Last year I discovered that Ultimate Survival Alaska made for a good stop-gap in between seasons of Survivor, which does not return to late Febuary, for my competition fix (though this year The Challenge starts this week two but at the ungodly hour of 11:00 for some reason). Granted I need this season of Ultimate Survival Alaska to get the stench of Blood vs. Water II from my mind (clearly the format is flawed, the first season was only entertaining thanks to Ciera), one of the bottom five worst season of the show. Really, Baylor and Keith are the only ones from the season I would even mind seeing again. The others I would be mad would get an invite back. Well, I would be mad if I saw one of the twins, the douchebag brothers, or the catty gay dude, the rest I probably will not even remember them if I ever saw them again. With that said I am looking forward to Blue Collar vs. White Collar vs. No Collar; the show is at its best when it divides team by personal or physical traits with the exception of the age season.
Not that Ultimate Survival Alaska is much like Survivor, it is much more akin to The Amazing Race since this is an actual race. Except there are no elimination no silly challenges, all you have to do is get to point A to point B in sixty hours without dieing. And that is the reason to watch, unlike the control environment of Survivor, there is a fair chance of serious injury and even death climbing up glaciers and trekking through bear country. And if you lose your flint, there is no Jeff Probst to barter with for new supplies or more food. Within the first fifteen minutes of the new season, there is already the first near death experience.
This season Team Endurance is back to defend their crown with Team Military, with a new member in tow, is out to avenge their close lost last season. After finishing third, the Mountaineers picked up a new member and since they all now hail from the state dubbed them selves Team Alaska. There is a new team made up of entire newbies called Team Lower 48 with a climber from California, a skier from Utah, and a kayaker from North Carolina. And to say these three to not get along is an understatement, the editor responsible for inserting the bleeps got a workout this season.
The third season opens as usual with teams looking for the Insertion Flag which the producers placed on the other side of a lake where the race starts giving each team the option to either walk around the lake or trying walking over and hope the ice is still thick enough to hold them. Half the teams do trying to transverse the thawing lake. And that is the easy part; from there they have to climb up a mountain to reach the Landing Zone before time expires. Leg twos no easier as they have to descend a mountain right into bear country where they will find the new Landing Zone. Though the competition is grueling, the teams sometime actually manage to have fun like the team that wins the third leg who decides to hide and leaved joke gifts in the winner’s barrel. For those that missed the first two seasons, Ultimate Survival Alaska is a thrilling competition with beautiful scenery that should produce enough entertainment until the new season of Survivor.
Ultimate Survival Alaska airs Sundays at 9:00 on the National Geographic Channel.
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