This week’s participants are headed to Dominica, and island north of Venezuela. I love when Naked And Afraid heads to islands, I always forget that even the most beautiful resort is a few tiki huts and indoor plumbing away from being uninhabitable.
Let’s meet this week’s participants …
Corinne Kohlen
Age 32
California
In a relationship
Corinne is a registered dietician and her interest in survival grew out of her love of obstacle racing. She is also a trained wilderness medic.
In her pre-insertion video, Corinne says that she doesn’t want a manly-man partner. Cut to…
Chris Fischer
Age 38
New Jersey
Single
Commercial Fisherman
Chris has been fishing since he was a child and has also camped since he was a wee lad. He served in the U.S. Marines for 4 years and he’s an Alpha male with an unfortunate Jersey accent. “Ain’t no rest for the wicked.”
Each participant gets to choose a survival item for use on the survival adventure.
Corinne chooses a big cooking pot
Chris picks an awesome multi-tool that can cut, saw, poke and do everything short of start a fire on its own.
Primitive Survival Rating (PSR)
Chris 7.1
Corinne 6.1
Day 1
They head towards the beach.
Chris is a big guy. He may be one of the largest guys Naked and Afraid has had. He’s gonna get hungry. Corinne looks like Anna Kendrick’s twin.
They get cranking on a shelter and spend much of Day 1 wasting energy in search of “the perfect spot” and end up choosing the first spot they saw.
After they settle on a location, the team starts weaving fibers together. And while it looks pretty, it seems like a waste of time for Day 1. Get stuff on your shelter. Lots of it. Just pile it up. Any Day 1 shelter is going to leak. Any Day 1 shelter is going to be cold. Do your best to survive and regroup for day 2. And really, Chris isn’t worried, “I don’t see a cloud in the sky, so we’ll be dry for 24 hours.” Those end up being famous last words as a downpour arrives at 3am.
Day 2
Chris is eating his words after the night before’s storm. They set to reinforcing their shelter. They butt heads a little after Chris spends hours chopping a log.
Day 3
Chris plans to make a fish trap and start a fire. Corinne makes herself an outfit. Let’s hope the fisher king can catch some fish. Once the trap is set, they start on their bow drill. The bow drill looks awesome, but quickly breaks. They decide to try a fire saw to make their fire.
The audio for using the fire saw is almost pornographic and after a lot of grunting, and sweating, Chris collapses, spent.
Day 4
Chris and Corinne are chilly in their shelter and they snuggle together in the most intimate way I’ve ever seen on Naked and Afraid. Instead of spooning, they’re laying face to face with their arms around each other. Chris was hoping for a love connection …
They spend the next few days trying to build fire. And failing. They’re sources of food are coconuts and sea urchins, which sounds like a feast compared to past Naked and Afraid episodes, but it’s not enough for them. And at some point, I saw bananas lying on the ground in their camp.
Day 10
Chris checks the fish trap and it’s empty. Has a fish trap ever been effective on Naked and Afraid? Maybe in Season 1? But back on shore, Chris finds a length of rope that should make using a bow drill easier. Corinne is too tired to help, and stamps off. “I hate being on the island with him. I just want to get the @#$% away from him.”
I’m no longer such a fan of Anna Kendrick’s twin.
Day 11
Corinne is mega-bitchy towards Chris. His retort? “I know girls that would kill to be on an island with me for 21 days.” That night, Corinne refuses to spoon with him.
Day 12
Corinne still refuses to talk to Chris. You’re only hurting yourself when you refuse to snuggle. you can still lie butt to butt and give the cold shoulder.
Day 13
Corinne has fled camp. Chris is concerned, but “I’m not a babysitter, I’m not a psychiatrist and I’m not a daddy…I am a member of a team.”
Corinne is off crying in the jungle … again. She taps out. She doesn’t have the courtesy to tell her partner she was struggling before tapping out. That’s pretty classless. Because maybe she’s a tough competitor but her idea of “roughing it” may be camping out at Burning Man or doing a Tough Mudder race. But, when you don’t communicate, you don’t survive.
Chris is super pissed that his partner left, but he’s going to keep forging ahead on his own …
He’s not going to miss her when she’s gone.
He’s not going to miss the way she walks,
he’s not gonna miss the way she talk,
oh, he’s sure not going to miss her when she’s gone.
(And he’s going to tap on her pot. Just kidding.)
Within mere TV moments of Corinne rolling away in a car, Chris makes fire. Success! And vindication!
Day 17
Chris is in search of crabs. And finds an ornery black crab. It’s a pretty adorable crab. Chris has done one of the smartest survival things ever and made a stew with hearts of palm and the crab. Take note future survivalists. When you make stew, you ‘re not burning your food, you’re sure it’s cooked, and you’re not losing any of the weight or size of the meat due to shrinkage. It might be the most delicious-looking N&A meal ever.
Day 20
Chris starts making plans for extraction. He needs to carry an ember 2 miles to a different beach.
Day 21
Chris developed an ingenious way for carrying fire. He’s filled his cooking pot with embers and put ember into a piece of bamboo. In the bottom of the bamboo he’s cut a notch to hold the handle of the pot. His bamboo ember carrier erupts in flame just as he reaches his extraction point.
Fugeddaboutit
Once he gets a massive signal fire raging, Chris becomes one of the most screwed participants in Naked and Afraid history. He got to his extraction point and he lit his fire, but then he’s told, “Oh, the boat can’t get to you. Now you have to swim through shark-infested waters to get to that boat. Have fun!” Instead of freaking out, like I would have, Chris mans up and swims like a total bad ass.
Once one the rescue ship, Chris chows well-earned Doritos. Mmmm, Doritos.
“I came in here cavalier and cocky. I’m sorry that Corinne didn’t make it. But it was a great experience for me.”
At first, I thought Chris was a total a-hole and I would have cringed to have been his partner, but he turned out to be a great guy who would have been an awesome partner. He always understood the task at hand and was willing to push himself to exhaustion to get stuff done.
Corinne was a complete pain in the fanny. I should have known something was up when her name, instead of being pronounced, “Cōr-ĭnn,” it was mega-bitchy “Cōr-ēēn.”
Over the course of the experience, Chris lost 21 pounds. Corinne lost 12 pounds in her shortened time on Dominica.
Chris’ PSR raised from 7.1 to 7.9 out of 10.0
Corinne’s PSR fell from 6.1 to 4.9 out of 10.0
Like Naked And Afraid? Check out these recaps:
Season 3, Episode 1: Namibia, Episode 2: Andros Islands, Episode 3: Cambodia, Episode 4: Nicaragua, Episode 5: Argentina, Episode 6: Dominica, Episode 7: India, Episode 8: Nicaragua, Episode 9: Botswana
Season 2, Episode 1: Peru, Episode 2: Madagascar, Episode 3: Fiji, Episode 4: Belize, Episode 5: Malaysia, Episode 6: Bolivia
Polls, What survival Item Would you bring?, Who is your Favorite N&A Couple?
Other Fun Stuff: How to Apply & Casting Secrets
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LOVED this breakdown of the episode.
Being from Jersey myself, I thought maybe I was biased for thinking Corrin was a total nightmare. Chris acted like a typical Jerseyian. We aren’t rude, we are just honest with no sugar coating. Regardless of what personality type your partner has, you work your crap out for the sake of survival and not whine, complain and stomp around.
Wow! I just saw the second episode of “XL” and Honora is flipping psycho! It is hard to tell what we are NOT seeing, but for her to throw the team’s tools of survival into the river and still be walking is more restraint than I might have had! And when they recover her machete from the river, they should have kept it!
It appears in the beginning, Kyle is more understanding (as you would expect from a good counselor) , while Chris is more confrontational and inflammatory. But Honora is only contributing terrible (exhausting and dangerous) ideas, like climb the 60 foot tree to get the fruit that turns out to be inedible. Chris could have managed things better, saying “Thanks for the effort, but this fruit is not edible.” before trivializing and discrediting her and her efforts. Honora is definitely a vicious loose cannon. And to be honest, I am eager to see what happens next!
Just watched a sad attempt by a laddy to ride someone’s coattails on a survival show. Corrine was counterproductive and bought nothing to the table while constantly complaining. Good job Chris, I’d take you in a survival situation anytime.
There is little excuse for Corrine’s failure to work with partner Chris. She appears to be a pretty submissive sort, easily steamrolled by a very authoritarian sort like Chris. (She is also noticeably slim, where Chris is a bit portly – he had more reserves to live off of.) It is unfortunate that she submitted to every dictate by this self-appointed, “know-best” boss, including the sleeping arrangements. I would have loved to hear a strong woman politely but firmly telling him “No, I won’t do that.” (like Danielle Beauchemin) and not succumb to his authoritarian ways. Hey, would his cozy sleeping arrangements have been in jeopardy if he HAD gotten a fire going before she left?? Was freezing her the only way she would agree to those intimate arrangements??
You wouldn’t know it from Chris, but Corrine was perfectly able to build a shelter, forage for food and wood, weave mats and many other things including maybe even starting fire, if she started sooner. But unfortunately, Corrine stood up for nothing and cried about her partner’s bossiness.
Chris on the other hand, contributed condescending arrogance, dominance, wasted hours building an empty fish trap, wasted hours spent on cutting a log, wasted hours looking around for the best camp site. But he was really only needed for one thing: START A FIRE! Which he did – AFTER she quit. So obviously, he was able to start a fire by himself all along!
Lack of fire is the major debilitating condition every episode faces and having it always dramatically improves their survival. It amazes me that it doesn’t appear to be a higher priority until everybody is almost too spent to make one!
And making fire is usually a one man job anyway. If he was too tired to do it after a few days, maybe we (wannabees and future participants) should take note and start a fire before we get so tired, dehydrated, frozen, demoralized, bug bitten and hungry.
Fire would have allowed 21 days of Chris’ stew, water purifying, relief from cold and bugs and many things. He didn’t even try until several days in and then had lots of excuses for his failure, including blaming Corrine (which he did a lot), until AFTER she was gone. As long as he could blame his partner, he could fail to produce fire and he could continue to enjoy his dominance and compelled snuggling. There’s no telling the intimacy Corrine felt obligated to surrender to under those mats that she wove…
They were such a delightfully dysfunctional pair. It was like watching a train wreck!
So unless he had an ulterior motive, he was just sandbagging until after she left.
Also, it may be unfair to judge by the quick previews of the upcoming “XL” episode, but it appears Chris finds a new vulnerable partner, Honora, to browbeat into submission. Perhaps if she’s nice, he would consider take her under his mighty wing – if she submits to certain sleeping arrangements…
Chris did fine, as Corrine would have alone, but, especially as a female, you wouldn’t want to be his subordinate.
You are right, Chris did ride shirttails for a while and he had more “reserves” than slimmer Corrine. Corrine had many skills we never saw since she caved to the authoritarianism if Chris.
Chris wasn’t sympathetic at all in the beginning, but yet he seemed to learn and he tried to change. Corinne obviously wanted to punish him for something in the end with the unwillingness to communicate and suddenly tapping out. I am glad this guy made it.
Corinne was a nightmare partner… she was spoiled, entitled & and all around crappy person… At first i thought he was going to be the trouble one but once again you learn dont judge a book by its cover… he turned out to be a great partner, a good communicator, a great worker and all around nice human being… he has a lot to be proud of and she should be ashamed of herself.
Don’t you think something inappropriate happened, or maybe Chris & Corrine hooked up and Corrine felt bad/guilty/or who the f×ck knows? Just seemed way over the top the way she acted and couldn’t spend one more night with Chris (Her words). He was kinda a dick in the begining but he then tried to make it better by talking to her…no? Seemed to me too weird.
I’m curious of anyone else saw it that way?
I agree, Robert.
The show is survival for 21 days not quit..if u can’t hack it don’t be in the show…being in the forest with snakes etc…it going to be super hard…survival….that girl cryed…what..did she think it was going to be a piece of cake…really? Da..whatever?
The writing on the wall started to get scribbled when the cooking pot was taken out at the nekkid intro. Why waste one of two “survival tools” on a pot when the island comes with bamboo and coconuts!? Unless stuck in an arid landscape with good prospects for fire by friction, fire-starter is almost essential. Flame on Day 2 may have made all the difference for her.
Absolutely, Gray! Bamboo and coconuts made the pot a wasted choice. I don’t know what variety of bamboo is found on that island, but a firestarter would have been a hellofalot smarter choice!