Alone is a survival show different from all the rest.  The difference is that the participants are completely alone.  There is not a group of camera men and producers just off screen.  Participants are dropped off in a harsh wilderness environment with limited equipment.  Someone could die, but nobody has yet.  The participants are spread out, five or ten miles from any other participant.  Each has a few cameras to film themselves and a radio to call in when they are ready to quit.  The last person remaining wins a big money prize.

Alone is a great show to have on in the background because there isn’t a plot, but each participant is doing something interesting.  After watching several seasons, there is dependable sequence to the seasons.

First episode:  Participants get dropped off.  A tarp is thrown over a tree for an expedient shelter, then each person does a little recon of their area.  They spend the night terrified of getting eaten by the local apex predators.  Each person talks about how prepared they are for this experience, but by the end of the episode, one or two have dropped out.

The next few episodes:  Participants build a shelter, set snares, gather plants and mushrooms and start fishing.

Episodes after that:  Some people get really hungry, somebody gets injured, a few try hunting.  It starts getting really cold.  A few more people drop out.  People who stay are making musical instruments or patio furniture to keep busy.

The last few episodes, there are three or four people toughing it out.  Somebody accidentally burns down their hut, some else is delirious from starvation.  One by one, they drop out until the last person wins.

To keep the seasons from getting repetitive, the producers vary the situation.  The first few seasons are on the Western Canadian coast, so the terrain is mountainous and miserable, fishing is the best approach and water may be scarce.   In Mongolia, water is available and it’s flat, so fishing can work along with snares for small animals.  In central Canada, big game hunting is feasible.  Moose, bear and musk ox are hunted.

Another way to mix it up is to vary the participants.  One season, they choose people who didn’t win from previous seasons.  In another, they use teams of two, rather than individual participants.  Loneliness is a big issue, so that could have helped, but it didn’t change things much. 

Alone is not a show to watch with your full attention, but in the background, it works great.  I’d give it 8 out of 10.  It’s showing on Hulu, Netflix and the History Channel.