They’ve hunted, fished and foraged. They’ve come out on the other side of personal tragedy, armed combat and even an avalanche. But will these hardcore survivalists beat the Alaskan wilderness — and each other — for a chance to win $1 million? The answer to that question remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: The 16 contestants of Outlast are going to try their damnedest to be left standing at the end.
The new competition series only has one rule: Each one of these lone wolves has to be part of a team to win, which means that egos will have to be checked as often as their precious crab traps. But as you’ll read below, playing nice may not be each of these survivalists’ strong suits. Meet the cast of Outlast below, and learn what they think it takes to be a part of the last team standing.
Age: 34
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Amber turned her life around after struggling with addiction and being shot in the face by the man she loved. To heal, she journeyed into the desert with a shaman for three days with no gear. She’s explored the Enchantments, one of the most grueling treks in North America, clocking 26 miles in a day, and has since taken up long-haul hiking, also known as thru-hiking.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I feel as if my entire life experience has shaped me into a resilient, adaptable human being. What I have had to overcome in the past has shown me that with the right mindset, anything is possible.”
Age: 51
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Engineer Andrea grew up in the middle of a national forest in the south, and claims that “no self respecting Southerner grows up without hunting and fishing.” Andrea competes in CrossFit competitions and enjoys extreme survival sports and endurance races. She’s also completed mountaineering expeditions in the US, Europe and South America.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I have a literal shed full of trophies showcasing all the sports I’ve competed in through the years… and I’d say 90% of them are first place, not participation trophies. I’ve been at 20,000 feet yacking from altitude sickness on the side of a crevasse-covered mountain, starving, dehydrated and pressed on for another 10+ hours to summit and get back down to basecamp. I’ve lost 10 pounds in an 11-hour period racing my mountain bike 100 miles at altitude. I can go on and on with stories of times when I pushed myself beyond what should have been possible. I can tough it out with the best of them.”
Age: 30
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Angie is a former member of the Texas State Guard where she worked to provide disaster relief, and while most people would describe the job as grueling, she describes it as fun. She’s an EMT who’s an avid climber and fisher. She also hunts, and prefers to use recurve bows to hunt hogs and turkeys, but can work traps and nets (as well as axes, knives, rifles, handguns and slingshots, for what it’s worth). The shark tattoo on her arm is a reminder of her next goal: To catch a shark.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I have respect for the land and the wildlife. I have lived my life with many obstacles — abuse, PTSD, bullying — and the skills I have learned to overcome them can be applied in every aspect of this exciting new challenge.”
Age: 59
Location: Holiday, Florida
Brian grew up during the height of the Cold War, and nuclear attack drills were a daily occurrence at his school. He joined a survival group as a teenager, and he never looked back. His nickname is MacGyver — you can guess why.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“As a young man I realized that I was born with a natural ability to suffer, and so I did. Over my long hard life I have learned to accept and embrace overwhelming adversity with composure, like a cow standing in the rain. I actually delight in discomfort and use the pain as fuel. My hands and my back have always pulled me through difficult times and in the Alaskan wilderness they will, once again, carry the day.”
Age: 28
Location: Parker, Colorado
Corey started out as a model in NYC, but quickly learned that city life wasn’t for him. He moved back to his hometown to follow his true passion: the outdoors. Since then, he’s been teaching himself how to live in the wilderness alone, and is currently planning a 50-day survival mission. He builds shelters, fishes, and hunts bear, waterfowl, elk and whitetail. He’s come face-to-face with a mountain lion, and prides himself on knowing how to read animal behavior.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“A lot of things I’ve learned about the outdoors have been from getting in the field on my own. I’m excited to see how much I’ve learned in Colorado and how it translates into the backcountry of Alaska.”
Age: 43
Location: Creston, Washington
Raised in the mountains, practically on horseback, Dawn started carrying a gun when she was still a child. She was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with her daughter; and after a C-section, a mastectomy and numerous reconstructive surgeries, Dawn is tougher than ever. She’s also a former corrections officer, a published author, a phlebotomist and a lab assistant at a small-town hospital. She and her husband are raising their daughter on a cattle ranch.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“It was never the surviving part that worried me. It was the social part. I knew if someone pissed me off, I’d make bear bait out of them.”
Age: 42
Location: San Francisco
Raised in the Rust Belt, Javier developed a taste for wanderlust early and has since grown into a seasoned traveler with 23 years of international outdoor experience. He’s taken a 31-day backpacking journey across Spain, completed a two year, 18,000 mile solo bicycle tour from Canada to Tierra Del Fuego and a solo bicycle tour of 1,000 miles around the entire island of Iceland. Javier enjoys an off-the-grid lifestyle that enables him to thrive with few resources.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“Alaska is no different than any other location on Earth. If there’s fresh water and things to eat, I can survive. Typically, our only danger is the human animal. If I can avoid troubles with them, I should be fine.”
Age: 40
Location: New Haven, Kentucky
Jill has worked as a private investigator and firefighter/EMT and teaches wilderness survival, plant ID and self-confidence classes. A mother of three, Jill is a professional angler and has been ranked first in her state for archery. She’s also built and designed several houses, including the one she lives in.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“There hasn’t been anything that life has thrown at me, stampeded over me or attempted to drown me in that I haven’t proudly survived. What can Alaska possibly have to test me with that I haven’t had to face and overcome, in some shape or form, already?”
Age: 33
Location: McCordsville, Indiana
Joel is an engineer, health care and technology innovator and a mountaineer who was the first to ascend a peak in a remote region of Western Mongolia: To rescue a person injured in a rock slide, he and an international team of alpinists executed a harrowing evacuation and emergency stabilization, and still successfully summited despite deteriorating conditions.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I believe the generalist is a dying breed we sorely need to resurrect. The more experiences and perspectives you have, the more dots you can connect, the more interesting, adaptable and innovative you can be — and nowhere is that more critical than in a survival setting. But most importantly, all the skills in the world are nothing without a mindset and foundation that you can count on regardless of your circumstances. I know I can face whatever awaits me in Alaska with a heart of gratitude no matter the circumstance.”
Age: 25
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado
Jordan professionally honed his survival skills in the US Marines and feels at home in a jungle, the desert and amphibious and mountainous terrains. As a team member, he’s got one mantra: “Put up or shut up.”
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I can tolerate challenging circumstances. Whether it’s sunshine or rain, I rely on my training to make decisions that can push me ahead of my competition. Another skill set I can bring to the game is the social element. I can use my social skills as leverage if the opportunity presents itself.”
Age: 44
Location: La Grange, Kentucky
Justin is an avid bowhunter and has worked as a guide in Montana. He’s also a black belt in jiujitsu who’s survived an avalanche, surfed all over the world and broken his share of bones. (“I’d rather have a broken bone than a broken heart.”) He believes the key to surviving in the wilderness comes down to optimizing three main components: mindset, tactics and gear.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I train every day to be hard to kill.”
Age: 57
Location: Bigfork, Montana
Lee played extreme sports as a kid, and later served eight years in the United States Marine Corps with deployments in a Special Operations Qualified Advance Landing Unit. Lee also lived for five years in rural Japan while working for the Japanese government, before moving to Montana, where he’s founder and CEO of Better Living Products. Lee thrives in winter.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“Marines don’t quit! I’ve been in extreme cold-weather training before, have lived for extended periods in harsh outdoor conditions with little to no food and I’ve always been able to overcome those obstacles. When I was five years old, my brother, Jay, was hit by a car. He had severe brain injuries and became a quadriplegic, confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Even though his condition was very daunting, he never gave up. He approached each day with the mindset of: ‘What can I do today?’ versus ‘What can’t I do anymore?’ My brother taught me that, in life, anything and everything is possible.”
Age: 36
Location: Tampa, Florida
Nick is a high-school teacher and wrestling coach who tells his students they need to be the best at what they’re doing or it’s a waste of time. He recently climbed Mount Shasta solo and has traveled all over the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevadas and Northeast United States.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I’m actually not confident I can survive out there. Although I really look forward to the challenge of it, I’m not an idiot. Alaska is terrifying. It’s killed men for thousands of years. Alaska is real. I can’t wait to see it, though.
Age: 47
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
As a child, Paul hunted small game out of necessity for his family table; today, he hunts big game to provide additional food for his family. He considers himself a professional hunter and fisherman and passes on his love for the outdoors by teaching skills to youth and novice hunters each season, as well as guiding veterans on whitetail bowhunting trips.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“I’ve had a unique life, growing up in eastern Kentucky, that most people outside of very rural areas would struggle to deal with, from being homeless as a child to living in an old coal camp. Many nights, I went to bed hungry and cold growing up. I’ve been blessed that those days are left in my childhood, but equally blessed that they are forever etched into my DNA. I believe Alaska will throw everything she has at me, but I’ve been unknowingly preparing for this all my life.”
Age: 31
Location: Winchester, Virginia
At 19, Seth enlisted in the Marine Corps and was stationed in Hawaii, where he learned combat survival, land navigation and — as he puts it — “how to properly get sunburned on a beach.” But most of his survival skills were self-taught during his childhood growing up on a farm in Virginia, where he learned to hunt, fish and track game.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“My unique skill sets are my determination, my levelheadedness, communication skills and ability to improvise. Also, I’m too dumb to die.”
Age: 33
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado
Tim attributes his love for the outdoors to his late grandfather, who once took him on a three-week trip to Canada to hunt, camp and survive in the wilderness. Now that he lives in Colorado, he’s been exploring the Colorado Trail. He believes nature is where humans are meant to be and would give up anything for the opportunity to test his skills in the wild indefinitely.
What makes you think you can survive in Alaska?
“My ability to survive, my tenacity, my love for nature and my drive to conquer the unconquerable. I love being in the woods, and this seems to be my most immense challenge yet.”
Watch Outlast on Netflix, streaming March 10.
