# Ultimate Survival Alaska

Ultimate Survival Alaska is an American reality competition television series produced by Brian Catalina Productions that premiered on the National Geographic Channel on May 12, 2013. The series was executive produced by Brian Catalina, Kristina Wood, John Magennis, Claire Kosloff, Victoria Levy, and Peter Goest.
Ultimate Survival Alaska focused on survivalist men and women who were dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness where they compete with each other in various wilderness races. The survivalists were dropped off by aircraft in the Alaskan wilderness where they compete in races through Alaska's unpredictable weather, barren landscapes, and hostile predators. In May 2015, the series was canceled after three seasons.

## Series overview
### Season 1 (2013)

In the first season, 10 episodes document the survivalists' experiences at specific location points during the 3,000-mile (4,800 km) race. The main goal in each episode is to survive using minimal gear, and to reach a certain destination point within 72 hours.

#### Cast

* Austin Manelick
* Brent Sass
* Dallas Seavey
* Marty Raney
* Matt Raney
* Tyrell Seavey
* Tyler Johnson
* Willi Prittie

### Season 2 (2013/14)

The second season had 13 episodes and focused on four teams of survivalists with different areas of expertise: woodsmen, mountaineers, military veterans, and endurance athletes. Each team had the task of reaching an extraction point faster than the other teams. There were multiple drop off and extraction points with different terrain for each leg of the contest. In Season 2, the time limit to reach the end of each leg was reduced down to 60 hours.

#### Teams

The contestants were divided into four teams of three.
| Contestant | Team | Placing |
| Dallas Seavey | Endurance | 1st |
| Eddie Ahyakak | Endurance | 1st |
| Sean Burch | Endurance | 1st |
| Grady Powell | Military | 2nd |
| Jared Ogden | Military | 2nd |
| Rodolfo Reyes | Military | 2nd |
| Marty Raney | Mountaineers | 3rd |
| Tyler Johnson | Mountaineers | 3rd |
| Thomas Ginn | Mountaineers | 3rd |
| Yote Robertson | Woodsmen | 4th |
| Tina "Timber Tina" Scheer | Woodsmen | 4th |
| Jimmy Gaydos | Woodsmen | 4th |

#### Results

| Team | Contestants | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) |
| Team | Contestants | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 |
| Endurance | Dallas Seavey, Eddie Ahyakak, Sean Burch | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
| Military | Grady Powell, Jared Ogden, Rudy Reyes | 1st | 4th | 1st | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd |
| Mountaineers | Marty Raney, Tyler Johnson, Thomas Ginn | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd |
| Woodsmen | Yote Robertson, Tina "Timber Tina" Scheer, Jimmy Gaydos | 4th | 1st | 4th | | | | | | | | | |
* ^ The Woodsmen Team was eliminated after missing Extraction due to Jimmy's injury.
* $^a$ $^b$ Rudy left the competition after Episode 7 due to an injury.
* ^ Leg 11 was double-length, shown over two episodes. The placements listed in the first column reflect the order teams arrived at the leg's halfway point.

### Season 3 (2015)
#### Teams

For season 3 the series remains with the format of four teams of three. Italicized contestants are returning contestants from previous seasons.
| Contestant | Team | Placing |
| Ben Johns | Endurance | 1st |
| Dallas Seavey | Endurance | 1st |
| Lel Tone | Endurance | 1st |
| Scott "Cluck" McCleskey | Lower 48 | 2nd |
| Kasha Rigby | Lower 48 | 2nd |
| James Sweeney | Lower 48 | 2nd |
| Daniel Dean | Military | 3rd |
| Jared Ogden | Military | 3rd |
| Grady Powell | Military | 3rd |
| Tyler Johnson | Alaskans | 4th |
| Marty Raney | Alaskans | 4th |
| Vern Tejas | Alaskans | 4th |
* ^ Lower 48 & Military finished tied with 3 points each. However Lower 48 took 2nd place based on 2nd-place finishes: 4-3.

#### Results

| Team | Contestants | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) | Position (by leg) |
| Team | Contestants | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Number of points |
| Endurance | Ben Johns, Dallas Seavey, Lel Tone | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 4th | 1st | 4th | 1st | 6 |
| Lower 48 | Scott "Cluck" McCleskey, Kasha Rigby, James Sweeney | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 4th | 1st | 2nd | 3 |
| Military | Daniel Dean, Jared Ogden, Grady Powell | 2nd | 2nd | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 3 |
| Alaskans | Tyler Johnson, Marty Raney, Vern Tejas | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 2 |
* ^ Leg 13 was worth 2 points.
* ^ James Sweeney withdrew from the competition after Leg 7 due to pain in his back and worry that he had damaged his artificial hip.

## Episode list
### Season One

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
| 1 | 1 | "Arctic Hell" | May 12, 2013 (2013-05-12) |
| 2 | 2 | "River of no Return" | May 19, 2013 (2013-05-19) |
| 3 | 3 | "Into the Void" | May 26, 2013 (2013-05-26) |
| 4 | 4 | "Sink or Swim" | June 2, 2013 (2013-06-02) |
| 5 | 5 | "Belly of the Beast" | June 9, 2013 (2013-06-09) |
| 6 | 6 | "Desolation Island" | June 16, 2013 (2013-06-16) |
| 7 | 7 | "Desperate Measures" | June 30, 2013 (2013-06-30) |
| 8 | 8 | "Ice Cold Gamble" | July 7, 2013 (2013-07-07) |
| 9 | 9 | "Beasts of Prey" | July 14, 2013 (2013-07-14) |
| 10 | 10 | "Vertical Hell" | July 21, 2013 (2013-07-21) |

### Season Two

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
| 11 | 1 | "Arctic Battleground" | December 15, 2013 (2013-12-15) |
| 12 | 2 | "Savage Beasts" | December 22, 2013 (2013-12-22) |
| 13 | 3 | "Over the Falls" | December 29, 2013 (2013-12-29) |
| 14 | 4 | "Climb From Hell" | January 5, 2014 (2014-01-05) |
| 15 | 5 | "River of Fury" | January 12, 2014 (2014-01-12) |
| 16 | 6 | "Hell Hole" | January 19, 2014 (2014-01-19) |
| 17 | 7 | "Vice Grip" | January 26, 2014 (2014-01-26) |
| 18 | 8 | "Guts & Glory" | February 9, 2014 (2014-02-09) |
| A recap episode covering the main events from the first seven episodes of the season. It also contains some sneak peeks of events that will occur in the final 5 episodes of the season. ||||
| 19 | 9 | "River of Doom" | February 9, 2014 (2014-02-09) |
| 20 | 10 | "Bear Kingdom" | February 16, 2014 (2014-02-16) |
| 21 | 11 | "Deep Dark Woods" | February 23, 2014 (2014-02-23) |
| 22 | 12 | "The Last Battle" | March 2, 2014 (2014-03-02) |
| 23 | 13 | "Fight to the Finish" | March 9, 2014 (2014-03-09) |
| 24 | 14 | "Game On" | December 28, 2014 (2014-12-28) |
| A recap episode covering all of the main events from season 2. It also contains a preview of the new teams in season 3. ||||

### Season Three

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
| 25 | 1 | "Back for Blood" | January 4, 2015 (2015-01-04) |
| 26 | 2 | "Deadly Descent" | January 4, 2015 (2015-01-04) |
| 27 | 3 | "Crash Course" | January 11, 2015 (2015-01-11) |
| 28 | 4 | "Deadly Tide" | January 18, 2015 (2015-01-18) |
| 29 | 5 | "Devil's Due" | January 25, 2015 (2015-01-25) |
| 30 | 6 | "Rogue Warrior" | February 8, 2015 (2015-02-08) |
| 31 | 7 | "Live Before You Die" | February 8, 2015 (2015-02-08) |
| 32 | 8 | "Savage Waters" | February 15, 2015 (2015-02-15) |
| 33 | 9 | "Kodiak Killers" | February 22, 2015 (2015-02-22) |
| 34 | 10 | "Covert Ops" | March 1, 2015 (2015-03-01) |
| 35 | 11 | "Long Way Down" | March 8, 2015 (2015-03-08) |
| 36 | 12 | "Knockout Punch" | March 15, 2015 (2015-03-15) |
| 37 | 13 | "Final Gauntlet" | March 22, 2015 (2015-03-22) |

## Critical reception

David Hinckley of the Daily News gave the second season a satisfactory review, saying "things do look consistently harsh and cold, which should satisfy most people who would watch a show about Alaska. The only thing that really looks warm is that big old bear in the brown coat, and he doesn’t look like he’s interested in sharing any of the insulation."