Naked and Afraid

Synopsis

The events of each couple's quest play out in a single episode. Partners strip down and meet each other. They are provided with rough cross-body satchels containing a personal diary/camera—for use when the camera crew is not there at night—and a map. They all wear identical necklaces with a center bead which is a microphone that has a wire that connects to a wireless audio transmitter hidden in the satchel. Some personal jewelry is allowed. Each survivalist is allowed to bring one helpful item, such as a hatchet or a fire starter. There is a camera crew who are not allowed to intervene except for medical emergencies when it is "absolutely necessary." Cast mate Alison Teal reports that she was granted an "emergency" tampon. At the beginning on the fourth season, the survivalists were given a third "surprise" item. A team is allowed to "tap out" at any point during the 21-day challenge. If they do not tap out, they must arrive at the designated extraction point on the final day to be picked up by a helicopter or boat or other vehicle suitable to the environment. Viewers are updated throughout with statistics including how many days have passed, the time, and the temperature. Naked and Afraid computes and then updates the cast members' PSR (Primitive Survival Rating), which is based on predictions and observations of survival fitness in skill, experience, and mental strengths. Before and after weight measurements are also revealed at the end of an episode.

Season 6 (2016)

Note that in addition to the above, there are also a number of unlisted Pop-Up Editions (which have different titles from their original episodes), and specials, such as "Franco and Rogen", featuring James Franco and Seth Rogen.

Season 7 (2017)

In February 2017, YouTube Celebrity Ali Spagnola announced that she had been cast in an episode of the upcoming season, but had to drop out because of a medical issue. She was replaced by surfer and model Anastasia Ashley. Filmmaker and YouTube Celebrity Cory Williams announced that he will be participating in Season 7.

Locations

The production's home base is in the United States (the Louisiana Bayou, Florida [(Everglades and Seminole County)] and Alabama) used as the locations. Panama was used as a setting twice in the first and fourth seasons, Nicaragua was also used twice as well in the third season. Like the first season, the second season visited six countries as well, using Malaysia as a setting once again (Season 1 shot on the Malaysian Borneo, while Season 2's survivalists were stranded in Peninsular Malaysia).

Casting call

On July 31, 2013, Discovery Channel posted a casting call and a dare to "survive the 21-day challenge" via their Twitter account.

Naked After Dark

Following the success of the live talk show Shark After Dark, Discovery aired Naked After Dark in season two, which aired after each new episode. Host Josh Wolf talked with castaways from the recently aired episode, showed behind-the-scenes and never before seen episode footage and has in-studio stunts. It aired for 1 season with 6 episodes.

Pop-Up Editions

Starting in June 2014, Discovery started airing special versions of the show with "Pop-Up" text. These graphics shed light on the countries and the survivalists with interesting and often humorous factoids. These shows premiere on Wednesday nights.

Critical reception

By the time of the 2015 season premiere, Brian Moylan of The Guardian called it the "best reality show on television" as it "takes the outrageousness of other reality genres, but applies it to celebrate human strength and fortitude rather than exploiting the frailty and narcissism of those that just want to be noticed."

Reviewing the premiere in 2013, Brian Lowry of Variety found Naked and Afraid to be "typical of the genre, but it's still kind of a risible kick, if only for how seriously the show takes itself." Melissa Camacho of Common Sense Media, and David Hinckley of the New York Daily News, gave the show 3 out of 5 stars.

Mike Hale of The New York Times expressed skepticism that the dangers implied by the situations faced by the couples in each episode were authentic, even by the standards of reality television, observing that the couple in the series premiere appeared to be cleaner and more shaven than he'd have expected. Hale also was not impressed with the interaction between the two participants, whose personalities he found uninteresting, stating that he found the snake bite suffered by the field producer shown in the beginning of the episode to be more riveting.

Ratings

Discovery Channel issued a press release which announced some Nielsen ratings milestones for the series. Naked And Afraid was the "#1 Ad-Supported program in cable among men on Sunday, July 28." They also noted that the program now shares the Discovery Channel record for the highest-rated survival telecast in the network’s history since June 2009. Danielle Beauchemin is the first to complete the 21-day and 40-day challenges on a vegan diet. The "Surthrive" episode in season 4, featuring Bo Stuart and Debbie Harris is the highest rated episode in the history of the show.