Alaskan Bush People

[HerDellness]

I just discovered this over the weekend; has anyone else seen it? It's about a family in Alaska - dad, mom, and I think there are seven kids, five boys and two girls. Their story is they had built a homestead in Southern Alaska and the government burned it all to the ground because they'd built it on public land. So they bought five acres of land in Northern Alaska, loaded everyone and everything in a van with a small trailer behind it and headed North. They get there with only a couple of weeks to build a home before deep winter sets in.

 

Dad appears to be lazy. He likes telling everyone else what to do, but don't see him getting too involved in the work.

Mom is kinda quiet. Doesn't say much in the first show.

Various male children ranging in age from 20 to 30. One claims he doesn't bathe until someone asks him to stand downwind. They all appear to be fairly educated, pretty much can carry on a conversation. But they all appear to have adopted not only a strange way of talking/strange accent, but there is a gravelly voice thing going on that even the older daughter, Birdie, has picked up. The menfolk sport varying weird facial hair. And poor Birdie has some rather unfortunate teeth. There is also another daughter, the baby of the family, who appears about 8 or 9 years old.

 

I plan to watch a couple more episodes before making the decision to follow it. I'm afraid the dad is going to get under my skin more than anyone.

[keen23]

I watched about 15 minutes of this last night, and I wondered what the hell it was. That dialect is strange. Like the Arndts, they have a family specific way of speaking that just blows my mind.

[anniebgood]

I thought it was kind of sucky. I like Life Below Zero and Alaskas Last Frontier.

LBZ and these people saying how poor they are ( before the Nat Geo check gets cashed) and Sue who says now she's alone. Except for the camera person. My step brother who's a grip say these are easy shows to produce because they only need 1 or 2 people to do the filming/sound. Alaska and Louisiana seem to the be hot bed of reality these days, but then we can't forget Arkansas and the Duggars.

[HerDellness]

I watched the second episode of the Bush People. Still on the fence about it. I don't see it lasting very long.

Sue on Life Below Zero grates my last nerve. All that bravado gets to me. I question her story of being mauled by the bear and laying there 10 days before help arrived. Bears have nasty mouths; I would think before 10 days passed she would have had a massive infection that would have killed her. And all the talk of being attacked or the potential for being attacked in her canvas covered home ... why not live in one of the metal semi trailers? I like almost everyone else on that show, but Sue I cannot stand.

[Arete]

The only Alaska show I can watch is "The Deadliest Catch". At least I know that the crab fishery actually exists, these guys actually have to work for a living, and that you can't make up the weather.

[meep]

I've watched many episodes of Alaskan Bush People just because the family is so weird. There is no way that can be real. There's no way they can survive in the "alaskan bush" for so long with what they have/their skills. Also, they live out in thus "bush" but they seem to be going into towns and visiting other people a lot, so they can't be in the total wilderness. Is it like me going to live in a local forest preserve and saying, "Look! I'm living in the middle of nowhere! Who knows what dangers await me!?!"

[Maggie Mae]

I've watched many episodes of Alaskan Bush People just because the family is so weird. There is no way that can be real. There's no way they can survive in the "alaskan bush" for so long with what they have/their skills. Also, they live out in thus "bush" but they seem to be going into towns and visiting other people a lot, so they can't be in the total wilderness. Is it like me going to live in a local forest preserve and saying, "Look! I'm living in the middle of nowhere! Who knows what dangers await me!?!"

The bush refers to rural Alaska. There are still villages and hubs (towns). We don't have counties, we have boroughs. But we tend to refer to places by region. So someone could live in a village in the bush with a couple hundred people they may or may not be related to, but there would still be a store and a school and gathering places.

[Grimalkin]

I just discoverd the Alaskan Bush people, and saw it is more of a reinactment of their life. But it fascinates me, and is something I can watch with the family, and makes my kids think I'm not so bad.

I need to look into the other Alaska shows. We watched a show about child geniuses that was fun. There was a tiger mom on there that made me see red though.

[Maggie Mae]

So I guess the Browns moved?

http://www.adn.com/article/20150114/rea ... y-wardrobe

MamaJunebug, I love that your voice typing keeps changing Otto to Auto!

[MamaJunebug]

So I guess the Browns moved?

http://www.adn.com/article/20150114/rea ... y-wardrobe

MamaJunebug, I love that your voice typing keeps changing Otto to Auto!

Thanks! It's giggle worthy, given his mechanical aptitude!

The Browns, I don't follow. :wink-kitty: Between the Kilchers and Mob Wives, my cup runneth over with glimpses of lifestyles I would never be able to sustain. ;)

[Four is Enough]

I just caught this show last night. From what I can find from this site, they didn't raise their kids in the wild, or at least not completely.

The kids seem to have made many literary and pop culture references, and I did wonder about that, since there was clearly no television in the bush there. Their grammar seemed pretty decent for the most part. No hemming and hawing when they spoke. But their teeth looked AWFUL. That alone persuaded me part was that perhaps they did spend most of their time out in the woods.

I wondered immediately about their accents. Something in the trailer said "they made up their own".

So who knows anything about Billy and Ani Brown and their seven kids? BAM-BAM? REALLY?

[Maggie Mae]

I'm not sure why we can't have two threads - they are two separate shows, two different families, and two different regions.

AK Bush people - the Browns - are fake. Faker than fake. They are also criminals. A simple search should get you pages of results, and lots of coverage from the Alaska Dispatch (former Anchorage Daily News)

!	{TEXT1}:
	Done! I merged the two topics initially, and have corrected my mistake

[Four is Enough]

Yeah, Maggie Mae. I did a bit of Googling and saw many articles. I had wondered when they said one of the kids could read Sanskrit. (because you really need that out in the bush) I'm kind of disappointed that they are so fake and so criminalistic. I'd hoped there would be one family that would still be living in "the old way".. :evil-eye:

[Maggie Mae]

Yeah, Maggie Mae. I did a bit of Googling and saw many articles. I had wondered when they said one of the kids could read Sanskrit. (because you really need that out in the bush) I'm kind of disappointed that they are so fake and so criminalistic. I'd hoped there would be one family that would still be living in "the old way".. :evil-eye:

There are plenty of people living in the bush. They just aren't on tv, nor want to be.

The Browns bother me more than the others. Alaska reality in general is pretty lame.

[TXGirlInAMaterialWorld]

I have watched ABP and think this family is just a complete trainwreck. What they call an accent- I think could have been helped by speech therapy if the kids had the benefit of public school.

The kids do give a lot of pop culture references- but they are about 25 years behind the times. When the girls were talking about Hollywood couples and mentioned Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell as their favorite I just LOL'ed.

The dad just seems like all he does is yell at people and make everyone else do all the work. The fact that Billy was 26 and Ami 15 when they married just gives me the creeps! A 10+ year age difference is nothing in your 40's or 50's but it sets up a disturbing power dynamic when the younger party is barely a teenager.

[Nic]

OK Alaskans I have a question. I watched a couple episodes of the LAST ALASKANS which depicts these people living in on a wildlife preserve the size of SC with no towns or villages. Basically once they get dropped off, that's it for the winter. FOR THE WINTER?? That seems like the WORSE time to live in an off-the-grid cabin around the tippy top of Alaska. So why winter? These families were all coming in for the winter. WHY??

[Maggie Mae]

OK Alaskans I have a question. I watched a couple episodes of the LAST ALASKANS which depicts these people living in on a wildlife preserve the size of SC with no towns or villages. Basically once they get dropped off, that's it for the winter. FOR THE WINTER?? That seems like the WORSE time to live in an off-the-grid cabin around the tippy top of Alaska. So why winter? These families were all coming in for the winter. WHY??

The "wildlife preserve" you are refering to is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). It used to be a political "hot topic," on whether or not it should be opened for oil and gas drilling. I suppose it will be again in the upcoming election. Maybe.

I'm not an expert on Northern Alaska, by any means. I've been to Barrow a few times, and Kotzebue more often. Never been to ANWR.

My guess is that like Barrow, the only thing worse than the winter is the summer.

Here is a video of mosquitos on the tundra:

[bBvideo 560,340:2i6v1p3k]

[/bBvideo]

Also people do need to make money and interact with other people at some point during the year. And it tends to be easier to travel when the ground is solid, not marshy. There is flooding.

[Nic]

The "wildlife preserve" you are refering to is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). It used to be a political "hot topic," on whether or not it should be opened for oil and gas drilling. I suppose it will be again in the upcoming election. Maybe.

I'm not an expert on Northern Alaska, by any means. I've been to Barrow a few times, and Kotzebue more often. Never been to ANWR.

My guess is that like Barrow, the only thing worse than the winter is the summer.

Here is a video of mosquitos on the tundra:

[bBvideo 560,340:20akb8u0]

[/bBvideo]

Also people do need to make money and interact with other people at some point during the year. And it tends to be easier to travel when the ground is solid, not marshy. There is flooding.

Good goodly goop. I was not expecting mozzies in Alaska. I thought that would be an advantage of living up there...

It just seemed so miserable. From what I got is the people that had the 11 cabin permits worked throughout the year so they could afford to stay there all winter. And it was a big stressor until they could each catch a caribou to have meat to get them through as they all made it sound that there was no running to the store. Once there, they were there for the 3 mos. I guess I thought spring or fall would be nice times to stay off the grid there.

But the most I know about Alaska, is I've been to the Northern Exposure town which is in Washington.

[Maggie Mae]

Good goodly goop. I was not expecting mozzies in Alaska. I thought that would be an advantage of living up there...

It just seemed so miserable. From what I got is the people that had the 11 cabin permits worked throughout the year so they could afford to stay there all winter. And it was a big stressor until they could each catch a caribou to have meat to get them through as they all made it sound that there was no running to the store. Once there, they were there for the 3 mos. I guess I thought spring or fall would be nice times to stay off the grid there.

But the most I know about Alaska, is I've been to the Northern Exposure town which is in Washington.

Keep in mind that it IS a reality show. Having some sort of drama is kind of required. Discovery Channel shows seem to like to play up the "WE NEED FOOD" angle. There's no running to the store, but presumably they stock up on stuff from Fairbanks or Anchorage.

Also winter is much longer than 3 months. Summers are short. Fall & spring are practically non existent, but maybe a few weeks at the longest.

There are so few people allowed to live there. Those people are very, very, very lucky to have the permits.

[Wingnut]

I liked this show until I looked them up on google. It is as fake as everything else.

[Maggie Mae]

I liked this show until I looked them up on google. It is as fake as everything else.

Alaska Bush People or The Last Alaskans?

Bush People is ridiculous. But we were talking about the Last Alaskan show in the past few posts, hence my confusion.

[Wingnut]

Alaska Bush People or The Last Alaskans?

Bush People is ridiculous. But we were talking about the Last Alaskan show in the past few posts, hence my confusion.

I was talking about Alaskan Bush People. I haven't seen The Last Alaskans.

[Eighth-of-eleven]

Like an above poster said, the "bush" is rural Alaska. I lived in Alaska from 1992 to 2003 in a sort of rural area, north of Fairbanks. We had no indoor plumbing, electricity or other city services in our area but we were only 35 miles from Fairbanks. We were just out of range of city services. Lots of people live that way there.

Having traveled to and worked in (both with my ex husband's mining related business and then as a healthcare provider myself in later years) villages in Alaska as well as going out to one off homesteads in the deep bush I must say I am Glad and grateful to be back in civilization again. I do not miss hauling water and chopping wood and maintaining a houshold without utilities.

[Nic]

Keep in mind that it IS a reality show. Having some sort of drama is kind of required. Discovery Channel shows seem to like to play up the "WE NEED FOOD" angle. There's no running to the store, but presumably they stock up on stuff from Fairbanks or Anchorage.

Also winter is much longer than 3 months. Summers are short. Fall & spring are practically non existent, but maybe a few weeks at the longest.

There are so few people allowed to live there. Those people are very, very, very lucky to have the permits.

Yeah one of them said that they use the meat to help the staples (rice, flour etc) go farther. But even with amping the drama and plot lines, I got bored after 2-3 episodes.

And yes, to be 1 of the 11 that get to live there is pretty fortunate. Those permits die with the kids, so it will be getting less and less. I just don't see why winter. It's dark most of the time.. it's cold. It just doesn't seem enjoyable. Summer sounds pretty miserable there too (still fascinated over the mozzies)

I guess why winter? And from what I'm getting is because it's really the only season there... ug it just seems like an everyday PITA.

I think the problem is I am just too soft.

[oil]

I just signed a work contract for north slope Barrow Alaska petroleum industry. I leave to Barrow on last of September. I am so feeling excited for a different place so extreme as Barrow. I saw the show of the Alaska Brown family a few times. I don't think they know life to live in Barrow. My research say it's not trees and bush but snow ice and colder. I like this topic.