Canadian Prepper Gets Real

Canadian prepper gets real.

Shortly after my book came out to the public, I was contacted by the History channel. They were looking for people to audition for the series called "Alone." Now, I read several comments on various forum that this was a rigged event and that only hand picked actors were being used.

I am here to tell you that was not the case, this was the real deal! Real survivalists, real people, no actors. The casting director did her homework and contacted people that had put out books or that made survival videos.

A nice young woman from a high-rise office in New York got me by e-mail, initially, because I had posted it on one of my websites. We had a delightful conversation about the wildness and what they were looking for. But as life sometimes does, they declined my audition application because I was 60 years old and a woman. She didn't say as much but I think they thought I would have been a health risk.

I had been living out in the woods for some 20 years by the time this was going to be filmed, and my summation was that they were looking for people who could survive but had emotional problems. You know, drama means ratings. I lived totally alone out here for more than a year at one point and knew what I was going to be facing with being dumped out in the wilderness alone for a long period of time. Like I said, drama sells and there would not have been much drama from me. I would have been perfectly content to stay a long time and told the person on the other end of the phone as much, during that first inquisition. (Another casting director contacted me months later for a filming of "House", a family consisting of a mother, 3 kids and a grandmother-of which I would have played-during a prolonged power outage. I declined this offer because I knew how this one ends. LOL 3 kids and their mother without electronic devices and a flushing toilet. Oh, hell NO.)

But that my dearest friends, was not what the "Alone" people were looking for. And the fact I would  had to carry around my survival stuff in a backpack plus 45 pounds of camera equipment gave them to thinking I was too weak or old or whatever to be suitable for where they were sending the contestants. Ha, their loss. I think an old woods women not crying into the camera, out lasting the youngsters would have been some real unique TV viewing. And too, there are perfectly healthy folks still living out in the backwoods in other parts of the U.S. that would have been suitable but they didn't get asked either. But, I digress.

I came across this video from Canadian Prepper today, one that I hadn't seen before. I feel that it is the best essay on what happens to the human psyche when left alone in the wilderness. He touches on bunker dwellers too. (Read in my book "Lessons of a Long Winters Night"  How to Survive and Thrive When the Power is Out. Amazon.com) 

Give this video a look-see, you won't be disappointed. He captures and digs home the need for like minded folks in your corner when disaster strikes. I love what he has to say, Canadian Prepper hits the nail on the head with this one.

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyEQrpQC88g