Last night, Channel 4 broadcast the final episode of Alone in the Wild. Now back from his remarkable adventure in the Yukon, star of the show Ed Wardle will be joining The TV Show live in the studio for a Q&A session on Sat 3 October.
Over the course of the last couple of months, Ed’s epic journey has generated a great deal of interest from C4 viewers. From the moment he arrived in the Yukon in early July, it’s been possible to follow Ed’s progress via a dedicated Twitter feed and through exclusive videos posted on the C4 website. Since the show has been on-air, hundreds of viewers have left messages of support for Ed on the website and our Alone in the Wild Facebook page, and many others have sent comments via Viewer Enquiries.
In response to this interest, The TV Show will be hosting a Q&A with Ed during the next programme. Do you want to know more about how the series was made? Do you think Ed should have done things differently? Do you think he tried hard enough to find food? What did Ed find most difficult: hunger or loneliness? And how does 50 days of complete solitude really feel?
Please leave your comments below if you have a question you’d like ask Ed. Alternatively, if you’d like to join the studio audience and put your question to Ed in person, please contact thetvshow@princesstv.com – the programme will be recorded in London two days ahead of broadcast on Thursday 1 October.
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I was wondering, Ed made several references to killing a large animal such as a Moose, and having enough food for 3-4 weeks, but how would
he have stored the meat for that length of time.
Regards
You’re right, butchering large animals and storing big quantities of meat is difficult. You can cut the meat into strips and smoke it/dry it in the sun and you can dig a coldstore in the frozen ground. Summer would be the most difficult but into august and september the bugs start to dissapear as the air cools and you can find frozen ground.
If you had managed to get enough food to fend off starvation and permanent hunger, do you think you could have achieved the full term AITW, or would the loneliness still have got the better of you?
It was a combination of things that got me in the end. I had experienced everything I wanted to experience and I thought I had filmed enough to make the series. I wasnt thinking very clearly through lack of food but I was losing the point of being there. I thought, ‘Any survival expert would use their skills and strength to get out of the wilderness and I’m using all my strength trying to stay out here’. I think I can deal with the solitude but you need a reason to continue in a state of extreme hardship.
Were you sponsored by Kleenex?
That would be product placement and against ofcom rules.
1st My respect for beeing totally TRUE showing your limits and fear (probably much harder than living in the wild). My question is: would you like to try it again?
I’d love to go out there again and I’m sure I will but I don’t feel I need to go back and try to do 3 months. It was an arbitrary number and I think 50 days was an achievement.
There should be no rules or laws in the wild, if he could have killed a moose he could have survived longer. It wasn’t a fair test.
would like to know what brand/make your jacket is, all I can make out is ‘by Scandinavia’ or something similar. Also, why the hell did you leave your canoe!?
Its a Harkila jacket. I had to leave the canoe – there were no rivers coming out of the lake that were big enough for a canoe.
I am about to watch the last episode again, having skimmed it earlier in horrified fascination. Was the decision to obey the law about moose-killing one of conscience or for dramatic effect? Having opted for an air-drop of provisions instead, why did things continue to go downhill at such an alarming rate?
If I killed a moose and filmed it I would be in jail now. If I killed a moose and didnt film it the series wouldnt make sense – i would have had plenty of food but wouldnt be able to explain why I wasnt hungry.
I was surprised when they sent me food. It wasnt requested or planned. At first I was grateful but it soon ran out and that messed with my head. I think it was probably over at that point.
What was the most difficult/strangest thing in re-adjusting to society, and how long were you emotional for on your return?
I didn’t find it difficult coming home – that felt like returning to normality. I didnt want to be alone for a few days and I was exhausted. Ive put the weight back on now but it’ll be a while until I’m match fit again.
The hardest thing for Ed seemed to be the isolation and solitude, rather than the lack of food, as in the last programme food was dropped in but Ed still remained emotionally unable to continue.
As a semi-recluse myself, did you not or have you never had, a period pre this trial, of total isolation?
I understand you had absolutely nothing to emotionally warm you, not even computerised access to people, but would it not have been wise to experience 6 weeks or so of isolation in comfort prior to the show?
Ed clearly had the ability to gut and skin an animal and light a fire and make a “home” – all qualities I would not know how to do in the wild, so I am surprised he did not taste the aloneness before he left.
There were many pressures that added up to make this a tough challenge. Starvation took away my ability to think straight and to reason. Making a television series is a huge pressure even in company and to be infront of camera even greater. The solitude wasnt solely insurmountable but the power of it comes with complete isolation. No radio, music, no communication, no sight of others, sight of civilisation, nothing. Just knowing that there are people in the street outside or in the next village is a completely different situation.
oooh low blow!!
Greatest respect for completing 50 days. Many years ago I was in the army and completed 14 days survival exercise so I can feel for what he went through. However Ed was sat around a lot of the time meditating and thinking about home. To my thinking this was his downfall. He should have been using his time more productively. Making string from grasses and bark to make animal and fish traps would have been a good idea. Sitting about sulking about home is no way to survive.
Question for Ed: You mentioned in the last episode at a low point, that you went to pray and had a really long ‘telephone conversation’ with your girlfriend. Do you believe that this was God’s comforting presence? The poem ‘Footprints in the sand’ seems so appropriate to this…
I found the imaginary phonecalls helpfull. It was a way of giving myself advice and kindness.
I enjoyed the programme, although I think you were mentally out of your depth as you were bubbling when the plane left you on day 1. With a pump action shotgun and a rifle you weren’t exactly John Rambo. John…come in John…
Rambo was crying inside.
Having watched the final episode last night I was very disappointed, it seemed to focus more on your mental condition in dealing with the loneliness rather than the survival aspect , maybe more research should have been done initially .Having cycled across Canada and up to Alasksa , admittedly not in such lonely circumstances, preparation was still a key issue being mentally and physically prepared a necessity. Thinking of making a second series I would love to be your Guinea Pig . Many thanks Steve.
I did a year of research and development and went out to the Canadian wilderness alone for a week in June 2008. We didnt want to make an ‘expert’ programme and we designed a level of training that would make it possible and safe to try the trip but with a level of skill that people could identify with. I am physically fit and climbed Everest for the 3rd time in May this year.
An amazing journey to watch, I have the utmost respect for how long you lasted and how honest you were on camera!
I noticed about 21 mins in the last episode when the Moose is getting out the water, a big fish that looked like a salmon splashing around…. shame you didn’t have your pole
You seemed really keen to try and last the full distance and on this basis…. If you could go back in time do you think you wouldn’t open the letter/photos, it appeared these were quite a catalyst in the decision to call it a day?
I think I must have been watching a different series. Having watched episode one I vowed would not watch number two, but finished the series. I have to say I don’t think I have anyone so less suited to a spell in the wilderness. I have to suppose Ed has never seen Bear Grylls, Bruce Parry? An adventurer of some repute, who can neither provide for himself or exist for more than fifty one days without human company? Is it me would you not think to take some sort of preparation before embarking on such journey? What fauna is available in which season etc. Bear paranoia? Who was the shrink who thought he was mentally able and prepared? I have to question his ability to practice. (see video evidence) Riveting TV but only in a public hanging sort of way.
Agree with andy above, the photos were a bad idea too, and i would have definately gone for the moose, human laws would not count in a survival situation. Well done Ed!
Q to the crying guy: I guess you are embarrased for all the crying you did. You wasted energy messing about on your walks (gotta be draining) when the food was right in front of you when you woke up (squirrel, moose and caribou). So, my question is, apart from a romantic idea of “the wild”, did you ever switch on your brain before you actually went?
To channel4: You sent in the boys, now send in the men?
Since you have been back has anyone told you what you could have done differently to find or catch more food? And were there any Salmon in that river!?
Firstly Ed: Well Done! and thank you for giving us such an insightful look into what it would be like to be in this situation. I am no survival expert, but there really didn’t look like there was anything substantial you could really eat… Not with the restriction that were in place anyway (i.e killing larger animals). I firmly believe if you were in a remote part of the UK or Scotland you probably would not of experienced such a harsh time in finding food. To that end, is there anything you would do differently if you did it again? Would you maybe try in a different location? Or is once enough?
Best Wishes Alex
Excellent programme – big thanks to Ed and well done C4.
I’m curious to know, of all the things that Ed learned from the experience, what lesson does he think would be most useful to pass on to people for their everyday lives and work back here?
how could you kill an innocent porcupine, you didnt need to be out there and could of left at any time, appauling behaviour! i am disgraced.
It seemed to me you were not used to being ill because you seemed surprised at the effect on your emotions of the lowered metabolism. Now you have some idea what those of us with CFS/ME feel like as a result of low blood pressure, low pulse, low temperature, etc.
Well done Ed a fantastic acheavement, but how many batteries did you take for the camaras and what was the smallest one you took with called please. Many thanks again for enduring 50 days in the wild to give us those fantastic pictures WELLDONE. Vic Booth in Hucknall
Ed. Watching the final episode my wife found it hard to watch someone so upset but to me it was like watching someone finishing a maraton. I was willing you on, one more day, you can do it! Even in the confusion of it all, was there a part of you that saw it that way too?
My daughters and I were totally transfixed by your amazing journey. You have totally inspired them with your desire to live an extraordinary life and what you did make that a reality. I have spent much of my life alone and love it but totally understand what you went through. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such incredible footage of human emotion. Congratulations and thank you, it was wonderful.
Very very well done, Ed.
I would like to know what kind of items made up your kit, and if there was anything you’d wished you had included, or in fact, left at home?
Many thanks, you’re a star!!
Ed looks remarkably clean throughout his adventure – including his clothes – how?
Bad choice of presenter/adventurer?
They could have got more mileage from Joe Bloggs straight off the street.
It was embarrassing to watch and i assume they’re paying this adventurer?
In the last episode we can clearly see fish jumping in the lake in the shot with the moose – why did you not catch one?
what a shame the 4od version of this stutters, stops and eventually jams up completely (apart from the damn ads that is, which work perfectly). Come on C4 get your streaming act together. PS before you blame our bandwidth, it’s high speed bb and never had a prob with beeb progs!
do you have any plan to give it another crack next season and get your timings a little closer to salmon season maybe 2 weeks later to make up for the delay in salmon run this year, obviously you are an adventurer having conquered everest and the pole so surely this is in your head to complete it again and go the whole way next time?
hi ed having spent 9 years training men to complete the all arms commando course . i would say you took on to much to soon this is why you found it too difficult. with a little expert addvice any future outdoor survival will be really enjoyable. if you would like any addvice drop me a line. well done for what you achieved.
I was surprised by the lack of ’small game’ caught by Ed to eat.
Was this due to Ed’s inexperience of the canadian wilderness and/or other factors? OUTSTANDING EFFORT !
Great show. You could have survived easily by shooting a moose. Hold those great views in your heart forever. Would Ray Mears have done any better? Perhaps you could get him to do the same thing.
We very much enjoyed Alone in the Wild. Perhaps if Ed had been allowed to shoot caribou or elk he would have not starved. Look forward to the next programme.
You said that you had failed to survive in the wild, but that was only because of the lack of food.. if you were allowed to shoot those moose you could have survived longer you must realise that!! I absolutly felt as though I was with you every step you took, it was such an emotional journey to have taken… with Love xx and God bless xx Angie
I’d like a follow up docu with the likes of ray mears going over his adventure showing what he could have done. Still you can only respect him 50 days was some going, when your out in the wild you burn energy superfast become weak quick thats when the mind goes and you become delerious hence the tears and being all over the place. On top of that you have the fact you could be eaten yourself. Top guy i’m sure he has learnt alot through it.
Surely you’re never really alone in the wild in the 21st Century, thanks to Social networking sites…
Great to live out a boyhood fantasy but why bother filming it if you don’t do anything except cry ! Stunning scenery and isolation, could have been fantastic with a more positive adventurer who made the most of it. Just hours of crying at everything does not make great tv. Also seemed to go in totally unprepared for catching small game and feeding himself.
In the film “Into The Wild” he kills a moose (or a Caribu), and he was advised to smoke the meat but flys got to it, and the meat became infested with maggots. Apparently the correct way to preserve it (used by the locals) is to slice the meat as thinly as possible and hang it until it cures???
doon his y’s ya dobber.
What ultimately defeated Ed was his inability to stay in the “present moment”. He feared the future and desired the past, so in actuality he was rarely ‘present’ at all.
It wasn’t the lack of food that finished him, it was his identification with his own separateness.
wELL i DON’T MIND men CRYING
Well, I don’t mind MEN crying but come on Ed……..what a whimpering mess. I have visited remote places and love that area so wanted to watch your adventure but really……..everytime you started to cry I just said…..oh no, not again. Wanted to know if you cried your way up Mount Everest? You would have been laughed out of camp with ‘climbers’! Really Ed….get a grip! Big whimp and don’t tell me there are no fish in that lake?! A show I will soon forget!
Give me three things you took with you but didn’t really use or need and three things you wish you had taken.
Sorry, but I think it’s more interesting watching someone cope (dare to say), than someone who it’ll be a walk in the park.
I guess you’re too used to the same old. :/
Everyone’s human. I think you’re the one that needs to get a grip. News flash, apparently most people don’t think like you do.
Ed. A great achievement. Besides what people say about you ‘not being prepared’ or ‘crying too much’. I think that it’s much more interesting to see how someone who isn’t accustomed to living in the wild copes.
Seriously? Another Bare Grylls would be boring. It was more interesting to see the mental – and physical – struggles you went through.
I don’t think many people understand what 50 days, especially on your own means.
Was it a struggle to keep your emotions in tact? Did you find it difficult to record yourself showing how you felt?
This is intended as an informative comment so I don’t see why you guys are giving it the thumbs down. If you know what is causing negative emotions it is easier to be philosophical about them. In starvation, thryoid output drops as an energy conservation measure, but this has radical side effects, as Ed discovered.
Loving the series so far. Wondering if you would ever consider doing this again? And if so, would you be willing to take any volounteers with you? Would love to do it!!
I have read many comments relating to this programme. I fail to see how anyone could find it intersting or entertaining! Car crash telly, watching paint dry and stop whimpering come to mind. One other thing how many times did he say all he needed was to catch that elusive salmon? He was unprepared, too emotive and did not have the will to win. Watched the whole series hoping that bear might eat him! Get a grip channel 4 and give us some real adventure.
Question for Ed: Do you have any idea where the salmon was that you where expecting? Was it just not there or wrong season or where you too far up north?
Many congrats for your great achievement! I was also wondering if you have asked your girlfriend to marry you, since you clearly love her very much
Tell you what. I was enthralled with every episode. True isolation can be terrifying & will lead to self doubt and feelings of despair. Tears, felt every one. Laughter I nearly wet myself. Just a bloody good programme so a very well done to Ed. Seems a great guy.
I think this was a fascinating experiment with quite fascinating results ! Ed , I thought it took real guts to last 50 days, in particular with the threat of bears. My quesion is, having had so much time to think, did you examine your relationships with others and at times feel guilty about things you had done or said in the past? If so, have you returned with a different outlook and a resolve to change anything in your life?
ed had hunted nearly nothing and was just running off his supplies… and he even got dropped in even more supplies and most the time you just saw him crying thinking about eating froot loops at his table…. whimpering pathetic boy
Hi Ed,
I am doing my dissertation on western societies relationship with the wilderness and the reasons why many of us feel the impulse to return to it. which was initially inspired from watching the film ‘into the wild’. With activities like backpacking, trekking, adventure holidays and in more extreme circumstances, solo expeditions like yours, I just wonder why you think many feel the urge to go to these places. especially now you’ve actually lived in it for so long?
What surprised you most about yourself during your time Alone in the Wild and what is your most vivid memory of it now? Thanks for such an inspiring series Ed – so courageous and honest.
ROFL can’t help laughing at the comments. My additional comment “low blow” was to the bloke who asked if Ed had been sponsored by Kleenex. I wonder if any of us get off our arses and do anything remotely interesting or just comment on other ppl doing them? (runs from the onslaught of thumbs).
I really enjoyed watching the 3 programmes. A facinating insight into the 50 days spent alone in the wild.
Is there anything you’ve missed about the wild since returning?
What is your best memory of the experience?
I really enjoyed watching this and was full of empathy and excitement to start with…not least because Ed is so photogenic!!…not least for his capacity to laugh at himself…. the last episode however revealled a darker side of my own personality when I could nt help laughing out loud at the endless blubbing…and even shouting YES!! when Ed repeatedly asked if he should quit!!!…..all that blubbing could never be worth it…thankfully lifted by all the chuckling, particularly when you were sitting in the hotel bed clutching your hunk of cheese and devouring it with our hunting knife…..good fun!??!
Wow I love the series He is very natural in everything he did i like him . I have a man crush on Ed
I like him I have a man crush on Ed
This took real courage. Food is obviously a key to physical and psychological health! I used to work in the north, often alone, as a bear researcher (polar & grzzly), did some of it, in fact, @ Destruction Bay, YT. Fabulous country, v. dangerous. You really took me back. Even scared me! It took real guts, man! Hats off! (I’d have loved to be with you!) Those who criticize have no idea.
You’ve obviously NEVER spent even a night in the northern wilderness with only a sheet of nylon protecting you. Then extend that to the cummulative effect of 50 days, and not nearly enough food. You’re talking through your hat, lassy, and insulting a v. brave guy to boot!
Oh please… get a grip. This was a survival situation, and we are, after all, omnivores, evolved from early hunter-gatherers. It’s completely ethically OK to kill and eat something. How do you think that porcupine would have otherwise died? I’ll tell you: ripped apart by wolves, a lynx, a wolverine or a bear.
Live on lettuce; you’ll die. Oh, and so will the lettuce. Poor lettuce.
Part of this experiment was presumably to see what the true wilderness and lonliness would do to someone who was not experienced in the woods. what good would it be to watch an expert such as yourself who would no doubt shrug off those factors? I studied grizzly bears quite near the location of this shoot; it’s quite OK to be, as you call it, paranoid. I was charged 3 times. It keeps you on your toes!
This was fascinating!
Dear Ed, firstly, I think you showed a very brave and honest view of your emotions. I would like to know, when you reflect now upon your experience, do you feel you succeeded or failed? In my eyes you are a true survivor, you proved how strong you are as a person to survive 50 days alone in the wild, let alone the 3 months you had set yourself. I have huge respect for you. x
ed…. i really felt your solitude and that is such a great gift in todays disgustin untrustin life of us humans. to be given as you said a child hood dream and to my opinion waste it provein how much we rely on granted easy gifts of our modern life. lets be honest ed YOU FAILD DRAMATICLY. i would love the chance you was given honestly love it and in fact do 4 months. tar steve o’donnell
Totally agree with you, what he did was amazing, I would love to see all the people who critize him try it for themselves, we dont realise how much we need human company.
all these negative comments from very clever people sitting in their homes watching you struggle with hunger and isolation. Well done ed for srviving 50 days. What next for you and did you settled back into your normal life again.
IV’E JUST READ THIS OUT TO MY HUSBAND AND HE CALLED ME A TART!!! HE WOULD NEVER SURVIVE THE WILDERNESS
“would like to know what brand/make your jacket is”
Harkila of Scandanavia. High-end clothing mostly for upland game hunters.
On TV in general, there are never any programmes about the English people, English culture and the English language. Everything is spoken of in British, Scottish and Welsh terms. I would like to see the English people of England get programmes about them in particular, and not being refered to as British.
Any plans for touring the country (Edinburgh) and giving some talks? Would love to hear your side of the story!
great show just wondered if you could have stayed the full amount of time if you had been with 1 other person. ?i don’t think anybody can make it alone.
The splash looked more like a beaver alerting other beaver than a fish.
It was a beaver
I was really amazed by this programme. It really touched me especially when I think I am going through difficult times.
I , like Ed, am not into materialistic items so what I really want to know is what affect this adventure had on his relationships with his girlfriend, family and friends when he went home.
Enjoyed the program but being in bear country and all the references about bears , found it hard to beleive you didnt get one peice of film of a bear.
Senator McCain lived 6 years in a POW camp. He was starved and beaten daily. He did have human contact. In your opinion, whose experience was more difficult? Thanks.
Google Dick Proenneke and if you get the chance to watch his documentary entitled “Alone in the Wilderness” it’s a must. Proenneke inspired such awe in his viewers and amazement at what one man could do alone in the wilderness. 50 days? He made it 32 years and only came out of the Alaskan wilderness at the age of 82! There could not be two more polar opposite men and adventures.
Just saw Ray Mears nothern wilderness programme on bbc 2, giving basic details on how to survive in such places, ed wardle should have seen it before he left LOL, the guy was completely out of his depth, and got so many basics wrong as shown by experts
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