Naked and Afraid Alone – Part 1 – Never Say Never Again

I’d say that I am always up for a challenge but I also feel that there are so many challenges in the world that once I have proven that I can do one, I move on to the next rather than continuing with the same challenge over and over.  Having completed what still stands are arguably one of the more extreme Naked and Afraid challenges for season one in the Louisiana Bayou for the coldest May on record,  with no dry land for 9 days, I pretty much felt like I had nothing left to prove to myself as far as naked survival challenges went.

Then the rumor popped up about a new 40-day challenge.  Initially the rumors came out saying that 12 people would be put in separate locations for 40 days and it would be a challenge as to who had the skills to cope out there alone.  I was interested.  40 days?  Alone… I was asked by Discovery to consider being a part of the challenge and I was in the process of seriously thinking about it when I heard that we would be put into groups and eventually, all 12 would be united.  We would have an abundance of tools at our disposal and the challenge would be the politics of group dynamics rather than a pure survival challenge.  I also had a few other projects on the horizon and I turned it down saying that I would probably be better suited to a challenge by myself than with a group of other people.  Little did I know that one day I would be forced to put my money where my mouth was.

Naked and Afraid challenges came and went, with Discovery being so generous as to always ask me if I had changed my mind on the 40 day adventure, for which I am always grateful, but my answer was always the same, it wasn’t the challenge for me.   One day the phone rang with an offer that did pique my interest – how did I feel about sharks?  Not going to lie, it took me all of 20 seconds to agree to that challenge and the first Naked and Afraid of Sharks was a go.  But that’s a story for another time…

About a year after my Bahamas shark adventure, the rumor mill started to churn again.  Naked and Afraid were sending people out on 21 days alone.  I heard of past participants being asked to front up to the challenge and secretly I hoped that maybe they wouldn’t ask me.  I knew the strain that these adventures put on my family and friends, the stress and worry I caused as I put my mind and body on the line to prove to myself that I had the survival skills to face any challenge that came my way.  I had told my mum and dad that I would never do another Naked and Afraid challenge after Louisiana, and then again after the Bahamas.  But this was the challenge I had been waiting for.  The one that would prove to me for once and for all that I didn’t need anyone else to survive.  That all the skills and knowledge I had been gathering my entire life was enough to get me through even the most desperate of situations.  And I knew I wouldn’t be able to turn down the invitation if it was offered to me…