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While Lin Yang was busy catching falcons and training them, thoroughly enjoying his days, the situation for the other contestants in the show was not so rosy.
After contestant number four had to drop out of the competition due to an axe injury to his foot, contestant number nine, a middle-aged white hunting coach, also faced his greatest challenge,
The uncle, who was proficient in wilderness survival and hunting, initially performed quite well, fishing, hunting, and steadily increasing his food reserves.
However, he was really out of luck when, during an outing, he accidentally lost his fire-starting magnesium rod, and the following days became difficult.
The white uncle almost turned over every area he had been active in, but he still couldn’t find a trace of the magnesium rod.
Without a source of fire, he could only rely on the Hand Drill Method to start a fire, but after working diligently all morning, his hands were blistered from the intense friction with the wooden stick, and he still couldn’t get a fire going.
The wood drilling techniques described in books and some survival shows were nothing like as simple as they made out,
For the next two days, the white uncle continued to struggle with making fire, a problem that used to take only a few scrapes with a magnesium rod was now incredibly difficult.
Hand Drill Method, ploughing, Bow drilling—all the methods he could think of were tried, and yet he still couldn’t produce a fire.
Without fire, he couldn’t eat cooked food, nor could he ensure the warmth of his shelter after dark; seeing his food reserves dwindling, the uncle became increasingly agitated.
Eventually, his consumption of raw meat led to gastrointestinal discomfort, becoming the spark that ended his challenge; on day 22, contestant number nine, the white uncle, made an emergency call to the production team, becoming the second to quit the competition.
Apart from contestant number nine’s withdrawal, the other contestants also had their varying circumstances.
Overall, these fellows gradually found their ways to survive, each with a relatively consistent source of food every day, especially the fish in the lake, which provided the vast majority of their food.
However, apart from Lin Yang, who brought relatively professional fishing gear, the primary weapon of the others was the bow and arrow, and they had to make do with crude homemade fishing tools, which greatly reduced efficiency.
It’s worth mentioning that contestant number eight, the black guy Claude, was another person who was really enjoying himself, besides Lin Yang.
This veteran might not have been a professional hunter, but his wilderness hunting skills were very good; porcupines, hares, and Thunderbirds were his regular game.
Even without hunting for a short period, his food reserves could last at least half a month, and nearly all his game was land-based, with hardly any fish.
What’s more, what engaged the viewers was that this guy had recently been tracking the tracks of a Muskox herd in the wilderness, and everyone was very much looking forward to this physically robust hunter with high hunting skills catching up with Muskoxes on a suitable terrain, possibly managing to take down these large game animals weighing over a thousand pounds.
Compared to the other contestants, Lin Yang’s performance was on an entirely different level.
When the challenge started, he did not bring the traditionally recognized hunting "Divine Artifact" – the bow and arrow; instead, he spent several selection indicators on a fishing rod, hooks, and lures.
This professional fishing equipment provided Lin Yang with a constant supply of fish; while other contestants were desperately struggling to meet their basic food needs, he already had a reserve of a hundred or so big fish, which, conservatively speaking, could last him until the end of the competition.
Plus, with the subsequent pitfall trapping of Black Bear, Lin Yang’s food reserves soared to a new level, achieving food freedom early and turning his survival struggle into an enjoyable challenge.
In the following time, Lin Yang spent nearly a week watching, successfully capturing the rare Falcon Sparrowhawk, and even performed classical Eagle Hunting live on the show, which for city-dwellers watching was like opening a new door, with new surprises in every live session.
What Lin Yang hadn’t noticed was that his live streaming account was gaining at least tens of thousands of new followers every day, and he was now very close to becoming a super internet celebrity with ten million followers.