Alone Season 2 is off to a bang.

[bryan@dusty.ninja]

@swelljoe such a waste of calories. This is before everyone figured out a big advantage to this contest is starting obese.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

But, instead of solving his lack of dry shelter, he's going to climb a mountain. For veterans.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@bryan I am stunned Justin has lasted this long. He's doing everything other than preparing for a long stay.

I didn't want to say anything about Tracy's weight, but I expected that to be an advantage for her come winter, if she'd lasted that long, and if she was still able to get the work done in terms of stockpiling firewood, building up shelter and kitchen, preserving some food, while carrying around some extra weight. I think there's probably a balance to be found...ideal is chubby but fit?

[bryan@dusty.ninja]

@swelljoe
Yeah it’s still a unicorn of physically fit but covered in layers of fat. It’s just so hard to find enough food while building a shelter and chopping firewood constantly.

Also the food must taste so terrible without seasoning… but when starving they don’t even notice.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@bryan yeah, I think it's probably a miserable existence, but I were going out there, I'd be going out there to win it. If I'm going to suffer for weeks or months, I'd want a return.

And, so many of these folks are making terrible decisions, wasting effort, calories, and time, on absolutely ridiculous projects. It is remarkable how bad these decisions are. We're clearly several generations away from needing to actually live off the land. Ancestral memory clearly doesn't include preserving food.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@bryan I see these guys building toys, and I'm like, "Winter is coming!"

Jose is like a week into making a boat, while doing seemingly nothing else to prepare.

Justin is climbing a mountain for literally no reason, while weak from hunger, through very rough, steep, terrain covered in brush and deadfall. I'm convinced he's trying to break his leg so he has an excuse to get out of there without feeling weak.

[bryan@dusty.ninja]

@swelljoe
This is such a great show to armchair yell at the TV. All these boat building when they barely spend an hour fishing from the shore. I’m constantly yelling at them to fish all day … it’s like, bro, you just sit there with a line in the water! Also, it keeps you from doing something stupid. Just fish, chop wood, eat, and sleep.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

Nicole is a delight. Totally chill, but respectful, about the several bears who share her creek. She's letting a salmon go because she doesn't need it today. Knows her plants. Making very few major mistakes, though I don't know about cooking and eating at her shelter when there are numerous bears in sniffing range. She's been lucky, so far. Maybe the bears keep the cougars away and the bears are still well-fed from the creek, but the rules change as winter approaches.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

Jose built a boat that wants so badly to dump him in the water. Incredible. He can save it with outriggers, but this is not good planning.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

Justin is talking himself into leaving. No idea why he waited so long. It was always going to go this way, from the moment he gave himself over to Projects.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

In this episode, Jose does not exhibit good judgement.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

I genuinely did not expect these three to be the last ones standing. Jose, who wasted a week on a boat and tried to kill himself with Red Tide mussels? Larry, who cannot go an hour without complaining and cursing out every object in earshot?

David had a real tough start and did some dumb stuff, but he's doing OK now, and he's the only one eating. I reckon it's gonna be the pastor. I'm actually surprised he's still eating without having preserved anything...but, he's still catching fish.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

Larry's praying. Does he know David is a professional prayer? Feels unfair if it all comes down to prayer and there's a ringer in the bunch.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

Larry's got his second wind.

I can't help think about all these folks having watched the first season (one of them mentioned making fun of Lucas from the first season, who is imminently make-funnable, so I assume that means they all saw the first season), and then making all the same mistakes the first batch made. Did they not realize the biggest mistakes were "Projects" and "Boat"?

[swelljoe@mas.to]

Jose's boat tried to kill him again. This might be the time to pay the Boat Price.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

The boat does not forgive and cannot be defeated. Seconds after that screenshot was taken, Jose tapped out.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

Boat drinking game, where whenever a contestant on Alone builds, pilots, falls out of, or loses the game because of, a boat, you drink. For serious drinkers, only.