A lot of survival TV shows are fake. But one of my favorites is History’s Alone, in which 10 contestants (14 in Season 4) are dropped off in the wilderness and compete to see who can survive the longest while isolated. The show is now in its eighth season, which you can watch on Netflix or Hulu.
In the mold of Survivorman’s Les Stroud, contestants operate their own camera equipment. And they are allowed only 10 items to help them survive as long as possible. They are also provided with a GPS phone they can use to call for help or throw in the towel. The last person standing wins $500,000 ($1 million in Season 7).
Alone might be the most grueling game show of all time. The winners are proven survival experts and even the runners-up are no slouches.
So I wanted to analyze the gear top contestants chose for their 10 items. Maybe it would inspire something different in my personal bug out bag list?
And this was a cool way to play with The Prepared’s kit builder tool, a prototype we’ve been building as a side project to help organize personal inventory and kits. You can even clone any of the below kits, then modify them to make them your own!
Summary:
Every contestant brought a sleeping bag instead of a wool blanket or other form of sleep gear
Every winner or runner-up brought a sleeping bag, ferro rod, saw, and axe
Most winners carried a multitools.
Other popular items among finalists were cook pots, fishing kits, wire, field knife, gill nets, and rations
A few Alone champs brought along a Samick Sage takedown bow. We’ll have to give it another look for the survival bow guide.
What are the most popular items among Alone contestants?
Every contestant brought a sleeping bag.
Also interesting is the fact that not every contestant brought a ferro rod, though the vast majority did.
Almost all contestants brought a fishing kit (which seems like a good “value,” since such a kit would include several items, like fishing line that could be used for cordage).
Rounding out the list of most-popular items is a two-quart pot, essential for cooking food and boiling water.
Review: The Stanley Cook Kit is a great fit for a go-bag
Some other surprises:
Only 64% brought a knife. Knives are often considered one of the most important survival items.
Cordage is another item emphasized in survival kits, since it’s hard to fashion in the field, but only 60% brought paracord and only 1% brought another type of rope. Many contestants used line from their fishing kit or snare wire as cordage instead.
Water bottles, another popular item in survival kits, were only used by 10% of contestants.
Additional tarps weren’t usually included, but note that the producers give each contestant one or two tarps as “freebies.” Only 21% of contestants brought an additional tarp and only 1% brought two additional tarps.
Only 3% brought a sharpener. You can use stones to sharpen blades in the field. Many brought a multi-tool with a file that could act as a sharpener.
Learn how to sharpen your blades in the field with TP’s online video course.
The challenge: figuring out the exact gear used by Alone’s winners
The show never details the contestant’s items, but the show says you can see what 10 items each participant took with them at History.com. Unfortunately, they don’t list the exact items, brands, and models — they just list the general items, like “saw.”
After consulting many different resources and spending over 27 hours on research, I’ve compiled the most accurate and comprehensive list of the 10 items that the winners and runners-up used. Sometimes, I was able to find the exact item that the contestant used, and other times I had to make educated guesses using video clips from the show. Each item is accompanied with any information I found on the item, prices, and weights.
What gear the champions brought
If we limit the data just to the 1st and 2nd place winners, here’s what they brought:
Every finalist had (compared to all contestants):
Sleeping bag (vs 100% of all contestants)
Ferro rod (vs 96%)
Saw (vs 82%)
Axe (vs 87%)
To date, no one has won Alone without those four items. And the vast majority also brought:
Cook pot (88% vs 94% of all contestants)
Fishing kit (77% vs. 95%)
Wire (77% vs. 45%)
Multi-Tool (77% vs. 42%)
Paracord (55% vs. 60%)
Bow & Arrows (55% vs. 55%)
Gill net (44% vs. 29%)
Rations (44% vs. 57%)
This data isn’t as iron-clad, and a contestant’s choices could be directed by preference. But there are some clear patterns — many more winners brought multitools compared to the broad contestant pool, for example. The winners are probably better at using versatile tools like multitools and wire for a wider range of needs, compared to something specific like a fishing kit.
And you might notice that the items I pulled out above add up to 10. So based on the statistical preferences of Alone’s winners, here is the “perfect” kit:
Sleeping bag
Ferro rod
Saw
Axe
2-quart cook pot
Fishing kit
Wire
Multi-Tool
Paracord
Bow and arrows
But remember, there are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics. Don’t take this as strict survival advice — the mix of gear that makes the most sense for an Alone situation is not the same as the best mix for a general go-bag — but as far as minimalist kits go, you could do a lot worse.