In an environment where food is scarce and temperatures run as low as tempers run hot, there are several strategies you could use to outlast the competition. In Outlast, the survival competition series where 16 lone wolves try to withstand the Alaskan wilderness (but can only win if they’re part of a team), plenty of competitors employ those strategies; some teams play it safe, some play dirty, some give up too soon and others perhaps stay too long.

For Charlie camp — comprised of Seth Lueker, Paul Preece and Nick Radner — the ultimate winners of the show and the $1 million prize that came with it, it was less about scheming and more about committing to a common goal.

“Me, Paul and Seth were all ready to die out there,” Nick tells Tudum. “I’m dead serious. We were ready to die or get evacuated, because we would not go home or fire that gun.”

Nick is referring to the flare gun that contestants fire if they are ready to tap out. One by one over the course of the season, Charlie camp sees flares shoot into the sky over the Neka river, each blast getting their team one step closer to the moment they can leave. The rules of Outlast state that the winning team has to finish together, with no individual lagging behind. From the beginning, Charlie camp makes the decision to do whatever it takes for the sake of team — even if it means individual sacrifice.

“We were looking out for each other,” says Paul. “We’d already made a plan for the last competition. If [one of us] started holding the team up, we were going to flare out. If we saw the other team [about to win] and I was the one dragging ass and causing us to lose, I was going to flare out. We were as much there for each other as we were for ourselves.”

By the time Charlie camp completes the last challenge and realizes they’ve won, they’ve already been through weeks of challenging circumstances, both from the harsh environment and from the other teams. Charlie camp has evolved over the course of the competition — Nick and Seth have always been part of the group, but their original team also included Andrea Hilderbrand and Angie Kenai. Andrea has to leave the show in Episode 1 after falling severely ill from drinking stagnant water. Once Andrea leaves, there’s an open spot in Charlie camp, first filled by Jordan Williams, who lies about his circumstances in Delta camp and ends up being medically evacuated due to lack of food. Then comes Paul, who leaves Delta camp without saying goodbye and ends up helping Charlie to victory. Finally, Angie joins the group, making it all the way to Episode 6 before having to fire her flare due to issues with a bowel obstruction.

“We all had a different connection with Angie,” Paul says. “I was missing my wife and babies at home, and Angie kind of filled that daughter role. Having her in camp was such a morale booster.” Nick agrees, saying, “She taught me how to take apart a crab. I’d never slaughtered one before, and she walked me through it. I’ve thought about that so many times, and I owe that to her.”

Once Angie leaves, Charlie camp settles somewhat into a state of survival stasis, each of the three simply staying the course and hoping they’ll somehow outlast the other teams. Watching the show, you get the sense that some other players are picking up on how solid the team’s bond and skills are, some of them even attempting to join Charlie camp after burning bridges — or, in Javier Colón’s case, shelters. In a particularly dramatic moment in the show’s final episodes, Justin Court attempts to join Charlie camp after conflict with Alpha team — consisting of Jill Ashock and Amber Asay, who he’s been with from the beginning — boils over. Justin sabotages Alpha’s camp on the way out, and once Charlie camp learns of what he’d done, they refuse to finish the game with him. Instead, they stay true to their intent of finishing the game with their heads held high and closed ranks. 

“You can’t have a team without communication,” Seth says. “There was never any arguing or bickering. Everyone agreed that if they had a problem, they’d put it on the table right away. We scratched it before it became a big problem.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Charlie camp has zero problems to consider throughout their time in the competition, all the way to the end. The team says that getting through the weeks spent with scarce food and wet feet were some of the hardest they’ve ever had to deal with. Each day, they grew weaker and more hungry, and also had to deal with the psychological impacts of not knowing when the game was ever going to end. 

“Every day, we were getting more and more starved out,” Nick says. “If anyone watches the show and says it isn’t real, I’m going to go to their house and punch them in the face. It was real.”

And after the show’s dramatic finale wherein Charlie camp weeps and holds each other along with their shared prize, Seth says he got to experience perhaps the realest moment of them all.

“After we won, and they took our picture with the money,” Seth remembers, “Someone gave me a ham sandwich. That ham sandwich was all that was on my mind at that moment. That, and my family.”

See the ‘Outlast’ Audition TapesDive into the inspiring stories behind the real people of ‘Outlast’.