Jordan Jonas
Jordan Jonas is an American wilderness survival expert, hunter and expedition guide who spent years living with Evenki reindeer herders in Siberia, Russia, and won the $500,000 prize as champion of season six of the HISTORY channel survival reality show Alone, which aired in 2019.
Contents14 sections
Key facts
2000Graduates from Sandpoint High School
Jonas grew up on a farm near Kelso Lake in Bonner County, Idaho, and graduated from Sandpoint High School in 2000.[1]
HISTORY says he values his Assyrian and Danish heritage.[2]
He says his grandparents went on to raise 11 children.[3]
After high school he attended North Idaho College, then spent the better part of a year riding freight trains around the country with his brother.[4]
Mid-2000s Onward: Repeated Stays in Siberia, Russia
He recalls first going to Russia around 2005 or 2006.[5]
He went to Russia to help a missionary friend build an orphanage.[6]
He says that after the orphanage was built he lived with two Russian families in a neighboring village, cutting hay and milking cows while learning the language.[7]
HISTORY says he spent a total of about five years in Siberian villages with fur trappers and Evenki nomads.[8]
During that time he survived a fall through the ice into a frozen river.[2]
2012Spends About Five Weeks Alone in the Forest
He wrote on his blog that he spent about five weeks alone in the forest in 2012; he says such long solitude forced him to confront many old matters.[7]
Before 2018Renovates Houses in Lynchburg, Virginia
He met his wife at a wedding in Toronto and settled in Lynchburg, Virginia, for its work opportunities and inexpensive housing.[6]
Before the show he fixed up houses in Lynchburg and rented them out.[9]
After watching a few episodes of Alone he applied with a link to his YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry videos from Siberia, and producers contacted him about three years later.[3]
2018Lasts 77 Days at Great Slave Lake
The ten season six contestants were dropped around Great Slave Lake in the Canadian Arctic, each with ten chosen tools and filming themselves.[1]
His ten items were paracord, a saw, an axe, a sleeping bag, a frying pan, a ferro rod, fishing line and hooks, a bow and arrows, trapping wire and a multitool.[2]
On day 20 he shot a bull moose, the show’s first large-animal kill, and later killed a food-raiding wolverine with his axe.[4]
On day 77, in late November 2018, he learned he had won during what he thought was a routine health check.[4]
That day he caught a 25-pound pike in a net he had made from paracord; he estimated he still had about 200 pounds of moose meat and 60 pounds of fish.[9]
The crew that came to tell him had been delayed by a storm and run through their food, so he fed them his own fish.[3]
June 21, 2019Alone Season Six Airs His Moose Hunt
On June 21, 2019, HISTORY aired the episode of his bull moose kill; he went on to last 77 days and win the $500,000 prize.[10]
After winning he said he “still has gas in the tank” and planned to move back to his home farm in Athol.[9]
2020Moves Into Survival Training
Early in the COVID pandemic, Netflix picked up Alone’s sixth season, bringing the show many new viewers.[10]
As of November 2020 he lived in Lynchburg and taught primitive-skills classes; he said the win let him shift from construction to survival training and adventuring.[6]
March 6, 2021Plays NPR’s Quiz Segment
On March 6, 2021, as the Alone season six winner, he played NPR’s Not My Job quiz segment, answering three questions about Burning Man.[11]
August 2022Joins Alone: The Skills Challenge
On August 4, 2022, HISTORY premiered the 12-episode spinoff Alone: The Skills Challenge, in which former participants compete in survival builds; he took part as the season six participant.[12]
HISTORY’s profile for that series lists him as a wilderness expedition guide from Montana and says he amassed more food than any contestant in the show’s history.[8]
July 21, 2024Appears on the Lex Fridman Podcast
On July 21, 2024, he appeared on episode 437 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, discussing survival, hunting, Siberia, God and winning Alone season six.[13]
He said he would lead a guided trip that summer back to the season six filming area.[7]
February 2026Announces a Book With HarperCollins
On February 11, 2026, he appeared on episode 853 of The Tim Ferriss Show, whose description says he leads people on wilderness expeditions, hunts, family adventures and team-building events.[14]
He said he had partnered with HarperCollins on his first book, about his life and building resilience, tentatively due in early 2027.[5]
As of October 2026: Runs Jonas Expeditions
As of October 2026 his website, as Jonas Expeditions, offers wilderness expeditions in Idaho, Montana and beyond, speaking events, and two Jonas Taiga Axe models, the Wolverine and the Moose.[15]
He is married with three children.[14]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Personal website: Public link: https://jordanjonas.com/ (opens in a new window)[13]
X: Public account: https://x.com/hobojordo (opens in a new window)[13]
YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hobojordo (opens in a new window)[15]
Instagram: Public account: https://www.instagram.com/hobojordo/ (opens in a new window)[15]
Sources
- Alone - Sandpoint Magazine (opens in a new window)
- Jordan Jonas - Alone Cast | HISTORY Channel (opens in a new window)
- Profile: Jordan Jonas, Winner of Alone Season 6 – Explore Magazine (opens in a new window)
- ‘I can’t believe I killed a wolverine with an ax’: North Idaho native wins reality wilderness survival show, $500,000 (opens in a new window)
- The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking Bears (#853) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss (opens in a new window)
- Jordan Jonas Q&A, Winner of the TV Series Alone (opens in a new window)
- Transcript for Jordan Jonas: Survival, Hunting, Siberia, God, and Winning Alone Season 6 | Lex Fridman Podcast #437 - Lex Fridman (opens in a new window)
- Jordan Jonas - Alone: The Skills Challenge Cast | HISTORY Channel (opens in a new window)
- 'Alone' winner to return to his native Athol (opens in a new window)
- This Moment Changed the TV Show ‘Alone’ Forever (opens in a new window)
- Not My Job: We Quiz 'Alone' Winner Jordan Jonas On Burning Man | WVTF (opens in a new window)
- The History Channel Expands Popular ALONE Franchise With Two New Series | BroadwayWorld (opens in a new window)
- #437 – Jordan Jonas: Survival, Hunting, Siberia, God, and Winning Alone Season 6 | Lex Fridman Podcast (opens in a new window)
- Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking Bears (#853) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss (opens in a new window)
- Jordan Jonas · Jonas Expeditions · Wilderness Trips, Speaking & Taiga Axes (opens in a new window)