Recap: Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8: “40 Days Filth and Fury”

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8

It’s almost over, we’ve made it to Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8. Somewhere, what started out as a celebration of our favorite survivalists, has turned into a “warts and all” expose where we realize that our heroes are little more than flawed humans with a very specific set of skills.

We’ve seen strong men and women felled by dehydration, but more surprising, we’ve seen strong people taken down by bullying and mental instability. I didn’t foresee team members turning against and tormenting each other. Did you? It’s disappointing; in the regular two-person 21-day experiences, if you don’t get along with your partner, you’re alone. In N&A XL, people decided that if their partner had “Quirky” the best thing was to cast them out, or better yet, make them quit, because there are plenty of other folks around.

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8
Be careful or you may get left behind!

We can blame the actions that we’ve seen on editing, we can blame if on hunger, we can blame it on focusing on “Me” instead of “Team,” but it seems to have damaged the legacies of a few people who were held in high esteem. At least in the opinions of many who’ve been watching Who knows what the participants think?

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8
At least he’s honest.

Day 37
8 survivalists remain in the 40-day survival challenge.
We get a look back at the highlights and lowlights of the first 5 weeks. It’s amazing to look back at how much weight some of them have lost. Particularly EJ, who started the challenge with extra pounds on his frame.

The highlight and focus of the next few days will be the grueling extraction where the producers of Naked and Afraid will throw every crappy geography at them imaginable.

Jeff predicts, “Only the strong are going to survive until the end.”
Danielle is hoping that she finished the experience over 100 lbs.

 

Laura and Luke are hunting, but their teammates are lying around. They see a stingray, but aren’t able to catch it. And to add insult to injury, a monkey peed on her from above.

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8
Eeew.

“This is my life,” she laments. “This is more than a little weird.”
On the way back to camp, Luke, whose body is bordering on skeletal, blacks out for a few seconds.

EJ and Jeff are hunting too. They also see a stingray, but their hunt ends successfully. And this time, EJ and Jeff show their food to the six-pack and don’t share. They go to sleep with full bellies.

Day 38
Jeff and EJ plan their extraction route. Their 5-mile route will take them across piranha lake, across a desert covered with basalt rock, across a larger body of water to an island, which they must cross. EJ and Jeff decide to face the extraction as a team of 2, they don’t want to be burdened by any dead weight.

The other team is planning their extraction too and their jaws hit the floor when EJ and Jeff reveal that they’re attempting extraction as a duo. Eva is insulted that her Madagascar “brother” thinks her team has weak links and Chris is mega-insulted.

That night, EJ’s diary confessional wakes up the other camp, who yell snarkily at him.

Day 39
Early in the morning EJ and Jeff skip out of camp. The other group is also up and out early.

Jeff and EJ are first to the lake and have to swim 500 yards through piranha, anaconda and caiman-infested water. There’s nothing like a bracing, life-threatening swim to start your morning off right!

Alana isn’t feeling strong at the start of the journey. Their entire team is starting the journey hungry.

Once Jeff and EJ exit the water they have to near a near-vertical climb and I feel sorry for the camera people who got a view of the men’s undercarriage.

Next, they men have to walk 4 miles across hot, volcanic rocks.

90 minutes later, the other group arrives at the lake. Their swim includes a few nibbles from piranhas and then they start across the hot basalt rocks. They’re all feeling like they’re dragging, and they’re roasting alive! I wish Luke had made his team some sweet sandals.

EJ and Jeff find a few barrel cacti and arrive at the Orinoco River. The other group can head their triumphant yells. The men start building a raft. When the others arrive, Eva decides to put the two men to task for abandoning them. She felt insulted and abandoned by her survival brother. But at the end, she says her piece and walks away.

The 6-pack starts building their own raft and Laura, Eva and Luke look for bamboo and find a caiman. They come up with the plan to throw their bags over its head. The caiman skillfully ducks the bags, but can’t outrun Laura’s spear. They enjoy a caiman dinner while Danielle eats cactus. Alana doesn’t want to share with EJ and Jeff, but Eva uses it as a way to drop it off and deliver notice that her team has no weak links. Revenge is a dish consisting of a reptile’s neck and shoulders.

Day 40

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8
I Christen thee, “The Colombian Crusher”

Jeff and EJ have forged “The Columbian Crusher” — a pretty seaworthy-looking boat. EJ shows that just like when he and Laura dominated the Peruvian Amazon in their second N&A appearance, EJ can build boats.
The 6-pack makes a dainty longboard, which takes them only 20 minutes to build. “Work smarter, not harder,” they figure.
The 6-pack launches first — at the river’s narrowest point. Their raft is essentially a kickboard that they’ll push across the swift current.

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8
It doesn’t have to be pretty … it doesn’t have to keep them dry … this “raft” only has to keep them alive.

The men head 1/2 mile upstream and hope to use to current to their advantage. Their vessel has awesome oars and they’re much out of the water, riding atop the current, instead of in it.

The 6-pack sees something freaky in the water with them. Is it an anaconda? A giant caiman? Maybe a school of piranha in a feeding frenzy? Nah, their marine danger are river dolphins. But river dolphins are way freakier looking than Flipper.

The current pushes Jeff and EJ’s boat past the island and Jeff has to dig deep to find the energy to finish. Maybe there’s a little energy reserve down in his diaphragm where he stores his yells.

Once they’re across the river, the six survivalists have to walk across scorching sands and they all suffer with dehydration-fueled cramps. But when they see three rescue boats, they find an untapped resource of energy and run — that’s right — they run to the boats!! Their strides are caiman-fueled!

A half hour later, EJ and Jeff wander out onto the hot sand. And when they see the boats, they too start sprinting.

EJ tearfully admits that he can’t wait to see his family.
Danielle is proud of herself for remaining a vegetarian the entire 40 days.
Luke is proud of himself too.

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8Once EJ and Jeff arrive on the boat, there are no enemies, and everyone shares big hugs. They’re all family now. A big, awkward family. That hates clothes.

Laura doesn’t seem like she’s ready for her adventure to be over and says, “I would do 40 days again … what the F@#$ is wrong with me?”
Of course, what I’ve been wondering for the last few weeks was how much weight each of the participants have lost …

Weight loss
Danielle 25 pounds
Alana 25 pounds
Laura 38 pounds
Eva 36 pounds
Chris 44 pounds
Luke 43 pounds
Jeff 43 pounds
EJ 73 pounds (Holy cow, EJ! You lost a child!)

XLR
EJ Jeff’s score dipped from 8.5 to 8.4 out of 10.0. Not sure why, but I chalk it up to this number being pretend.
Laura, Luke, Danielle, Eva, Laura, Alana their team approach raises their score from 7.1 to 8.3 out of 10.0. But we know that these numbers are fake and these scores are meaningless.

Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8

Next week, there’s a reunion special, which is gonna be awesome!! I hope that everyone has had a chance to see how they were portrayed on the show, because I wanna see some fireworks! And if we can’t get fireworks, a few heartfelt apologies would be good too.

Other Naked and Afraid XL recaps
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 8 “40 Days Filth and Fury”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 7 “40 Days Falling Apart”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 6 “40 Days Sacrifice”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 5 “40 Days Death Match”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 4 “40 Days Jungle Rich”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 3 “Snake in the Grass”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 2 “40 Days, No Escape”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 1
Discovery announces new series, Naked and Afraid XL
Naked and Afraid Casting Secrets
How to get on Naked and Afraid

all images © Discovery Channel

45 Comments

  1. Hello all1,
    Just wanna say, I favor more 40 (or more) day challenges,..because they ‘weed out’, the herd’,..showing us all, more of who the ‘good’ people alre’,,,& the ‘bad’.

    PS= Laura= I need ur e-mail, please.

  2. Bn loookin at Discovery/other blogs MUCH more TRICKING US than this!

    Like:

    1=Little People , big world,..
    = Alaskan bush People (ESPPECIALLY!!!!)!

    Our ‘PERFECT’ US Governnment,..has NEVER cracked down on these,..BUT do on US citizens!!

    • They want us to watch these programs and stations,…professing to be truthful,,…but,..if we deceive, they punish US!

      • Hello Craig, hope you and Dad are doing well. It’s taken me awhile to get over XL since I also thought all the shows were real. In this past month, I have learned that it’s all fake and thousands of us were duped into thinking it was legitimate. I’ve found out so much about the show that I was completely disillusioned. We brought these people into our homes and our thoughts and got so involved with them only to find out that it’s just a TV show, put on for our entertainment, and nothing more. Nothing you believed about the show is true. The new shows will be better, 21-day episodes where the so-called survivalists will come and go in less than an hour. Calm down and remember, it’s only tv.

        • Hi Laura (I miss the way u talk in real life).

          As usual, if I had written wht u did, I could not agree w u more.

          ‘Real”, has a diff meaning, for us, the viewers,..as producers/networks, lie to us w abandon, as long as they can get us to watch.

        • & to clarify what I said, Laura,..I like how u talk (direct, regardless of language, un censored), as it is the best way to communicate, to me.

          I had to change our # after our (GREAT talks,..only cause some ass, was bugging me.

        • I’d also like to say, Laura (missed you!!),..that seemingly, EVERY current program, that has a ‘Reality’ theme’,..is FALSE!

          If there was something better,..i would have seen ANYTHING else!

  3. Heard you are in touch w Laura , KenO. (so, she gone for good?)?
    She seemed ‘lonely’.?

    Agree w ur backing up Honora,..I feel the same way.

    Producers playin ‘favorites’, make sense,…in terms of the weak & strong,..becoming more ‘defined’, for their production purposes,..equating into ratings!

    • I can’t speak for what she’s likely to do or not in the future but, like myself, she’s pretty upset with the producers manipulating the show. If you take a look at some of my posts as well as the post by Lew Toulmin, none of these people, I mean none of them are real “survivalists” by any means. Can’t hunt, can’t build shelters, very hard time making fire even after being provided with fire making tools, panicked beyond belief by their fire making tools being thrown away or not provided (like Shane freaking out because the Thing sisters wouldn’t let him use the firestarter). These people are more on order of marathon starvation specialists than real survivalists. Matt Graham and Cody Lundin are real survivalists, this group not so much. Very disappointing so I don’t think Laura is off base in being more than just a bit peeved.

  4. To:

    Blog manager:

    I/Others,..request, that you correct this blog,..so that we/anyone may remove,…and/or edit,..our comments.

    SERIOUSLY,..the sooner,..the better!

  5. Susan, also on 9/13, you posted this:

    September 13, 2015 at 9:40 pm
    i’ll miss u, laura.

    you know who this is,..

    What does all this mean; do I know you; are you Betsy? I’ve posted enough personal things about myself that a family member could probably figure out who I am.

    • Hi Laura,
      I meant I was going to be away from this blog for awhile, as we seemed to have discussed so much to death,..& w miss u guys for a while, prob,..till the new season starts, in a few wks,…then,..bet we’ll have new stuff to talk about.

      Craig stole my thunder,…as he said what I was thinking (whatever that was about),..but,…I have some time,.& wanted to give you more details.

      Noticed u messaged me below,.. I’ll address those shortly.

  6. Susan, on 9/13, you posted that “Ken-O is worthless”; what did you mean by that? Craig also asked you the same question and you didn’t respond. Ken-O and Craig have both been great contributors to this forum; why did you say that?

    • Your actual comment was “Ken-O was worthless”, the same day you bashed me for talking outside of forum; were you just having a bad day? Can you please explain your reasons for saying that?

    • Sorry.

      Blame my stupid ‘Spelling program’,..(the ones that ‘suggest words’,..as you type).

      I meant to say that KenO’s comments were NOT worth, less,…& he & you, & Craig,..are top contributors,…but also,…I agree with near 100% of what you’ve all said.

      Someone else keeps putting down KenO,…& saying he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, in general.

      & finally, I did NOT mean to bash you for talkin about something ‘outside the forum’.

      I was only noticing that no one was /had responded to what you said & asked,..& was trying to give you a ‘possible’ reason that that was happening,…..constructively,..& no ‘bashing was intended, at all, ……..as I like you.

          • From what I understand, not that I’m speaking for her, she is rather put off with the show due to, among other things, the producers treatment of Honora. Personally, I don’t blame her as it was pretty devious to set Honora up like that (if true which I believe it is). Take a young lady, already mentally fragile, put her on with out her medications while providing others with them. Watch her crash and burn once, then do it again? Whaaa? That’s pretty devious, manipulative and vaguely akin to intentionally torturing someone. This is not good. Then we have the overall very poorly constructed N&A XL series where groups are constructed to obtain the most drama not the most survival experiences. You have to admit the series was an utter failure on the “survival” side as has been noted by others.

  7. ONE MORE COMMENT: During the 21-day episodes, the Medics were always available on short notice for things ranging from an infected EJ foot from a thorn (fixed him up and sent him back to continue the journey), Honora lying passed out in the sun in the sand, others that may have been suffering from hypothermia. Yes, they did intervene when Eva cut her hand with her machete and gave her the option of tapping out and going to a hospital for stitches or accepting painful amateur stitches which will be scars on her hand for the rest of her life. Personally, I would have tapped out and not have my hand disfigured forever but that’s just me. WHY THE HELL didn’t the producers and medics intervene when Shane passed out on the trail and Alana and Danielle just walked by him like “oh well, whatever”; they didn’t even call EJ or Jeff to check on him, just ignored him. Why didn’t the Medics intervene, he looked like he was dead, though no one seemed to care.

  8. By the way, does anyone feel they were somewhat short-changed on this 40-day XL? On all of the 21-day episodes, there were dozens of catastrophies such as 4-5 day monsoons, creatures crawling around the shelters, shelters burning down, blowing down, shelters being flooded out along with the food, and the tons of mosquitoes. Where was all this on the 40-day stint? Yes, they had to travel from original shelters along the thorny savannah to reach Pirhanna Lake but what then? Only AJ and Jeff built a much-too-big shelter while Luke and Chris and the Bad Girls of Columbia just lay on the ground like they were basking on a beach in Oahu; where were the storms and mosquitoes? I still do not believe that Danielle survived for 40 days on nothing but dried mangoes and a few almonds; still think she screwed the cameraman for a veggie burger.

    • Try it yourself and go to the Farmer’s Market, buy a couple (or more) pounds of dried mangoes and a couple of pounds (or more) almonds and see if you can live on that for 40 days.

    • Correction:

      Your ‘Tim Treadwell’ question has nothing to do w ‘Naked & Afraid’.
      That may be why u haven’t rec’d answers.

      • I’m so terribly sorry Susan that I went “off topic”, don’t know what possessed me to do so; hope you will forgive me and my ignorance, haven’t yet read the Rules & Regs of how to chat. Even though I’m not Catholic, I should go to confessions and spill out all my sins of not being as PC as you are in writing and staying on the subject at hand. I could lose sleep over it, I could go into a deep depression or, what I think might ease my mind of my sins, is just to say, “GO FUCK YOURSELF SUSAN”

        • Susan, I would like to apologize to you for my sarcastic remarks. I’m new at this and sometimes go off-track; terribly sorry for being so mean. Perhaps, in October, when the new season starts, we can get a better start; have a great day :); again, sorry for sounding like such a bitch; I’m really a nice person.

          • Susan, once again, I truly apologize to you for my nastiness; I was actually pissed off at one of my children and, unfortunately, took it out on you. So sorry.

          • I know you’re a nice person,…just by the apology alone (sets you alone from the rest,.& very ‘Special’,..in my eyes).

            No apology necc., but that you.

  9. Has anyone gotten to see the Timothy Treadwell documentary that aired Monday night? I started watching it last night and was shocked that Timothy was Shane in Timothy’s clothing. Timmy was definitely a nut case, having gone from being a heroin addict to a hard-core alcoholic. His mannerisms, insane yelling at his own camera, the total disregard for his personal safety, saying that he actually wanted to “BE” a bear and would give his life for a bear, which he did but not happily. I can picture Shane hiding out in a national park moving his camp every week to avoid the park rangers who were after him. He thought it was his duty to save the grizzlies, save them from who? They were in a national park and survived many many years without any “help” from Timothy. This doc was SO SHANE!!!!!

    • You’re speaking ‘out of subject’,..cause this blog is ‘Naked & Afraid,XL’.
      That may be way u have ‘no responses’,…Laura.

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