Edwards adventurer featured in new Netflix survival series

As if climbing the highest peaks in the world and reaching for the poles at the end of the earth wasn’t enough, Edwards resident Meghan Buchanan is now going to test her skills on “Outlast” Season 2 on Netflix. “Outlast” is a raw survival competition series where 16 lone wolf experts are dropped in the Alaskan wilderness and must outlast each other in a battle for a million-dollar payout.

But the catch in this cutthroat game is they must be part of a team to win. Buchanan got a call last fall and the filming started shortly after.

“When they called me to be a part of this show, I thought it was a joke,” Buchanan said. “I was like, ‘I’m sorry, who is this? What do you want me to do?’ And I definitely had heard of the show, but I had not watched it. So, then I watched the first season and I thought, ‘This looks really fun and fun in a horrible, struggling way, but, you know, that’s what I love.”

Buchanan said she thinks she was chosen to participate because of her experience of being a long-endurance athlete dealing with cold weather and ice. To get through tough situations, she uses the principles of GGRIT — gratitude, growth, resilience, integrity and tenacity — as her foundation for conquering difficult things.

“Those five key components are truly what helps me get through any challenge, any obstacle,” Buchanan said. Buchanan struggled with a dyslexia diagnosis as a kid and uses her platform to inspire others and find their Everest, whatever their obstacle might be, through her GGRIT teachings.

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Buchanan has been on a quest to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam, which is climbing the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, known as the Seven Summits, and then adding the treks to the North and South Pole. She completed the trek to the South Pole in December 2021 and finished the Seven Summits in December 2022. The trek to the North Pole from the 89th degree to the 90th degree is about 70 miles and she hopes to complete that next spring.

When the 16 contenders were dropped in rainy, cold, wet, Southeastern Alaska, to start filming the series last fall, it was go time.

“We had to figure things out real quick. And I mean, it was thrilling. It was amazing,” Buchanan said. “We went around and introduced ourselves quickly, like enough time to say two sentences. That’s all you got. Then we’d try to size each other up and decide who we’re going to be with and then go try to survive. So, I was so excited to, once again, put myself in completely unfamiliar territory.”

Buchanan said she is excited to watch the series and see it all unfold.  

“This experience has made me a better mountaineer, a better adventurer, a better explorer. I’m so grateful for it,” Buchanan said. “I think at a deeper level, I think in our world today we try to fill our lives with all of these things we think will make us happy. But, if you learn to provide basic needs for yourself from the land, spend more time in the outdoors and just find that connection to yourself, I promise you it is the most rewarding heart and soul-filling thing you could ever do in your life.”

Buchanan is hosting a watch party for “Outlast” at the Riverwalk Theater in Edwards on Wednesday, Sept. 4, and is inviting fellow “Outlast” contestant Emily Johnston from Boulder to join her. There will be a meet and greet at 5:30 p.m. and the 45-minute episode will screen at 7 p.m. followed by a Q-and-A with Buchanan and Johnston at 7:45 p.m. The first six episodes drop on Sept. 4 and the final two episodes will be released on Sept. 11.