Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People recap: Raised Wild

Alaskan Bush People recap

Do the Alaskan Bush People get paid? We asked! Read our interview with the Brown family.

On Tuesday, May 6, at 10pm ET/PT, Discovery Channel introduces new reality series Alaskan Bush People, which follows the nine-member Brown family as they journey 1,500 north in the Alaskan wilderness to build a one-room cabin on their new land before the winter and the darkness bring cold and death.

RELATED: What happened to Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People?

Alaskan Bush People Season 1 Recaps: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | The Wild Life

Season 2 Recaps: Episode 1 | Episode 2Episode 3 | Episode 4Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8  | Wild Times | Episode 9 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 | Episode 14 | SHARK WEEK! | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Lost Footage | The Wild Year

Now, when I was first told about the premise of Alaskan Bush People, I was expecting perhaps a depiction of some authentic Inuit culture or something. But this is a Discovery Channel reality show, so instead, the Brown family is more like those stoners you knew in high school, though far, far more motivated and industrious.

The patriarch is Billy Brown, who with his wife, Ami, has seven kids. The first five are boys (I’ll get to them in a bit). Billy and Ami chose to live in the Alaskan wilderness, and they’ve raised their family in a remote cabin, which, unfortunately, was built on public land and burned to the ground by the government. Harsh.

So the family is looking for a new homestead, and they’ve purchased some cheap land even more in the middle of nowhere than their previous land in the middle of nowhere. They pack up the SUV and a trailer and head from Ketchikan or thereabouts 1,500 miles north to near Chitina or thereabouts.

Now, about the boys. They’re the real color of the show. The one called Bear appears to be the most interesting. He’s EXTREME! He runs everywhere. He climbs trees … to the TOP! “One of my main skills is my extremeness, actually,” he boasts. He’s sort of like a hybrid of snowboarder Shaun White and Saturday Night Live‘s Mr. Peepers. The oldest son is Matt, who says, “Fishing is both my best quality and one of my worst flaws.” (Oh, the paradox that is fishing!) Gabe is the strong-backed, weak-minded one. The boy is an ox. “On a strength level, how strong I am would be pretty darn strong,” he says, unable to numerically quantify things. Noah is the MacGyver of the bunch, and can fix anything. Anything, that is, except his bum ankle that makes him all gimpy. Bam Bam (his grandpappy liked The Flintstones) is the bespectacled one and he seems to have managerial skills that may someday allow him to work in the one Arby’s location in Alaska.

On the route to Chitina, the trailer blows a tire, which stops their journey (and just grinds this whole TV series to a halt after 10 whole minutes). So they haul the SUV into the nearest area inhabited by humans to get a comparably sized tire, leaving two of the boys behind to build a fire and defend the trailer against a distant, disinterested moose. “The sun is literally falling,” says Bear, whose extremeness is figuratively boundless. Hours later, the rest of the family returns with the replacement tire, which is just a tad too big and requires someone to bend the hell out of the fender to install. Nice work, MacGyver boy.

The family arrives at their land the following day, and they get to work building a temporary “trapper shack” that will give them shelter and protection at least through the night. The sun is literally falling and so are the temperatures, and the trapper shack is kind of half-assed and plastic covered. They’re leaving someone outside with a shotgun for “bear watch” shifts, while the rest of the family gets their sleeping arrangements set. This involves digging “hip holes” and “head holes” into the dirt. Take note, good people at Sealy.

Some of the boys have to go and “bury the meat” (stop laughing!). No, friends, this is literally burying the meat in the ground so it stays cold.

Construction continues the following day. Our dear narrator teases us with the promise of “a deadly mistake.” A tree falls and nearly takes out Bam Bam, but other than being pissed off at his brothers, he’s perfectly fine. The deadly mistake resulted in nothing. Already the show is lying to us.

With the trapper shack built, they can finally start working on the foundation of their permanent shack. But it turns out that the trees in the area ain’t no damned good and are too scrawny for cabin construction. Billy now needs lumber, and is forced to go into the nearest town, Chitina, to try and find someone with wood who is willing to barter. (BTW, everyone in these parts has guns, and they spend most of their free time shooting at street signs.)

Billy and one of the boys head to Uncle Tom’s Tavern, which looks like it might be the Mos Eisley of Alaska, and meet a few of the locals. Billy explains his situation. The locals laugh at him, telling him that it gets really cold out there and he’d better get his house built soon, because that’s the kind of local wit and wisdom you can only get at Uncle Tom’s Tavern in Chitina. The barkeep knows a lumber guy, but the lumber guy’s price is $10,000 (lumber guy has acting lessons to pay for). Billy barters with lumber guy, offering caribou and the indentured servitude of his five male offspring. Lumber guy eventually accepts, probably because the show’s producers told him to, and because the death of nine people is not something you want on your conscience.

And so, what do you think of Alaskan Bush People? Are the Browns rugged individualists or nutjobs? And, more importantly, do you care enough to keep watching this show to see if winter comes and they’re forced to eat the camera crew?

Alaskan Bush People

Photo: Credit: Discovery Channel

48 Comments

  1. I love the show and I saw some things that seemed odd. I want them back and if you don’t like just turn the channel.

  2. I found the show and watched the episodes to the homeless “boat sunk” ending; -which left me with so many questions: Is the Alaskan Bush Family being paid or exploited by the Discovery Channel? What of the story of the government burning the Alaska Bush Family home, established on public land (for years? I presume). Was the house burnt down AFTER the blog/web site and books offered by the Alaskan Bush Family? So as to NOT encourage others to come up and do the same?

    How do the bush people of Alaska get around the Alaska Native Subsistence Rights? The native peoples and villages have been fighting for years for their right to survive off the land and fishing rights for decades now.

    It’s all very interesting, but unfair for the Discovery Channel to depict the Brown family one way and leave viewers to believe the family completely lost everything! Then come to find out the Browns are really computer savvy and have their own blog and books for sale!

    What is the real reality? ~Seahorsey

    • You Seahorsey are a bag of contradictions. In the first paragraf you have a concern that the Brwons are ” exploated” by the Discovery Channel, but by the end of your comment you mention the savvvyness of the Browns regarding computers blogs, and books…How do you reconciled these two aspects of your own(wrong) observations?…What do you think Seahorsey?…Are the Browens “exploited” by the Discovery Cannel?…Regarding the native alaskan Seahorsey, they have more money and rights then the non natives.In mid ’80s the state of Alaska , the federal goverment and the native tribes signed a Treaty regarding the land rights in Alaska.The native people OWN tens of milions of acres of land.Anybody that hunts, fish, mine, drill, build, or proffits from the native lands, must pay fees and royalties dirrectly to tna native cooperative(corporation) and not to federal gov. or to the state of Alaska. More tahn that the Interior Department(federal gov.) pays each native american indifferent of location in US or/and associated territories with the US gov. over $ 38.000 annual. Many choose to squander the money on alcohool and drugs, other tribes invested the money in cassinos and resorts.Today the natives americans are totally different of their ancestors of a century ago.Today most natives american live lake a fat tick on a lazy dog.Hope you find answers(the correct ones) in your quest for the…real reality…Good luck to you!…

  3. Dont watch if you dont like the show… I like it i watch it i even want to marry Matt.. :)i love you matt…

  4. Now I begin to understand why some believe that the show is fake….In “civilization”, when you have a tooth ache, a medical problem, you and your family goes to Medicaid. You don’t send your children to catch salmon and barter it for medical treatment.No!..In “normal” life, when you don’t have food, you don’t find odd jobs, like working for DOT or on the fishing boats, like the fake Browns.No!…You go on welfare…That’s the way in today’s america…So now I understantand why some say that this show it’s fake…The Browns do strange things.Instead to demand that Uncle Sam(taxpayers), give them food stamps, the Browns, choose to go hunting and fishing for food.”Normal” people don’t do that in today’s “real” america.No!They go to suck at the Goverment tit. Yah!…Now I understand: Its a fake show…Theese things do not happen in “real” life….

    • Don’t Alaskan residents receive a check every year for the oil pipeline thing ? I know people who moved there when that was put in place, had kids, just to get that free money…..Hmmmmmm……….multiply that allotment by 9……scammers will twist their stories into knots difficult to unravel. No way these people are broke and if they were not paid by The Discovery Channel for the rights to film them than they ARE NOT too bright !

      • What that has to do with the show and with the wellfare?…In ’70 or ’80 the state of Alaska unlike like in the lower 48(or Hawaii), instead to grab ALL the money from roylaties payed by the oil companies,has decided to give a portion of these money DIRECTLY to it’s own residents.These checks fluctuates in amount,each year,in raport with the amount of oil extracted, the value of the oil price on the world market ,etc.,etc…This is a bonus that the residents of Alaska recieve. These cheks do not cover the high prices of food, fuel and the weather up there. Lori do you know the price of a gallon of milk in Alaska?Or lettuce?…Those cheks cover only a portion of the high cost of living up there. Please do not compare wellfare check with revenue from oil royalties. I tought that you guys(the neo marxists or progresives how you people like to call each other), love the idea that the natural resouces belong to the crowds. Well the state of Alaska took that literally and instead to grab all the money, like other states do, it distributed the money dirrectly to the crowds that you guys claim that you help.

    • welll. your naive then. you really think the whole world lives like you do??? really??? your not very smart then. Please take a trip outside your own community. it is a big world with a lot different things going on. If think the mall is the only place to go shopping your just stupid.

  5. Sounds to me like a lot of people just can’t stand a clean cut show. No drinking or foul mouths. This family is a close family that sticks together and works together. A lot of families don’t no how to do that these days. If you don’t like it, turn it off. Don’t put them down. No debts, a stress free life. They really have it made. Well, they will have when they get another home and I’m sure they will. A very enlightening show. Thank you Discovery channel.

  6. i love the show and cant ge enough. i dont know which is the cutest boy and i”m a 58 yr old women so the father sits back hes raised 5 strapping young boys and the girls no slouch herself. mremember “its still hokkywood” land of free te boys are old and sufficient to leave if they were uhappy. i think they wer raised with love and values they don’t want ahnd need need all the bullshit that goes along with modern civilization. why not make a few bucks and become famous om dicovery. ps- i love fast and lod mre please

  7. There are a lot of discrepancies in this whole story. If any of it is to be belie vied, then they are being paid really well to fake working so hard. And yet I still want to see more, cause if it’s all fake, I am entertained by how they get out of the problem and begin to live well. Is’nt that what we all want at the end of the day, is to see them come out on top of a bad situation.

  8. well of course its tv. & i really thought they were that poor & the odds were against them. but, but, but, after doing research theyre not poor at all. they have a real home, a boat, all have vehicles & the father, billy, is a successful fishermen. billy & wife ami are successful authors with over 60 plus books under their belt. regardless of the truth, i still like the show.

  9. I watched this show too. like watching a car wreck. I don’t get why/how they have some money…. and why they came to the new site with nothing. ( they don’t need the outside world but they needed to go buy a generator) I don’t know what “bush people” means but this really isn’t what I was expecting.i live in NH and we have some of the same issues right here. we have to be careful with wildlife all around us too, especially to protect our pets.
    somehow I prefer Alaska he last frontier, but even they aren’t really as isolated as they want you to believe. they are 20 minutes from a town with a supermarket.
    I hope they can survive though.

  10. I watched this show with my mouth open looking at the TV screen in disbelief. I can’t believe that a network of Discovery’s caliber can put on absolute trash programming as this. These people are socially challenged, and these parents should have had their children taken away long ago. How do they know who/what is popular in mainstream culture today They say they don’t know who Kim Kardashian is, but why is it relevant to mention you don’t know who a person is if you know who that person is??? Leather coats… don’t understand that one either. I have a job but don’t own a leather coat. I think Honey Boo Boo has just moved up in rankings because this show is certainly a complete waste of my time.

    • You are a piece of trash! Shut your fucking mouth and have respect for their way of life.

      • Bob…..you are trash…….you think this is all real….go move there and see how dumb this all is .

  11. I think the father is lazy, every time there’s work to do he hurts himself or gets sick. On the last episode he was so sick he thought he was dying and then as soon as the work was done he fresh as a daisy. He makes his kids go pay his debts and beg for the this gs they need, how about getting a job and paying your way like the rest of us. His poor kids don’t know any better, its how they have always lived. I would never have my wife and daughter live like that, like I said (get a job)

    • lmfao so true, hes never to be seen when any real work needs to be done. The one point where he is saying nothing will get done unless he is there is such a joke.

    • Lump in the mom too….what kind of mom sits on her ass and allows her girls to suffer from bitter cold. If I was shoved into that situation the girls and I would be in the SUV running the heater and lock the boys outside until we were properly cared for. I think the parents are stoners…..

  12. The show has me hooked. I want to see them get their cabin built before winter brings the darkness. It’s terrific to see the relationship the boys have with their dad, and the respect they all have for each other. Perhaps there’s a lesson here for the rest of us!

    • Did you SEE the dad yelling at the boys ? I did….nobody brings that up and I never saw Billy do ANYTHING……I never saw the mom off her ass until the boat sank !

  13. Where do they get these people from? Do they just look under all the rocks that they can find? I like this channel, but some of the shows they have on are not worth watching, which is to bad. Why are they so dirt poor and have nothing after all of the years together. The kids should have good paying jobs with families and such.

    • Yeah, just wait till you see the boat that somehow got in the next coming episode–that they sunk in the Ketchikan harbor. This show is complete B.S. The only reality of the show is people do help people out here in Alaska.

      • Yes!…Like the ones who in the middle of the night start shooting a the fake Browns and at the film crew, in the woods,around Chitina… Do you think those were real alaskans or fake ones…

        • Yeah, we all just shoot at each other all the time in the subdivision we live in in the Copper Basin. You are too gullible.

      • That boat was not fit to be on the water. Maybe the Coast Guard stepped in and sank it and the Discovery Channel had to embellish the story to save face for allowing the kids to be put in harms way.

  14. http://www.capitalcityweekly.com/stories/032608/ae_20080326014.shtml
    This is them, its a scam Discovery show. They are re-living a 57 day life like what was mentioned in the book. You tell me, the story line says they have 5 grand cash after losing their house because someone burned it to the ground? and again they barter for a generator and then have a nice Honda quiet gen with brand new lights? the article is correct just like most shows this one is scripted and all to sell commercial time.. Great job in convincing us… but the background things the editors missed is raising questions….

    • This show is 100% fake. The cabin they “lived” in and was “burned” down belonged to the US Forest Service. You can rent it. Its the Sweet Water lake cabin located on Prince of Wales Island. They just got ticketed for staying in it for FREE. The family worked as flaggers for the road crew here in Craig. They came over on the ferry last night to “film” a bear hunt. Stop making these nut jobs rich.

      • So…true(sic!) alaskan, develop this subject, please…WHO burned the cabin???…The Browns or the Goverment???…If was the Browns , more than likely, they will be in jail by know for arson , and destroying Goverment property…If was the Goverment who burned, then one ask the question why the Goverment burnt down their own cabin??…I hope Donnie R. Edwards reads your comment.He will find out (from a REAL alaskan), that the lazy Browns do have jobs when they need cash…

  15. This article says NOTHING that shows that. Billy may of had toys as a teenager, but they certainly have nothing now. I think they are an impressive family. I would be proud if my sons grow up to be such hardworking men with honest values. Sadly, living in this world most of us won’t be able to.

  16. hey what happened ? At 10:05 it changed to Deadliest Catch ! So they were getting shot at , whats up with that ? What the _____ happened ? Dont just leave the show hanging like that ! Stop in the middle on a scene ?

    • You will survive, Bonnie. Deadliest Catch is a …fake…show , also.And pretty low for Discovery C….

    • The Feds who supposedly burned down their cabin probably saw them on TV and are chasing them deeper into the bush to get back rent payments……next, they might try squatting in a house on the water and name their pet Peckerhead……there is probably a glitch in the law that prevents squatting for free on land but water might be the new way to scam all of us into thinking these people do no wrong.

  17. I caught this show as I was flipping around and couldn’t turn away. Nothing adds up: The Feds burned his cabin? Not buying that one. Even the Discovery voice over does a tap dance around it saying “they claim their cabin was burned…” Billy was a fisherman yet his oldest is 30 years old so, was he fishing OR living in the bush? Matt acts like he never saw an iPhone… looked like a set up for tv. The family income is sketchy. Billy has facebook going back years. Matt is rumored to have appeared on Deadliest Catch. Bear has freshly washed fly-away hair, anyone who goes even 3-4 days with long hair like that will tell you he washes it plenty. Duct tape in below zero weather? Building a cabin on soft soil yet worrying about timbers being level.

    I’d bet the truth will start slipping out soon enough…

    • Nailed it. Leather jackets in winter? Uh, nope. The caribou they butchered was a reindeer purchased because it is illegal to barter for wild game. The last show with the boat and all the confusion about where they were actually headed then sinking the boat..at night, really odd. Farce.

      • I did research about bartering wildlife in Alaska and you are dead on……nobody is thinking it odd that these people just take what they want and use it to barter. It is illegal folks to barter fish and game in Alaska…..these posts tell me most of the posters

  18. Seriously? Most people would have had their kids taken away by CPS by now!!! Lol. While I appreciate the lifestyle that the Brown family are trying to maintain, but these people are no better than a bunch of gypsies. What do they do for health insurance? Do they have ANYTHING that resembles monthly income from anywhere? Like SSI or something?? Is this really a healthy lifestyle for their children? Living in the Alaskan bush is fine…. So long as you don’t have to beg or barter for every basic human need. Think toilet paper, ok? Lol. It’s just not fair to kids is all I’m saying.

  19. Seriously? Most people would have had their kids taken away by CPS by now!!! Lol. While I appreciate the lifestyle that the Brown family are trying to maintain, but these people are no better than a bunch of gypsies. What do they do for health insurance? Do they have ANYTHING that resembles monthly income from anywhere? Like SSI or something?? Is this really a healthy lifestyle for their children? Living in the Alaskan bush is fine…. So long as you don’t have to beg or barter for every basic human need. Think toilet paper, ok? Lol. It’s just not fair to kids is all I’m saying.

    • The family lives off the land and I realize their life has not been an easy one, but I do not think CPS needs to be called in. Their kids have a stable loving family, they do not have criminal records, they are not alcoholics or drug addicts. they are a hard working family with far more values than most Hollywood families have and there is also a lot of love towards each other. I’ll be honest, I could never live like they do, but I would pick them any day over the Kardashians to raise a child. Hands down.

      • So….you think it is OK to subject a young girl who cannot fend for herself to endure bitter, life threatening cold so her dad and brothers can go on an eternal camping trip ? Mom needs to grow some balls and put her foot down….oh yea…..her and Matt are suspected pot dealers….In the show the old man stated the Browns do not drink alcohol…..I know a lot of potheads that do not drink alcohol….he did not say anything about drugs and from viewing the show I thought the mom was pretty out of it…….

    • @Mimi: Please do not use the term “nothin but a bunch of Gypsies” it invalidates your argument that this show is a negative stereotype of “Bush People” and I agree with you-this Show IS a train wreck on humanity, but they in no way are anywhere NEAR as Spiritual and Accountable and BLESSED WITH THE GYPSY HERITAGE AND VALUES. And I can speak with the same passionate authority that I believe those that are from Alaska speak against those stereotypes to which they are offended to see portrayed for profit, regardless of it’s impact in any way, because I am a Gypsy and I assure you, I saw ZERO qualities in any of those people that would attach them to Gypsy Descent or even BELIEF in any way.

    • @Mimi: Please do not use the term “nothin but a bunch of Gypsies” it invalidates your argument that this show is a negative stereotype of “Bush People” and I agree with you-this Show IS a train wreck on humanity, but they in no way are anywhere NEAR as Spiritual and Accountable and BLESSED WITH THE GYPSY HERITAGE AND VALUES. And I can speak with the same passionate authority that I believe those that are from Alaska speak against those stereotypes to which they are offended to see portrayed for profit, regardless of it’s impact in any way, because I am a Gypsy and I assure you, I saw ZERO qualities in any of those people that would attach them to Gypsy Descent or even BELIEF in any way.

  20. I like the show. Hopefully it doesnt do like American CHopper, Gas Monkey garage and other shows that went from a true show to Hollywood EGO’s.

    Hopefully the show last…

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About Ryan Berenz 2166 Articles
Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.