Submitted Photo Wilderness skills instructor Sam Larson, who has Minot ties, is the winner of half a million dollars after spending time in Mongolia for The History Channel’s fifth season of “Alone.” Larson outlasted nine other participants in the frigid and remote region to be named the winner. This photo shows him eating one of his first meals.

Wilderness instructor Sam Larson, the just announced half-million dollar winner of the The History Channel’s newest “Alone” series, has Minot ties.

During Thursday night’s finale show Larson was announced as the winner, lasting longer in frigid and remote Mongolia than nine other contestants in the show.

Although he and his wife, Sydney, and their children live in Lincoln, Neb., Sam Larson has ties to Minot.

His dad, Mitch Larson, was born in Minot. Mitch Larson’s parents, the late Mardi and Rich Larson both were from Minot and later lived in Gehring, Neb. Other relatives live in Minot and area.

Sam Larson and the other nine participants in the fifth season of “Alone” were challenged to survive as long as they could in isolation in Mongolia, a country in Asia located between China and Russia. The last one standing would win $500,000.

According to the “Alone” website, Larson, 25, also is an author and outdoor educator. As an educator, he teaches wilderness living classes on everything from animal processing to canoeing. Since his 55 days in the Canadian Wilderness on season one of “Alone,” Larson and his wife have added two new members to their family – a son was born shortly after his return from Vancouver Island. Their daughter was born just days before he left for Mongolia. In his free time Larson enjoys writing and spending time with his family. In “Alone” in Mongolia his goal was to learn the ways of the Mongolian wilderness with an open mind, pursuing whatever it may teach him.