TLDR: Ricko DeWilde joined Life Below Zero in November 2018, hunting alone near Huslia, Alaska in the Koyukon Athabascan tradition he learned from his own family. That family has also survived devastating loss, including his sister Riba’s death in 2016 and his brother Alan’s years earlier, both of which Ricko has spoken about publicly.
Ricko DeWilde grew up in Huslia, Alaska, one of 14 children raised in a subsistence-hunting household along the Huslia River. His mother Amelia was Koyukon Athabascan and his father Lloyd had come north from California, and together they taught their children to live almost entirely off the land.
Producers found DeWilde through YouTube videos he’d posted of his own hunting trips, and he officially joined Life Below Zero in November 2018, years after original cast members like Andy Bassich had already established the show.
Unlike most of the show’s cast, he hunts alone, often hundreds of miles from Fairbanks, carrying rifles suited to everything from small game to moose and bear.
He’s Lost More Family Than Most People Ever Will
In November 2016, Ricko’s sister Riba was shot and killed in her home in Tok, Alaska. Her own son, Eli Simpson, then 21, fired the shot, and told police afterward that he’d acted in self-defense following a lifetime of emotional abuse.
Riba had a documented history of mental illness, including a hospitalization the year before after a serious breakdown.
Ricko’s brother Victor later spoke to the Anchorage Daily News about how the family understood what happened, describing the emotional strain between mother and son as something that had built for months before that night.
Riba’s death wasn’t the family’s first devastating loss either. Years earlier, Ricko’s brother Alan died alone in a remote cabin after accidentally shooting himself, unable to get help before he bled to death, and Ricko has said it was Alan who’d held the family together, making his death especially hard on all of them.
DeWilde revisited the actual cabin where Alan died during a Season 15 episode of the show, speaking openly about what that loss meant to him. You can read more about how the family has processed these losses in Distractify’s interview with brother Victor DeWilde.
He’s Raising the Next Generation the Same Way He Was Raised
DeWilde and Rona, the mother of his children, are raising five kids together, daughters Simone, Skarlett, and Maya and sons Skyler and Keenan, primarily in Fairbanks.
His children regularly appear alongside him learning the same Athabascan hunting and survival traditions he grew up with, making the show as much about passing down a culture as it is about surviving the wilderness.
DeWilde has taken that mission outside the show too.
In 2007, he launched Hydz Clothing, an apparel brand named for animal hides, inspired by a family potlatch held years after losing several relatives, where he handed out branded hoodies that people liked enough to turn into a real business.
Between the hunting, the clothing line, and his outspoken advocacy for Native Alaskan rights, DeWilde has built a public identity well beyond just another face on a survival show.
Losing as much family as he has would break plenty of people, and he’s built a life and a platform out of what was left standing instead.
Ricko DeWilde, Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Ricko DeWilde’s sister?
Ricko’s sister Riba DeWilde was shot and killed in 2016 by her own son, Eli Simpson, who told police he acted in self-defense after a lifetime of emotional abuse. Riba had a documented history of mental illness prior to her death.
When did Ricko DeWilde join Life Below Zero?
DeWilde officially joined the cast in November 2018 after producers discovered videos of his hunting trips on YouTube.
Does Ricko DeWilde have children?
Yes, DeWilde has five children with Rona, three daughters named Simone, Skarlett, and Maya and two sons named Skyler and Keenan, who are raised primarily in Fairbanks, Alaska.
What happened to Ricko DeWilde’s brother Alan?
Alan DeWilde died years before Riba after accidentally shooting himself while alone in a remote cabin and being unable to get help in time. Ricko has said Alan was the sibling who held the family together.
