After watching all 11 seasons of the History Channel’s survival show Alone,I’ve become accustomed to to the show’s ebb and flow.
In the first two episodes we meet the ten contestants, learn about their backstories, and scrutinize the ten pieces of wilderness gear they bring with them into the backcountry. Over the next three or four episodes, we marvel at the shelters these men and women construct, and the ingenuity they bring to hunting squirrels and harvesting edible flora.
And then, usually around episode six, the show hits its turning point—the moment when the weather gets cold. Of the show’s 11 seasons, nine have been held in Canada, and the chilly conditions always make the survivalists suffer. Potable water freezes. Edible critters nest or hibernate. Daily life becomes a battle against the elements.
There will be no such turning point during the upcoming season 12, however. That’s because, for the first time in the show’s history, Alone is headed to the desert. Officials with the History Channel told ԹϺ that this year’s Alone season was filmed in South Africa’s Great Karoo, a vast expanse of hot and dry grasslands and semi-arid desert located northeast of Cape Town.
“Their survival skills will need to be at a high level so they can remain hydrated,” Dave Holder, the show’s lead survival consultant, told me. “The need to stay hydrated takes up a great deal of the day. You have to remember to drink. People get so engrossed in other tasks that they can forget.”
Season 12 will kick off on at 9 P.M. EST on Thursday, June 12 on The History Channel.
Other than the change in topography and climate, the other elements of Alone will remain constant this season. The ten cast members are new to the show and are not returning contestants from past seasons. They will again get to choose ten survival tools to bring with them into the backcountry. And yeah, they will each be out there by themselves, forced to build shelter, procure food, and, perhaps most importantly this year,find water.
“They call this place ‘land of great thirst,’” says one of the producers in the show’s trailer.
It’s no secret that the desert conditions will completely upend season 12. In every Alone season, contestants must find sources of reliable drinking water. But previous seasons have all been set in regions where fresh water is abundant.
DzԱ’first two seasons were set along the coast of Vancouver Island, where it rained incessantly. In season three, contestants were situated along a large freshwater lake in Patagonia, Argentina. After returning to Vancouver Island in season four, the fifth season was held in the grasslands of Mongolia, where a large river crisscrossed the terrain. After that,Alone producers held the next six seasons at or near major lakes in Canada.
In these locations, contestants spent way more effort chasing food than pursuing fresh water.
I’m also curious what critters the contestants will catch and eat. In years past,Alone contestants have survived off of a vast array of critters that live in the sub-arctic: beaver, squirrels, grouse, mice, and rabbits. On rare occasions, they have also snagged big game: Jordan Jonas shot and killed a moose with an arrow during season 6, and Roland Welker brought down an ox during season 7 with a hunting knife.
The Great Karoo is home to South Africa’s so-called “Big Five” wildlife species: lion, elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, and Cape buffalo. Rhinos are endangered, and leopards, lions, and elephants are also protected. I cannot envision a survivalist taking down a Cape buffalo with a bow and arrow and some fishing wire.
Luckily, the Great Karoo is home to a wide array of rodents and medium-sized game: porcupines, ground squirrels, gerbils, moles, and a vast array of rats and mice.
As other hardcore Alone fans know, we’re likely to see contestants catching, cooking, and eating plenty of these critters.
I’m psyched to see how everything plays out.