Win the Wilderness: Alaska
Author
Discussion

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

279 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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Glad I only watched the last episode.

hondafanatic

4,969 posts

219 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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I enjoyed the first few episodes but didn't watch the last couple as I really didn't care who won.

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

279 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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So you've won a log cabin that you can only access by light aircraft and a quad. You have no right of residency in the US and are not citizens. For long periods of the year it's dark all day any you are completely cut off.

I don't see an upside.

I live one mile down a lane, no mains water or drainage, no phone or internet but I do have mobile signal and electricity. If I want civilisation, it's not far away. If I don't want to see or talk to anyone, I can turn my phone off. That is bliss, being in control of isolation or not.

There's more than a whiff of The Shining about this.

Stussy

Original Poster:

2,235 posts

82 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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So far I’ve found their website, which has no updates since last week https://www.markandemily.com/ and a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/winthewilderness/ updated 15 hours ago with a photo of the house and #theadventurebegins

Usually winners are straight on the socials after a result is finally released, I can’t help but think this isn’t as obvious a win as they might hope

Legacywr

13,902 posts

206 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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The way Dwayne(?) wore his eyepatch needs a photo on the ‘These photos make my teeth itch’ thread’.... only about 25% of it covered where his eye would have been?

ChocolateFrog

32,941 posts

191 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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Sounds quite interesting. Ivw not watched it but what's to stop them just selling it immediately when all the filming has wrapped up.

Stussy

Original Poster:

2,235 posts

82 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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I thought the same, maybe there are some clauses

thegreenhell

20,463 posts

237 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
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ChocolateFrog said:
Sounds quite interesting. Ivw not watched it but what's to stop them just selling it immediately when all the filming has wrapped up.
Possibly nothing, other than the same reason why the original owners let it go to a show like this, i.e. it's not an easy sell.

zygalski

7,759 posts

163 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
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It was ok.
I was a bit baffled as to why they'd film it in the Summer, unless they plan to shut up shop for at least 4 months of the year.
The house is at the top of a bloody great hill in the middle of Alaska FFS.
A test would have been trundling around in 4 feet of snow at -20, not swatting mossies away in July....

OFORBES

535 posts

118 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
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I watched it too, and wondered if there would be a thread on here about it hoping that the knowledgeable PH members might be able to answer a lot of the questions that popped into my head whilst watching it.

I thought it was quite easy to identify who would be in the final, and after a couple of episodes I called it with the farmer and his much younger wife.

It just gave my over thinking, logical brain a real work out. What about Visa's? How do they generate enough income to pay for the flights in and out, what happens if they have an emergency and need things to fix a problem? its not like they can pop to B&Q to get a drill bit if one breaks?

And I agree, if there ever was a programme that needed a follow up then this is one of them! At least they should have had a few extra episodes perhaps filmed over a 1 year period that followed them on their adventure to show the viewers how they got on!

Duane and Rena were a socially awkward couple, but I warmed to them toward the end.

The whole concept of the show though, why move all that way to Alaska to live like that!? You could move to parts of the Scottish Highlands and live the same kind of life?

ChocolateFrog

32,941 posts

191 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
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OFORBES said:
I watched it too, and wondered if there would be a thread on here about it hoping that the knowledgeable PH members might be able to answer a lot of the questions that popped into my head whilst watching it.

I thought it was quite easy to identify who would be in the final, and after a couple of episodes I called it with the farmer and his much younger wife.

It just gave my over thinking, logical brain a real work out. What about Visa's? How do they generate enough income to pay for the flights in and out, what happens if they have an emergency and need things to fix a problem? its not like they can pop to B&Q to get a drill bit if one breaks?

And I agree, if there ever was a programme that needed a follow up then this is one of them! At least they should have had a few extra episodes perhaps filmed over a 1 year period that followed them on their adventure to show the viewers how they got on!

Duane and Rena were a socially awkward couple, but I warmed to them toward the end.

The whole concept of the show though, why move all that way to Alaska to live like that!? You could move to parts of the Scottish Highlands and live the same kind of life?
I'd imagine when you live that remotely things happen on much much slower timescales. Something breaks and you can't fix it then it won't be a next day call out or quick trip to the shops, it'll be a supply run in weeks or months.

I read somewhere that you're never more than (6 or 9) miles from a tarmaced road in the British Isles, so from almost anyone's perspective outside the likes of Luxembourg or Monaco it's impossible to be properly remote in the UK.

I watched another of the living in Alaska type programmes on Discovery and the guy they followed would guide hunting parties and sell beaver pelts to make ends meet, certainly not a luxury lifestyle though.

The kind of thing I'd enjoy having a go at for a season, would much prefer the winter over a mozzie infested summer though.

ChocolateFrog

32,941 posts

191 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
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zygalski said:
It was ok.
I was a bit baffled as to why they'd film it in the Summer, unless they plan to shut up shop for at least 4 months of the year.
The house is at the top of a bloody great hill in the middle of Alaska FFS.
A test would have been trundling around in 4 feet of snow at -20, not swatting mossies away in July....
Logistics of moving all that manpower and equipment in winter I'd guess, as well as equipment failing and the risk of being isolated and having to pay the whole crew for a few extra weeks would be my guess.

Also wouldn't it be dark for 20 hours a day too.

Fundoreen

4,180 posts

101 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
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This program only makes sense if they follow thier progress over the year after they move in. The whole building up to who gets it is a waste of time.
The bbc know people prefer to dream than see reality.

Stussy

Original Poster:

2,235 posts

82 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
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Yep, they’re pretty much locked down with cabin fever in the winter.
There’s an article here about the logistics and behind the scenes of filming the series:
https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/factual/win-the-wil...

Also, they’ve put a few posts on Facebook saying they’re doing a Q&A, so I’ve asked what the situation is/was regarding green cards

Stussy

Original Poster:

2,235 posts

82 months

Wednesday 4th March 2020
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They were interviewed on the radio this morning, you can hear it starting at 1:33:20

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p083njxx

The subject of green cards comes up briefly, and Mark as good as says they’ve not got any yet!

OFORBES

535 posts

118 months

Wednesday 4th March 2020
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So basically they can only go and stay out there for a few months, then they need to come back for a "reasonable amount of time" before they can go back out??


pidsy

8,502 posts

175 months

Wednesday 4th March 2020
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Duane and Rena’s children are unable to take the house on - I’m not surprised! I bet they’ve got lovely lives in civilisation and want nothing to do with it!

The winners were the only real candidates from the off. As much as it’d be lovely to go out there, I can’t imagine
Living there.

Stussy

Original Poster:

2,235 posts

82 months

Wednesday 4th March 2020
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My guess is that you’ll only see them there in the summer months, then they’ll just lock it down for winter

the tribester

2,772 posts

104 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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It was a bit of a strange selection process. If a couple did well in the first one, they got an immediate golden ticket, without going through other 'tests'

I thought Mark the farmer was going to be most able, but he 'hadn't handed his farm over to his kids yet'' and then his wife announced she had MS and would not be able to afford the medication if she lived there, so I discounted them.

The younger couples,thought they could survive doing guided fishing or motorcycle holidays. Without any other financial backing, they'd have no chance.

The traveller types hadn't finished travelling, and then being stuck in one isolated spot, I couldn't see it happening.

I'd felt that Pete the retired Policeman and Jane the former midwife were most suited. Settled, grown up kids, 2 x good pensions as income.

I was wrong then.

768

17,881 posts

114 months

Saturday 7th March 2020
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The ending was, probably predictably, pretty heart wrenching.

Duane and Rena's story didn't really feel like it was given justice by the story of the competition, other than perhaps fleetingly in those final scenes.