Who Won Alone Season 5? Sam Larson's Win, Explained

Spoiler note: this post covers who won Alone season 5.

Sam Larson won Alone season 5, subtitled "Redemption," surviving 60 days alone in the Khonin Nuga valley of Mongolia's Selenge Province to take home the show's $500,000 prize. The wilderness skills instructor from Lincoln, Nebraska outlasted nine other contestants, including runner-up Britt Ahart, who tapped out on day 56, and third-place finisher Larry Roberts, who tapped out on day 41. Both men cited missing their families as the reason they left the field.

How Larson won

The subtitle wasn't incidental. Larson had already competed on season 1, where he finished as runner-up after tapping out at 55 days, and season 5 gave him a chance to fix what had gone wrong the first time. He overhauled his kit for the second attempt, trading his old DIY axe and canvas sleeping bag for a Hults Bruk felling axe and a much warmer -60°F rated sleeping bag, and swapped a fishing kit or bow for flour and trail mix rations instead. That gear change reflected a strategy shift as much as a comfort upgrade: rather than betting on hunting or fishing success in unfamiliar terrain, he built his season around calorie-dense rations he knew he could count on.

It worked. As Ahart and Roberts fell away in the season's final weeks, both worn down by homesickness rather than physical failure, Larson simply kept going. His win made him the answer to his own season 1 near-miss, and one of only a handful of contestants across the franchise to return for a second season and win it.

The "Redemption" subtitle applied to more than just Larson. Roberts, the third-place finisher who tapped out at day 41, had been the season 2 runner-up before joining season 5's returning-contestant field, so his early exit here was a rare case of a former close finisher not repeating his prior result. That pattern, a returning contestant's history not guaranteeing a similar outcome the second time, is one reason the show has been selective about who it invites back for a repeat run rather than treating a strong prior placement as an automatic path to a second invitation. For the full contestant list and how the rest of the field placed, our season 5 guide has the breakdown, and Sam Larson's contestant page covers his background, including his season 1 run, in more detail.

Key gear behind the win

Detail	Season 5
Winner	Sam Larson, 60 days
Runner-up	Britt Ahart, 56 days
Location	Khonin Nuga valley, Selenge Province, Mongolia
Prize	$500,000

Larson's rations-first approach shows clearly in the ten-item list: 2 lbs of flour and 2 lbs of trail mix took the place of a fishing kit, betting on stored calories over foraged ones. A Hults Bruk axe and a Bob Dustrude folding saw handled firewood and shelter work, while a Wiggy's Antarctic sleeping bag rated to -60°F was built specifically for Mongolia's cold rather than the milder coastal seasons. The full list, including why he made each swap from his season 1 loadout, is in our breakdown of everything he carried.

For what Larson has done since the show, our where-is-Sam-Larson-now post covers his life after Mongolia, and the winners page has every champion across every season and spinoff for comparison.