Last week, three brave couples headed into remote locations with limited survival gear for a three-week test of their survival skills and their relationship’s strength. One couple, Matt & Ali called it quits after only three days into their survival adventure in the harsh Mexican jungle. The bugs and the stress were too much for Ali. In Norway, Justin & Jenny are a week into their survival experience and they still haven’t eaten a single bite. In the highland desert of Morocco, Mitchell & Jhoanna have eaten a few small fish, but nothing else. Their biggest obstacle has been the unpredictable weather … and each other.
Even though Matt and Ali tapped out of Mexico, The producers of Men, Women, Wild had another pair ready to step-in and begin their own three week survival experience. Let’s meet them!
Max & Linn
From: Seattle, Washington
Relationship: Dating 1 year
Occupations: Both work in the tech industry
Survival Experience: Linn has backpacked and done wilderness survival all over the world and Max competes in Iron Man competitions and participates in extreme expeditions.
Quote: “I guess you could call us ‘The Replacements’”
The duo are simply adorable; they are as cute as a pair of puppies. Linn’s accent is charming (perhaps German?)
Max and Linn know that since they’re replacing a couple that’s already failed, they’re likely walking into an area with big challenges.
As their delivery boat chugs down a Mexican river, Max turns to Linn and says,
Max: “It takes a tough girl to sign up for this, so thank you.”
Linn: “It doesn’t take a tough girl to sign up, it takes a tough girl to get through it and I haven’t done that yet.”
Max: “That’s true.”
Hey Max, sexist much? It takes a tough anyone to do this experience.
Max admits their relationship has been rocky and their independent natures have led to head butting. This test will either galvanize them as a couple or tear them apart.
Before long, Max & Linn are hacking through the jungle and find Matt & Ali’s hacking trail and then, their shelter. Linn feels like they’re following a ghost, but admire the excellent quality of the shelter. But regardless, she dubs it “the shelter of bad luck.”
Morocco
Jhoanna is hungry. She and Mitchell fish in the same place they found food before, but that spot is empty, so they head farther up stream. After spying a few fish, they set their nets. Hunger had made them both short-tempered and they bicker and bicker and bicker. Mitchell shoots down all of Jhoanna’s suggestions. He needs to learn to let her have small victories and a say in matters.
Norway
Justin & Jenny hate the sun. The constant sunlight is really throwing off their circadian rhythms and it’s making them feel wonky. They haven’t eaten in a week either and are at the “eat or tap-out” stage. While Justin hunts, Jenny, who was a competitive fisherman, makes a primitive fishing pole and wades into the river.
Justin is stalking a grouse and takes a shot, which misses its mark. But what the grouse leaves behind is an even bigger score. The grouses’ ten, tasty eggs! It’s a feast that Justin is excited to present to his wife. They cook the tasty morsels, and save some for later.
Mexico
Max & Linn are choosing to use the shelter left by Matt & Ali so they can focus on food and fire. Max’s first fire-making attempt fails, and he shows his impatient personality. Level-headed Linn gives Max some space and searches for her own solution to their problem. She finds a termite nest and brings it back, knowing that a chemical in termite dung makes it burn like kerosene. Max is thrilled at Linn’s find and when the fire lights, he gives her all of the credit for their success. I worry that Max is a hyper person who may struggle with the fact that survival is a slow process.
Morocco
Mitchell is disappointed at the amount of calories he and Jhoanna burned in their fruitless (or fishless) fishing expedition. He’s picking wild watercress, and although the low-cal greens lack protein, they are something to put into their empty bellies. (I feel you team. I know all about filling my gullet with greens to stave off hunger. I’m on a perpetual diet. My lunch today was spinach in a blender with yogurt and frozen fruit. What I really wanted to eat was a hamburger) Even after eating, they are neither full nor nourished. But they’ve got to eat what they can Jhoanna is desperate to fish again, but Mitchell wants to stay out of the mid-day sun. So they bicker some more!
But a thunderstorm comes to force them onto the same page. A common enemy really brings people together. Before long, the valley where their camp is starts to flood.
“I can’t believe this,” mutters Mitchell. “We’ve got flood, thunderstorm, nothing to eat and I’m soaking wet. You wanted survival? We got it now.”
The outfitters huddle under their tiny tarp (seriously, why is it so small?) and once the rain stops, the temperature drops. The weather dips into the thirties and Mitchell spends the chilly night tending the fire.
Mexico
The rain starts, and the shelter of doom isn’t comfortable. The next morning, Max and Linn look pretty swampy. Max marvels, “I’ve never seen rain this heavy in my life! And I live in Seattle, which is saying a lot.” While re-building their fire, Max feels light-headed and while Lin gets him some water, he reveals that he has super-high metabolism and when he burns through his calories, he crashes. (I wish I had high metabolism. I smell food and I gain weight.) Linn is up for the task and finds a stream full of snails. Even after a small meal, Max is still ravenous.
Norway
Justin and Jenny have exhausted the resources in their camp and they decide to pack up and head to another area that appears to have plenty of fish-filled lakes. But to get there, they have to hike over exposed and elevated terrain. And they’ll be leaving behind the firewood-filled forest.
Fire on a hillside = bad.
Morocco
Mitchell and Jhoanna spent a long, chilly and sleepless night hiddled under their tiny tarp. Again, why so small?) “When you have a night where you don’t get a lot of sleep, it’s like Mother Nature is poking fun at you” says Mitchell. Once they’re groggily awake, they notice that the forest over the ride is on fire, likely lit by a lightning strike. They need to make a plan of escape. “Fire can outrun people,” says Mitchell as they pack up camp. Their plan is to stay near the river and then head up into the mountains.
Mexico
Max is talking into the confession cam about how terrible he feels. “I feel like a complete sissy,” he says. He seems to be experiencing the same mental fatigue as Ali; maybe there’s some bad JuJu in their camp! Linn finds a few gnarly mushrooms and brings them back to camp as Max eats bugs off of termite poop. Lin has had enough of this crappy camp and wants to move.
Norway
Justin and Jenny have two bags of supplies, and thus far we’ve seen snowshoes, a fishing pole and a bow. Did they get to bring extra gear because of their wacky climate? I know their bag was larger than the other pairs, but now it seems like they have two bags of stuff! Hopefully they have a gun because their environment also has bear, wolves and male reindeer, which Jenny says are dangerous.
While they’re hiking to their new camp, they have to cross a glacial stream and if they fall in, they’re going to freeze. They cross and only get a little wet, but where they’re heading looks remarkably barren. If they don’t find food, they’re going to be screwed.
Morocco
Back to the raging inferno. Mitchell and Jhoanna make a desperate, but hunger-slowed escape from the wildfire. When they have to cross the river, the tension is thick as Mitchell yells at Jhoanna for pulling on him, but she’s so tiny, she needs to cling to Mitchell or she’ll float away! Once across the river, they head to a higher elevation. There are fires on their side of the river too, but it luckily starts raining. That’s good for fire exsanguination, but bad for them. They’ve been chilly and now they’re wet. And the higher it gets, the thinner the air gets and greater the risk for a lightning strike. And Jhoanna is simply exhausted. Someone as tiny as her doesn’t have much reserves to pull from.
Are they at their breaking point? Is every team in a perilous situation? Who do you think is most likely to tap out?
Men, Women, Wild > Discovery > Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT
Other Men, Women, Wild info
Recap: Men, Women, Wild “This Day Forward” Episode 1
Discovery Channel Announces New Survival Series, Men, Women, Wild
If anyone watches the show, can you please share the site for forum, can’t find any yet, thanks.
Turns out the new show is just Survivor Man with a companion; turned it off 10 minutes into the show and deleted future recordings from my DVR.
So, now that we have endured the boring Man, Woman, Wild, it’s being replaced with “Survivor Man, Wild Instincts”, wonder what that will be like. Are we all going to watch it (yes); are we all going to bitch about it (yes). Something has to be better than what we’ve been watching. I am in favor of clothing; no need to be naked except for the titillation one might get from imagining women’s breast sizes, since the camera during N&A seemed to focus in on the women’s bras as they undressed before leaving their boat. Besides, I got sick of looking at mens’ ass cracks full of crap. Jeff (XL) was called “maggot butt” because he didn’t keep himself clean and actually had maggots growing in the crap in his ass; I can do without that. Let’s hope this show is better than before.
Mitchell, your an asshole!!! Laughed a thousand times.
Mitchell, your an asshole. It has become a favorite saying in out house.
Is there a winning couple on this show?? Is there a prize for the winning couple?? If so, what is the prize, like on Survivor??
Their prize is that they get to be the “best” couple on a show filled with loser couples.
Emphasis on “For Worse”.
So did they pay the owner of the domestic goat?
I had the same question.
More importantly did they obtain permission to kill the goat?
During previous episodes, Darrin, the Rat Ka Bob king, wanted to kill a monkey but he said it was illegal to do so. Honora found an old abandoned shack in Columbia and packed up a bunch of things she could use for her survival but the producers made her leave them behind saying the shack was used once in awhile by natives. To kill a goat owned by a private herdsman seems it should be illegal also.
I’m anxious to see the reunion show also. I predict that Justin and Jenny will still be together probably with a little Norwegian baby on the way after she described how great their intimacy was. Unfortunately, they were the most boring being stuck in the horrible weather and spending the majority of their time knocking hail off of their tent. Can you imagine Jhoanna spending even one night in Norway; not even. I think Max and Linn will still be together; they seem so codependent on each other. As for the “talk” between Mitchell and Jhoanna about breaking up and just being friends, they too are also so codependent on each other and will probably stay together. All in all, the entire series was very uneventful and mostly boring though I watched every one. Hope poor little Max has the energy to even show up; Linn will probably have to dress the baby.
Haha, all true, so true. Max, the little baby….coughed my coffee through my nose. I thought Jhoanna was stronger but I was wrong. I thought Linn had a more powerful intellect, but I was wrong. Justin and Jenny were even keeled and Justin had some serious survival skills. While boring to watch since they were in very uninteresting terrain they were a welcome and refreshing change from the other morons.
This show just keeps getting worse. Can they pick any men worse at taking care of their women? The only decent male is Justin. I think I’d be more interested in what happens AFTER they get back with Max being thrown out of Linn’s apartment and Mitchell get’s bounced out of Jhoanna’s business. It’s all actually painful to watch….Jesus who picks the contestants?
I hope they have a reunion show as they did with XL so we can see who’s together yet. Carrie, sorry, I watched the show twice to see if Jhoanna had a turtle and I couldn’t find one. If she did have a turtle, she would have made such a big deal out of it throwing it in Mitchell’s face to say, “Look what I got, all by myself; see, I don’t need you to take care of me, baby”. From the previews of next week’s final episode, it looks like Max might not make it cause he got so worn out from cutting a few trees, poor skinny baby. Damn, EJ and Jeff cut down trees like they were beavers.
Your wish has been granted. There is going to be a “reunion” show though it’s going to be as disappointing as the episodes themselves since Max, the Jewish Mama’s boy, who shall forever be known as the “Ant sucker”, is being coddled by Linn. It’s crazy how she doesn’t get that he’s a high maintenance spoiled brat whose mother always picked up after him. She’s in for a horrible life if she stays with him. And YAY! Jhoanna left her dumbass boyfriend Mitchell but BOO! she went right back to him. Max, of course, taps out because he “had to” since he “overexerted” himself, poor Iron Man competitor, no stamina. Weird guy, weird body, weird (or no) ethics. Jeeze, overall winners are still Justin and Jenny, well rounded and well suited to each other, bravo.
Am I the only one who noticed johanna was carrying a live turtle in her pack when the we’re crossing the river
I saw the turtle, too. It was a good size. I do not understand why they did not bother to explain the turtle. Discovery channel does a poor job producing their shows. Too much drama and not enough information.
Is anyone else as furious with that loser Max as I am? Who steals food from their starving partner? Then tries to lie about it. I’m sitting here with my brother and husband both wishing they could hunt him down and beat his a$$!! Shame on you Max! That is the lowest thing I have ever seen! Girl, you need to drop him and don’t look back. You cannot trust a thief and a liar.
I thought he was a sleazy, low-life dog for stealing her food in the middle of the night while she was sleeping. I’m also kind of pissed at Linn for not grabbing the nearest bamboo stick and smashing his “food addict” head in. She wasn’t even really upset about it, accepted his “I’m sorry” and then a kiss on the hand.
I’m also getting sick of Jhoanna. At first, I thought Mitchell was such a dick, which he still is, but ALL she does is whine and complain. When he was down the hill in the hail throwing up much needed wood, all she could say, in that annoying whiny voice, was “Mitchell, you almost hit me”. The fire he built wasn’t good enough for her because the wind, not Mitchell, blew smoke in her eyes and has demanded her own fire at their next shelter.
He is a low life dog and Linn should kick him out of the nest. What a weasel, no weasels are better than he is. Yeah, Jhoanna is getting a bit whiny but look what she has to work with.
Yes.
I don’t want to give a spoiler here for the next episode so I won’t give away too much info. I just needed to know if anyone else thought the Mitchell goat chase was as funny as I did. My mom and I love yelling at random moments “they go where they want, Johanna!”
I was so glad that he didn’t catch a goat; what a waste of a beautiful animal. They could have only eaten a small portion of it and the rest would go to waste. Good goat 🙂
They don’t have a chance in getting a goat. They’re trying to catch a goat in the goat’s living room? Fat chance of that. I thought it was funny as well since the goats were just laughing at them. We don’t need to seem them trying to butcher a poor goat since Mitchell would probably be a disaster at it. Johanna would likely do a clean job of it. But neither of them have a clue how to hunt nor do they have the tools to do it.
Well color me wrong, they did get a goat in episode 3. I’m guessing this series is so lame that Kellie no longer bothers to write a recap for it, I don’t blame her. OK so they got a goat, kind of like stumbled onto it but yeah they caught the poor creature. Meanwhile the jerk keeps yelling at Jhoanna like she’s his housmaid. Max, oh Max, what can I say liar and a thief and still treating Linn like she doesn’t exist. I think he’s certainly lost his season pass when they get back. What a jerk, simpering little twit. She should let him get his own food. Still the only people that are great are Justin and Jenny, this is what two people in love do. The other two couples need to lose their men somewhere they give the rest of us a bad name.
I really like Linn, a beautiful sweet German woman. I just can’t figure out what she sees in Max. He’s arrogant, bossy, domineering and she’s doing all she can to please him. He even criticized her for the size hook she was using to catch fish and then she caught a big fish and he had the balls to say “who’s going to eat it”? He’s not even good looking; she can do better.
I wondered the same thing. He’s got zero survival skills, like running the marathon is a survival skill. She does everything and his only skill is criticizing her. The whole N&A thing just boring, every episode of the “survival” game shows the men to be fairly useless except to push their women around, well except for Justin who seems pretty even. Justin and Jennie are the only two that seem to have decent relationship. Mitchell better sleep with one eye open and needs to think about what he’s going to do after they get back and Johanna dumps his ass and he has to find a job.
I agree with you about Justin and Jennie; they seem to be the most stable couple. You’re so right about Johanna and Mitchell; once they’re home, he’s probably out the door. He doesn’t deserve a good woman like her.
Agree.max is a failure
Justin and Jenny are doing a great job . I am glade that Justin finally found some food. I hope they make thought this but I sure they will. I know Justin for many years as Flint knapper and primitive Skills. Justin and Jenny are tough I have great fath in There skills
Have been trying to get interested in Men, Women, Wild but can’t. I’ll watch tomorrow’s episode to try again. From the first 5 minutes of the first episode, I found the husbands/mates to be domineering, bossy and, even though you see them hug/kiss once in awhile, they’re not having a great time. I think Mitchell is a dick and Johannah is a wimpering little subservient.
For all you die-hard N&A XL fans that don’t eat turkey and hate football, Thanksgiving is your day to torture yourself by watching ALL 8 episodes of last summer’s N&A XL and reunite with the people we loved to hate; Shane, EJ, Chris, and the witches, Alana, Eva and Danielle, grab your own bottle of wine and munchies and plop down in front of the TV at noon and watch for the next 8 hours.
Matt can’t make fire with a modern fire tool? Wow, don’t give them much of a chance nor their relationships. Mitchell and Johanna don’t seem to be getting much better. They might survive if one of them doesn’t kill the other. Don’t give their relationship much of a chance either, she probably owns the business, he seems like a dolt. I sure hope Justin and Jenny make it, what great attitudes they’ve got.
what kind of mushrooms were they that they found and were they poisonous?