Image courtesy History Channel

Zachary Fowler, a boatbuilder who lives in an off-the-grid yurt in Appleton with his wife and two children, is one of ten participants on season three of “Alone,” the third season of which premiered in December, and the season finale of which will air this Thursday at 9 p.m. on HISTORY.

Fowler has hung on through nine episodes, hunting, fishing and building shelter and facing other challenges in the Patagonian wilderness, and has emerged as one of the final three on the show, along with two other contestants, Megan and Carleigh. He’s up for the $500,000 prize along with them. All three contestants won’t learn whether or not they’ve won until the episodes airs on Thursday; as of last week’s episode, Fowler has made it 74 days, beating the previous record held by season two winner David McIntire of Michigan, who lasted 66 days. According to interviews Fowler has done with the Pen Bay Pilot, he lost 50 pounds over the course of the first nine episodes.

The show features ten participants of all ages and genders, dropped into a remote location somewhere in the world and tasked with surviving on their own, with just ten personally-selected items and a video camera with which they will document their experience. This season takes place in Patagonia, on the southern tip of South America.

Fowler, 37, is a Vermont native who moved to Maine in his early 20s, learning the craft of boatbuilding and eventually building his yurt, which has few modern amenities. He is an avid practitioner of a sustainable lifestyle, and of wilderness survival, and has a YouTube channel called Makery and Mischief, in which he showcases his skills.