Fairbanks, AK - A new reality series about an Interior Alaskan village premiers tonight on the Discovery Channel. The show tracks a handful of men in Tanana through one of the coldest winters on record.
“There's a town deep in the remote interior of Alaska, at the junction of two powerful rivers, with no roads in or out, where wolves howling through the frigid night air remind the 200 people living there how isolated they really are.”
That’s how the Discovery Channel bills a new reality series about the village of Tanana. Charlie Wright is among a handful of locals who star in ‘Yukon Men.’ “I thought it was real exciting to let people know how we live out here in the bush," he says. "And to let people to know how hard it is to actually live out here with the prices we have to pay for fuel and gas and food an d how hard it is to make a living off the land.”
A film crew followed Wright all last winter and into the break-up season. Wright says he wasn’t too concerned that the show might get his story wrong. “I didn’t allow certain things to happen while we were going along;" he says. "They’re just kind hanging with me and doing what I do, they are filming the way I live and they’re following me every day to day.”
In a minute-long, sneak peek, scenes of ice fog, caribou and a dog teams flash on and off. On-screen text describes the lifestyle as “a way of life worth dying for.” It’s a line Wright says has some definite truth to it.
“Well, yeah people do die out here trying to make a living whether it’s the river or weather or whatever. But there’s a lot of things that people are willing to die for and you have to take a chance some time in your life.”
‘Yukon Men’ premiers tonight on the Discovery Channel. Charlie Wright hasn’t seen the show yet. He says he plans to watch all ten episodes with his family.