Alone contestant Mike 'heartbroken' to quit show on day one after axe injury

06 August 2023 , 21:00

863     0

Alone contestant Mike 'heartbroken' to quit show on day one after axe injury

As a joiner, it’s particularly galling for Alone contestant Mike that he was forced to quit the show on day one due to an axe wound.

But as viewers of the new Channel 4 series saw last night, despite sewing up his painful slash with butterfly stitches – having been able to see tendons and thigh muscle as it was so deep – there was no way he could continue. “It was heartbreaking,” said the 49-year-old survivalist hopeful, who was one of 11 people fending for themselves in the Canadian wilderness in a bid to win the £100,000 prize.

The axe bounced off “spongy mossy ground” when he used the back of it as a hammer to knock a peg in, amid 60mph winds. “I sat on the beach and butterfly-stitched it up. Every time I walked it moved because it was close to the joint, and I thought: ‘This isn’t going to hold out.There’s no way of keeping it clean – it’s game over.’

Mike opened up about his personal struggles on the show (Channel 4)

“The thing that winds me up the most is that I did it doing something I’ve done all my life. I’m a joiner – I must have cut 40 forests down in my lifetime.”

Mike, a former acid house raver who also spoke about overcoming drug addiction, had to call for help via a satellite phone, with medics flown in and signalling it was “game over” less than 24 hours after he arrived. He needed 10 stitches.

Escape to the Chateau's Dick and Angel give exciting news as fans beg for return

Now he admits there is a trauma to overcome having had to walk away from the experience – so he has his troublesome axe propped above his bedpost “as a healing procedure”. “It’s not working though,” he laughs.

He caught himself with an axe (Channel 4)

Seconds after the incident, he was heard saying: "F***ing hell man, I've nailed myself, f***ing hell man, it's bleeding. Hit the side of my leg with an axe and I know it needs stitches. Absolutely gutted." A helicopter was later drafted in as he said: "I can't believe it man, I'm absolutely devastated, I've worked with tools all my life," before he was taken away from the competition.

Opening up about his life on the show, Mike said: "I think I've got enough about me to deal with the mental struggles that will obviously be there. 30 years ago, I was addicted to heroin, it started with like amphetamine and LSD and then moved on to heroin. Getting clean wasn't straightforward, it was like waking up and someone saying 'stop breathing', so I think that my experience of suffering and getting through suffering gives me a bit of an edge."

● Alone continues on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4. Last night’s episode is available to stream now.

Ashleigh Rainbird