Who Is Dave Booth on Alone Season 13? Background and Gear

Alone season 13, billed as the "World Championship" season, is still airing as of this writing, so this is a profile of who Dave Booth is and how he is equipped rather than a report on how his run ends. Nothing here reflects a final placement or outcome.

Booth was 53 at the time of filming (one commonly cited source lists him as 54, and both figures appear across coverage; 53 is used here per the majority of directly sourced profiles), and he came into season 13, filmed in the Richardson Mountains near Aklavik in Canada's Northwest Territories, with an unusually long professional resume for the show: 23 years as a fishing guide and 28 years in education, including time as a school principal in Alaska's Mat-Su Borough School District. Full details are on his season 13 contestant page.

Background

Booth's listed hometown is Palmer, Alaska, though our data notes he was born in Guam. He has reportedly spent decades in the Alaska backcountry both professionally, as a fishing guide, and personally, coming from what his profile describes as generations of outdoorsmen. That mix of a guiding career and three decades in school administration is a distinctive combination even for a cast built around unconventional professionals.

Detail	Dave Booth
Season	13 (Richardson Mountains, NWT, Canada)
Age at filming	53
Hometown	Palmer, Alaska (born in Guam)
Background	Retired school principal, 23-year fishing guide

His gear list

Booth's season 13 gear list is fully recorded in our data: a cooking pot, a sleeping bag, a bow and arrows, a multitool, an axe, a saw, fishing line and hooks, a ferro rod, paracord, and snare wire. It is a standard, well-rounded ten-item kit, no different in scope from most of the rest of the season 13 cast.

Early in his run, our data notes he lost his primary fire source on Day 1, then later dropped and burned his ferro rod in the fire, leaving him without a reliable way to start fire in wet conditions, despite having just harvested a large beaver that same day. That specific sequence, losing fire-starting capability twice in a matter of days, is the kind of detail worth watching for context as his run continues, without drawing any conclusion about how it ultimately plays out.

Life before the cameras rolled

As of mid-2026, Booth is reported to have retired from his school administration career, closing out 28 years in education before joining the cast, and to have shifted his day-to-day focus further toward fishing, hunting, and guiding since retiring. His family is listed as his wife, Shannon, and four sons, Wade, Chase, Lane, and Colton. His decades as a guide and educator both put a premium on the same trait: methodically working through problems rather than reacting to them, which is a useful lens for watching how he approaches the challenges of the season.

Season 13 is also billed as the show's first "World Championship" format, drawing past contestants and standout applicants together for a single flat prize and title, which raises the stakes for a veteran-minded, methodical competitor like Booth even in the profile stage before results are known.

For the rest of the season 13 field, see the season 13 page. Our FAQ explains how the show's format works for newer viewers, and where to watch has the current airing schedule.