Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Alone’ Season 9 on Netflix, Where Survivalists Take To The Wild For A Solitary Endurance Challenge

Season 9 of Alone arrives on Netflix after originally airing in 2022 on History, where the survival reality hit’s tenth season is currently underway. And while there have been a few tweaks to the formula over the years, it’s largely retained its brutal simplicity: ten people are dropped into a harsh environment, completely alone and with just a few essentials. They must provide sustenance and shelter for themselves, always understand the real danger of becoming a bear’s dinner, and do all of this while navigating the corridors of their own minds. Each participant is free to “tap out” at any time. But whoever survives out there the longest takes home the $500,000 prize.

ALONE – SEASON 9: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: An establishing shot of the forested and watery Labrador, Canada wilderness. It’s formidable. At a base camp, ten participants square away their gear as a chopper arrives to carry them into the unknown. “Labrador is an extreme environment,” says Adam of Fayetteville, AR. “The isolation and that constant stress of being in some degree of danger at all times is undoubtedly gonna be one of the most difficult challenges that I’ve ever faced in my life.”

The Gist: That dude isn’t wrong. Alone Season 9 Episode 1 is entitled “Drop Shock,” and that’s pretty much what immediately happens for the first contestants we meet. For Igor of Bountiful, UT, traipsing up and down a rocky hillside looking for a location and materials for shelter construction really messes with his caloric burn rate. Idahoan Karie Lee, who at 57 is the second oldest Aloner in the show’s history, initially underestimates how the weather in Labrador can shift drastically in minutes, or even seconds. And Benji, a pack goat guide, hunter, and fisherman from Bellevue, ID, decides that his first and biggest priority is food. “I’m looking for fish, bears, rabbits, edibles for at least my first 30 days before I even start building a shelter.”

As the disclaimer at the beginning of Alone makes clear, participants on the show are trained in survival techniques. Back in the real world they have vocations like wilderness instructors and hunting or glacier guides – Karie Lee and another contestant, Jessie of Pagosa Springs, CO, each plan to use their prize money to establish wilderness schools of their own. That’s right – each. Like most any genre of reality show, every individual who tackles the Alone challenge harbors the unshakeable conviction that he or she will be the last one standing. And given the prowess Karie Lee and Benji show off with their bows, knocking a grouse out of the sky and nailing a squirrel in the shoulder blade at 100 yards, it’s easy to respect these people’s skill sets for survival.

“Really, we’re not doing survival,” Jessie says. “We’re doing primitive living.” But living requires resources, and in the early going of Alone, it’s interesting to see how each contestant navigates the necessities of safe, stable shelter and necessary caloric intake. Many of them planned ahead. Juan Pablo of Pinawa, Canada packed on 30 pounds to prepare for the challenge, guzzling gallons of milk and 350 milliliters of olive oil daily. Because once the local food supply becomes scarce – the onset of winter conditions in Labrador is only weeks away – their bodies will begin to feed on themselves. “I’m really burning calories like crazy and not putting anything back in,” Igor says. But he ends up making a stew from fiber-rich bladderwrack seaweed, so all is not lost. For now…

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As it makes its Netflix debut, Alone season 9 joins the streamer’s own survival reality show, Outlast, which was recently renewed for a second season. Seasoned survivalists gather for that one, too, but the big difference is that they must brave the wilderness and harsh terrain while working in teams. (In other words, cue the drama.) And these days Prime Video carries most seasons of Survivorman, where Les Stroud plunges solo into dangerous and unforgiving environments and films his exploits with camera gear he packs in.

Our Take: Beyond the always interesting individual variations on shelter building and resource management employed by its participants, Alone is always at its most watchable as a barometer of the human condition. These individuals are experts in survival, and possess professional skills. But it’s inevitable that those backgrounds will only take them so far. The environment they’re in? It doesn’t care about training. Vast swaths of undeveloped forest crowded with choking underbrush, constant clouds of stinging black flies undeterred by neck gaiters, marshy land that sucks at each and every footstep, and in the case of Labrador, the very real threat of being stalked and eaten by a polar bear: the reality of this reality show is that it is unapologetically unforgiving, and probably the most dangerous the genre gets. 

And that brings us back to the human condition. Once these individuals eke out their personal environments, they’re really left with only their thoughts as a companion. (At one point Jessie remarks at how odd it feels to vocalize everything that comes into her head for the sake of her camera.) Worries over bear rushes and building up a food supply – those weigh on the mind. And in a state of profound isolation, it’s the space inside the head that always threatens to be most unnavigable. The obstacles these participants have prepared to overcome are many. But how they withstand the psychological challenges of their undertaking is one of Alone’s most powerful hooks.     

Sex and Skin: “Alright, let’s check out my body comp, day 4.” Benji is standing before his stationary camera in just a pair of shorts. “I started this adventure at 221 in my long johns for official weigh-in,” and he tugs at a love handle. “As you can see, I’m not ripped. This is gonna be a video journal of me going from as fat as I’ve ever been, to, hopefully, a Labrador-forged woodsman/hunting machine.”

Parting Shot: Benji, polishing off a dinner of tiny trout he caught in the lee of a stream, says that competing effectively on Alone is all about living in the moment. “I’m gonna go with small steps and just win little battles until there’s no more battles to be fought. I know there’s gonna be a lot of things that I will struggle with here, and I’m gonna have to endure that. But I really feel I was meant to come here, and not feeling so much like I’m on a survival mission but that I’m on one of the greatest adventures of my career.” 

Sleeper Star: Bushcraft, brain-tanning, “slow water,” muskegs, and tenkara: Alone percolates with jargon and terminology specific to survivalism and living in the outdoors, and episodes include helpful onscreen explainers that really add to the viewing experience. 

Most Pilot-y Line: “Being dropped off in the middle of nowhere is just like nothing you could ever imagine. You know you want to be there, but you’re also realizing in the back of your head, a warning light telling you, ‘You have no food. You have no idea what you’re doing.’ And yet you’re very excited to figure out this puzzle.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Alone is refreshingly stark as reality shows go, with nothing external or overproduced to detract from or disturb the individual journeys of its participants, journeys that are full of challenges they must try and overcome all by their lonesome.  

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges