Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
Isaiah Tuck has always been up for an adventure, and it started at a young age.
Isaiah couldn’t wait for his adventurous life to begin when his mother gave birth to his son at Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in 1988. “I was born in the waiting room, with the help of a nurse and a cleaning lady who helped my mother,” he recalls with a smile the size of Alaska.
These days, his professional life is also a constant adventure. Whether he’s serving as an officer with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources or serving as a captain in the Air National Guard, he’s always on the move, ready for whatever comes his way.
So when he made it 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle and was dropped off by helicopter into the wilderness with only a few survival tools, he couldn’t stop smiling.
‘drop’
They call it “The Drop,” in which contestants from the History Channel reality show “Alone” are dropped off alone into the wilderness. Their mission is to survive. Whoever survives the longest wins $500,000.
Season 11 began last week and found Isaiah Tuck beaming as he set off on his biggest adventure yet.
“When they dropped me off, I was just so excited,” Isaiah said. “I was like, ecstatic, I was screaming! But that was when they dropped me off.”
He confesses that his mood changed drastically as the reality of his situation dawned on him: “A few minutes after the helicopter left, I could not find a place to set up shelter that was free of bear and wolf tracks. I had no choice but to seek refuge in a swamp or an area with high predator activity.”
“That quickly becomes real,” he says, “and then you think, ‘I’m not in danger on TV, I’m in real danger.’ Maybe I’m doing my family a disservice by being here.”
Of all the things he was prepared for, Isaiah said he wasn’t prepared for these thoughts. He asked himself, “Am I being a bad husband, a bad father by doing this? It was a burden.”
“With the DNR, you can wear a bulletproof vest if you encounter an angry hunter, but what about a 500-pound grizzly mom?”
More than 40,000 people applied to be on “Alone” this year. Isaiah has been a fan of the show since season three and has applied to be on the show every year.
“My wife is a big supporter of me following my dreams,” he says, “so I applied again.”
The application process begins with sending a brief email explaining why you think you should be on the show, after which the History Channel will send out follow-up questions to promising candidates.
“What kind of shelter can you build? How experienced are you in primitive hunting?” These were the types of questions Isaiah received. “I tried to show them that I had skills and made my answers very interesting.”
He advanced to the next round, where he sat down for a video call with producers. 24 people will be selected to compete in a boot camp, and then the top 10 will appear on the show.
Isaiah was surprised and ecstatic to make the top 10, but even more surprised by what happened next. “There was less than a month between being selected and being dropped off,” he says.
While reality TV has a reputation for being unrealistic, Isaiah says this show is as close to reality as it gets.
“There’s nothing around,” he says of the wilderness he was thrown into. “I woke up one morning to go fishing and there wasn’t even a ripple in the water, except for predators, who would howl all night long.”
“It’s very real,” he says. “It’s just you, some equipment, and a camera that you’re given to record everything you do. You’re completely alone.”
A story about hats
But Isaiah had one person who was with him spiritually.
Viewers will notice Isaiah wears a very distinctive hat in the show – a wool Stetson – that belonged to his older brother, who passed away seven years ago.
“He wore that hat a lot,” Isaiah says. “He was a year older than me, an old man, wisely speaking. He was my best friend. I loved that hat. He told me once that it didn’t suit him anymore, but that was a lie. He wanted to give his hat to his brother.”
Isaiah’s brother was killed instantly in a car accident when a careless driver crashed into his car. Isaiah said that while it’s not the most practical hat to bring to a survival show, he wouldn’t have brought any other hat.
“It’s been invaluable to me,” he said. “For the show, I would have preferred something warmer, but I used it for so many things. Boiling water, gathering berries, washing vegetables that we picked. Washing clothes. It’s my favorite thing I’ve had outside. And then there’s the shovel and this.”
One of the reasons Isaiah wanted to be on the show was because he wanted to experience complete silence: “I wanted a chance to go outside by myself and talk to my brother.”
And to his surprise, he got that chance in a roundabout way: “I dreamed about him every night while I was there, and it was usually really funny.”
For example, one night he dreamed that his brother picked him up in the Arctic wilderness and took him to Dairy Queen for a chicken tender basket.
During the interview, Isaiah paused and flashed a bright smile as he said he saw a cardinal, something he’d always been taught meant a relative was checking in on him.
“Family is the most important thing to me,” he says. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without my wife Jessica, my daughter Caroline, my parents and my siblings.”
How to watch “Alone”
New episodes of “Alone” air every Thursday night at 8 p.m. on the History Channel. If you don’t have the History Channel, you can also download the app on your mobile device and watch the show for free the next day.
“Just wait a day,” Isaiah says, “and try not to look at Facebook to avoid spoilers.”
Stay tuned to RealWV for the latest updates on Isaiah’s adventures.
Isaiah Tuck grew up in Mount Sewell in southern West Virginia. He and his family currently live in Ghent. Catch him on the hit survival show “Alone” on the History Channel this summer.
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