The Shortest Amount Of Time A Contestant Has Ever Stayed On Alone
"Alone," the hit History Channel series with 10 seasons, is not a contest for the faint of heart. While many of us think we could hack it by ourselves in the wild, when a person is dropped off completely alone in the middle of the unforgiving wilderness, it's a different story. In fact, it's not uncommon in the show for a few contestants to give up rather quickly and leave the competition within the first few days because it just turned out to be more difficult than they expected. This is exactly what happened to "Alone" contestant Desmond White during Season 2 of the series.
After being dropped off in the remote wilderness of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, White decided to call it quits after only six hours in the wild. While White was an experienced combat veteran, the presence of fresh bear scat around his campsite made him decide to leave only a few hours after arriving. In fact, as White said in Episode 1, the evidence of bear activity in the area made him feel "vulnerable," especially without a gun or no real weapons to defend himself. While this happened in Season 2, White still holds the record for the shortest stay on "Alone."
Fan reactions to Desmond White leaving
Because of Desmond White's short stint on "Alone" and almost immediate decision to leave, many fan pages all over the internet have discussed him in a bad light. Most of all, viewers seem to be upset that White had talked himself up quite a bit as someone who would never tap out but then turned around and gave up almost immediately.
However, others pointed out that it may not have been just the bears that made White tap out, but also the creepiness of being in the forest. According to one Redditor on the Alone TV forum of the website, the fact that White was raised in Arizona and probably spent his time in the military in the desert means that he wasn't used to the forest. "Woods, especially in the Pacific [Northwest] can seem really eerie and claustrophobic to a person not used to them."
Others mentioned that White seemed to not have the survival skills needed in general to do well on "Alone," and that the show seemed to have set him up to fail. Another Redditor pointed out that although White was in the army, being in the army doesn't automatically mean that someone can build a shelter and successfully hunt long enough to survive in the wilderness.
Other contestants who left within 24 hours
Besides White, there have been plenty of contestants who have left "Alone" pretty quickly and for different reasons. In fact, Season 1 had a contestant, Josh Chavez, who left after 12 hours. Compared to White, Chavez was much more experienced in bushcraft and was an avid hunter who had taken many wilderness survival courses. However, what ended up causing Chavez to leave was not only the presence of bear scat but also a bear sighting that he caught on camera his first day. Later that same night, Chavez heard the bear rummaging around in his campsite near his tent and had to shout to scare it off. After that too-close encounter, he decided to call it quits.
The only other contestants to leave the show within 24 hours of arriving in the wild were brothers Brad and Josh Richardson, who competed on Season 4 of "Alone" where the premise of the show was changed so that contestants worked in pairs instead of by themselves. Although the Richardson team had done plenty of mental and physical preparation beforehand, Josh unfortunately slipped and injured himself on the first day forcing the pair to tap out.