In Noorvik, on the west coast of Alaska, Chip and Agnes Hailstone are unable to access their hunting grounds until their river is frozen solid. Landlocked in town, the Hailstones must get creative to rummage up what they need to survive, bartering and trading what they do have for the essential items they lack. Chip takes the opportunity to try and make some extra cash by trapping fox on a relative’s land. The family has mixed fortunes but manages to stay ahead, for the time being.

On the opposite side of Alaska, in Eagle, Andy Bassich takes care of his dogs as a cold spell sets in and is forced to take dramatic action when he finds they are running low on dog food. Andy depends upon his dogs completely to help him travel and haul supplies through the frozen wilderness. But this year Andy miscalculated how much dog food he’d need, and because he is still unable to navigate the river trails and get to civilization, he too must call in an emergency aircraft to bring in food for the malamutes. Once the dogs are taken care of, he turns to nourishing himself and his wife Kate. His best bet is to try to trap a beaver in a nearby frozen pond.

In Wiseman, Erik Salitan arms himself for a mission to hunt down some meat for dinner and fur for selling. As he travels the frozen river on his snow machine, he spots fox tracks and follows on foot. He successfully comes away with two foxes, which he can use for bait and fur. Later in the day he scores again when he kills two ptarmigan. Erik returns home and celebrates with a hearty dinner for one.

Four people separated by hundreds of miles, all linked by the common need to survive the depths of winter in the Alaskan bush. The challenges are deadly real and the environment is a brutal opponent. One question looms: how long can they last during the long dark winter living Life Below Zero.

Tune in to Life Below Zero: Hunt, Barter, and Steal Sunday at 10P

With a grand event like the Winter X Games, it only makes sense to have a very action-packed production, which we sure experienced. The stakes are higher than ever and these guys were trying day after day to not let the pressure get to them. Once I laid eyes on the enormous pile of snow used for big air, I think our entire crew really understood the massive scope of this event. When the jump was actually completed, it looked like it was designed for someone who had no fear of dying. Literally. This was the jump that rookie Landon was assigned and he had a lot to prove to Gunny this time. Our entire crew was pulling for him, but it seemed like a near impossible challenge. Landon’s nerves were very visible to everyone on set; he clearly did not want to screw this one up.

Pressed for time to pull off the biggest event of the year, a huge snowstorm rolls through just in the nick of time. This did not make for a very fun day of shooting for our crew. It was difficult for our camera crew to get set and our audio guy was slipping and sliding all over the place. Not to mention freezing temperatures. My fingers had lost all feeling. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be in a snow cat, and I was getting very concerned for these guys. Finally, Gunny made the call to stop production for the night. Our crew was jumping with joy, but SPT’s stress level just got kicked up yet another notch.

Nothing was as scary as when they were pulling the shipping container up the icy road. I couldn’t believe the nerve these guys have. We were on the side of a freaking mountain, inches away from the edge! I held my breath the entire time. Even though it was the only way up, it seemed like the worst idea ever.

I was most excited for the athlete arrival. Mark McMorris and Torstein Horgmo are two of the biggest players in the game right now, and I was very anxious to meet them and see what they thought. They were impressed at the sight of it, but things were different once they tested. When Mark McMorris landed on the knuckle I thought there was going to be a hospital call. I have never witnessed something like that in real life, and we were freaking out! I just remember thinking, “What if he gets injured and can’t perform at the actual event, that would be an absolute nightmare for SPT.” Thankfully, he was okay. He wasn’t so happy with Gunny but gave his feedback, and they were forced to make changes. It was pretty awesome to witness the relationship these guys have with SPT.

The shoot overall was hectic and freezing, but a success nonetheless. Once the course was complete, and we stood next to these features in real life… we totally forgot about the cold and the drama. These things were imaginary and it was a blast watching it take shape from start to finish.

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Tune in to Mountain Movers: The Big Time tonight at 8P when SPT kicks things into overdrive for their highly anticipated, stressful, and action-packed event of the year: the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado. As one of the original course designers of the Winter X Games 17 years ago, Gunny still feels the pressure to build the biggest, most intense course the industry has ever seen. Gunny has passed on the torch to his young protégé Chris Castaneda to lead the crew from SPT, who will have to manage the diverse personalities of veterans Mike Binnell and Aaron Dettling, as well as rookie Landon Taylor. Extremely cold weather, malfunctioning equipment and tight deadlines quickly pile on to the intensity and difficulty of this world-wide televised live event. With the highest caliber athletes waiting and the whole planet watching, SPT will have their work cut out for them.

If you didn’t have the chance to snag tickets, which were open to the public this year, we’ve got you covered. Watch all the geo drama unfold tonight at 7P when the nation’s smartest geography brainiacs descend on Washington D.C. for the finals of the 2013 National Geographic Bee. Nat Geo will bring viewers every nail-biting moment of the final round as these students put it all on the line, competing for coveted prizes: third place receives $10,000 scholarship, 2nd place $15,000, and the winner receives a $25,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society and a trip for two to the Galapagos Islands.

Do you think you have the smarts to compete with these talented children? Take our very own Geo Bee Quiz, based on actual Bee questions. Think you’re a wiz? Here was yesterday’s winning question… do you know the answer?

“Because Earth bulges at the equator, the point that is farthest from Earth’s center is the summit of a peak in Ecuador. Name this peak.”

Ever wonder what it’s like to shoot in the morgue of an abandoned military base on Long Island? Yeah, us too!

So that’s why we put this little video together to share. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the Locked Up Abroad promo shoot.

It was a long cold day, but we really can’t complain – the actors were the ones actually being tortured with a power washer at 1AM in the freezing cold. (We did give them Starbucks between takes.) Anyway, check it out!

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Tonight on Locked Up Abroad, Eddie Padilla is living the “high life” in Maui: surfing, partying and drug smuggling to support his cocaine addiction. But a run-in with the Peruvian police on a smuggling trip lands him and two friends in a prison called “The House of the Devil.” The guards say they expect them to try to escape, but if they don’t make it … they are killed. Even so, they decide to do whatever it takes to get out. Eddie shares his story of being Locked Up Abroad and the terrifying events that led to his freedom.

Tune in to Locked Up Abroad: Hippie Mafia tonight at 10P

Complete all 12 episode challenges to reveal your total brain profile.. and tune in to Brain Games, Mondays at 10P.

Michael Cawley’s daughter, Fiona, is coming to the first crossroads in choosing the polygamous lifestyle: baptism. In Centennial Park, a child must be old enough to understand the tenets of their faith, which includes memorizing all 13 Articles of Mormon faith. Michael’s second wife, Connie, has been working with Fiona to prepare her for the baptism – a ritual that has never before been filmed. But, during a Cawley family outing to Colorado City – an extreme polygamous sect run by the controversial leader Warren Jeffs – SUV’s with tinted windows circle and harass the family, threatening to ruin their good time.

Then, Uncle Arthur, one of the community elders, has had several children choose to leave Centennial Park. His son Ezra may be the next to go. Ezra’s latest act of defiance, a truck bought against Arthur’s wishes, has broken down in Salt Lake City. Arthur and his youngest wife, Gloria, accompany Ezra on a tense road trip to recover the truck, and spend some quality time together.

Tune in to Polygamy USA: The Baptism tonight at 9P

But despite this, the key to species survival has always been the same for all primates: in order to continue as a species, we must reproduce and pass on our genes to the next generation. And the only way to do that, whether you’re a bonobo or a baboon, is to attract (and be attracted to!) the right mate. So despite centuries of trying to tame our most basic, animalistic urges, evidence of our primal origins are still strikingly apparent in modern human love lives. Not only are the things we look for and find attractive in a partner founded on the same evolutionary rules that dictate ape mate preferences, but the way we woo, seduce, and keep hold of our other halves are almost exactly the same:

First Impressions

First, we look at the significance of making the right first impression. Just like apes, both sexes are constantly scanning the horizons for a sexy pair of genes. For males of any primate species, the priority is simple – fertility. While for females, it’s resources and security that are a girl’s best friend. But these differing priorities shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that it’s the females of the ape family that sacrifice their bodies and invest months of calories when producing their offspring. While for a male ape, as long as there’s an egg ready and waiting he needn’t have a care in the world after copulation. So to help us find the right match, we apes have not only evolved traits which help us advertise ourselves, but also efficient ways of identifying suitable mates. Rather than waiting until the first date (or first mate, if you’re a chimp) to figure out whether your prospective partner is male or female, fertile or infertile, healthy or unhealthy, humans and apes use various visual cues to make snap judgments about whether to pursue a fellow species member.

Making a Move

The next step in the process of finding a mate, is making the first move. In the ape world, once the two sexes have set their sights on each other, courtship begins. Although the female may have exchanged glances, or even initiated eye contact with the male, it’s nearly always the male that makes the approach and does the mounting. It’s then up to the female to decide whether to let him or not. If she changes her mind, or the attention is unwanted, she’ll simply walk away and wait for someone more preferable to try his luck.

And it’s just the same in human societies, where it’s men who are traditionally expected to make the first move, while women can simply hang back and wait for Mr. Right to come their way. And the way a male approaches the female can influence her receptiveness to the advance. Be too intimidating, and she’ll run away, but be unconfident and she’ll lose interest. The most successful male apes use a winning combination of confidence and kindness. A dominant stride paired with some attentive grooming, and perhaps even an offering of food, are the surest way to an ape female’s heart. And charming a human female is no different.

Protecting the Bond

Even after all that, an ape’s work isn’t done. The next task on a male ape’s agenda is to guard his female from any opportunistic rivals who may want to try their luck. Alpha male apes are masters at this – after mating with an estrus female, any sneaky subordinates who are caught trying to get a piece of the action are immediately chased away, either by the alpha himself or by one of his specially employed bodyguards. This is because successfully defending his mates will give him the best chance of fathering lots of offspring. We humans also instinctively react when someone tries to steal our woman from us. After all that time and effort spent wooing and seducing your chosen female, the last thing you’d want is for her to be stolen by another guy. So not only will we show you how doing it the ape way can help you successfully attract, approach and secure your perfect mate, we’ll show you how to keep her once you do.

Tune in to Going Ape: Hooking Up tonight at 10P. In this episode of Going Ape, we will show you how you can put this primate knowledge into practice, and how the secrets to successful ape mating can be used for successful human dating. To demonstrate this, we carry out a series of unique and exciting experiments designed to bring out the inner ape in members of the public, and analyze their behavior with the help of experts in primatology and psychology.

Let’s Talk About It

Research shows that when men and women listen to a passage being read aloud from a novel, only the left hemisphere in the male brains was activated. In contrast, women demonstrated activity in both the left and right hemispheres. The female brain is more attuned to words and sounds. Girls tend to learn to speak earlier than boys and this may be why. It could also explain why women excel at learning languages.

Take a Risk

Most men may not have a gift for language, but they do have something that many women do not, a brain wired for risk-taking. In fact, most women’s brains simply don’t reward them for taking big risks. Men, on the other hand, get a burst of endorphins, a chemical when gives a sensation of pleasure, when confronted with a risky or challenging situation. In fact, the bigger the reward the more likely a man is to take a risk.

Are We Lost?

So all of this explains why men never ask for directions right? It sort of does, actually. A man’s brain tends to give him a talent for spatial reasoning. He may navigate based on abstract concepts such as distance and direction. He may not articulate it well, but he is pretty sure where he is going. A woman on the other hand will depend on her language skills, navigating by talking about landmarks that she can see or hear. She notices and articulates if the car has passed the same diner three times. So maybe if they both work together, they will have a much better chance of never getting lost.

We may all be wired differently depending on our gender, but there is no doubt that each of us is an individual. We are a product both of our specific strengths and weaknesses as well as of our background and culture. Our differences may seem incredibly frustrating at times, but they can also be used to our advantage. There is no winning the battle of the sexes, but the better we know one another, the more likely we can take the world on together.

Want to know more about the differences between the male and female mind? Watch Brain Games: Battle of the Sexes Monday May 20 at 9PM et/pt and decide for yourself who has the best brain for which task.

From winter preparations through the thaw, Life Below Zero follows six people as they battle for the most basic necessities in the state with the lowest population density in the United States. Living at the ends of the world’s loneliest roads and subsisting off the rugged Alaskan bush, they battle whiteout snow storms, man-eating carnivores, questionable frozen terrain and limited resources through a long and bitter winter. Some of them are lone wolves; others have their families beside them. All must overcome despairing odds to brave the wild and survive through to the spring.

Each episode of Life Below Zero takes viewers deeper into the winter, following brave residents as they struggle in their different corners of this merciless territory to stay one step ahead of storms and predators. Money is practically worthless; food, fuel and fur are the real commodities. Experience has taught them to take a shotgun to the bathroom in case of a surprise bear attack; that the heart is the best bite of a cooked ptarmigan; and that caribou fur make the best “mukluk” boots. It’s a raw look at what life is like without paved roads, grocery stores, central heat or neighbors.

Don’t miss the series premiere of Life Below Zero, Sunday at 10P

Before you took off for Mexico with your buddies, how were your sailing skills? Had you been sailing a long time?
Had sailed for a couple of years previously.  Local Channel Islands (like Catalina) and one trip to Ensenada, Mexico.  (120 mi. r/t)

You initially went to Mexico searching for a dream surf spot… What type of place did you imagine? Did you ever find it?
Mexico surf at that time was uncrowded and mostly unknown, especially the spots only accessible by boat. We found waves, but not the ultimate Shangri-La.

When you guys arrived in Mazatlan on your boat, you mentioned it was falling apart… Did you have any harrowing close calls during this first leg of your sailing journey?
After we had anchored in the bay at Mazatlan, we went into town, only to come back and find that the locals had cut our anchor line and stolen our anchor. The boat was sitting high and dry on the beach!  (We think the same guys that stole it, helped us get the boat back out off the beach.) We used a standby generator (it had never really worked) as our new anchor. With limited success.

Before you met Frank, had you heard stories of people successfully transporting marijuana back to the States? Did any other ex-pats talk openly about this?
Of course we had heard of people smuggling pot, but didn’t know anyone personally. There was always a lot of talk but very little action.

What was the scariest thing you witnessed in the Mexican prison?
I saw a guy shoot up heroin into his [penis]. That scared me so much I swore I would never do heroin myself.

During lock-up, were you surprised by anything you missed? (ex: a particular food, drink, scent, or clothing item?)
Freedom and women!

Do you still keep in touch with any of the guys from this ordeal? Did you ever find out what happened to Benny?
Mace and Frank only.  Have tried to contact the others, but never have located them.

What do you think would’ve happened if you’d been caught during your prison escape, or if you never attempted escape in the first place?
First thing they do is beat the crap out of you.  Then throw you in the “hole” for 30 days. Then, start your time to trial over. They don’t have to give you a trial for one year, so whatever time you’ve already done waiting for trial, starts over. However, under Napoleonic Code in Mexico, as a prisoner, it’s your right to try and escape. We would have been sentenced to at least 5 years each. At that time, the U.S. was paying Mexico extra money to keep Americans locked up.

How has the experience in Mexico changed you as a person?
It made me see “you can get it if you really want” (that’s a song) and if you don’t try, your never gonna get it.  Guaranteed! 

Have you ever traveled back to Mexico?
I’ve been to Ensenada only once since. My lawyer said it would PROBABLY be OK, just don’t go back to Mazatlan! I’m OK with that.

Did you ever sail a boat again, after that terrifying shipwreck ordeal?
I went ahead a few years later and built my own 42′ sailboat from a bare hull (took 3 years) then went to the So. Pacific on it for two years. Then I lived aboard and sailed locally for the next 20 years.

What are you up to these days?
After my sailing trip, I went to a diving school for two years, then worked as a saturation diver in the No. Sea (Scotland). Then I was a commercial diver here in Calif. for the next 10 years. Then I was the boat captain of the diving boat for the next 15 years. For the last 15 years I have been a carpenter here in Santa Barbara.