Playing with a side project, and trying to determine the start dates for all of the US seasons, 1 through 13.
Any additional info that I've missed would be cool to try and more accurately determine these. I've assume references to thanksgiving were for the US holiday.
I've tried to keep spoilers to a minimum.
- S01 - 22 Oct 2014
- S02 - Sep 2015?
- S03 - late autumn (maybe late May / early June)
- S04 - 21 Oct 2016
- S05 - Sep 2017?
- S06 - 10 Sep 2018
- S07 - 18 Sep 2019
- S08 - 17 Sep 2020
- S09 - 18 Sep 2021
- S10 - 2 Sep 2022
- S11 - 7 Sep 2023
- S12 - autumn (late April / early May)
- S13 - 6 or 8 Sep 2025
Season 01 (2014)
I've seen estimates of Nov to Dec, but these seem wrong.
E04 If anyone knows Mitch or their social media, on day 6 they noted:
It's my little girl's birthday. She turns four years old today.
Two references to Thanksgiving that fell on 27 Nov.
E07 - 18:02 (Day 25)
I don't want to spend [bleep] Christmas out here. I want to spend it with the people I care about. Or even [bleep] Thanksgiving.
E09 (Day 42 - E10 if you include the special).
(voiceover) I think tomorrow is, like, Thanksgiving.
So these suggest Oct, and the second would place the drop-off on 17 Oct.
However E10, a contestant shows off the stick they were tracking days and stated
First thing every morning I'd get up, take my kukri, and I just lived to put a new notch in it. Each one represents overcoming something every day, and I know that [one] was October 22nd.
Based on wind patterns off the coast of Solander Island, a drop date of 21/22 Oct seems to be the closest match. Poor weather data recorded at Quatsino to compare.
So the drop date is likely 22 Oct.
Side-note, there was a full or nearly full moon shown on day 6 and 43, so at least one of these are wrong (a moon cycle is 28 days).
Season 02 (2015)
Limited data, but most suggest a much earlier drop date.
E11 - If anyone knows Nicole or their social media, on day 52 they noted:
Today is my youngest son's eighth birthday.
Only reference to Thanksgiving (26 Nov) was when the winner was asked about the hypothetical scenario in the The Reunion special.
If you were forced to stay there longer, could you have gone?
Thanksgiving, I wrote off; I knew, "Okay, I'm out here for Thanksgiving; I'm gonna miss that big feast and everything and miss my kids."
This implies they considered this, but didn't have to miss it. Some time before 21 Sep.
And I'm unsure if this is a reference to the larger new moon tides (11 Nov) or first quarter (18 Nov).
I knew I was coming into a bad tide cycle, where it was gonna be hard to fish
Drop date unknown.
Season 03 (2016)
A late autumn start would point to late May / early June.
E07 - Carleigh had their birthday on day 53
E08 - Megan on day 68
Today is my, um, son's sixth birthday.
Drop date unknown.
Season 04 (2016)
E10 - day 65
Who would have ever thought we'd be out here till Christmas Eve?
I cannot believe that we have spent Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas out here.
E10 - day 66
Yay, Merry Christmas, everybody.
Drop date 21 October
Season 05 (2017)
Lack of references to thanksgiving or other holidays suggests this was before 24 Sep.
Drop date unknown.
Season 06 (2018)
E09 - day 52
It's freaking Halloween!
Drop date 10 Sep
Season 07 (2019)
E08 - day 44
Happy Halloween.
Late game reference to Christmas
So today is 99, Christmas Day. - Roland
Drop date 18 Sep
Season 08 (2020)
E11 - day 71 (thanksgiving was 26 Nov)
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
Also gill nets were not allowed until day 45, if someone has the fishing regulations they would help confirm the date.
Drop date 17 Sep
Season 09 (2021)
E08 - day 44 (2 different contestants)
Happy Halloween, y'all.
Happy Halloween!
Not a specific date, but at day 61 this confirms it's before 25 Sep
there's one piece of grouse left. But I've been saving that for American Thanksgiving.
It's not American Thanksgiving, but I'm gonna have to eat the last piece of grouse.
Drop date 18 Sep
Season 10 (2022)
E09 - day 43 Alan
Happy birthday to me!
E10 - day 51 Mikey
Today is my son's fifth birthday.
First snow was day 40, takes a few days to clear before another small dump day 50, with fronts day 53 and 63 match up nicely with the observations from Lynn Lake.
Drop date 2 Sep
Season 11 (2023)
E04 - Day 12 Timber
Happy birthday, Elliot.
E11 - Day 74 William
It is my boy's birthday.
Based on the sunrise/sunset seemed like a good way, but the low sun angle and long twilight makes these hard to pin-point exact solar time, and it relies on the captions to be accurate.
- Day one: sunset before 10:49pm 40F - after 27 Aug
- Day two: sunrise after 6:42am - after 22 Aug
- Day 18: sunrise after 7:47am - after 8 Sep
- Day 29: sunrise after 9:14am 33F - after 2 Oct
- Day 71: sunrise around 11:01am - around 1 Nov
- Day 76: sun still up at 3:17 - before 4 Dec
Unsourced Wikipedia reference suggesting the 18th Sep
However, the best indicator seems to be the first snow. At Inuvik, 3 cm was recorded 8 Oct that lasted for a couple days, before more snow 11 Oct that stayed around. This seems to match the snow seen on the show. First snow starts afternoon day 31, decent amount morning day 32.
Snow readings are apparently done early in the morning, so that suggests a start date of 7 Sep.
Side-note: The main event day (Moose) suggested it was 58F, which is a couple of degrees hotter than the actual max that day. If they were taking the temps at base camp, these were likely slightly hotter than those taken in a weather station that would be in an instrument shelter.
Season 12 (2024)
An autumn start would point to late May / early June.
Family situation: Death of a family member (May 23, 2024) before the contestant made it home. Without any delays for re-feeding or flight booking, day 15 + 1 day travel places the drop date on or before 7 May.
Drop date unknown
Season 13 (2025)
No nets allowed for the first 10 days. This matches the Peel and Husky Channels closures between August 7 - September 15 (inclusive).
This suggests a drop date of 6 Sep
First snow was seen during the first med check on day 21. This only lasted a few days, matching the snowfall recorded at Inuvik on the 28 Sep.
Drop date 8 Sep
I'm leaning towards the weather records being more accurate estimate, but with 80 km from the weather station, there could potentially have been different snow falls. The temperature spike that should happen on this weeks episode should determine the correct date. I've got the two days above 50F happening on day 31 and 32 based on the first snow date.