According to BL's parents, he has now been alone in the wilderness for over a month.
Anyone else here watch History Channel's "
Alone"? The premise is that survival experts are dropped off alone in a secluded location with only what gear they can carry with them, to see who can last longest at each location without outside assistance.
A few major differences between BL and the "Alone" contestants:
- Motivation. $500k is a lot of money, but the arrest and trial that BL certainly knows is waiting for him if he's found is probably a greater motivating factor.
- Food/supplies. While the "Alone" contestants are more restricted in what they can bring, BL may have brought a whole pack full of protein bars, firearms, solar-powered batteries, etc.
- Outside help. Is BL receiving help from someone? No doubt that would increase the amount of time he'd be able to survive "on his own"
So, on to my observations about how "Alone" contestants handle the first month and beyond and what causes them to "tap out" (and may, at some point, cause BL to slip up or reveal himself as well
if he is, indeed, living off the land somewhere on his own)
- Accidents/injuries - These tend to happen when people are distracted, when they're using their gear improperly, and sometimes just by bad luck. Any sort of cut or burn could easily become infected; even something as small as a twisted ankle could severely hinder your ability to get yourself out of harm's way.
- Illness - In general, the stress of being in such a survivalist situation would put an incredible strain on your body and its ability to fight off illness, as would the change from your normal diet. Mosquitoes carry all sorts of disease, and in a swampy area, it'd be difficult to remain dry... which brings me to...
- Fire - Fire is incredibly important to survival -- to stay warm, to stay dry, to cook food, to boil water, to sanitize tools, etc. Twice in various seasons of "Alone," contestants who've lost their fire starter have tapped out, because without fire, wilderness survival is near impossible. And yet keeping a fire would also, in BL's case, be painting a bull's-eye on himself in a place like the Reserve that was closed to the public.
Right around the one-month mark, though, "Alone" becomes less about surviving in the wilderness and more about the
mental challenge. Highly motivated contestants start tapping out because they just can't handle the homesickness, the lack of community and social connection in their isolated circumstances, or because the sheer amount of free time with little to do, no one to talk to, and
nothing but your own thoughts to ruminate on. Often, contestants experience emotional breakdowns around this time because they just can't handle the solitude. They start examining the deeper questions of
why they're there, what they're trying to accomplish, and if it's worth it; they either work through those issues or decide to be done and tap out.
(After that point in the show, for the contestants that can get past that mental hump, it seems a matter of keeping themselves from starvation and exposure, especially as most seasons start in autumn and by the end, they're deep in winter.)
BL,
if he is out in the wilderness alone, is now at that one-month mark, and I can't imagine the sort of mental/emotional strain his own thoughts and memories and conscience would be putting him through at this point--24/7, with no one else to talk to or anything else to take his mind off of what he's done--
especially if he's struggled with Anxiety in the past.
Because of that,
if he is living off the land on his own somewhere, I think he'll slip up, and probably soon, whereas if he's being helped--if he's just sitting in a vacant condo somewhere, living off of DoorDash and escaping into books or movies or video games--I think he'd be able to ward off the stress of isolation significantly better and may not be found yet for some time.
