We’re now down to the last two episodes of A&E Networks' HISTORY survivalist show, Alone. This past episode revealed that Appleton resident Zachary Fowler has not yet thrown in the towel.  After 72 days surviving alone in the Patagonia Wilderness, he’s up against the last four contestants.

Pilot: When you saw that foreshadow of the boat rescue coming, did you know who it was going to be?

Zach: Actually, no, at first I thought it would be Dave, because he was so skinny. But, you never know. The show switches it up so much. I thought maybe someone might have gotten hurt. When I heard Callie’s voice over the radio, man, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It actually broke my heart a little bit to see her drop out.

Pilot: Speaking of which, as we’ve all invested in you over these last eight weeks, seeing you break down at the end a little kind of the last show gave us a heart tug as well. Was it hard to watch that flashback to your family?

Zach: Oh yeah, watching that episode last night brought back huge emotions. That was so tough to say goodbye to them on the side of the road like that. I was feeling it just as strong watching it all over again last night.

Pilot: Megan had to miss her 6-year-old’s birthday. After 72 days, did you miss any important milestones?

I missed Sparrow’s first birthday, but we’re not crazy big birthday people. I usually forget everybody’s birthday all year long and then make up for it at Christmas time.

Pilot: What did you make in this show?

The wizard staff was like my journal. So, I grabbed a stick and began carving my entire story on it. I made hash marks for each day with a bigger one for each Sunday. Then, I made symbols of different things I’d achieved, or important things that happened, such as a carving of the sun for the first day the sun had finally come out. Then, I had a daily carving with symbols for whether I got my fire going that day, and one for my physical state. For example, if I chopped firewood, I’d carve a little log symbol times 10. Every time I got a fish, I’d carve a symbol. A line down the middle of the fish meant it was a rainbow trout or two hash marks meant it was a paint trout. The next symbols were emotional. I’d carve three little people (Jamie, Abby and Sparrow) if I was really missing them that day.

In the show you’ll also see a little wand I carved for Sparrow and one for Jamie, which she actually uses to wind yarn upon. See his past Makery and Mischief video in which his daughter uses this “magic wand.”

Pilot: You were looking pretty skinny in this episode. How many pounds did you lose?

Zach: At that point, I was down 50 pounds.

The last two episodes are going to be exciting! Stay tuned to watch Zach in HISTORY’s next episode of Alone, airing Thursday at 9 p.m.

Related stories:

• Alone Week 7: A bird sacrifice for Zach

• Alone Week 6: Where is Zach?

• Alone Week 5: Zach versus Dan

• Alone Week 4: Zach fashions a Duck Hunter 3000 out of driftwood

• Alone Week 3: Things start to get serious for Zach

• Alone Week 2: Zach throws a shovel

• Appleton survivalist Zachary Fowler competes on new season of the History show 'Alone'

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com