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July 21, 2024 • 2hr 56min
#437 – Jordan Jonas: Survival, Hunting, Siberia, God, and Winning Alone Season 6
Lex Fridman Podcast
Jordan Jonas is a wilderness survival expert, explorer, hunter, guide, and winner of Alone Season 6, a show in which contestants must survive alone in the arctic wilderness longer than anyone else. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest competitors in the history of the show. Jordan's background includes hopping freight trains across America as a young man and living with indigenous reindeer herders in Siberia. This diverse experience prepared him well for the extreme challenge of Alone.
#437 – Jordan Jonas: Survival, Hunting, Siberia, God, and Winning Alone Season 6
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Key Takeaways
- Jordan Jonas won season 6 of the survival show Alone, lasting 77 days in the Arctic wilderness
- He attributes his success to prior wilderness experience, including time spent living with indigenous reindeer herders in Siberia
- Key survival skills include trapping, hunting, fishing, shelter building, and fire making
- Mental resilience and the ability to adapt are crucial for long-term wilderness survival
- Jordan emphasizes the importance of being active and productive rather than just trying to "starve it out"
- His experience hopping freight trains across America as a young man helped prepare him for solitude and self-reliance
- Jordan draws inspiration from his family history of surviving genocide and hardship
- He believes connecting with nature and animals provides perspective on life, death, and one's place in the world
- Faith and striving towards ideals of love and compassion help give meaning and purpose in difficult circumstances
- Jordan now works as a wilderness guide, sharing his skills and love of nature with others
Introduction
Jordan Jonas is a wilderness survival expert, explorer, hunter, guide, and winner of Alone Season 6, a show in which contestants must survive alone in the arctic wilderness longer than anyone else. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest competitors in the history of the show. Jordan's background includes hopping freight trains across America as a young man and living with indigenous reindeer herders in Siberia. This diverse experience prepared him well for the extreme challenge of Alone.
Topics Discussed
Winning Alone Season 6 (11:25)
Jordan describes the basic premise of Alone - 10 individuals are dropped off in a remote wilderness location with 10 survival items of their choice. The last person to remain wins. Key challenges include building shelter, finding food sources, and dealing with increasingly cold weather as winter approaches.
Jordan emphasizes the psychological challenge, stating: "The most interesting thing about that show was how high the stakes felt...you didn't tell yourself you're on a show. At least I didn't. You just felt like it was, you're going to starve to death if you don't make this happen."
- Jordan lasted 77 days before being declared the winner
- He was able to hunt a moose with a bow and arrow, providing a crucial food source
- Mental resilience was key - he focused on being productive rather than just trying to "starve it out"
- Not knowing when the show would end was one of the biggest psychological challenges
Survival Skills and Strategies (32:50)
Jordan discusses the items he chose to bring and his overall survival strategy:
- Items brought: axe, saw, Leatherman multi-tool, ferro rod (for fire starting), frying pan, sleeping bag, fishing kit, bow and arrow, trapping wire, paracord
- Key skills: trapping, hunting, fishing, shelter building, fire making
- Strategy: Be active and productive, set up many traps, fish regularly, hunt for big game
- Jordan emphasizes adaptability: "You have to be really adaptable because everything's gonna, it's always going to look different, your situation, your location."
Mental Challenges of Isolation (39:47)
Dealing with long periods of isolation and boredom was a significant challenge:
- Jordan tried to stay busy and think of creative ways to occupy his mind
- He would do silly skits or reenactments to make himself laugh
- Having cameras to talk to provided some sense of connection
- Jordan reflects: "The hardest thing for me would have been the boredom, because it's hard to stay busy when it's all dark out, when the ice is three, four foot thick, you can't fish."
Hopping Freight Trains Across America (1:09:34)
Before his wilderness adventures, Jordan spent time as a young man hopping freight trains and traveling across America:
- This experience helped prepare him for solitude and self-reliance
- He gained a new perspective on life and freedom
- Jordan reflects: "You wake up, you don't have a schedule. You literally just have needs. And you just somehow have to meet your needs. And so there's a really sense of freedom you get that is hard to replicate elsewhere."
Living with Indigenous Reindeer Herders in Siberia (1:21:19)
Jordan spent significant time living with indigenous reindeer herders in Siberia, which greatly influenced his survival skills and outlook:
- He learned traditional hunting, trapping, and wilderness living skills
- The experience gave him a deep appreciation for nature and animal-human connections
- Jordan observed both the challenges and rewards of their lifestyle
- He reflects: "There's something really, really powerful about spending that much time being independent, depending on what we talked about a little earlier. But you're putting yourself in these situations all the time where you're uncomfortable, where it's hard, but then you're rising to the occasion."
Dealing with Hunger and Physical Challenges (1:39:43)
Jordan discusses his experiences with hunger and physical hardship in survival situations:
- He lost significant weight during fencing season with the reindeer herders in Siberia
- On Alone, he was able to maintain his weight due to successful hunting and fishing
- Jordan emphasizes the importance of fat for survival, not just protein
- He reflects on the challenge of injuries: "It's amazing how much that can overwhelm your experience. And again, that was something I saw in dad that was like, interesting. How can you find joy in that when you're just steeped in that all the time?"
Family History of Survival (1:59:29)
Jordan's family has a history of surviving extreme hardship, including genocide:
- His grandparents survived the Armenian/Assyrian genocide
- Other family members endured Nazi occupation in France
- This history provides inspiration and perspective on resilience
- Jordan reflects: "Look, I'm just one generation away from all that suffering...Somehow I don't have that. Like, what happened to all that trauma? Like, it's like somehow my grandparents bore it. And then they were able to build a family. But not just a family that, but a happy family."
Faith, Meaning, and Striving Towards Ideals (2:14:15)
Jordan discusses the role of faith and striving towards ideals in finding meaning and purpose:
- He emphasizes the importance of living out ideals rather than just professing them
- Jordan sees value in wrestling with difficult questions and concepts
- He reflects: "I could add enough time on Alone. One nice thing is you don't have any distractions. You have all the time in the world to go into your head. And I could play those paths out in my life, and not only in my life, but I feel like societally and for generationally, like, I throw it all away and everybody start from square one. Or we can try to you redeem what's valuable in this and wrestle with it."
Connecting with Nature and Animals (2:28:03)
Jordan emphasizes the value of connecting with nature and animals:
- It provides perspective on life, death, and one's place in the world
- Interacting with animals in nature can be deeply enriching
- He reflects: "I think when you interact with animals and you have to confront the life and the death of them and the responsibility of a symbiotic relationship, you have, I think it opens a little bit awareness to your place in the puzzle and puts you in it rather than above it."
Guiding Others in Wilderness Skills (2:42:35)
Jordan now works as a wilderness guide, sharing his skills and love of nature with others:
- He encourages people to start with day hikes and work up to overnight trips
- Jordan believes everyone can benefit from time in nature
- He reflects: "I think just doing is it, you know, everybody thinks about doing it. You just really do do it. Like go out and then plan to go overnight. Don't be so afraid of all the potentialities that you delay it inevitably."
Conclusion
Jordan Jonas exemplifies resilience, adaptability, and a deep connection to nature. His experiences surviving in extreme wilderness conditions, coupled with his family history of overcoming hardship, have given him unique insights into human potential and the importance of mental fortitude. Jordan emphasizes the value of actively engaging with challenges rather than passively enduring them, whether in survival situations or everyday life. His journey from freight-hopping youth to Siberian adventurer to survival show champion demonstrates the power of embracing discomfort and continuously pushing one's boundaries. Ultimately, Jordan's story is one of finding meaning, purpose, and even joy in the face of adversity by staying true to one's ideals and maintaining a sense of wonder at the natural world.