Race to Survive

From the previews of Race to Survive Alaska, I saw that it was much like the three seasons of the excellent (even if sometimes staged) Ultimate Survival Alaska, even having some of the same wild and demanding locales and a promise of "elite athletes". RSA largely succeeds in the scenic filming, but fails in both its casting and editing.

"Elite athletes" is an exaggeration for most of the cast; even the best of them would not match the caliber of those in Ultimate Survival Alaska and many other similar shows. Worse, most of the cast are insufferable, with the editing playing up bickering and hurt feelings and speechifying. And since RSA is under the NBC banner, it is edited to be quite wõkë, with the expected tribal "representing" of the perpetual victim groups. Here, unbelievably, Max (who has a white mother), when he finds that he is the last "black" person left, says he is the last "person of color"; the Inupiaq Oliver and Wilson might disagree.

In a good survival show, I can root for one or more persons or teams; here, every pair was either off-putting or so-so, so I did not really care who won. And one final note: I'm quite tired of actors and especially narrators with affected frontal pronunciations, i.e. Lisps.

Have done a lot of outdoor survival activities myself, I am skeptical of several aspects of this show. After 40 days burning the amount of calories they would have had to burn doing these races and challenges and with apparently very little food, they would be in a lot rougher shape than they appeared to be at the end. In fact, they looked downright healthy, as though they had been eating quite regularly throughout. You cannot put your body through that kind of rigorous demand (without adequately replacing those calories) and not lose a heck of a lot more weight and muscle mass than they did. Sorry, but to me this seemed staged. Plenty of other things that didn't quite add up, but too many to list. If you're a fan of unreal "reality" shows that make it a point to push the issues of the day, then this show is for you... But it was definitely not for me.

I think that any of the participants on these shows are tough win or lose. Now Oliver and Corry were disqualified. Now if Nik and her partner could kill a sheep, what's wrong with killing a bird that's walking around your camp, and you're starving. Oliver and Corry deserved to finish the game. They were disqualified. I didn't watch the last 2 episodes. Producers, Directors whoever if you're going to take the participants through all those demanding tasks, then at least give them granola bars, fruit everyday; Or DON'T put them in camp sites where birds are walking Around and they're hungry. This show had a lot of walking, climbing. These participants didn't get to sit around hunting most days. I did like the show, just hate that Oliver, Corry got disqualified.

If you enjoy any of the survival shows or race shows that are on TV, you will probably enjoy this one. 8 teams of two set off on a 40 day ordeal for a $500,000 prize. There are actually six races to test their skills. Race days are 12 hours long, with overnight pauses. When not racing on the courses, the racers do their best to survive the elements with very limited food and supplies. Mostly, they have to live off the land.

A team is eliminated after each race. One team involuntarily taps out early on---a reminder of how demanding this endeavor really is.

The teams are diverse. There is a father/son combo, a brother/sister combo, and a dating couple. There are friends and there are racing mates. There are doctors, rock climbers, and martial artists.

After two episodes, it is clear that the demands of the race are real and ever-present. It appears that the various races will require different skills, but a positive mental energy and excellent fitness (in the face of deprivation) may be the best qualities to possess.

A bonus is the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness, captured by excellent cinematography.

How come there is no review on this show, this is probably the best survival show I have seen in recent years. It combines trail running, navigation and the typical survival stuff like foraging and fishing. At the same time you get to see them rafting and doing the rope things. Unlike Alone which turns to a boring starving game most of the time, this is very intense when all competitors are keep moving through different terrains. Instead of finding a place and hunkering down, I think this is the stuff that most outdoor people would like to see. There is no drama, there are no morons, just the hard core racing is entertaining enough. If you like this show, I would recommend you to check out Expedition Impossible and World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji.