What item shows up in almost every Alone winner's kit?

A saw, a large cooking pot, a ferro rod, and a heavy sleeping bag appear in nearly every winner's 10-item list. A dedicated cutting tool (axe or knife) and a fishing rig (line and hooks, and/or a gill net) round out the near-universal core.

Do all Alone winners bring a bow?

No. A bow is common from Season 5 onward, but early winners like Alan Kay and David McIntyre won without one — they leaned on gill nets and trapping. A bow becomes decisive when the location supports big game and the contestant is a real hunter.

Is a gill net or a bow more common among winners?

Historically a gill net wins more seasons than a bow. It works while you sleep, catches calories on the shoreline, and does not depend on encountering game. Winners in inland or big-game country often swap it for a bow.

What are the least common items in winning kits?

Shovels, slingshots, canteens, and emergency rations are the outliers — each shows up in only one or two winners' kits. Most winners spend that slot on more cordage, another cutting tool, or a hunting weapon.

Alone · Analysis

Every Alone winner's 10-item kit, compared.

What the people who actually made it 60, 80, 100 days packed — laid out side by side, with a frequency count of the items that show up over and over.

We pulled the 10-item list for every Alone winner from our contestants directory and put them next to each other. The point isn't to crown a "best kit" — location dictates most of that — but to see, honestly, which items keep showing up when someone wins.

Below: a frequency table across 12 winning kits, then each winner's full 10 items in order. For deeper context on the rules and category tradeoffs, start with the Alone Gear guide and the 7-item clothing list. For season-by-season context, jump to the Alone Show hub.

Item frequency across winners

How many of the 12 winners packed each item. Names are normalized — "2-quart pot", "large pot", and "frying pan" all count under Cooking pot / pan; a "felling ax" and a "hatchet" both count as Axe.

Item	Winners packing it	Share
Axe	12 / 12	100%
Cooking pot / pan	12 / 12	100%
Ferro rod	12 / 12	100%
Sleeping bag	12 / 12	100%
Fishing line & hooks	11 / 12	92%
Saw	11 / 12	92%
Multi-tool	8 / 12	67%
Paracord / bank line	8 / 12	67%
Trapping / snare wire	8 / 12	67%
Bow & arrows	6 / 12	50%
Knife	6 / 12	50%
Gill net	4 / 12	33%

Show the rest (6 more)

Emergency rations — 2 / 12
Slingshot — 2 / 12
Tarp / bivy — 2 / 12
3 — 1 / 12
Shovel — 1 / 12
Water bottle / canteen — 1 / 12

What the frequency table tells us

The near-universal core is boring in the best way: a saw, a cooking pot, a ferro rod, and a sleeping bag. Miss any one of them and you're fighting your own kit. Cordage (paracord or bank line) and a fishing rig (line and hooks, often plus a gill net) round out the items that show up in more than half of winners' kits.

The interesting fights are at the margins. Bow vs. gill net is the classic trade — the bow wins big when the country supports it and the contestant is a serious hunter (Jordan Jonas, Roland Welker, Clay Hayes), the net wins by grinding out shoreline calories while the contestant sleeps (Alan Kay, David McIntyre). Trapping wire is nearly free weight and winners keep bringing it, even when they never end up using it much.

A few items only show up once or twice: Zachary Fowler's sharpened Spetsnaz shovel, Sam Larson's emergency rations, Alan Kay's canteen. Those slots read as personal bets on a specific location, not general-purpose picks.

Every winner's 10-item kit

Grouped by show, then season. Items are listed in the order each winner packed them.

Alan Kay

Alone · Season 1 · 2015

Winner

1
Saw
Cutting
2
Axe
Cutting
3
Sleeping bag
Shelter
4
Large 2-quart pot
Cook
5
Ferro rod
Fire
6
Water bottle/canteen
Cook
7
300 yards single filament line with 25 assorted hooks
Fishing
8
Small gauge gill net
Fishing
9
3
Other

David McIntyre

Alone · Season 2 · 2015

Winner

1
Stainless knife
Cutting
2
Ferro rod
Fire
3
2 quart pot
Cook
4
270y 50lb + 30y 100lb line + 25 hooks
Fishing
5
Folding saw
Cutting
6
2 lb ax
Cutting
7
0F sleeping bag
Shelter
8
Bivy w/ Gore-Tex cover
Shelter
9
Gill net
Fishing
10
Emergency rations
Other

Zachary Fowler

Alone · Season 3 · 2016

Winner

1
Sharpened Spetznas shovel
Other
2
-20F sleeping bag
Shelter
3
Felling ax
Cutting
4
2-quart pot
Cook
5
Ferro rod
Fire
6
Custom slingshot + 30 ammo
Hunting
7
Fishing line + 25 hooks
Fishing
8
Paracord
Cordage
9
Crosscut saw
Cutting
10
Multitool
Cutting

Jim Baird

Alone · Season 4 · 2017

Winner

1
Sleeping bag
Shelter
2
Ferro rod
Fire
3
Knife
Cutting
4
Saw
Cutting
5
Ax
Cutting
6
Pot
Cook
7
Paracord
Cordage
8
Trapping wire
Cordage
9
Fishing line and hooks
Fishing
10
Multitool
Cutting

Ted Baird

Alone · Season 4 · 2017

Winner

1
Sleeping bag
Shelter
2
Ferro rod
Fire
3
Knife
Cutting
4
Saw
Cutting
5
Ax
Cutting
6
Pot
Cook
7
Paracord
Cordage
8
Trapping wire
Cordage
9
Fishing line and hooks
Fishing
10
Multitool
Cutting

Sam Larson

Alone · Season 5 · 2018

Winner

1
12×12 ground sheet tarp
Shelter
2
Ax
Cutting
3
Sleeping bag
Shelter
4
Large 2-quart pot
Cook
5
Ferro rod
Fire
6
300 yards of single filament line with 25 assorted hooks
Fishing
7
Bow and 6 arrows
Hunting
8
Slingshot
Hunting
9
Extra emergency rations
Other
10
Knife
Cutting

Jordan Jonas

Alone · Season 6 · 2019

Winner

1
Paracord
Cordage
2
Saw
Cutting
3
Ax
Cutting
4
Sleeping bag
Shelter
5
Frying pan
Cook
6
Ferro rod
Fire
7
Fishing line and hooks
Fishing
8
Bow and arrows
Hunting
9
Trapping wire
Cordage
10
Multitool
Cutting

Roland Welker

Alone · Season 7 · 2020

Winner

1
Ferro rod
Fire
2
Gill net
Fishing
3
Pot
Cook
4
Trapping wire
Cordage
5
Ax
Cutting
6
Saw
Cutting
7
Multitool
Cutting
8
Belt knife
Cutting
9
Bow and arrows
Hunting
10
Sleeping bag
Shelter

Clay Hayes

Alone · Season 8 · 2021

Winner

1
Sleeping bag
Shelter
2
Pot
Cook
3
Axe
Cutting
4
Saw
Cutting
5
Multitool
Cutting
6
Bow and arrows
Hunting
7
Paracord
Cordage
8
Fishing line and hooks
Fishing
9
Snare wire
Cordage
10
Ferro rods
Other

Juan Pablo Quinonez

Alone · Season 9 · 2022

Winner

1
Ferro rod
Fire
2
Paracord
Cordage
3
2-quart pot
Cook
4
Ax
Cutting
5
Fishing line and hooks
Fishing
6
Saw
Cutting
7
Bow and arrows
Hunting
8
Sleeping bag
Shelter
9
Trapping wire
Cordage
10
Multitool
Cutting

Alan Tenta

Alone · Season 10 · 2023

Winner

1
Ax
Cutting
2
Saw
Cutting
3
Ferro Rod
Fire
4
Fishing Line and Hooks
Fishing
5
Bow and Arrows
Hunting
6
Sleeping Bag
Shelter
7
Cooking Pot
Cook
8
Paracord
Cordage
9
Snare Wire
Cordage
10
Multitool
Cutting

William Larkham Jr.

Alone · Season 11 · 2024

Winner

1
Sleeping bag
Shelter
2
Ferro rod
Fire
3
Knife
Cutting
4
Saw
Cutting
5
Ax
Cutting
6
Pot
Cook
7
Paracord
Cordage
8
Trapping wire
Cordage
9
Fishing line and hooks
Fishing
10
Gill net
Fishing

Frequently asked

What item shows up in almost every Alone winner's kit?: A saw, a large cooking pot, a ferro rod, and a heavy sleeping bag appear in nearly every winner's 10-item list. A dedicated cutting tool (axe or knife) and a fishing rig (line and hooks, and/or a gill net) round out the near-universal core.
Do all Alone winners bring a bow?: No. A bow is common from Season 5 onward, but early winners like Alan Kay and David McIntyre won without one — they leaned on gill nets and trapping. A bow becomes decisive when the location supports big game and the contestant is a real hunter.
Is a gill net or a bow more common among winners?: Historically a gill net wins more seasons than a bow. It works while you sleep, catches calories on the shoreline, and does not depend on encountering game. Winners in inland or big-game country often swap it for a bow.
What are the least common items in winning kits?: Shovels, slingshots, canteens, and emergency rations are the outliers — each shows up in only one or two winners' kits. Most winners spend that slot on more cordage, another cutting tool, or a hunting weapon.

Item frequency across winners

What the frequency table tells us

Every winner's 10-item kit

Frequently asked

Keep going