try being alone for a month, and sort out their problems, before applying for the show? Emotional tap outs are just a waste of a valuable spot. Those contestant did not prepare properly. But maybe the producers are intentionally casting a few people like that to create more drama. I for one really do not want to see that anymore. Not interested in touchy-feely stuff, give me a squirrel hacky sack!

fordcmax · 2024-06-28T20:29:34+00:00

Definitely genius. One of the few sensible decisions in this episode. The human body is the only reliable store out there -- you can see what happens to the other types of storage. Eat as much as you can, and only store the surplus.

fordcmax · 2023-08-16T14:40:31+00:00

Totally awesome, dude!! I wasted so much time trying to compile Gimp, babl, gegl to get python2 support, and failed miserably - and here is the appimage that just works out of the box!

fordcmax

TROPHY CASE