We're on a voyage across Russia
to visit the most radioactive place on earth:
The Polygon.
Before we could keep going towards this hub of radioactivity,
we had to make an unusual pit stop in order to protect ourselves.
So right now, we're somewhere between the border of Russia
and Kazakhstan.
It kind of feels like the middle of nowhere,
but it also feels very beautiful.
But I'm also feeling a little insane,
because we are at an antler blood farm.
Deer antler blood
has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries,
but the blood boom in Russia began in the early 20th century.
So our bodies are probably gonna sustain some radiation damage
when we're in the Polygon,
is the deer antler gonna help fix some of that?
Antler blood is set to promote strength and stamina,
and prevent illness.
It's been advertised as protection from radiation,
and a type of natural viagra.
-The steam is very good for you. -It actually smells like the dead...
And like a falafel cart.
Oh, dude, it's gonna smell.
I wanna puke in that thing.
He says it's good for your health.
Come back and breathe it with your full chest.
Does it smell this strong in the... in the actual baths?
Despite the smell,
this is what's gonna protect us from radiation in the Polygons.
But we're about to be bathing in tubs full of that stuff.
At least it's gonna be warm.
I'm glad about that.
No? No?
Yes...
All right!
Putin himself is rumored to enjoy the occasional antler blood bath.
And if it's good enough for Putin,
It's good enough for me.
Yeah...
So gross!
Let me just get a little lower in here up to my chin.
Oh, yeah!
3, 2, 1...
It's in my throat.
Just in case the literal blood bath doesn't do the trick,
we were encouraged to drink a big glass of it with dinner.
That is one big bottle of blood.
Cheers!
To your health!
Oh, did you just spit that all out?
I'm so sorry!
She just spit it all up onto her dinner.
You're still gonna have to eat that dinner, you know?
It's not the worst thing in the world.
Finish it!
It's kind of salty.
And there's, like, a pungent taste to it
It tingles.
It tingles on the way down.
It's crazy.
I'm enjoying the blood so much
that Nikolai invites out to the cutting room
to try what he says is the purist form of deer blood
straight from a freshly cut antler.
Deer are put inside this box to contain them.
And then tranquilized.
Oh, man...
Its eyes look so freaked out.
These deer sprout and shed their antlers annually.
But sawing them off like this without anesthesia
seems painful for them
It's pretty disturbing to watch.
This is...
This is blood.
This is, like, straight up fucking blood.
And there's something about it that just, like,
firing up my brain right now.
Five hours into the Altai mountains is our next appointment.
A meeting with a man who's ready for the nuclear end.
Konstantin is an environmental survivalist,
who can see global annihilation on the horizon.
He's building a village that is untethered to society,
which he believes could survive a nuclear holocaust.
Right now, only he and his family live there,
but he expects the number to soar.
This is not a river you want to fall into.
It's moving incredibly fast.
It looks like the way his boat works
is that there's no actual motor.
He's just using a rudder,
and he's got it harnessed to this
line that goes all the way across the river
No fuel, no motor, no engine. Nothing like that.
This guy's the real deal.
Let's do it.
Hello!
Do you expect civilization now as it stands
to destroy itself at some point?
But those are created by people...
What you're creating here is going to a community of people.
And, you know, the cities that you're talking about
where people live so badly,
they all started out as communities of people, right?
Well, here's to humanity's next shot at civilization.
Cheers!
I'm not convinced that in the event of a nuclear holocaust,
Konstantin's village would necessarily become
humanity's last outpost.
As much as I'd like to question our fate
over plenty of forest liquor,
we had to keep moving.
I'm scared!
You're fine. It's super wide.
Oh, God!