The Terrifying Bear Interaction That Made An Alone Contestant Quit Instantly
History's hit TV series "Alone" has had its fair share of bear encounters in the past. This is especially true of the seasons that take place on Vancouver Island in the middle of British Colombia which is home to plenty of black bears and a small population of grizzlies. While many contestants begin their journey knowing they may encounter a bear while on "Alone," most of them aren't fully prepared for the true weight of the situation until it happens to them. This is what happened to Season 2 competitor, Tracy Wilson, whose terrifying bear encounter caused her to call it quits after eight days in the wild.
The incident started when Wilson began hearing the noises of wild animals rustling around her camp and ominously declared that although she hadn't seen them, she thought "they would come to visit tonight" (via YouTube). Because of this, she went to sleep with her bear horn in the hopes of being able to scare away anything that ventured too close. That night, she awoke to twigs snapping and a deep sniffing sound around her shelter. She then attempted to scare the animal away by shouting and blowing her horn but was unsuccessful.
How Wilson got the bear to back off
When the bear wouldn't leave, Wilson resorted to stepping out of her shelter with a lit flare in one hand and a camera in the other and shouted at the bear to "get the hell out of here." It was then that she was finally able to see that it was a baby bear that had been making all the ruckus around her campsite. Although she successfully scared the cub away, she was left feeling unsettled. As Wilson put it in her tap-out video via YouTube, "I expected to see the bears, but I didn't want to have any stand-offs between mamas and cubs."
It was because of this that Wilson decided to officially tap out and become the third person to leave the show in Season 2. However, Wilson wasn't the only one to tap out due to a bear scare that season. In fact, one of her fellow contestants, Desmond White, quit the show after only six hours because of evidence of bears in the area.
Albeit short, Wilson is still remembered fondly by fans for her time on "Alone." According to Redditors on the Alone TV forum of the website, "she made a major impression for a player who didn't last super long" and "was a wonderful combination of strength and heart." Sadly, Wilson died in 2019 after a "sudden illness," per her obituary. She was 48 years old.