History Channel Episode 5 Only, season 9, takes place during days 21-26. Eight contestants remain at the beginning of the episode.
This is a recap and review of episode 5. At the end, I will provide some guesses as to who will last until the end and who could successfully hunt a bear.
Spoilers to follow!
Adam
Treefort Guy begins his segments by highlighting his squirrel-hunting prowess. He also takes a moment to show off his shelter window, which honestly seems like it adds a lot of aesthetic value to the space. But then Adam’s stomach hurts. He is concerned that it is a parasite like giardia and finds some birch bark for tea. Luckily, he feels better the next day.
jessi
We only see Jessie briefly in this episode, where she is still building her shelter. I’ll be so disappointed if she leaves before she can finish it!
Juan Pablo
Juan Pablo scared me when he explained that he was drinking unboiled water.
He also spends time building a dock. At first, he was skeptical (possibly because he doubted his abilities after the unboiled water thing), but it turns out that the dock made fishing for him quite effective. He can cast longer and the fish seems to be easier to catch. He manages to catch six brook trout! Docks, not just for drinking beer, apparently.
karie lee
Karie Lee’s segments feel like a Bob Ross episode as she always has a positive and enthusiastic mindset. She starts out in a great mood, as usual, and she doesn’t even get frustrated when she misses a shot with a squirrel. She explains that she wants to forge a spiritual connection with the land while she is on the show and appears to be doing so. She also manages to catch a large brook trout while she is fly fishing. Karie Lee is just connecting with a smile on her face.
Thomas
Most of Tom’s segment focuses on his hideout. He is the one who was building his on the side of the cliff, using the land side as a wall. He likened his shelter to a mix of “cabin, mine shaft, and giant basket,” which seemed pretty apt to me. He also used river clay and stone to create a fireplace that honestly looked like it had been thrown from someone’s cabin.
Tom also gave us a lesson on the daily trap check, explaining that it’s inhumane not to do it and that you could lose your prey if another animal takes it. He catches a decent sized snowshoe hare in his third trap and makes a rabbit stew. I think Tom is moving up in my estimation of the final contenders.
benji
Lastly, we have Benji. He was one of my favorites last week, so this week he took an interesting turn. Guy, I told you not to eat that beaver!
Before my reasons for saying so came up, Benji talked about why he was putting off hunting a bear for a few weeks. He claimed that there was no way to preserve meat efficiently without cold weather. I never considered that!
Benji finally works on his permanent shelter, using the Wikiup style, and sharpens his axe. He also creates a fleshing beam to remove fat from beaver fur. He gets the fat equivalent of a beaver’s tail to turn into suet, and puts the fat in his tail to transport it. Is that where his future problem came from? Or was it him from eating from an animal that stayed too long after it died? Or maybe it was bad luck from another source (maybe from that grouse he shot)? Either way, Benji gets sick.
He wakes up with a terrible stomach ache and spends his time trying to remedy it with yarrow, Qigong exercises and naps. Finally, after constant burping and other less pleasant bodily experiences, she has to ask for help fearing serious illness. Is it Canada’s latent revenge for hunting our national animal? If so, Terry from last week should be careful!
It’s really too bad for Benji. He was a real contender to stay until the end, and I thought he was the most likely to catch a bear. It just shows you that sometimes the most dangerous things in the forest are not the animals but the microscopic beings that can cause an enormous amount of damage. If I ever went on the show (ha!), one of my items would be a big tub of hand sanitizer.
my review
Since Benji is out of the running, my top three based on this episode are Jessie, Adam, and Terry.
For now, Juan Pablo can stick to the bear hunt prediction because the guy constantly surprises me.
The next episode airs June 30 on the History Channel.
