Throng

The adventure series with explorer Benedict Allen continues. Eight volunteers undergo an onslaught of physical and mental pressure in a bid to be declared ‘unbreakable’. In this episode, the challengers attempt to conquer the alligatorinfested Everglades in the United States.

Filmed across four continents, Unbreakable takes eight super-fit members of the public on a punishing global trail to undergo a series of brutal challenges. The contestants will learn to survive in the world’s harshest environments and endure some of the toughest military training around.

This week, the contestants find themselves in the wilderness of the Everglades wetlands at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. They will be sharing the territory with two million alligators and 60 species of venomous snake, and perhaps most formidable of all, their Native American guide. “My name is not important to you,” he sneers. “But you will call me Teacher.”

“This is the road into one of the last great prehistoric landscapes on earth,” says Benedict as the five remaining contestants arrive at the border of the Everglades. As an introduction into these harsh environs, the competitors are charged with cutting open a dead alligator and removing its entrails with their bare hands. This is done to access the ribs, which are sharpened against a rock. These crude tools will then be used to harvest sawgrass for sleeping mats. Teacher tells the group that alligators make a bed of the same material because it protects them from snakes during the night.

Once the ribs are salvaged and fashioned into knives, Angus, Barnaby, Dave, Frazer and Matt then have to make their way to camp by nightfall. The only problem is, an alligator-infested swamp lies in the way and the only transport available is a traditional dug-out canoe. For some of the bigger men, including rugby player Matt and ex-boxer Dave, the narrow boat proves difficult to manoeuvre. With the ever-present threat of alligators, it is a nail-biting crossing for the wouldbe unbreakables.

What the contestants do not realise is that they will soon be getting even closer to these powerful reptiles. The next morning, wildlife expert Bob gives the men a lesson in alligator wrangling before laying down a challenge – each competitor must capture an alligator and clamp its jaws shut. Bob demonstrates the safest technique – he sneaks up on an alligator, sits atop its back and covers its eyes with his fingers before seizing its jaws tightly with both hands.

Matt is the first to try his luck against the vicious beast. He confuses the alligator by waving his shirt over its eyes as a distraction. But this tactic backfires as the creature gets a hold of the fabric in its jaws. Eventually Matt mounts the alligator and succeeds in the challenge. “I was absolutely crapping myself,” he says. “That is scariest thing I have ever done.” Meanwhile, musician Barnaby worries he will lose his piano-playing fingers to the hungry gator. “I’m contemplating going home,” he admits.

The final task set by Teacher is a game of stickball, or ‘Little Brother of War’. “This is a combat sport,” explains Benedict, “and that means it’s a contact sport.” An early form of lacrosse, stickball was originally played to settle disputes between Native American tribes. Sometimes the matches got so violent that players would die as a result.

Teacher instructs the competitors to take a lacrosse stick in each hand. As well as being used to channel the ball into the goal, the sticks act as weapons against opponents. Whoever hits the goal five times first is the winner. There are no rules and no time limits – except that the game must be completed. Will this epic tournament finish off the weaker of the remaining contestants?