DURING THOSE LONG MONTHS of lockdown gloom, one TV show helped save my sanity. It was called , a survivalist series that followed the self-documented struggles of 10 contestants who are dispersed across a remote section of wilderness with only limited equipment to sustain them. Over the nine seasons of the show, the locations ranged from Patagonia to British Columbia. But whatever the continent, they were always cold, inhospitable places in which grizzly bears, wolves or some equally heinous local alternatives were invariably circling. Exposed to wintry elements, each contestant had to build a primitive shelter and stave off the threat of starvation by foraging, hunting and fishing. They could tap out at any time, but the last person to withstand the bone-chilling conditions would walk away with a big cash prize.
