If you’re reading this blog post then that means you’ve probably watched Episode One of Win the Wilderness: Alaska. Here’s a run down of everything that happened in the first episode. If you’ve not seen it yet then find out how to watch it here.

First in camp

We were the first to arrive which was a pleasant surprise. Walking into camp it was still early morning, but we had the feeling some others would be there already. Nope, we were wrong. This gave us a chance to scope out the area before others arrived, have a look around and settle in. 

When we first saw the empty pallets without any sleeping accommodation we initially thought we’d all be constructing them in our couples, but once we’d all arrived and had a chance to see what the construction process was like, along with the never-ending torrential downpour, it seemed the most logical step to build them together in teams. Once we’d constructed the first tent and got the swing of the correct length of the poles, along with figuring out the best angle for them to lean against each other to ensure a tall enough tent, we were on a roll. I cannot begin to describe how wonderful it was getting into our camp bed that night, with the wood burner kicking out heat in the corner and drying our sodden clothes.

Bear Stew

It was left open-ended whether we ate the bear stew or not in the show, but before bed, we were offered the bear stew, which myself and Theo politely declined. Lentil stew for us, being pescatarian at the time meant we were partial to fish and prepared for the possibility of eating some other types of food whilst we were there - after all, if you’re going to be living in the wilderness there’s a very strong possibility you may need to hunt food - but we weren’t quite ready to dive right in and eat bear on day one. 

Ose Mountain Visit

Hearing CJ’s thoughts on Theo and myself, stating that Theo has ‘true grit’ and that I’ve got ‘tenacity’ was definitely nice praise to hear, as we put our heart and soul into creating the shelters. Going out to Alaska to an unknown location and to win an unknown cabin in an unknown area was a massive leap of faith - so to know we were making an impression on the first day was a good start!

Jumping in the Lake

This was a shocking challenge to say the least, with one of us jumping in the lake and the other making a fire it wasn’t a hard decision for us to choose who did what: as a child I wanted to be a champion swimmer, and Theo is fond of making fires. So that was easy! Theo also has perforated ear drums which can cause major issues if they get water in them, so it wasn’t even up for discussion who would do what - we knew just by looking at each other that we knew our roles for this challenge.

Building the fire from kindling gathered in a frantic rush whilst drenched in lake water was certainly a new experience, and we felt pretty happy with how the challenge unfolded. It was slightly ironic to be jumping feet first into the lake on the first dry day we’d had since we got there!

I noticed on a few clips that I looked pretty glum whilst standing around the lake, and the truth is I’d found out a couple of hours earlier in the day that a friend had been found dead back in the UK. This was a massive shock, and I didn’t participate in the challenge to begin with, it was impossible to keep myself together. 

Accurate Depiction of Events?

With TV things obviously have to be edited - after all Episode One was filmed over a period of three days, and a lot happened. To build a story that’s engaging and flows well, along with keeping people guessing, means a lot was cut, and things were definitely steered in specific directions. That being said, we thoroughly enjoyed the first episode and can’t wait for episode two.