The TV survival show that's so terrifying one contestant quit within hours

04 August 2023 , 20:50

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Terrified Naomi in the show (Image: Channel 4)

One contestant in Channel 4’s new extreme reality show Alone doesn’t make it past the first day.

The wannabe survivalist is one of 11 people sent off to fend for themselves in the Canadian wilderness. But just a few hours in, disaster strikes and they are forced to call for medical help, which means leaving the show.

An insider said: “It’s a real shame but one person has to quit after something goes badly wrong. They are gutted. They haven’t even managed to build themself a shelter. It just shows how hard it is to do these things on your own with no help whatsoever.”

The first quitter can take some comfort in the knowledge that the next person to leave the show doesn’t fare much better, however, admitting defeat a mere two days later. The biggest threat to the contestants in the Northwest Territories are the local bears, although the ones found nearby are of the black variety – which are far more afraid of people than their aggressive grizzly cousins.

Contestant Elise shivers in the wilderness (Channel 4)

Despite this, Welsh mum and outdoor clothing designer Naomi, 26, can be seen nervously clutching her bear horn in the first episode as one comes close to her shelter in the middle of the night. In the six-part series, the contestants – who include an autistic foraging fan, an extreme sports coach, a transatlantic rower, an ex-Army officer and a reformed drug addict – are left to fend for themselves in remote spots in a bid to win the £100,000 prize.

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Channel 4 boss Ian Katz said the British version of Alone has been helped by the experience of producers on the 10 series in the US. It has been billed as the most uncompromising survival experiment ever attempted on TV. Mr Katz explained: “There’s a huge amount of knowledge there about what is mortal danger and what isn’t. It’s a genuinely hazardous show… we just have to mitigate all those hazards as carefully as we can.”

* Alone starts on Channel 4 tomorrow at 9pm.

Nicola Methven