This summer, you might find yourself watching something on TV that you never thought you would feast your eyes on in a million years. Recently, I have become infatuated with the highly popular reality television series "Naked and Afraid." It is, in a sense, the modern survivor;however, you are without clothes as well as neither food nor water and shelter.
One man and one woman are simultaneously dropped off at an exotic location, such as Nicaragua, India, Honduras, The Philippines, etc. Both are left to try to survive with no clothes, and are subsequently left there for 21 days. The two must work together as a team in finding food, water and shelter. What I found most interesting about it is the narration voicing about the facts and statistics about each of the areas on location. These facts range from eating too much coconuts would cause intestinal dysfunction, to how long the venom of a snakebite could kill you, lasting from minutes to a few days for the venom to react with your body. Since every show needs ratings to survive, some of the contestants do not get along, causing the drama to implode on any given episode. Some teammates settle their differences and survive the 21 days, but some of them tap out because they are unable to deal with the other teammate at times. Each member is also given a primitive survival rating consisting of where they stand as an individual. It can drop considerably if one teammate decides to tap out, or it can go up according to their performance as a team or individual.
"Naked and Afraid" also has a spin off series titled "Naked and Afraid XL." Instead of just two people being out in the wilderness for three weeks, 12 veterans of the show are left in a certain location for 40 days. There are four groups of three, and they are all placed within a five-mile radius of each other. When they groups mingle with each other, they are faced with the decision to continue as just a group of three like they started or become a bigger group with more people surviving in the wilder. It is easier knowing that more people are there to help you, but in these locations, resources are scarce, so it almost like a hunger game to see if everyone will survive or just some.
Just the name "Naked and Afraid" is enough to make anyone change the channel. But don't. I promise you won't want to stop once you start watching. Next thing you know you will be setting your DVR and streaming on demand after the first episode. Make this summer different.
