Naked and Afraid

[RPM 26,183]

Sorry if there's already a thread on this, but it deserves one. Huge fan of this series and the premise of dropping you with nothing more than a couple basic tools and your wits to survive. The drama seekers are quickly weeded out. Don't care for the multi tribe episodes, too "Big Brother reality" for me, but it was interesting to see the personalities match up in later episodes (no spoilers).

Survivorman with Les Stroud is by far the best survival show. He does everything solo with no crew. This is a legitimate second. They have a support team, but it's hands off unless they call for a medic or tap out. Nobody is staying at the resort 1/2 mile away.

It doesn't take long to separate the YouTube warrior from the real thing.

 

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

I used to watch this quite a bit. Probably one of the only reality shows I did watch.

I always love the big talkers that fail rather quickly.

[RPM 26,183]

I hate "reality shows". But this one is different. More of an actual documentary shoot. Sure, they manipulate the footage for effect, but it's not scripted BS. Other than setting the location and a safety crew it's hands off. 

[Deej 76,472]

No help, yet they always miraculously find food just before extraction.

[WhatTheBuck 28,700]

I watched it once and it was so obviously staged and scripted it was ridiculous. Reality shows have to be. The worst thing that could happen is for everything to go smoothly and successfully with no conflict. No conflict means no drama and no show that anyone wants to watch. The other thing that can't happen is for the actors to be at any real risk of serious bodily harm or the insurance costs would be prohibitive. They might be naked. Or they could be wearing flesh tone garb that is covered up by the pixelation. No one is afraid. 

You think they shoot the whole show in one take? Come on. It's not reality. It's TV. 

[Izhmash 558]

My 7yr old has become infatuated with the program.  He wants us to go camping, naked and afraid style.  When I tell him we can do it, he says “yeah, my one item is gonna be smores”.  Lmao...ok, bud.

[Jerry Callo 8,658]

2 hours ago, Izhmash said:

My 7yr old has become infatuated with the program.  He wants us to go camping, naked and afraid style.  When I tell him we can do it, he says “yeah, my one item is gonna be smores”.  Lmao...ok, bud.

Yeah, seven year old me would have been watching the show for blurred out butts and boobies.  Actually, not much different than forty-eight year old me.

[Bevo in VA 342]

Don't get me wrong as I actually like the show, but there are lots of stories out there from past contestants showing how the show is not exactly "hands off".

https://www.nickiswift.com/19882/reasons-naked-afraid-totally-fake/

 

Quote

Filming locations vary from episode to episode, and while some are more isolated than others, the contestants are never really alone. They are constantly followed by cameramen, producers, and medics. While the contestants are generally left alone at night, the production camp is within walking distance and earshot. Prior contestants have explained that they are given a radio and a whistle to signal for help if they need it or can't make the walk to the crew's camp. Additionally, contestants occasionally come into contact with local residents. Honora Bowen, a Season 3 participant, revealed that there was a town only a few miles from their filming location, and not only would they hear the local DJ playing club music long into the night, but they would frequently encounter locals playing soccer on the beach or swimming in the lagoon.

 

There's also a medical team on the set in case of emergencies. While this should be expected of a show that deprives contestants of food, sometimes producers neglect to include footage of medical interventions performed during the course of the 21 days. In one prominent example during the show's premiere, contestant Kim Shelton suffers from severe food poisoning after eating a turtle. She's shown sleeping and vomiting for three days, before miraculously making a recovery on the fourth. What they don't tell you is that her recovery was hastened by the producers providing her with bread, rice, and baby food, as well as medics giving her two intravenous drips of saline to rehydrate her. In the same episode, Kim's partner, Shane, is portrayed as weak and seen constantly complaining about his painful foot. The showrunners chose not to reveal to viewers that Shane had actually broken three toes, causing the excruciating pain.

 

While Naked and Afraid likes to portray contestants as only eating what they can hunt or gather, that's not always the case. On several occasions, stars have later admitted to stealing food from crew members or local residents. One contestant claimed to have scavenged chocolate, salt, and even some Campari from a fishing hut she found. When the same contestant later appeared on Naked and Afraid XL, she said she was able to steal some packets of "Emergen-C" supplement and shared them with her team. Additionally, in a Facebook conversation allegedly between XL contestants Dani Beau and Shane Lewis, Lewis claims to have stolen several pounds of food during his last few nights on the set and later stashed it for his teammates Jeff Zausch and EJ Snyder.

 

 

 

[Bevo in VA 342]

That said, what items would you choose to bring with you?  Seems they give every team a machete and usually a fire starter these days, so I would go with bug netting if anywhere in the tropics/jungle.  Seeing those people getting eaten alive by the bugs makes me want to stay inside.

 

I know lots of people go with a pot but I figure I could find something to use in its place (coconut shell, bamboo, etc...).  Fishing line rarely seems to work. (Although the duct tape one seemed to be pretty useful too.)

[RPM 26,183]

2 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I watched it once and it was so obviously staged and scripted it was ridiculous. Reality shows have to be. The worst thing that could happen is for everything to go smoothly and successfully with no conflict. No conflict means no drama and no show that anyone wants to watch. The other thing that can't happen is for the actors to be at any real risk of serious bodily harm or the insurance costs would be prohibitive. They might be naked. Or they could be wearing flesh tone garb that is covered up by the pixelation. No one is afraid. 

You think they shoot the whole show in one take? Come on. It's not reality. It's TV. 

They obviously stage the area, but the don't bait the area. There are plenty of episodes where they don't hunt or trap anything and struggle to finish. As far as the drama goes, they obviously pair up loudmouths with committed survivalists. That's probably what would happen in a real survival scenario. I'd love to be stranded with Les Stroud or Bear Grylls, but that probably isn't going to be the case. It could be a lot faker than it is.

[WhatTheBuck 28,700]

13 minutes ago, RPM said:

They obviously stage the area, but the don't bait the area. There are plenty of episodes where they don't hunt or trap anything and struggle to finish. As far as the drama goes, they obviously pair up loudmouths with committed survivalists. That's probably what would happen in a real survival scenario. I'd love to be stranded with Les Stroud or Bear Grylls, but that probably isn't going to be the case. It could be a lot faker than it is.

The episode I saw was staged with the carcass of a dead deer (or similar animal) and some sort of large bird's nest on an outcropping that our hero (let's call him Jim) could climb up to, with some difficulty, to harvest unattended eggs for food. On the first day, Jim tried to start a fire with sticks. He tried for a while unsuccessfully and gave up. He tried again unsuccessfully on the second day and gave up. On the third day, he was finally successful in starting a fire. I don't know about you, but I would've kept at it on the first day until I got the fire started. That wouldn't make for as much drama, though. Do you think they set up those same shots every day? From a production management standpoint it would make more sense to shoot them all at the same time. From a dramatic standpoint, you create tension...omg, will he or won't he get the fire started?

At one point Jim was rooting around in a fallen tree to find grubs for food. They showed a closeup of his hand holding a live grub. Then they cut to a medium shot of him swiftly raising his hand to his mouth. Did you see him eat a grub? No. But that's what you're supposed to think. And that's all they showed. So we're supposed to conclude from that that he ate enough grubs to sustain him when we really never saw him eat one. 

He was successful in climbing up to the nest to retrieve the eggs that were unattended and not already fed upon by other predators. We never saw any large dangerous bird who supposedly had a clutch to protect. Oh, but Jim had to act fast to get them before the inattentive parents returned.

To reach the extraction point, Jim and his partner had to cross a field covered by some thorny plant. (I tried to search out the specific episode but apparently thorns are a common obstacle in a show about naked people in the wild.) Lo and behold, our hero and heroine cut makeshift sandals from the hide of the conveniently located carcass. What a lucky break! We never saw what tools they used nor how they cut out sections of hide shaped like their feet with a pair of straps on each side to tie them on. 

But wait! Jim is struggling to keep his footwear secure as they're crossing the thorny field. He's in danger! Will they make it in time? Whoa, it was touch and go for a minute. But hallelujah, they managed to struggle through this final obstacle and reach the extraction point on time. Whew! That was close. 

Remember that the actors aren't out there by themselves. The camera eye isn't a magical thing giving you a view into their adventure. There's a person operating the camera. There's someone recording sound. There's a producer and director and other crew members. There's a medical professional to provide first aid if necessary. I don't know how many people are operating behind the camera but I'd bet it's at least six people and maybe as many as a dozen or more. They're not sleeping in a lean-to fashioned from sticks and they're not eating grubs for food. Maybe the actors are. Or maybe after the nighttime scenes are shot the actors are dining with them and sleeping, clothed, in a proper tent or trailer. The producers would never tell us that and the actors would be contractually obligated not to. And given that they want to get more work, they'd be happy to oblige. 

How many "contestants" have died on the show? In all those episodes, why has no one suffered a fatal injury from a wild animal attack or eating poison food? Maybe because of the massive lawsuit that would bankrupt the production company if they were actually taking the risks they want you to think they are and someone died as a result. They can't take that risk. 

 

[RPM 26,183]

47 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

How many "contestants" have died on the show? In all those episodes, why has no one suffered a fatal injury from a wild animal attack or eating poison food?

None that I know of. They aren't going to let anyone die. There's a medical team within radio range they can call. They busted one team pilfering from the medics after not being able to find food for several days. People have become sick and tapped out. The participants regularly lose 10 - 20% of their body weight. Is it 100% survivalist? No. Is it raw and entertaining? Yup. Beats the hell out of Duck Dynasty or Swamp Loggers.

Edited March 31, 2019 by RPM

[WhatTheBuck 28,700]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

None that I know of. They aren't going to let anyone die. There's a medical team within radio range they can call. They busted one team pilfering from the medics after not being able to find food for several days. People have become sick and tapped out. The participants regularly lose 10 - 20% of their body weight. Is it 100% survivalist? No. Is it raw and entertaining? Yup. Beats the hell out of Duck Dynasty or Swamp Loggers.

Better than Duck Dynasty and Swamp Loggers? High praise indeed. 

What do you know about the show that wasn't approved for dissemination by the producers of the show? Do the contestants regularly lose 10-20% of their body weight? Regularly? Really? How regularly? What independent evidence have you seen to support that claim? Is that fat, muscle, or water weight?

Just consider the possibility that it's a huge fake the next time you watch the show. Think about it from the standpoint of the crew behind the camera, and in the editing room, and the board room. If you were producing the show, would you be more concerned about making a documentary about two contestants in an uncontrolled situation out in the wilderness with no predictable outcome? Or ratings and the money that comes with producing a successful TV show?

How many times have they sent actors and crew out into the wilderness and didn't come back with a show they could air because it didn't produce a compelling episode? Has there been an episode where the adventurers dominated their environment? Where they mastered fire and killed small animals for food and weren't faced with bad weather? Where they overcame every obstacle and made it look easy? If it's real then there should be a bell curve between "someone died" and "they made it look easy." Neither of those extremes is good for business. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by WhatTheBuck

[RPM 26,183]

OK, WTB lets get this ironed out. Do I think it's 100% unedited/staged? Nope. Is it mostly hands off? Yup. Have there been unaired episodes? I'm sure there have. However, I don't think it's a "huge fake". I think it's a respectable documentary of their stay. Yes, film crew and medics are there, but they are hands off. Nothing like Bear Grylls pretending to survive while spending the night at the resort 100yds away. Other than Les Stroud I can't think of a better survival show.

[Knoxtnhorn 5,927]

@spystud13

There you go Spystud.  We talk about this show all the time; however, I'm always a week or two behind.

I could handle scary animals, weather, and food. I could NOT handle the bugs.

[52-80 19,063]

I'm fine with a show being produced with a safety net.  after all I'm not really into watching people actually die on TV.

 

It is not tantamount to being deliberately misleading.  The premise is still 'lets see how they survive on their own', rather than 'they are utterly isolated'.  Being within earshot of a production camp or a nightclub doesn't take away from the fact that they are unaided, unless in case of extreme emergency

[Armybrat 40,675]

Any fucking going on at night among the participants?

[Bevo in VA 342]

8 hours ago, RPM said:

They obviously stage the area, but the don't bait the area. There are plenty of episodes where they don't hunt or trap anything and struggle to finish. As far as the drama goes, they obviously pair up loudmouths with committed survivalists. That's probably what would happen in a real survival scenario. I'd love to be stranded with Les Stroud or Bear Grylls, but that probably isn't going to be the case. It could be a lot faker than it is.

Les is the best.  You missed your chance though - he's done a fan challenge in the past (can't post the link but it's Season 7 - ep 1).  Would love for him to start making episodes again.

 

 

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,781]

7 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Better than Duck Dynasty and Swamp Loggers? High praise indeed. 

 

Lulz

[spystud13 2,371]

Yep, big fan, but even I will admit how comical it is at times. The day 19/20 miraculous food “find” never ceases to amaze. 

Matt Wright’s wife on tonight. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,700]

9 hours ago, RPM said:

OK, WTB lets get this ironed out. Do I think it's 100% unedited/staged? Nope. Is it mostly hands off? Yup. Have there been unaired episodes? I'm sure there have. However, I don't think it's a "huge fake". I think it's a respectable documentary of their stay. Yes, film crew and medics are there, but they are hands off. Nothing like Bear Grylls pretending to survive while spending the night at the resort 100yds away. Other than Les Stroud I can't think of a better survival show.

That's fine. I'm certain the episode I saw was completely staged and scripted. It wasn't believable at all. 

[Beau Vine 53,949]

12 hours ago, RPM said:

They obviously stage the area, but the don't bait the area. There are plenty of episodes where they don't hunt or trap anything and struggle to finish. As far as the drama goes, they obviously pair up loudmouths with committed survivalists. That's probably what would happen in a real survival scenario. I'd love to be stranded with Les Stroud or Bear Grylls, but that probably isn't going to be the case. It could be a lot faker than it is.

I'd love to be stranded with Emily Rudeasstittieski.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Beau Vine

[RPM 26,183]

3 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

That's fine. I'm certain the episode I saw was completely staged and scripted. It wasn't believable at all. 

I should have included 'reality show' in my description. There's always going to be manipulation and staging.

[WhatTheBuck 28,700]

16 minutes ago, RPM said:

I should have included 'reality show' in my description. There's always going to be manipulation and staging.

And multiple takes when the actors flub their lines. 

[spystud13 2,371]

For a guy that claims to hate the one episode he saw, he sure can’t stay off the thread. 

I don’t give a flying fuck about Ohio St, don’t fucking post about them either. 

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,781]

This thread made me fire up the show and check it out again. Watching XL, and this chick Honora is the worrrrrrst. 

[hundredTT 576]

Love this show, but another Day 20 big kill...hmmm. And I'd def fuck Matt's wife, total milf. 

Edited April 1, 2019 by hundredTT

[Nivek 16,796]

They definitely scout the area before hand, to make sure it has food/water sources and limit the predators. I seem to recall a crew member getting bit by a venomous snake a while back.

[spystud13 2,371]

2 hours ago, hundredTT said:

And I'd def fuck Matt's wife, total milf. 

Watching now, nice little dig by the kid. “Even though I am quite a bit younger than her.” 

 

And that 44-year old lawyer chick from last week could really get it. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Unfortunately, Brooke’s episode was pretty damn boring overall. 

[hundredTT 576]

Catching up on some episodes. The 3 people one was good, and my God that Makani or whatever chick was fucking hot. Lulz at the ugly girl getting jealous she wasn't getting cuddled with. 

 

NSFW:

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited April 1, 2019 by hundredTT

[spystud13 2,371]

Yeah, she’s the hottest they’ve had. On one of those pop-up episodes, they said she only had one pack of crackers when they got back to the hotel or wherever after they were done, she was full. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Watching the first episode tonight in S. Africa, funny how big the chick’s blur is because she said she hasn’t shaved in 25 years. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Second hour is worthless, just FF to the last 20 minutes or so. Cute little chick that broke her collarbone awhile back tries again. 

[Nueces River Rat 5,524]

On 3/30/2019 at 11:15 PM, Jerry Callo said:

Yeah, seven year old me would have been watching the show for blurred out butts and boobies.  Actually, not much different than forty-eight year old me.

 

I watch on occasion, maybe late at night when I can't sleep.  I've noticed in the more recent episode they have quit blurring the butt cracks.   

 

[Chewbacca 7,699]

On 3/30/2019 at 7:49 PM, Deej said:

No help, yet they always miraculously find food just before extraction.

You're not referring to the magical Day 20 protein, are you?

[spystud13 2,371]

Holy fuck, has that been mentioned? 

[spystud13 2,371]

Where can I order tonight’s uncensored episode? Melissa’s body is fucking stellar. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Impressive job losing her by the production team also. 

[RPM 26,183]

25 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Where can I order tonight’s uncensored episode? Melissa’s body is fucking stellar. 

Yup. Was scary when she got lost, too.

[spystud13 2,371]

Don’t bother with the 8-10 block listed as new tonight, it’s just two separate 1-hour reruns. That shit pisses me off. 

Only the 7-8 fan challenge is new. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Jesus fuck, the chick cutting herself was the worst foreshadowing of all time. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Goddamn, this week’s chick has to the worst of all time, right? What a whiny cunt. 

[RPM 26,183]

Yeah, I saw that coming. Props to the guy for going it solo, but he was probably better off. Can you imagine having to put up with her for 21 days?

XL Series starts next week. Don't like these as much, feels too "Big Brother meets Survivor" for my taste. Wish Les Stroud would make some more Survivorman episodes. Those are excellent.

[spystud13 2,371]

I just watched the Discovery Go 5-part series with Laura & Jeff. Kinda annoying with the commercials, but they’re only 30-60 seconds long. Worth catching before XL. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Those rat bastards made me watch that shit online last week when I could’ve just seen it on TV tonight. 

We’re gonna need them to airlift some makeup to my girl Laura. 

Manu fucking sucks, get off my screen. 

James was a fucking shit casting, they just wanted a spare. 

[RPM 26,183]

I'd pay extra if they just unblurred Laura. 60 days is insane and making them row open ocean to relocate seems a bit over the top.

Don't really care about the spares that are doing the shorter stay. It's gonna turn Big Brother quick.

[gecko 1,104]

Any examples of the guy just up and killing the partner because she was annoying at f**k?

[yoladu 4,064]

On 3/31/2019 at 7:33 AM, Armybrat said:

Any fucking going on at night among the participants?

Any physical attractiveness at Day 1, is pretty much gone by Day 7.

By Day 14.. the bitching, whining, and moaning would turn off all but the strongest among us.

By Day 20...it be like having sex with the Landlady in Kingpin.

[RPM 26,183]

There was one doughy, whiney dork that was thinking it was going to be a 21 day orgy with a hot chick, then it turned out to be a black guy and a chick 3 person camp. He started bitching and both disliked him. He tapped out pretty quick.

Then there was one girl who had her period during a 21 day. They didn't show it but she was constantly complaining about cramps. That had to be great.

Edited June 3, 2019 by RPM