Alone rules: the 10-item list, bans & prize money
I get asked constantly what contestants are actually allowed to bring on Alone, so here's everything I can document in one place: how the selection works, the categories with published limits, what's excluded, and how tap-outs and prize money work.
How the 10-item selection works
Before being dropped at a remote site, each contestant chooses 10 items from the show's approved list. That list is organized into practical categories: cutting tools, shelter and cordage, fire starting, food gathering, cooking, sleeping gear, and a handful of other selectable extras. Those 10 choices, plus the clothes on their back and production-issued safety and camera gear that doesn't count against the limit, are what each person has to survive on for as long as they last.
I've broken down all 44 categories I track in the gear database, with the exact products contestants have carried. The subset below is the categories where I have a documented, sourced limit or rule rather than just a category name.
Approved categories with documented rules
These are the 17categories where a specific size, quantity, or eligibility rule has been documented. Several of these notes flag genuine disagreement between sources (season-to-season changes, or compilations that simply don't agree), and I've kept that uncertainty visible rather than picking a number and presenting it as settled.
Hatchet
cutting
Listed as a distinct selectable option separate from 'axe' in at least one structured compilation; no specific size/weight limit documented.
Saw
cutting
One compilation notes a vague 'size restriction (except for one season)' on saw blade length, i.e. bigger blades generally allowed but capped in at least one season; exact dimension not documented.
Pocket Knife
cutting
4-inch blade maximum.
Hunting Knife
cutting
6-inch blade maximum.
Flashlight
other
Appears on at least one compiled 'approved items' roster as a selectable tool, which sits in tension with the separately-documented prohibition on 'unapproved technology (anything with a battery or an engine)' -- likely resolved in practice by production-issued headlamps counting as standard non-selectable safety gear rather than a chosen item, but sources do not fully reconcile this; flagged as a conflict.
Tarp
shelter
12x12 (feet) maximum for the personally-selected tarp; note production separately issues non-counted canvas tarps for camera/gear protection, which is a distinct item from the selectable one and a common source of confusion across compilations.
Paracord
shelter
Documented as 20 meters of 550 paracord in Season 1 sources; a separate compilation cites an 80-meter maximum in later seasons. Sources disagree; treated as season-variable.
Climbing Rope
shelter
10 meters.
Sleeping Bag
sleeping
Described only qualitatively as 'multi-seasonal'; no specific temperature-rating cap documented in the sources reviewed.
Ferro Rod / Flint
fire
One compilation notes a vague 'size restriction (except for one season)' -- exact dimension cap not documented, but the general guidance cited is 'bigger is better' within that limit.
Fishing Line & Hooks (Fishing Kit)
food gathering
Season 1 sources document '300-yard roll of single-filament fishing line and 25 assorted hooks, no lures.' A later-season compilation instead cites '20 lb test line, up to 300 yards, 35 barbless hooks.' Hook count and line spec appear to vary by season; lures/artificial bait are consistently prohibited.
Primitive Bow & Arrows
food gathering
Must be 'predominately made of wood.' Season 1 sources document 6 arrows issued with the bow; a later-season compilation cites 9 arrows. Arrow count appears to vary by season.
Gill Net
food gathering
Sources conflict on dimensions: one Season 1 source cites '1.5m deep x 6m long, 2-inch mesh'; another compilation cites '8m x 2m OR 1.5m deep x 3.6m long, 2-inch [50mm] mesh.' Treated as season/region-variable pending reconciliation.
Trapping/Snare Wire
food gathering
Season 1 sources document a 3.5 lb roll of trapping wire; a later-season compilation cites 2 lbs. Weight allocation appears to vary by season.
Cooking Pot
cooking
2-quart maximum, includes lid.
Bear Canister
cooking
Appears to be an optional/region-specific selectable item (bear country seasons); no size spec documented.
Emergency Rations
cooking
Must be selected from an approved sub-type list: jerky, dried legumes, biltong, hardtack, chocolate, pemmican, GORP/trail mix, flour, rice, sugar, salt.
What's excluded
I'd rather tell you what I can actually source than guess. My gear database doesn't contain a single official, exhaustive banned-items list, but a few things are documented. Lures and artificial bait are consistently prohibited alongside the approved fishing line and hooks. One source notes a general prohibition on unapproved technology, described as anything with a battery or an engine, which is why the approved fire-starting option in the catalog is a ferro rod rather than matches or a lighter. Beyond those specific points, treat any other claim about banned items (firearms, phones, and so on) as general knowledge about the show's primitive-survival premise rather than a sourced rule, since I haven't found documentation that spells it out item by item.
Tap-outs and medical checks
A tap-out is generally understood as a contestant's own decision to end their run, made by radioing production and asking to be extracted from their site. It's different from a medical pull, where the show's medical team, which checks in on contestants periodically throughout a season, decides someone needs to come out for their safety. Both outcomes end a contestant's time on their site, but only a voluntary tap-out is generally described as a contestant giving up rather than being pulled. I'm keeping this description general and hedged because the show hasn't published a detailed procedural rulebook for exactly how checks are scheduled or triggered.
Prize money
The US show's standard prize has been $500,000 across 12 seasons in my records. The documented exception is Season 7, which changed the format to a fixed 100-day survival threshold and raised the prize to $1,000,000. Alone Australia's documented prize has been $250,000 AUD across its 4 seasons. The Frozen spin-off structured its $500,000 prize to be split among everyone who reached its 50-day cap; only one contestant got there, so she took the full amount. The Skills Challenge spin-off doesn't award a cash prize at all, since it crowns no single winner.
See the full gear database or check every winner and what they carried.