Eva
Age: 24 (turned 25 during filming)
From: Leeds
Occupation: NHS Project Manager

ABOUT

Inspired by her dad's love of the outdoors, 24-year-old Eva is a determined and fiercely independent, confident hiker with basic bush-crafting skills, who wants to prove that young women can be confident and capable alone in the wild.

She is an outdoor obsessive and loves spending her free time rock climbing, hiking and wild camping. The outdoors is her happy place and going on a solo hikes or camping trip is her favourite way to deal with stress or difficult moments in her life.

Eva grew up suffering with lots of different health problems – none of which doctors could diagnose or put their finger on. Finally, one year before taking part in Alone, having pursued her own research, Eva was given a diagnosis of Ehler Danlos Syndrome – a genetic collagen default.

Having spent years being labelled as unfit and not capable, the diagnosis finally meant that all her symptoms made sense and it was her lightbulb moment. The condition means she suffers from gastro issues including chronic indigestion and heartburn, joint pain, scoliosis, hypermobility and dizziness, but with the confirmed diagnosis, she is now able to manage all these symptoms.

This life-changing diagnosis has also made her realise how important it is to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way.

Interview with Eva

How much survival experience do you have?

I was a scout for 10 years, where I learned absolutely tons but then I forgot half of it, so I have spent the last year or two relearning a lot of the stuff that I initially learned. I definitely don’t have the most survival experience or knowledge but I do have loads of experience foraging in the UK, which I think will be a really useful skill set.

How have you prepared for this challenge?

I have updated my foraging skills and refreshed my fishing knowledge. The fishing definitely worries me a bit as the size of the Canadian fish seem to be pretty big and scary compared to the stuff back home. But regardless, I think a lot of it will just be a learning on the job kind of thing. You can read all the books, look at all the websites but it’s no good if you can’t do it in practice. This will be the biggest learning curve!

How do you think you will feel if you have to tap out?

I will be absolutely gutted if I have to tap out. I always beat myself up about that kind of thing. If I do, I know it won’t be an easy decision for me at all but I have become quite good at listening to my body so I think if I reach a point where I know it’s come to an end, as hard as that will be, I won’t be willing to put myself through permanent damage. I will see how it goes but if that happens, I know it will be a heart-breaking moment regardless of the reason.

What are things you think might lead you to tapping out?

I am really prone to injuries, so any sort of dislocation or bad fall and I will be out for sure. Keeping on the weight will be a challenging with my existing gastro problems, caused by Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. I find it quite hard to keep weight on but I need to keep up the weight to avoid falling over and hurting myself. Those will be the main things, I think.

How do you think you’ll handle being completely on your own?

Being completely on my own, relying only on myself is huge. I think not being able to have instant contacts with friends and families will be one of the biggest challenges mentally for me. Regardless of any tricky scenarios I get myself into in life, there is always someone at the end of the phone to support me through it or give me advice. I’m always ringing my dad for advice so not being able to ring him to ask what to do in a scenario is going to be really tough. I don’t think I have mentally comprehended the concept of not being able to contact people, having had a mobile phone since I was 10. I don’t even remember not having a mobile phone so that’s going be really weird. I am excited to not be on my phone but yeah it’s going to take a bit of getting used to.

Do you have a plan of action for dealing with emotion and stress or anxiety when you are actually in there?

Over the past few years I have found that rather than saying I am really anxious, it’s really helpful to remove myself from it. Removing myself from those emotions makes it way easier to deal with it and means I’m not overwhelmed or consumed by these feelings.

What do you think your biggest weakness will be out there?

I think my biggest weakness is going to be keeping up with the physicality aspect. I know I am going be in a certain amount of pain, I just don’t know how much pain I am going to be able to push through when on top of that, I’m not eating very much. Mentally, I think I will be able to keep pushing and pushing but it’s knowing when to cut my losses now and I am not going know what that point is until I am actually out there.

What do you think your first night in the wilderness will be like?

The first night is going be my biggest hurdle by far. If I can get through that first night and not completely freak out then I am sort of set up quite well for the rest of the experience. Even thinking about lying in a half built shelter in the dark, in the wilderness, makes me quite scared, but riding through that fear that first night and knowing that if I managed one night then I could do multiple makes me feel like I’ll be OK.

What is your plan for the first night shelter?

I am going to spend that night finding something to lay under in case it starts raining and just assess where I’ve been dropped. I think I’m just going to try to spend that night not freaking out. I am doing nothing fancy for like 24, 48 hours.

What do you think it says about you that you want to do this?

That I'm a bit nuts? I think all my friends and family they won’t really be so surprised to find out that I'm doing something like this. Over the past few years, I've been on a bit of a mission to do weird and wonderful stuff anyway, and my dad would be all over this. So anyone who thinks I take after my dad would know I would do something like this.

Why do you think you've got what it takes to win this?

I think the things I've gone through over the past few years have made me really resilient. Even though I might not have the most relevant skills or knowledge in specific areas, I think doing something like this is 80-90% mindset and picking yourself up from challenges and being able to be resilient and keep going is something that I’m good at and will serve me well during this challenge.

Is this this biggest challenge of your life so far?

I would definitely describe this as the maddest thing I've ever done. I've done solo backpacking in the UK. I've travelled abroad on my own. I've done wild camping in winter in the Pennine Way in like minus degrees. But there's always my warm bed waiting at home. And in those instances, I’m putting myself in those situations for a set amount of time and I've got my mobile phone to call family and friends whenever I want, if I need support. But with this, I’m totally relying on myself, nobody else. I will rely on my skill set. But I think for me the exciting element is relying only on myself for absolutely everything and seeing how far my own resilience and my own skill set take me.

How do you feel about being on your own generally?

I actually really enjoy being on my own. As somebody who is self-identified as quite introverted, I enjoy being around other people, but I like to then retreat on my own to recharge. I also just find it really cool that you can be on your own and nobody else can tell you what to do. Like when I'm hiking, I have my own space and I love being able to just stop for breaks whenever I want without having to compromise with anyone. I can make all the decisions. But then on the flipside, when stuff starts going wrong, there's nobody to bounce off and ask if we should do certain things – and that’s the scary bit.

Is there anything in particular that you're scared of in this challenge?

Just the unknown, really. I've not encountered a bear or been in the deep water before, so the fear for me is not knowing how I'm going to react to those kinds of things. It's not the thing itself. It's more about whether I’m going to panic to the extent that I can't stay. How am I going to emotionally react to the unknown? That's the biggest thing for me, knowing what my reaction is going to be, rather than the bears, the water, the wolves, the weather, all of that kind of stuff. Yeah.

What are you most looking forward to?

Just being out in nature. Anytime I get to just sit outside on my own in nature is the absolute best thing for me, so getting to do that for an undefined amount of time I just amazing. And when that first sunset appears, I actually think I’ll sob. I can't wait!

What do you think your main emotion will be going into this?

My main emotion currently is just excitement. There are definitely some nerves, but they seem to be in the background at the moment. I'm just super, super excited to get my teeth into it and see how I'm going to handle it. I'm sure that I'll change pretty quickly when I'm not catching any fish and I'm not eating anything. But for now, it's excitement.

Do you have a strategy to win this?

My strategy is just little and often. I'm not going to be chasing the big game. I'm not going to walking for miles and miles away from my shelter. I'm just going to look for any little opportunity to find some food. I'll be going for it. So the small fish, the berries, the small animals, birds and stuff like that. That's my strategy, definitely.

What would it mean to win the competition?

Coming away as the winner would mean so much more to me than just the money. Just knowing that I’ve managed all the challenges and managed to survive and stay out there longer than anyone else would just be such a sense of pride. The money would be great and would be life changing, but for me it's that personal sense of satisfaction that I pushed myself as hard as I could. But I'm planning to win. I wouldn't want to go into this without the mentality that I think I can win. So…game face is on!