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SALT LAKE CITY — These days, Utah native Cat Bigney is getting used to making her way out of rough spots in varied areas around the globe.
As one of the two principal figures in The National Geographic Channel's "The Great Human Race," Bigney and fellow traveler Bill Schindler are tasked with retracing a migratory route of ancient peoples from Africa, through Asia and eventually, over the Bering Strait and into North America.
Instead of doing it over the span of centuries or millenia, however, this trek will only last a few television series— if the ratings hold out.
Bigney is featured as the survivalist in the show and Schindler is the anthropologist. The pair have already been filming for a year, although the episode that premiered on March 7 is only the fifth one to be aired overall.
Although Bigney is seeing things she hasn't ever encountered before on the show, she doesn't minimize the role that her upbringing in Utah played in preparing her for this role.
"I really owe a lot of my education in my formative years to the great state of Utah," said Bigney, who described her family home as being along a line between Strawberry and Deer Creek reservoirs. "(It's) amazing in terms of landscape and the ability to experience some pretty rough terrain.
We're following the footpath from Africa, from 2.5 million years ago and homo habilis, to the U.S. as homo sapiens and it's an incredible project. Not only does it involve history and academics and archaeology and survival, but we're talking about something that's so applicable today — we're talking about the unification of our species.
–Cat Bigney
"I spent a lot of time in the Rockies in the winter and in the desert in the Four Corners area. I had an atypical upbringing— my mother was a biology teacher and she homeschooled me, so I had a lot of freedom and was just really curious."
Still listed as an instructor at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Boulder, Bigney found like-minded peers there, and a place to fulfill her desire to learn outdoor skills like the ones she learned from a grandfather, who had been a prisoner-of-war.
"Wanting to teach, because there's something valuable," Bigney said. "Not because I wanted to go off-grid and escape society and get away from people, but learning how to teach because I love to see when people experience a change in their mind-set and skill-set."
As one would expect with a show involving a survivalist, Bigney and Schindler are often alone while filming, aside from the film crew. Bigney said the most surprising aspect of her journey so far has been the unpredictability of lions in the wild. But Bigney's biggest impressions has come from the people she's met in between the nature shots.
"I've seen some amazing things along the way and the most amazing people," Bigney said. "Whether I was in Africa or in Turkey, the people wanted to connect, people wanted to just be human and that was just the most beautiful thing. We have such a materialistic, technology-driven world, and seeing there's such a human element across the globe, it's just really touching."
Speaking over the phone from Austin, Texas, Bigney wasn't sure where she'd be in a month. But one thing's likely: National Geographic probably would be hard-pressed to find a more fervent supporter of the show's concept.
"We're following the footpath from Africa, from 2.5 million years ago and homo habilis, to the U.S. as homo sapiens and it's an incredible project," she said. "Not only does it involve history and academics and archaeology and survival, but we're talking about something that's so applicable today — we're talking about the unification of our species.
"In a world where we see so many differences — political, religious and racial — just to have this unifying factor to say we're all one species, it's pretty incredible."
