The season finale of Alone aired Thursday night, closing out the 10th season of the popular outdoor show in which 10 people compete for $500,000 by seeing who can survive in complete isolation the longest.
The hour-long episode “By Any Means” covered the three remaining contestants — Wyatt, Alan, and Mikey — as they tried to find food, survive the harsh winter storms and winds, and struggled to stay warm in the below-freezing temperatures by Reindeer Lake in northern Saskatchewan.
***Spoilers Alert***
In Third Place
The first of the three to leave was Mikey Helton, a 32-year-old carpenter from Rome, Georgia, on day 55. As he waited for his regular medical check, he said he imagined living in a house in the wild location with his wife and son and begged god to let the other remaining contestants quit so he could win.
Then, he decided that his body had had enough. He told the doctor that he was cold all of the time and in constant pain. After he said “I’m officially tapping out” as he cried, he explained he couldn’t risk hurting himself.
“This is a hard decision to make. In my head, I could keep going, but I know if I push too much farther then I’d be really hurting myself,” he said. “And I don’t want to go back to my son broken.” But he ended on a positive note, calling himself a “different person.”
“After everything you have has been stripped off of you, your mind and your body have been broken down, you start seeing things a little differently,” he said. “I’ve learned there’s no point in holding back the emotions and things that you want to say. It’s actually caused more problems.”
The Runner-Up
Wyatt Black, a 51-year-old outdoorsman from Ontario, lasted the second longest, staying a total of 66 days. He spent his remaining time attempting to find a suitable place to icefish and he also had one of the more intense moments of the episode.
In a short span of time, he lost a toenail, heard the nearby ice freeze and crackle, and then watched as the fire inside of his shelter spread onto the wall. For about a minute, he splashed the flames with water. After they were extinguished, he said, “That was close. Didn’t like that. Glad I was awake for that,” and added that it was too cold not to have a fire.
On his final day, Black said he was at peace. He watched the sunrise and talked about completing everything he set out to do, burying his demons brought about by alcoholism.
“Everything about my mind and body are done. I’m leaving here a different person. No question about it,” he said. “And I’m good about it. I’m really good about it.”
The Winner
Alan Tenta, a 52-year-old teacher from British Columbia, lasted two days longer than Black. However, days earlier, he also contemplated tapping out as well because of how badly his body had degraded.
He described his orange urine and how it was a sign of dehydration. Then, on his final day, he posed for the camera, showing his thin waist, and wondered if the medic would remove him because of his withered body and slowed heart rate.
“Physically, I’m almost at the end of my rope,” he told the medic and began describing “food fantasies,” but little did he know that he was the final contestant.
In the last scene, he’s sitting with his wife, who had surprised him, in his moss-covered shelter. she asked him what were the best things about his experience. He described a “really neat experience with an owl. It’ll really blow your mind. It’ll blow your mind.”
As he described the moment, both he and his wife were on the verge of tears.
“It was dusk and an owl — it was like he was my pet. it was the weirdest thing, especially since my dad passed. It wouldn’t leave 10 minutes. It like landed right beside me.”
Tenta explained that he entered the challenge to inspire his students, but he dedicated his performance to his dad.
“Winning this challenge is a lot owed to my dad,” he said and added that his dad is the one who introduced him to the outdoors.
“I’ll never get over the loss of him,” Tenta said. “Perhaps that experience with the owl was his way of saying, ‘Hey man, I am here with you.’”
Watch the season 10 finale of Alone on the History Channel.
Correction: We initially wrote “Trenta” instead of “Tenta,” but we updated the article at 10:45 am ET on Aug. 18, 2023
Great alone this year! My three favorites made it to the end. Is there after alone show? Where the contestants talk about there experiences?
I so admire all the contestants and their survival skills. It’s been a pleasure to cry happy tears as the final episodes draw to a close and the tearful, cheerful finalist with significant other celebrates the well deserved win. I’m from Idaho, so I rooted for the guy from Kamiah. Ever winner well deserved the victory
We really enjoyed this season’s show! We had a terrible storm last Thursday night and our lights were out for 6 hours. We were so concerned about the lightening that we forgot the show was on!
So tonight we thought it was the finale forgetting about the storm ( we’re in our 70’s😆so..)
Thanks for the finals! We were pulling for Mikey since we’re from Georgia too! Great show thanks!