Age: 52

Hometown: Buhl, Idaho

Profession: Tech CEO

Nathan Olsen lives in southern Idaho with his wife Erica and a blended family of ten children and two grand-children. This big family lifestyle is nothing new for Nathan, who grew up in a large Mormon family, and whose brother, Luke Olsen, competed in Alone Season 10.

As a young introvert, Nathan learned to cope with living in a high density home by frequently escaping to the surrounding wilderness of southern Idaho. At age ten, he took his desire to be alone a step further by convincing his parents to let him homeschool and become a sheep herder. A typical homeschool day involved packing some books and leading his flock of Suffolk to graze the canyon upstream from the family home. “My first home school assignment was to
find an arrowhead, draw a picture of it in place, and write a story about how it got there. ” Nathan feels grateful to have parents who encouraged each child to develop their interests from a young age.

At age fifteen, Nathan enrolled in college and earned a Bachelor of Science in Soil Science and eventually a Masters in Business Administration. He worked as a field guide for the Anasazi Foundation, an outdoor therapeutic program co-founded by his father, Larry Dean Olsen. Nathan farmed potatoes in Turkey and Romania and for the past 20 years, has been the CEO of BestNotes, a software company started with his brothers.

Erica and Nathan decided to get married after sitting on the couch binge-watching all of the Alone series. By participating in the show, Nathan and Erica hope to model for their children and grandchildren the courage to pursue their interests and do hard things, even with uncertain outcomes.

Here are the ten items Nathan selected to bring on his survival journey:

1. Cook pot

2. Canteen

3. Leatherman

4. Knife

5. Bow and Arrows

6. Fishing Gear

7. Blanket

8. Salt

9. Soap

10. Ferro rod