We’ve arrived at Alone season 12’s penultimate episode and three participants are still managing to survive in South Africa’s Great Karoo. As episode nine opens, Katie and Kelsey are working on finding food while Nathan is rebuilding the portion of his shelter that collapsed in episode eight.
The following is a detailed recap of episode nine, “The Promised Land,” which means there are spoilers ahead. (Consider yourself warned!)
Nathan Olsen: Age 52, Buhl, Idaho
Day 25, 5:29am – Nathan’s sitting by the fire thinking about his daily routine with his wife, Erica. He’s decided to redo the corner of his shelter that collapsed.
9:03am – Nathan confesses it’s scary to rebuild the wall because it could cause more areas to collapse. He’s got to take the fallen corner down and admits the rebuilding will be more difficult than the initial construction. He blames the collapse on his own mistake.
11:16am – Nathan gets to a point where he’s ready to rebuild the portion that fell. The stones are there, so he won’t have to fetch any for the time being. As he rebuilds, he explains that he and Erica believe that being on Alone shows their children it’s okay to take risks and have the courage to try new things.
4:24pm – The majority of the stonework is done, and the next step is cutting a roof log with fire. (He didn’t bring a saw or axe.) After burning it in half, he’s feeling pretty good about his progress.
Day 26, 8:27am – He drags the dense acacia wood to his rock house while admitting this has been a big calorie expenditure. (THC notes he’s been working on it for 11 days.) A short while later, he’s got the two halves of the acacia wood resting on his rock house. Next, he’ll cover the logs with straight sticks and use clay and grass as roofing material.
The two logs effectively created three sections of the roof, so he can use shorter sticks across on top of them. Those sticks will be supporting his roofing materials.
Day 26, 1:22pm – Nathan takes clay from termite mounds and adds grass and water to cover his roof. The termite mound’s clay is basically waterproof so his structure should also be waterproof.
3:19pm – He grew up in a large family in small homes, and the wilderness around his home was a place to escape. He’s always needed quiet time for himself, and he has it on Alone.
5:39pm – The shelter’s pretty much done so he’ll sleep in it this evening. He builds a fire inside in one corner and reveals he built the shelter to be beautiful in honor of Erica. Now that he’s done, he finally has a moment to sit down and feel homesick.
6:22pm – Nathan admits he fidgets a lot and doesn’t like sitting still.
6:51pm – He’s got a permanent shelter and a decent food supply, and he wonders what’s next. Nathan spends time with his thoughts. He’s still just sitting there thinking at 8:22pm.
Kelsey Loper: Age 35, Winnett, Montana
Day 24, 7:43am – Kelsey can no longer pull back her bow and leaves it behind as she heads out on her loop. Her bow is her whole world, and without it she’s going into the “starving game.” Only one piece of warthog jerky is left.
The walks help her mentally, even though they burn up calories. Kelsey spots warthogs, a wildebeest, and a springbok, but there’s nothing she can do. Hunting isn’t an option.
10:09am – She grabs maggots from her dead warthog’s carcass to use for bait. Their wriggling should help attract fish as she explains that losing the ability to hunt would justify tapping out. However, she’s determined to give fishing a try.
Day 26, 11:27am – Kelsey’s feeling incredibly hungry and no fish have gone for her maggots. She’s only caught two catfish since day one. Kelsey’s tried a wide variety of bait, but the fish stopped biting.
12:27pm – She heads out to forage while admitting she’s lost strength, muscle, and weight. Fortunately, she spots an acacia tree that still has green pea pods that she can eat. All the other pods are brown and have fallen off the trees.
She shows off the tiny amount of acacia seeds she found and there’s not enough for more than a little snack. Kelsey thinks about food all the time.
She has no choice but to head to the pond that’s upriver about half a mile away. Her mind’s on stuffed crust pizza when she realizes her line broke. She’s frustrated as she heads back to camp.
Day 27, 9:02am – Kelsey’s in a better mood and does an infomercial for weight loss on Alone. Once she’s done, she says she wishes she could eat the rocks since there’s nothing else around.
She sets out on a walk, wishing her mom happy birthday. Her pace is much slower, she can’t catch any fish, and big game is out of the question. By the time she gets to her lookout rock, she’s feeling lightheaded and super weak. She recalls her mom telling her to just keep going, one foot in front of the other, and that’s what’s keeping her going.
Kelsey spots a sable nearby and calls it her mom’s birthday sable. She saved a piece of jerky the size of a cornflake to eat on her mom’s birthday, and THC notes it’s about 20 calories. And that’s the end of her jerky supply.
Back at camp, Kelsey hopes that she’ll be the underdog who comes out on top. She has no idea how many people are left, but she thinks Katie is probably still there. Kelsey’s been thinking about writing a book on her adventures, including surviving a rollover car accident and being charged by bears. She’d title it How to Wing It since nothing she does is planned.
She is not going to give up yet.
Katie Rydge: Age 45, Emerald Beach, AUS
Day 24, 11:23am – Katie is getting by on buffalo thorn leaves, acacia seeds, and African cabbage. Her face is dry, but she’s using wet, crushed buffalo thorn on her lips to keep them from getting chapped.
Katie’s been feeling the cold at night and hasn’t had any protein since day one. She can survive on plant food, but it’s boring and she’s tired of eating it.
Katie sets out to the east into an area she hasn’t explored. She believes it’s possible there’s a fish funnel at the river’s entrance where she can get some mussels. Katie nicknames the area she’s heading toward “The Promised Land” and understands she’s expending a lot of energy on the hike.
1:34pm – The area is four miles from her camp and as she nears her target, she spots branches that porcupines have chewed. Katie’s carefully making her way through rocks when she slips. She pulls thorns from her palm, lucky that she didn’t twist anything.
2:11pm – It’s fairly easy to navigate near the river, but the brush is too thick when she tries to head up and away from the water. At this point, she’s traveled two miles. She can see the mouth of the river in the distance and isn’t sure if she should continue. Katie’s burned about 500 calories this far into her trek.
She decides to call it a day and heads back to her camp.
Day 27, 12:57pm – She reveals she dreamed that she and Kelsey were the last two in the show. It’s been a recurring dream, which is strange because she doesn’t normally have them.
Katie believes that to fish and hunt, she needs to make it to the Promised Land. She thinks the animals have all moved there because of her presence. However, she’s not sure she has the energy to follow them.
Katie trusts her feeling that she needs to head in that direction. Her shelter is finished, and she feels warm at night. Plus, the plant food is sustaining her for now, even though it’s boring. She’s got a water supply, so the only thing missing is protein.
2:09pm – Katie thinks she’s heading toward where animals are sheltering. She spots fresh poop and takes it as a positive sign. Katie sees a male nyala with his head down, hiding his horns. She knows it’s clever and will take off before she gets close enough.
3:04pm – A single kudu is feeding nearby but Katie’s not sure she can make it closer to the animal before it flees. She’s forced to remain where she is as a kudu male joins the female. The episode ends with the kudus coming closer and Katie announcing she’s going to take a shot.
- Alone Season 11 Episode 12 Finale Recap: A Winner Emerges After 84 Days
- Alone Season 12 Episode 1 “The Land of Great Thirst” Recap
- Alone Season 12 Episode 2 “Best Laid Plans” Recap
- Alone Season 12 Episode 3 “Thirst Trap” Recap
- Alone Season 12 Episode 4 “Finding a Foothold” Recap
- Alone Season 12 Episode 5 “The Tempest” Recap
- Alone Season 12 Episode 6 “Purpose” Recap
- Alone Season 12 Episode 7 “Echoes of Emptiness” Recap
- Alone Season 12 Episode 8 “Weak Spot” Recap
The post ‘Alone’ Season 12 Episode 9 Recap: “The Promised Land” appeared first on ShowbizJunkies.
0 Comments