This year, History Channel’s top-tier survival show Alone was back with its ninth season, tackling the challenging terrain of Labrador, a harsh snowy region in northern Canada.
Every season, ten contestants are dropped at an undisclosed location where they’re allowed to bring only 10 survival items. There is no filming crew involved; instead, the contestants are given camera gear to document themselves. This is truly an authentic test of endurance, knowledge, reflexes, and mental durability. The contestant who lasts the longest in the wilderness is crowned the winner!
With so many threats and obstacles all around, I know what you’re wondering: Have there been any deaths in Alone Season 9?
No contestants die in Alone Season 9, despite the harsh conditions of Labrador, Canada, and the threat of polar bears. History Channel and the Alone production team take strict measures to ensure all the contestants’ safety.
I bet you have more queries about this season, and survival shows in general. So read on, I’ve covered all the bases:
How bad was Alone Season 9?
Every year, Alone takes place in a part of the world that is subjected to supremely harsh conditions. Season 9 was filmed in Labrador, located in Canada’s northern province of Newfoundland and Labrador. As expected, the weather, temperature, and snowy terrain were extremely difficult to cope with.
As I mentioned above, Labrador is also known for its polar bears, for whom it was hunting season during the time of filming. Contestants were warned that the bears would be on the prowl, as they needed to hunt before hibernating for the winter. Besides this, there were also threats of other wild animals.
The winner of Season 9, Juan Pablo Quiñonez, who survived for 78 days, told TV Insider, that one of the toughest parts of the show is that contestants cannot leave their designated area.
As you may recall, the contestants are simply dropped in an undisclosed area without any prior knowledge of it. While some are lucky to be dropped near a river or a place with natural amenities, others aren’t—which gives each contestant a different level of difficulty.
Has anyone died in Alone? Have there been accidents?
No contestant has died so far. History Channel would not condone a show with deaths on it, so it is safe to say that Alone has never had or depicted any fatal incidents.
There have not been any major accidents on Alone. The contestants are immediately removed if they are in any kind of physical, mental, or emotional threat.
In Season 3, Carleigh Fairchild was forced to evacuate from the show due to low BMI, after spending 86 days in the Andes Mountains of South America. Had she not left, Carleigh could’ve suffered from permanent digestive and nervous system damage as well as deteriorating eyesight due to her BMI changes.
How does Alone ensure the safety of its contestants?
Alone’s executive producer, Shaun Witt, told Blurred Lines that the contestants’ safety is the show’s first prerogative. Any fatal accidents would be extremely bad for the show and would result in an immediate cancellation.
When we set out to make this show, it was always about everyone’s safety first and the show second.
Shaun Witt
So, while no film or production crew is interacting with the contestants directly, they are always being geo-monitored, and their footage also goes through inspection.
Besides this, the show has an important medical safety checkup rule. In the beginning, the contests go through a checkup every week. After the 45-day mark, they get checked every 2-3 days, or sometimes, more frequently. If contestants are found to have a BMI below 17 or any major injuries, they are “forced evacuated” and taken out of the show immediately.
Has anyone died on other survival shows?
Trigger Warning – Suicide
Sadly, deaths have occurred in other survival shows. A few examples are Koh-Lanta, the Bulgarian version of Survivor, Dropped, etc. In the Swedish survival show, Expedition: Robinson, a contestant also died by suicide.
A few of the shows were immediately canceled due to the fatality, which hopefully serves as a lesson to take such survival shows seriously.
I. The Impact of Survival Shows on Contestants
Trigger Warning – Suicide
Survival shows like Alone don’t just test the contestants’ physical ability to cope with harsh environments but also their mental and emotional willpower. Sadly, some survival shows can leave their contestants with serious mental illnesses.
For a show titled Alone, this is emphasized even more, as the contestants have zero human contact, except for the crew, who does the short medical check. In his Reddit QnA post, David McIntyre wrote about how these simple medical checks can bring out a lot of emotion:
Initially the med-checks were like, ‘I get to see people!’ Very quickly that turned into, ‘You are going to show up and leave me.’ That brief interaction isn’t enough and reminds you of how much you miss it.
David McIntyre
In an interview with Global News, former Alone winner Ted Baird likens it to prepping for the Olympics:
I would liken it to someone preparing for the Olympics or the triathlon—there’s a huge mental discipline as well as the physical. Your mental memory needs to be trained and exercised just as much, if not more, than your body.
Ted Baird
Similarly, the Season 9 winner Quiñonez stresses the importance of mental and breathing exercises that can help future contestants with the stress they might face on survival shows.
About Alone
Alone is an American survival competition series on History. It follows the self-documented daily struggles of 10 individuals attempting the challenge of surviving alone in the wilderness with a limited amount of equipment.
The last contestant standing who remains the longest wins a grand prize of $500,000. The seasons have been filmed across a range of remote locations, such as northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Nahuel Huapi National Park in Argentine, Patagonia, Northern Mongolia, Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, and Chilko Lake in interior British Columbia.
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