Alone Season 3: Patagonia
- Location
- Patagonia, Andes foothills near Lago Escondido, Lago Soberanía, and Lago Montes (Río Negro Province)
- Aired
- December 8, 2016 to February 9, 2017
- Prize
- $500,000 USD
- Status
- Complete
How the season was won (reveals the winner)
Zachary Fowler, a 36-year-old from Appleton, Maine, won Alone season 3 by outlasting nine other contestants dropped into the Andean foothills of Argentine Patagonia, near Lago Escondido. With no coastal food sources available (unlike prior Vancouver Island seasons), he survived mainly by catching dozens of trout, supplemented by two birds, grubs, and foraged plants. His closest competitor, Carleigh Fairchild, was medically evacuated on day 86 after her BMI fell to 16.8, just below the show's mandatory pull threshold of 17, leaving Fowler alone in the field. By the time he was declared winner on day 87, Fowler had lost about 70 pounds, roughly a third of his starting body weight. He was awarded the season's $500,000 grand prize.
The cast
| Contestant | From | Gear |
|---|---|---|
| Britt Ahart | Mantua, Ohio | 10 items → |
| Callie North | Lopez Island, Washington | 10 items → |
| Carleigh Fairchild | Edna Bay, Alaska | 10 items → |
| Dan Wowak | Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania | 10 items → |
| Dave Nessia | Salt Lake City, Utah | 10 items → |
| Greg Ovens | Canal Flats, British Columbia | 10 items → |
| Jim Shields | Langhorne, Pennsylvania | 10 items → |
| Megan Hanacek | Port McNeill, British Columbia | 10 items → |
| Zach Gault | Caledon, Ontario | 10 items → |
| Zachary Fowler | Appleton, Maine | 10 items → |
Listed alphabetically on purpose. Heads up: individual profiles do reveal how far that person got.
Full results table (placements, days lasted, tap-out reasons)
| Place | Contestant | Days | Why they left |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Zachary Fowler | 87 | Outlasted everyone |
| 2 | Carleigh Fairchild | 86 | Medical evacuation - BMI dropped to 16.8, at/below the show's mandatory pull threshold of 17 |
| 3 | Megan Hanacek | 78 | Tapped out - broke teeth biting into a rosehip seed, causing severe jaw pain |
| 4 | Dave Nessia | 73 | Medical evacuation - blood pressure fell to a dangerously low 80/60 |
| 5 | Callie North | 72 | Personal choice - said she felt her journey was complete |
| 6 | Greg Ovens | 51 | Tapped out - developed hypothermia after prolonged wading in the lake |
| 7 | Dan Wowak | 50 | Tapped out - missed his family |
| 8 | Britt Ahart | 35 | Tapped out - missed his family |
| 9 | Zach Gault | 8 | Medical evacuation - injured/cut his arm with an axe |
| 10 | Jim Shields | 3 | Tapped out - regretted leaving his family, realized the challenge wasn't for him |
Episode guide
Open the episode guide (recaps include tap-outs as they happened)
E1 · A New Land
December 8, 2016 · Day 1
The show leaves Vancouver Island for the first time, dropping ten contestants around alpine lakes in Argentine Patagonia. New terrain means every veteran assumption about food and weather gets rewritten.
- First season filmed outside British Columbia
E2 · First Blood
December 15, 2016
Early adaptation separates the cast quickly; Patagonia's food economy is thinner than the coastal seasons and everyone feels it. The first exits begin as the reality sinks in.
E3 · Eternal Darkness
December 22, 2016
Long nights and deep isolation start working on the contestants' heads. The episode leans into the psychological side of survival as loneliness becomes a heavier load than hunger.
E4 · Outfoxed
December 29, 2016
Local wildlife turns from curiosity to competition as foxes and boar test camps and food caches. Contestants adapt their traps and storage or pay for it in stolen calories.
E5 · The Lone Wolf
January 5, 2017
With the field thinning, the remaining survivalists settle into their own systems and rhythms. Self-reliance is total now; there is nobody to blame and nothing to lean on.
E6 · Along Came a Spider
January 12, 2017
Environmental hazards stack up and small threats prove as dangerous as large ones. The contestants grind through mounting obstacles while their margins keep shrinking.
E7 · Hungry Beasts
January 19, 2017
Winter closes in on Patagonia and the food supply tightens with it. Both the contestants and the local predators get hungrier, and camps become targets.
E8 · Of Feast & Famine
January 26, 2017
Survival becomes a whiplash cycle of windfall catches followed by empty days. Managing the swings, physically and emotionally, becomes the real skill on display.
E9 · The Point of No Return
February 2, 2017
The finalists are visibly depleted and every remaining day is a calculated risk against their own bodies. Medical checks loom larger than the weather.
E10 · Day 87
February 9, 2017 · Days 86-87
Carleigh Fairchild is pulled at day 86 when her BMI drops below the medical threshold, the first medical removal of a finalist in show history. Zachary Fowler outlasts everyone at 87 days to win the season.
Out this episode: Carleigh Fairchild (day 86, medical)
- Zachary Fowler wins after 87 days
- Carleigh Fairchild's 86-day run ends by medical pull, not choice
- Longest season endurance mark to that point
Facts worth knowing
- First season filmed outside British Columbia: Patagonia, Argentina, around lakes Soberania, Montes, and Escondido in the Andes foothills.
- Winner Zachary Fowler lasted 87 days and lost about 70 pounds, roughly a third of his starting body weight.
- Runner-up Carleigh Fairchild was medically evacuated at day 86 with a BMI of 16.8; she did not choose to leave.
- The season recorded three medical evacuations, the franchise's first season with multiple medical pulls.
- The Patagonia food economy centered on trout, foraged plants, small birds, and wild boar, with no marine intertidal fallback like the BC seasons.
- The region averages about 78 inches of rainfall a year, with winter snowfall during the shoot.
- Aired December 8, 2016 to February 9, 2017; the finale drew about 2.1 million US viewers.
Viewer's notes
- This is the season that proved the format travels: no ocean, new food economy, harsher attrition.
- Fowler's fish-trap and slingshot builds are fan-favorite ingenuity sequences; watch for them mid-season.
- Carleigh Fairchild's arc is the emotional spine of the season and makes her Season 5 return meaningful.
- The finale (Day 87) is one of the franchise's best single episodes; avoid spoilers before watching.
- Gear-wise, this season is the best study of how location changes item value: fishing gear mattered more, coastal foraging tools less.
Wondering what the cast was allowed to bring? See the full rules and approved item list or browse the gear database.