Every Alone Winner’s Gear List: Top Items Picked

Since season one of Alone aired on the History Channel in 2015, I’ve been hooked. Pushing your boundaries both physically and mentally in difficult environments makes for a great show with interesting survival situations. The restrictions with the Alone gear list can show winning survival strategies and how the show has evolved over the years.

If you are unfamiliar with the show, it’s worth checking out. Alone is one of our top survival TV shows where contestants have standard gear, and then get to select 10 items beyond those in order to survive for as long as they can in the wilderness alone. We do talk about the winners and results in this deep dive, so take this note as a spoiler warning.

Many survivalists have emerged victoriously from the show to become fan favorites and renowned in survival spaces. One thing I’ve always been curious about in this skill-focused show is how the equipment that people choose is correlated to their finish position. So, below we’ll do an in-depth look at their gear, especially for the winners.

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Contents (Jump to a Section)

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Standard Alone Gear List

Alone has some strict gear list rules, by their own account and as told by participants. Luckily, clothing, personal effects, and camera equipment do not count against them in gear that they have to choose from.

Here is the current Alone gear list:

• 1 pair of high-leg hunting boots
• 1 pair of waterproof Arctic winter boots
• 1 T-shirt
• 1 fleece/wool shirt (a garment is considered a shirt if it has a 1/2 or 3/4 zip max or a full set of buttons)
• 2 wool, fleece, or cotton sweaters (a garment is considered a sweater if it is a pullover)
• 6 pairs of wool socks
• 2 hats (brimmed, wool, fur, arctic, or baseball)
• 2 buffs or neck gaiters
• 1 shemagh or scarf
• 4 pairs of gloves
• 2 pairs of underwear
• 1 insulated parka or anorak jacket (no system-style or multi-layer jackets)
• 2 pairs of outdoor pants/bibs (can unzip to shorts)
• 1 pair of fully insulated/waterproof winter pants/bib
• 1 waterproof un-insulated shell or un-insulated windproof anorak
• 2 pairs of thermal underwear
• 1 pair of gaiters
• 1 leather belt
• 1 toothbrush
• 1 pair of eyeglasses
• 1 personal photograph

Supplied Safety & Camera Gear

Alone wouldn’t be around if the participants couldn’t film it. They also give them regular medical screenings and can replenish this gear if needed.

• Camera equipment
• 2 canisters of wild animal repellant, air horn, and/or flare
• Rules and regulations guide
• Backpack
• Camera pack
• Emergency flare
• Satellite phone
• Emergency personal flotation device
• Individual first aid kit (tourniquet, dressing, gauze, ace bandage, alcohol, etc.)
• Small mirror
• 20×20 canvas tarp
• 10×10 tarp for protecting camera and equipment
• GPS tracking device
• Headlamp
• Emergency rations pack to include water and food

Once everyone is outfitted with the standard gear, safety gear, and camera equipment they get to the difficult part: picking their 10 survival items.

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Alone Gear to Choose From

There is a huge range of gear that participants on Alone have to pick from. So many that in fact, most items have not been selected by any participants.

They can only select 10 items and must source and buy them themselves. They can’t take duplicates, can only select 2 food items at most, and any loop of string counts toward their cordage allowance.

Shelter / Bedding / Hygiene Gear

• 12×12 ground cloth/tarp (additional to one supplied with camera gear)
• 10 meters 8mm climbing rope
• 80 meters 550 paracord
• 40 meters 3mm cotton cord
• Multi-season sleeping bag
• Bivi bag
• Sleeping pad
• Hammock
• Bar of soap
• 8-ounce tube of toothpaste
• Face flannel
• 40mm roll of dental floss
• Small bottle of bio shower soap
• Shaving razor
• Towel
• Comb

Hunting / Cooking / Food

• Fishing kit (300 yards monofilament 20lb max, 35 assorted barbless hooks)
• Primitive recurve bow or longbow, 9 arrows
• Small-gauge gill net
• Net foraging bag
• 2 pounds of snare wire (20-22 gauge)
• Slingshot/catapult, 30 steel ball bearings, replacement band
• 2 pounds of beef jerky
• 2 pounds of dried pulses/legumes/lentils
• 2 pounds of hard tack military biscuits
• 2 pounds of chocolate
• 2 pounds of pemmican
• 2 pounds of GORP
• 2 pounds of flour
• 1/3 pound of rice, 1/3 pound of sugar, 1/3 pound of salt
• 1 pound fat (tallow, lard, or ghee)
• 3-pound solid block of salt (rock or Himalayan sea salt)
• Pot (2-quart max, can include lid)
• Frying pan (2-quart max, steel)
• Flint or ferro rod set (standard-sized striker)
• Enamel bowl
• Spoon
• Canteen/water bottle

Tools

• Axe
• Saw
• Hatchet
• 2-handed draw knife
• Pocket knife
• Hunting knife
• Multitool
• Sharpening stone
• Roll of duct tape or electrical tape
• Small shovel
• Machete
• Small sewing kit
• Carabiner
• LED flashlight
• Pair of ice spikes
• Scotch-eyed auger
• Adze

You can’t get too clever when picking from this list. For instance, a multitool with a spoon as a pull-out tool would take up 2 picks!

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Banned Alone Gear

There is a bunch of banned gear that you cannot bring, but those are pretty redundant since you can’t bring anything that isn’t on the supplied list or not in your 10 selected items.

It has been noted that the producers are good at examining gear, and many versatile tools will need to be left behind.

This includes a lot of our favorites, like SurvivorCord, toggle-hole ferro rods attached to your clothing, and even fire laces. Even small loops of cordage on your knife count against you, and you’ll need to subtract that from your allotted cordage amount.

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Alan Kay topped the first season, so unlike later contestants, he could not see what people before him chose to bring. One of the standout picks from his assortment is the unique Condor Kukri Knife, which he believes bridges the gap between knife and axe.

In reflection, he has admitted that he wishes he had brought a warmer and higher-rated sleeping bag along with taller and warmer boots. He lost 46 pounds over the course of the challenge with a lean diet of mostly seaweed and limpets.

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Dave was a dad of three when he packed it up to rough it out in the cold of Vancouver Island, but the mental strain of being apart from his family didn’t prevent him from winning the challenge.

After season 1 on Vancouver Island, many contestants in season 2 (including Dave) packed gill nets to try and take advantage of the fish food source. Dave states that his pemmican pick was a smart choice, and it did seem to help him overcome a rocky start.

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Fowler, a long-time fan-favorite now with his own YouTube channel lost a remarkable 70 pounds over his 87-day excursion to win it all. He is well-known for bringing his trusty slingshot with him and using it effectively throughout his stay.

Plenty of other contestants would go on to have success bringing bows, but Fowler remains the only winner to get it done with a slingshot.

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The last pair to meet up in this unique Alone ‘team up’ challenge, their long time apart did not impact their ability to win. This season was unique in that 7 teams (14 contestants) were dropped 10 miles apart from their partners with their survival items split between the pair. One was expected to navigate to their partner, which proved extremely difficult, weeding out almost half of the teams early on.

They split up the gear wisely, leaving the heavier items stationary while the other brother navigated 10 miles through dense forest.

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Sam Larson disappointed himself in Season 1 when he tapped out at 55 days due to mental drain or ‘losing the mind game’ as he would put it. But, in this Redemption season of previous contestants that didn’t win, he was able to pull out the win in Asia by surviving for the same amount of time!

Sam offers us a unique opportunity in that we can compare what he chose to bring across his two Alone outings. Notably, he kept the same ferro rod but ditched everything else. He increased the rating of his sleeping bag significantly, added much more cordage and additional food, and left behind the tarp and the knife.

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Jordan brought along a lot of the top gear as it turns out, but had one peculiar choice: a frying pan instead of a pot. It worked out for him in the end, as he passed Woniya by four days after she tapped out due to starvation.

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This season mixed it up a bit- contestants had to survive for 100 days to hit the million-dollar payout. If multiple contestants made it, they would have to split the winnings. This was a big departure from previous seasons, where some contestants won by surviving merely 55 days. Also, before Roland Welker, nobody made it to the 100-day mark.

Welker made it look relatively easy. The gear he chose reflects his outdoor hunting guide background, as he is one of the few winners in later seasons to carry a knife. He also picked a gill net over a fishing kit, but you can’t argue with a successful 100 days on your own.

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Clay is the first one to carry this specific loadout, but wouldn’t be the last. This is the exact type of gear that the next three winners would bring as well, solidifying this loadout as one of the best for Alone.

Specific tool choices within the type of gear may vary, but Clay makes it work for 74 days and has a lot of success with the bow.

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Juan Pablo is the second winner with this exact loadout. As he survived a whopping 78 days, we can hardly challenge his reasoning for bringing a 1-quart pot instead of 2 quarts.

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Alan most of done a little homeschooling before he competed on the show- his gear matches up perfectly with the top 10 picks ranked by performance and the previous two winners.

Every bit of his selection makes sense, and we’ll get into it more below when we break down the top selections by winners.

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Gina is an enigma out there in Australia, as she was able to beat a crowd of younger men seemingly easily. She doesn’t stop subverting expectations there- she is the first contestant across all Alone contestants to pass up a sleeping bag!

She opted to wear a massive possum coat, a wise decision that panned out since it freed up a valuable equipment slot that she likely used to bring her iconic salt block.

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More Overseas Alone Versions

Several other countries besides Australia have picked up Alone and filmed many seasons:

• Alene i vildmarken – Danish, Alone in the Wilderness – With over six seasons since 2017, Alone has become somewhat of a hit in Denmark. Ten contestants brave northern Norway for no prize money- just honor.
• Alone (Norwegian) – 10 contestants try to hack it by a Norwegian lake.
• Ensam i vildmarken – Swedish, Alone in the Wilderness – eight contestants compete in northern Norway.
• Alone (United Kingdom) – With a prize purse of £100,000, this series started airing in August 2023 with contestants set up in northern Canada.

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Items Alone Winners Pick

Alone winners tend to pick certain types of gear and avoid others. While gear is certainly not the deciding factor for their standing, slight edges can play out over the many months they survive in the wilderness.

Essential Gear

Gear that almost every winner picks across all formats and locations includes:

• Sleeping Bag – Every contestant (except Gina) brings a sleeping bag. For the Redemption season, most returned with higher-rated sleeping bags. When asked about gear, a few contestants stated they wished they had brought better and cold-weather-rated sleeping bags. Contestants have lately been spending more and more on sleeping bags, with these being the most expensive items brought on Alone by far.
• Ferro Rod – A ferro rod is so important for longevity, that some contestants have tapped out when they lost their ferro rod. Many contestants brought our top pick from our ferro rod review.
• Axe – Many types of axes showed up, but the Bruks stood out as a favorite. Again, this aligns with our own testing in our survival axe review.
• Saw – The Silky folding saws have a large representation, which aligns with our own survival saw testing results.

High Success Rate Gear

Additionally, winners picked in higher proportion than most contestants these:

• Pot – The two-quart cast iron or enamel pot is a heavy beast to consider for a mobile survival kit, but works well for the Alone format.
• Fishing Kit – One of the most versatile picks available to contestants, fishing kits include cordage by way of 300 yards of 20lb fishing line plus 35 assorted hooks.
• Wire – Contestants can bring 2 pounds of wire. At 20 gauge, that’s a massive 630 feet of wire- a huge amount of cordage, shelter ties, and snares. Contestants have caught onto this over time and realized that this amount of wire with a multitool can get quite a lot done.
• Multitool – The multitool started to outclass the survival knife after a few seasons just due to its versatility. The ability to work wire with it made it a superior choice as well. Leatherman was the top brand by far, which again matches our multitool reviews.
• Paracord – With 80 meters (before you take apart inner strands), paracord is a strong and abundant choice for contestants.
• Bow & Arrows – Besides trapping and fishing, proactive hunting has worked well for some winners. Takedown bows have been relied on heavily.

If you add all of these together, you may not get the ideal Alone survival kit- but you have a good start depending on your skill set and survival location. Gill nets and additional food rations can help shore up food supply and extend longevity.

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Items Alone Winners Don’t Pick

Notably absent are knives, which are typically a survival necessity. In the real world, they are certainly essential, but when you are limited by item count rather than by weight and size, many contestants wisely leave them behind.

Also absent from the lists are tarps. Some contestants bring additional tarps, but tarps are supplied to ensure that the camera gear is protected. They are essentially a freebie 11th item. If you are looking at Alone kits for survival inspiration, don’t neglect the humble tarp- it belongs in every survival kit.

Lastly, few pick sharpening stones for their knives, axes, or saws. A few contestants were able to sneak by sharpeners as strikers for their ferro rods or use their leather belts as a strop after sharpening on actual rocks.

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The Final Word

Contestants, and especially the winners, seem to be getting more savvy about their gear selection on the show, as shown by Gina on Alone Australia with her giant coat replacing a sleeping bag. What ‘hack’ will we see next on Alone? The producers are relatively strict on the rules, although we did see Woniya unravel a sweater for cordage, so who knows? Maybe we’ll see even more clever loopholes.

Here are some other guides our subscribers have found helpful:

• The 10 Best Wilderness Survival YouTube Channels
• 10 Survival Skills You Can Learn From Your Couch
• INCH Bag Guide, Gear List, and Checklist

While looking at their gear was good fun, we can’t stress enough the importance of skills and practical experience. All of the winners had extensive outdoor survival skill knowledge through practice and performance. Most had hands-on jobs where they used tools each and every day.

Keep exploring, stay prepared, and be safe.

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