Speaker 5
I was tracking this porcupine every day. I couldn't find him and I finally decided to crawl down into the porcupine den. It was during a blizzard and I knew it was very risky because if I ran into any problems, nobody would be able to come to help me for days until the storm passed.
Speaker 1
That's Callie Russell. In 2019, Callie was left to fend for herself in the middle of the Arctic as a contestant on the survivalist show alone. Callie was starving and was in search of food anywhere she could find it. I
Speaker 5
chose to climb down and I was able to harvest this porcupine. And I was so happy hiking back to my shelter. I thought, I'm going to get snowed in. This big storm's rolling in, but I'm just going to sit in my shelter and eat this porcupine. It's going to be the best. I'm going to have a party, a whole porcupine party. Callie's
Speaker 1
isolation fed her desperation. Her emotions became pure, simple, and loud. She chose her plan, and with a protein-rich dinner in hand, she was on cloud nine. But in the blink of an eye, Callie went from elated to painfully disheartened.
Speaker 5
And then I saw the porcupine had a spotted liver. And I knew from my experience that animals with spotted liver have a disease and you shouldn't eat them. Outside
Speaker 1
of the show, Callie has lived a nomadic lifestyle for over a decade. Living under trees, tarps, and in caves, Callie developed her playbooks for all aspects of wilderness survival. Bears
Speaker 5
can have a disease called trichinosis, and you can still eat them. You just have to cook the meat very, very well. So I thought that's maybe how I would get around this. I didn't eat the liver and I didn't eat the kidneys, but I ate the rest of the animal, just cooked well. And I think I'm okay.
