Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Win The Wilderness’ On Netflix, Where Six Couples Compete To Win A Remarkable Alaskan House

In the vast wilderness of the interior section of Alaska, a three-story log home sits on what is known as Ose Mountain. In 1982 Duane Ose hiked 57 miles in rough terrain to find the perfect spot to build his home. Soon after he met Rena and married her; over nine years they built the 3-story log cabin they’ve called home for the past 30 years. But because of health reasons, they’ve decided to move, and they’re deciding who will be the next couple to own the house via the British reality competition Win The Wilderness.

WIN THE WILDERNESS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “How far would you go to escape the demands of modern life?” intones narrator Nicholas Tennant as we see some lush Alaskan scenery from a speeding boat on a lake.

The Gist: In Win The Wilderness, six British couples compete under the watchful eye of locals at a campsite a hundred miles away from Ose Mountain to see who gets the privilege of staying with the Oses for a night. After each of the four visits, the Oses decide whether the couple who is visiting will stick around or will be sent back to the UK. The grand prize is the Ose house (and associated guest cabin and greenhouse) and the five acres of land around it.

The couples range in age from the late 20s into their late 50s; one couple has a 16-year age difference between its members. Some are influencers, some are engineers, others are farmers. But they’re all veterans of the outdoors in one capacity or another; they’re just not veterans of the harsh environment that the interior of Alaska throws at people, even in the summer. As Clinton “CJ” Stewart, who is charged with overseeing the contestants at Lost Lake and reporting their efforts back to the Oses, says, “Alaska will not bend its rules for anyone that’s ill-prepared. It’ll kill you if you don’t plan. That’s why you plan.”

The first task for the couples is to figure out how to source the wood and build the tents that they’ll be living in. It’s not an easy challenge, but some of the couples come to the fore. The Oses fly into the camp to meet everyone and get the scouting report from CJ. They select the newest couple, Matt and Rachel, to come to their home. There, they interview the couple to see what their intentions would be with the property, and how they plan to earn money to help keep the property up. In the meantime, back in camp, the remaining couples are challenged to build fires to warm one member of each couple who have been told to jump into the cold lake; the purpose is to see if they have the skills to quickly build a fire and stave off hypothermia.

Our Take: Win The Wilderness is produced by TwoFour Productions, and the initial intention was to have a U.S. cable network buy the rights, but it ended up at the BBC, who aired it earlier this year under the title Win The Wilderness – Alaska. Netflix is showing it everywhere else, and as we were watching it, we understood why a cable network here didn’t pick up the show: It’s too respectful of its contestants, the Oses, and the surrounding beauty of interior Alaska to be of interest to most of the cable networks on this side of the Atlantic.

That’s not to say Win The Wildnerness is boring. Not by any means; it’s fascinating for us to watch these couples apply their rudimentary survival skills to these extreme conditions. But unlike other shows of this genre — the ones starring Bear Grylls come to mind — TwoFour has decided to shoot this less like a reality series and more like a documentary. Part of that might be due to the Oses — who now live in Minnesota — only agreeing to do the show if TwoFour made sure the show didn’t have the manufactured drama that other shows of this type have had.

So that one small request from them makes for a show that’s much more watchable, because you’re not busy rolling your eyes at the cliffhangers that aren’t really cliffhangers, or the repetitiveness coming out of commercial breaks. You’re just marveling at the lush beauty of the Alaskan wilderness and amazed at the industriousness of most of these couples as they figure out how to live in a harsh environment they’re not familiar with.

The coming attractions for the next episode promise that the couples will be less friendly with each other as the competition goes on, which is something that’s natural when it comes to a show like this. But we appreciated how, at least during that first task, everyone got along and decided to team up to build the entire camp instead of each couple being on their own. That spirit of camaraderie might splinter as time goes on, but it was refreshing to see it during the first episode.

Sex and Skin: When Rena and Duane talk about the fact that they needed to contribute equally to the work in order to get the house built and survive in the woods for so long, Rena mentions that “I’m not bad in bed, either.” Old people wilderness sex! Isn’t that adorable?

Parting Shot: As Matt and Rachel fly away from Ose Mountain, Duane tells the camera, “We’re looking for a couple that can weather the storm, whatever comes along, and be confident in themselves. And can take on a grizzly bear with their bare hands.” Rena responds with a chuckle and says, “Well, not really that far, but yeah.”

Sleeper Star: At this point, most of the couples just blend together, which is why watching the Oses is such a treat. You can tell that Duane is reluctant to leave the mountain but Rena is raring to get back to civilization after 30 years. The two of them have that easygoing banter that longtime couples have, and in a lot of ways, Rena is the tougher one in the relationship, despite the fact that Duane hiked out 57 miles to get to that spot.

Most Pilot-y Line: We wish that at least one or two of the participants would have been people of color. It’s hard for us to believe that the desire to live all alone in a log cabin in the wilderness is just a thing that white people want.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Win The Wilderness is not just a unique premise, but it treats its participants and the environment with the utmost respect. There aren’t many reality shows you can say that about.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Win The Wilderness On Netflix