Who Is Tim Madsen from Alone Season 8? What Happened

Spoiler note: this covers Tim Madsen's run on Alone season 8.

Tim Madsen was 48 years old and came into Alone season 8, subtitled "Grizzly Mountain," from Laramie, Wyoming. Season 8 dropped ten contestants around Chilko Lake in British Columbia, Canada, competing for the standard $500,000 prize, and Madsen's run there ended faster than almost anyone expected.

What happened to him on the show

Madsen was the first contestant eliminated from season 8. On day 6, while out checking on his food situation, he developed a racing heart that progressed into serious chest pain back at camp. He used his satellite phone to call for a medical evacuation, and production pulled him out as a precaution. The official cause was never confirmed by History Channel. Some viewers and outlets speculated it may have been an anxiety or panic attack rather than a cardiac event, but that is speculation, not a confirmed diagnosis, and it should be treated as such. What is confirmed is the outcome: six days in, placement 10 of the season, out on medical grounds rather than by choice.

That kind of exit is one of the harder ones to watch, because it removes any agency from the contestant. Madsen didn't tap out over hunger, cold, or homesickness the way most early departures go. His body made the decision for him. You can see the full rundown of his six days, along with the placements and tap-out reasons for the rest of the season 8 cast, on his contestant page and the season 8 hub.

Season 8's gear data for Madsen was not fully sourced in our records, so we can't say with confidence exactly what was in his pack beyond the standard survival kit categories most contestants carry: an axe, a saw, a ferro rod, a sleeping bag, and a fishing or trapping setup. If you want a sense of what a fully-documented loadout from this same season looks like, our best axe and best survival knife roundups pull from contestants whose kits were verified item by item.

Quick facts

Detail	Tim Madsen
Season	8, "Grizzly Mountain"
Hometown	Laramie, Wyoming
Age at filming	48
Placement	10th
Days lasted	6
Exit reason	Medical evacuation, chest pain

Where he is now

As of mid-2026, Madsen is reported to run his own drilling consulting business, Madsen Consulting, based in Laramie. Outside of that work, he is reported to spend much of his free time with his family at an off-grid cabin he built in Wyoming's Snowy Range, where they hunt, forage, and practice the same land skills that got him cast on the show in the first place. Those details come from fan-run bios rather than an interview he's given directly, so treat them as reported rather than confirmed in his own words.

Madsen's early exit means he never got the chance to show what his full skill set looked like under the show's usual attrition of weeks and months, which is part of why his episode still comes up in discussions of the show's toughest medical departures. A six-day run before a serious health scare is a reminder of how physically demanding the audition and remote start of filming can be on its own, before hunger or cold ever enter the picture.

For more on how the show handles medical situations and what actually triggers an evacuation versus a voluntary tap-out, our Alone rules page breaks down the medical and safety protocols the production follows. And if you're trying to place Madsen's run in the context of the wider franchise, the FAQ covers common questions about prize structure, filming locations, and how placements are determined when someone is pulled for medical reasons rather than choosing to leave.