Characters / Naked and Afraid XL

Season One - Colombia

EL BOSQUE

Terrain: Tropical Woodland, Sandwiched Between Two Rivers.
Main Challenges: Disease-Carrying Insects & The World's Largest Variety Of Poisonous Snakes
Team XLR At Start: 7.6.

Alana

Previously In: Episode 203 - Fiji.
Completed Challenge: Yes. Solo.
PSR: 7.0

• Action Girl: In addition to being a survivalist, she participates in roller derby and tactical shooting events.
• Badass Adorable: She looks like the girl next door but has survived more physical and mental stress than almost any other contender on the show.
• Boring, but Practical: Alana practices smart survival techniques, including conserving energy during the hotter parts of the day and focusing on scavenging/harvesting over hunting given the limited resources of the region they are camped in. Sadly, since this isn't as interesting as Shane cutting down trees or hunting, most of her and Dani's contributions to the team were left on the editing room floor.
• The Determinator: She was the first survivalist to win the challenge alone and held the record for going the longest without a partner for some time.
• Double Standard: In the first episode, when outlining the strengths and weaknesses of her starting trio, Alana is singled out for having a combative attitude with her partner during her first challenge. Most people believe her attitude was justified given that her partner was sexist, disrespectful to her and wasted time and energy trying to make furniture when they had no fire, no food and no water.
  • This is particularly vexing when you compare/contrast Alana to Honora, who was combative with her partner to the point of abandoning him for the better part of a week before failing the challenge. Even allowing for the later seasons being less harshly judged, it still seems odd that someone could earn a PSR of 7.2 for failing when the first woman to win the show solo only earned a 7.0 PSR after surviving over half of her trial alone!
  • Additionally, while all the other female survivalists are described by gender neutral terms (taxidermist, EMT, etc.), Alana is specifically referred to as a "ranch girl".
• Fiery Redhead: And how!
• Girly Girl: A professional make-up artist in her day job, she describes herself as this.
• Granola Girl: At one point she refuses to let Shane kill a tortoise that she caught, purely because she sees no reason to kill for the sake of killing. It's worth noting that this incident occurred on Day 3 of the challenge and that the group was doing just fine subsisting on the fish Alana was catching. Shane just wanted to kill something for the sake of killing it.
  • One wonders why, if Shane is as great a hunter as he claimed, he couldn't have caught his own turtle?
• The Reason You Suck: In Episode 4, she gives Shane an epic speech, repeating back the exact words he used to insult her and Dani when he abandoned their team in Episode 3, only to come begging for help four days later.

Dani B.

Previously In: Episode 407 - Columbia.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 7.5

• Action Girl: Employed as a Wilderness Search and Rescue EMT. Enjoys rock-climbing in her spare time.
• Bad Ass Adorable: She may be cute and a vegetarian but that doesn't mean she can't hack it in the wilderness. Actually, it might make her even more badass that she can stick to her diet in the wild.
• Boring, but Practical: Dani practices smart survival techniques, including conserving energy during the hotter parts of the day and focusing on scavenging/harvesting over hunting given the limited resources of the region they are camped in. Sadly, since this isn't as interesting as Shane cutting down trees or hunting, most of her and Alana's contributions to the team were left on the editing room floor.
• Double Standard: In the first episode, when outlining the strengths and weaknesses of her starting trio, Dani's sticking to her vegetarian diet during her first challenge is treated as a flaw. Not only was her diet not a determent to her success during her first challenge, she hunted animals for her meat-eating partner when he was feeling too weak to do so himself.
• Granola Girl: Proud vegetarian and animal lover.
• Honor Before Reason: Stood by her vegetarian diet during her first appearance, despite this making the challenge much harder. Averted in that, while not killing any animals personally or eating any meat, she did catch a live frog for her partner on Naked and Afraid. Also averted in that she acted as a spotter for Shane while he was hunting and made his arrows.
• Meat Versus Veggies: Averted. While a strict vegetarian, she did not give her partner a hard time about his eating meat or enjoying hunting.

Shane

Previously In: Episode 101 - Costa Rica .
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 8.4

• Double Standard:
  • Compare/Contrast with Honora. In the first episode, Shane risks his life climbing an unstable tree to retrieve fruit for his teammates. Their complaints about his needlessly endangering himself and the fruit being inedible draw the anger of fans who accuse them of being ungrateful. When Honora does the same thing in the second episode, the fandom complains about how incapable Honora is and how she should have listened to her teammates, who told her not to waste energy going after the fruit and then complain that the fruit tastes terrible.
  • At the end of the third episode, Shane calls Alana and Dani lazy and says he's going to go live by himself and that they can "earn it" without him. Shane's Fandom cheer his individualism and cutting himself free of the team that is holding him back. Yet in episode four, after Shane returned to Alana and Dani to say that he'd decided they should work together and they shut him down (see The Reason You Suck in Alana's profile) Shane's Fandom complain about the women not being team players.
• Egomaniac Hunter: Claims to be a great hunter but shows very little evidence of this.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Left the challenge claiming to still be "THE Alpha Male" despite being continually outclassed by his teammates, failing miserably when he tried to survive on his own and only serving Team Alpha Male as a guinea pig for testing potentially diseased drinking water. Then came his confession once the show was over that he stole food from the camera crew...◊
• Grumpy Old Man: His biography on the website mentions his "disdain for youth culture".
• He-Man Woman Hater: Shane is rather outspoken about his belief in the superiority of men over women.
• Hypocrite: Jeff and Shane - the two most outspoken Christians on the show - immediately decide they need to institute a "you only eat what you catch" policy after begrudgingly giving some of their bounty to Team Rio Diablo/Team Cano Verde... immediately after thanking God for the bounty he shared with them and talking about how sharing is the Christ-like thing to do.
  • Then there's the fact that he stole food for his team from the camera crew. See No Honor Among Thieves for the details.
• Ironic Hell: He dislikes outspoken women and vegetarians. Guess who is teamed with?
• Know When to Fold Them: Shane taps out in Episode 6, citing his desire to avoid burdening Jeff and E.J. any further.
• Never My Fault: Shane blames the fact that he is being forced to use a primitive bow rather than a store-bought compound bow for his failure as a hunter.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Shane bragged to an unnamed female follower online◊ that he robbed one of the camera crew's food stashes and hid it in the woods before tapping out. According to Shane, Jeff and EJ lived off the food he stole until their final extraction. This called into question nearly everything about Team Alpha Male's success during the final week of the show and just why EJ and Jeff didn't seem to be suffering as much as The Team of Six.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: He doesn't like feminists or vegetarians.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Alternates between bragging about being diagnosed as mentally unstable, crying about why his teammates don't respect him or how his parents abandoned him and muttering about how he's going to snap at any moment.
• Stupid Crooks: He stole food from the production crew and later bragged about it to an unnamed female follower on-line◊
• Token Religious Teammate: He prays to God, though this only seems to occur when he wants something.
• Too Dumb to Live: During the third episode, he decides to abandon his team after declaring loudly that he doesn't need their help. When it turns out he does need their help (he left without tools for fishing or the means to make a fire) he tries to return like nothing happened, eventually declaring that he decided they need to work together with no apology for what he said before about them being lazy.
  • See No Honor Among Thieves for the details of how Shane bragged about cheating to a female fan on-line.

ROCA DIABLO

Terrain: Volcanic Mountain In The Middle Of The Savanna.
Main Challenges: Intense Heat & A Natural Windbreak.
Team XLR At Start: 7.9.

E.J.

Previously In: Episode 102 - Tanzania & 201 - Amazon Jungle.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner. Both Times.
PSR: 9.1

• Cool Old Guy: One of the oldest survivalists on the show and the only man to compete on Naked and Afraid twice and win both times.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: There's evidence that his success at eel-hunting was facilitated by the production crew. And then there's Shane's confession that he stole food for Team Alpha Male from the camera crew's camp.
• In Harmony with Nature: While not as expressive about it as Laura, following his adventure with her in the Amazon he now makes an effort not to be wasteful about the animals he hunts in an effort to honor their sacrifice.
• No One Gets Left Behind: One of his key principals.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Shane bragged to an unnamed female follower on-line◊ that he robbed one of the camera crew's food stashes and hid it in the woods before tapping out. According to Shane, Jeff and EJ lived off the food he stole until their final extraction. This called into question nearly everything about Team Alpha Male's success during the final week of the show and just why EJ and Jeff didn't seem to be suffering as much as The Team of Six.
  • Averted in that EJ was alone in his group in going on his social media and decrying the show's Manipulative Editing, noting that there was more peaceful interaction between Team Alpha Male and The Group of Six and sharing of resources than the show depicted. In fact, he singled out Alana and Dani B. for being particularly gracious and kind.
• Old Master: E.J. is employed as a survival instructor contracted to the U.S. Army, teaching future soldiers how to live off the land as he did.
• Old Soldier: E.J. served in the U.S. Army for 25 years.

Hakim

Previously In: Episode 308 - Himalayan Foothills.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 7.4

• Black Dude "Dies" First: He taps out in the first episode (Day 4) after becoming seriously dehydrated.
• Catchphrase: He uses the word Ninjanuity to describe his personal philosophy.
• Know When to Fold Them: Taps out on Day 4 after becoming concerned about continuing the challenge at that point permanently crippling him.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Well, Ninja Soldier Samurai Teacher. He's had a LOT of varied training.
• Token Minority: Thus far, he's the only black man to appear on Naked and Afraid.

Jeff

Previously In: Episode 202 - Madagascar.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 7.3

• Armored Closet Gay: For someone who is so vocal about loving his wife and God, let's just say Jeff seems a little TOO excited about being alone in the woods with a bunch of naked men.
• Double Standard: Partnered with Eva in their original challenge, he was praised for his commanding attitude while she was criticized for being stubborn in dealing with him. He was also praised for his hunting skills when she caught most of the food they found during their original challenge.
• Egomaniac Hunter: Jeff's assessment of his hunting abilities far exceeded his performance the first time.
  • He does much better this time, apparently managing to catch two electric eels on his own.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: There's evidence that his success at eel-hunting was facilitated by the production crew. And then there's Shane's confession that he stole food for Team Alpha Male from the camera crew's camp.
• Honor Before Reason: Jeff's devotion to his faith's rules regarding unmarried men and women touching were such that he refused to cuddle with his partner to share body heat despite their lack of a fire and near-freezing temperatures.
• He-Man Woman Hater:
  • He seems incredibly overjoyed about being part of an all-male group this time around.
  • He objects to Dani J. joining his and E.J.'s team for no apparent reason other than not wanting a woman around.
• Hypocrite: Jeff and Shane - the two most outspoken Christians on the show - immediately decide they need to institute a "you only eat what you catch" policy after begrudgingly giving some of their bounty to Team Rio Diablo/Team Cano Verde... immediately after thanking God for the bounty he shared with them and talking about how sharing is the Christ-like thing to do.
  • Then there's Shane's confession that he stole food from the production crew's camp...◊
• The Load: Despite his claims of being a primitive hunting expert, he failed to catch any food for two weeks and he burned the first bit of food his partner caught. Later, he burned down their camp trying to cook the first bit of food he did catch on his own.
  • Jeff was so incapable during his first challenge that could not even wipe his ass properly and had to be discretely treated for "ass maggots". Despite this, he still mocked Eva's professional advice to use a smooth rock and wash it afterward on his personal blog.
  • One fan theory on-line noted that Manipulative Editing could explain Jeff's mysterious success as a hunter this time around, as we never actually see him catch the second or third eels - only him posing with the eels after they were "caught".
• Men Are Better Than Women: He's outspoken about his beliefs that women are meant to submit to the will of men.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Shane bragged to an unnamed female follower on-line◊ that he robbed one of the camera crew's food stashes and hid it in the woods before tapping out. According to Shane, Jeff and EJ lived off the food he stole until their final extraction. This called into question nearly everything about Team Alpha Male's success during the final week of the show and just why EJ and Jeff didn't seem to be suffering as much as The Team of Six.
  • See The Load above for notes about the production crew catching the eels for Jeff.
• Stupid Crooks: Jeff was arrested in Los Angeles County◊ upon returning to the United States on charges of fleeing the country while under investigation for fraud. He was later convicted on one count of felony insurance fraud, in what was described by local reporters as "a bungled attempt at insurance fraud".
• Token Religious Teammate: Jeff is a devout Mormon. And he's more than happy to tell you that.

RIO NEGRO

Terrain: Savanna Scrub-Land.
Main Challenges: High Temperatures and Low Resources.
Team XLR At Start: 8.2.

Dani J.

Previously In: Episode 303 - Bahamas' Andros Islands.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 8.1

• Action Girl: She enjoys rock-climbing and works with a Search and Rescue team as a volunteer. She's also an avid cyclist.
• Amazon Brigade: With Eva and Laura.
• Bad Ass Adorable: Survived on her own for a week after being unable to find her intended partners at the start of the challenge.
• The Determinator: Her studying survival skills came about as a form of therapy following the murder of her roommate in their apartment while she was hiding in a closet.
  • She spends her first week of the challenge surviving all alone AND treats her own infected eye using tree bark.
• Double Standard: Described as having a no-nonsense attitude which caused friction with her partner, despite her partner in the original challenge being a sexist pig who couldn't cope with a woman that could hunt better than him.
• Granola Girl: She got into survival as a form of therapy.
• Know When to Fold Them: Taps out in Episode 7, due to conflicts with the rest of The Group of 7.

Eva

Previously In: Episode 202 - Madagascar.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 7.4

• Action Girl: Employed as a professional wilderness guide.
• Amazon Brigade: With Dani J. and Laura.
• Badass Adorable: After cutting herself by accident during the first week of the challenge, she had sutures inserted in the field, without anesthetic, rather than tap out and have the surgery done in a hospital.
  • Also survived her original challenge in the desert of Madagascar, despite being paired with a misogynist who refused to share body heat at night while belittling her skills.
• Boring, but Practical: Eva's approach to survival is very by-the-book and depends on energy conservation. This is probably why her trio got so little screen-time relative to the other groups.
• The Determinator: She had surgery in the field rather than tap out and go to a hospital following a finger injury in the first episode.
• Double Standard: Criticized for frustrating her partner in the first challenge with her stubbornness while he was praised for his equally stubborn alpha-male attitude.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Laura, who she was good friends with before either of them appeared on the show.
• In Harmony with Nature: Generally tries not to disturb the environment around her.
• The Reason You Suck: In Episode 8, Eva calls E.J. and Jeff out on their insulting treatment of her group in an epic fashion.

Laura

Previously In: Episode 104 - Panama & 201 - Amazon Jungle.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner. Both Times.
PSR: 9.1

• Action Girl: According to her biography, when she isn't living in the wild Laura enjoys "shed antler hunting, horse packing and horseback riding, fitness training, travel, rock climbing, scuba diving, free diving, whitewater kayaking, and anything that pushes her comfort zone."
• Amazon Brigade: With Eva and Dani J.
• Badass Adorable: She's gorgeous and she's the only female survivalist to appear on Naked and Afraid twice and win both times.
• Boring, but Practical: Her approach to survival is very by-the-book and depends on energy conservation. This is probably why her trio got so little screen-time relative to the other groups.
• The Determinator: She's survived the Naked and Afraid challenge twice before and is ready to go for the hat-trick.
• Double Standard: Criticized for her loner attitude in her first two challenges, despite her clear ability to work with others for the greater good despite differences in survival styles.
• Granola Girl: She's a hard-core survivalist but she still believes in living in balance with nature.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Eva, who she was good friends with before either of them appeared on the show.
• In Harmony with Nature: She thanks the animals she kills for food for their sacrifice.

CANO VERDE

Terrain: Marshy Swamp.
Main Challenges: Numerous Snakes Including The Infamous Green Anaconda.
Team XLR At Start: 7.8.

Chris

Previously In: Episode 307 - Dominica.
Completed Challenge: Yes. Solo.
PSR: 7.9

• Casanova Wannabe: His partner on Naked and Afraid dropped out due to being unable to deal with his continual flirting and sexism.
  • The early previews suggest he has become even worse, with Honora declaring she doesn't feel safe around him.
• He-Man Woman Hater: His default reaction to his female partners trying to discuss the problems their team are facing is to tell them to either quit their bitching or tap out.
  • He's even pulled this on Laura - bar none the most successful female survivalist in the show's history!
• Men Are Better Than Women: His opening assessment that Honora is lucky to have two men like himself and Luke on her team seems more based on Honora's being a woman rather than her status as The Scrappy.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Chris comes to take this attitude during the final extraction, going out of his way to aid the weaker swimmers in his group during the parts of their journey that require river travel.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: For some of the fandom, at least.

Honora

Previously In: Episode 310 - Brazil.
Completed Challenge: No.
PSR: 7.2

• The Atoner: As the only survivalist who didn't succeed on Naked and Afraid, Honora has the most to prove in the new series.
• Attention Whore:A post on her Instagram page indicates she's quite proud of being declared crazy and being declared more over-the-top than Omarosa flipping out on Donald Trump.
• Double Standard: Compare/Contrast with Shane. In the first episode, Shane risks his life climbing an unstable tree to retrieve fruit for his teammates. Their complaints about his needlessly endangering himself and the fruit being inedible draw the anger of fans who accuse them of being ungrateful. When Honora does the same thing in the second episode, the fandom complains about how incapable Honora is and how she should have listened to her teammates, who told her not to waste energy going after the fruit and then complain that the fruit tastes terrible.
• Faux Action Girl: Billed as a highly-intelligent survivalist on Naked and Afraid, Honora showed very little evidence of this. Most of the show's fans wonder why Honora was given a second chance apart from being a sure-fire source of drama.
• Granola Girl: She's an herbalist and massage therapist from California. Need we say more?
• The Load: Given her performance on the first show, she was the odds-on favorite to be this before the first episode of Naked and Afraid XL aired. In fact, Honora was the odds on favorite to be the first to tap-out given that the first extended preview of the show showed the other members of Honora's starting trio walking around with another trio with no sign of Honora anywhere. Confirmed as of the second episode, after she throws her teammate's survival gear into the river in response to Chris' bullying.

Luke

Previously In: Episode 301 - Namibia.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 8.3

• Granola Girl: A male version.
• In Harmony with Nature: Luke tries to maintain this in his surviving.
• Hippie Teacher: Luke is a survival instructor who founded a Holistic Survival School to teach others to "find their balance, connection, and relationship to the Natural World".
• Nude Nature Dance: His reaction to finding a LOT of mangoes qualifies.
• Only Sane Man: To Honora and Chris.

Season Two - South Africa

TSONGA BASIN

Terrain: Blistering Mountians.
Main Challenges: Rocky Terrain That Amplifies The Already Intense Heat and a Lion-Dominated Watering Hole.
Team XLR At Start: 6.7.

Carrie

Previously In: Episode 303 - Cambodia.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 4.8

• Faux Action Girl: Despite being a former United States Marine Corps Sergeant, she isn't much of a team player and is one of the ten lowest ranked contenders in the series history. Many fans believe she only went on the show as a means of promoting her modeling career rather than out of an honest desire to prove her survival skills.
  • Carrie also has the distinct dishonor of being one of the few contenders who had their score lowered despite completing the 21-day challenge, due to her inability to work with her partner.
• The Load: Many fans believed she would be the first contender to drop out, given her lackluster performance in her first challenge.
  • These fans proved right. Carrie tapped out on Day 4, citing her fear of ticks and the nearby presence of lions as making her mentally incapable of continuing.
• Ms. Fanservice: About the only nice thing most fans of the show have to say regarding Carrie is that she has a fantastic ass.

Darrin

Previously In: Episode 407 - Thailand.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 8.2

• Egomaniac Hunter: Averted AND played straight. Averted during his time alone with Kim, when he freely admitted his training was better suited towards small game and he was a bit out of his element with the larger animals around their camp in Africa. However, during the final ten days, he became increasingly more aggressive and critical of the rest of the group and their hunting techniques despite his own lack of success. Averted again when he admitted that Steven was the better provider.
• In Harmony with Nature: Darrin is one quarter Shoshone and has been studying "the old ways" of his Native American tribe since childhood.
• Wild Child: While not quite a feral beast incapable of social interaction, Darrin did come off as being more comfortable alone in the wild than around other people in his original challenge.

Kim

Previously In: Episode 416 - Panama.
Completed Challenge: Yes. Solo.
PSR: 7.0

• Action Girl: One of the toughest female survivalists in the show's history.
• Amazon Brigade: After joining with Alyssa, Stacey, Tawny and Phaedra.
• Badass Adorable: She looks like the girl next door, but she's one tough woman.
• The Determinator: One of the few Naked And Afraid contenders to finish the challenge without a partner.
  • Kim's challenge solo challenge is particularly noteworthy as she holds the record for going the longest without a partner, having spent 17 days out of her original 21-day challenge alone.
• Double Standard: Some fans have suggested the medics elected to forcibly withdraw the female survivalists over the male survivalists, due to a sexist belief the women couldn't work through the pain. In this case, Kim was forcibly withdrawn from the challenge despite not being as bad off as the similarly suffering Jake.

SOTHO GORGE

Terrain: Dry Canyon.
Main Challenges: Scorching Temperatures and Bloodthirsty Ticks.
Team XLR At Start: 7.4.

Clarence

Previously In: Episode 512 - Honduras.
Completed Challenge: Yes. Solo.
PSR: 7.9

• Black Dude "Dies" First: While not the first survivalist to tap out, he was the first person in his team to abandon the challenge and the first person to leave the challenge due to medical reasons. He quit in the second episode (Day 10) after becoming seriously dehydrated.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong
• The Determinator: One of the few Naked And Afraid contenders to finish the challenge without a partner.
• The Load: Jake describes him as "vocal", which is a polite way of saying that Clarence whines non-stop about the heat, the water not being as clean as he'd like, his being allergic to the food they catch... and every damn thing.
  • Averted in that it is Clarence's insistence on finding a new water source that leads to the team finding the Swati Valley team and joining up with them.

Jake

Previously In: Episode 504 - Amazon Rainforest.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 8.0

• Egomaniac Hunter: Has elements of this in his treatment of Clarence early on.
  • Averted in later episodes, when he takes on a leadership role and basically handles most of the heavy lifting when the rest of his team is weak from hunger or tick-bite fever.
• Know When to Fold Them: Jake drops out of the challenge on Day 31 on the advice of the show medic.
• No One Gets Left Behind: After Clarence's departure, Jake throws himself into making sure that nobody else in his group is going to tap out.

Stacey

Previously In: Episode 505 - Croatia.
Completed Challenge: No.
PSR: 6.2

• Action Girl: Despite being an academic, she is in great physical condition and prefers life in an outdoor setting to classrooms.
• Amazon Brigade: After joining with Alyssa, Kim, Tawny and Phaedra.
• The Atoner: As the only survivalist this time who didn't succeed on Naked and Afraid, Stacey feels she something to prove.
  • It's worth noting that the only reason she failed her original challenge was because she was forcibly removed by the medics for fear of her getting an infection following an accident that burned 10% of her body. She was ready to tough it out and preformed well enough until that point that she did not have her PSR lowered in the final analysis.
• Badass Bookworm: She learned survival skills as part of her studies in biology and her job as a field data technician.
• Boring, but Practical: Sums up her survival style nicely.

PONDO RAVINE

Terrain: Thorny Slopes.
Main Challenges: Steep Hills, Thorny Plants And Heavy Elephant Traffic.
Team XLR At Start: 8.3.

Angel

Previously In: Episode 511 - Nicaragua.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 8.1

• Egomaniac Hunter: Averted. While enjoying hunting, Angel willingly puts the good of the team ahead of his own ego and stays behind to watch the camp while Ryan and Steven hunt knowing that more people in a hunting party means a greater chance of warning the prey of their presence through increased noise and stronger scents.
• I Am Not My Father: Growing up without a father, Angel became determined to be a good one to his two daughters. One of his motivations in taking part in the Naked and Afraid challenge was to give them a hero to look up to.
• Know When to Fold Them: Angel drops out of the challenge in Episode 3 because he misses his children and decides it's more important that he be there for his daughter's birthday than to prove himself on a TV show.
• Only Sane Man: To Ryan and Steven, when they almost come to blows on Ryan's militaristic approach to survival vs. Steven's more laid-back approach.

Ryan

Previously In: Episode 401 - Everglades.
Completed Challenge: Yes. Solo.
PSR: 8.3

• A Father to His Men: Ryan sees himself as this to the rest of the team.
• The Determinator: One of the few Naked And Afraid contenders to finish the challenge without a partner.
• Egomaniac Hunter: While he tries at first to respect his partners differing approaches to survival, he eventually comes to argue with Steven about their differing survival styles.
  • After joining with the big group, he starts redoing all the snares set by the other hunters to "do it right". It is implied that his tampering caused the snares to fail.

Steven

Previously In: Episode 502 - Alabama.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 8.6

• Boring, but Practical: Steven prefers an approach to hunting and survival based on conservation of energy. This puts him into conflict with the more militaristic Ryan.
  • In the end, It is Steven's fishing that gave the final four survivalists the energy they needed to make it to the extraction point.
• Egomaniac Hunter: Averted. While Steven has good hunting skills, he has a realistic assessment of those skills and is fully aware of the challenges facing him. As he notes at one point, as much as he likes the idea of facing down a lion with a spear, he knows he's not that good.

SWATI VALLEY

Terrain: Parched Foothills.
Main Challenges: Steep Terrain, Watering Hole That Attracts Predators.
Team XLR At Start: 7.5.

Alyssa

Previously In: Episode 403 - Yucatan .
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 7.2

• Action Girl: A trained primeval survivalist, she spent the last few days of her original challenge doing all the hunting and caring for her sick partner.
• Amazon Brigade: With Phaedra, Kim, Tawny and Stacey.
• Badass Adorable: She looks like the girl next door, but she's one tough woman.
• Boring, but Practical: Definitely a student of the slow-and-steady school of survival.

Phaedra

Previously In: Episode 307 - Himalayas.
Completed Challenge: Yes. With Partner.
PSR: 6.9

• Amazon Brigade: With Alyssa, Kim, Stacey, Tawny.
• The Load: She spent most of her original challenge being carried by her partner, due to her suffering severe food poisoning.
  • She seems to be having similar troubles in this challenge, waking up in the middle of the night vomiting and complaining of nausea at several points.
• Double Standard: Some fans have suggested the medics elected to forcibly withdraw the female survivalists over the male survivalists, due to a sexist belief the women couldn't work through the pain. In this case, Phaedra was forcibly withdrawn from the challenge despite not being as bad off as the similarly suffering Jake.

Tawny

Previously In: Episode 509 - Seminole Forest.
Completed Challenge: Yes. Solo.
PSR: 7.9

• Action Girl: One of the toughest female contenders in the show's history.
• Amazon Brigade: With Alyssa, Kim, Stacey and Phaedra.
• Badass Adorable: She's a model AND a trained shooter.
• The Determinator: One of the few Naked And Afraid contenders to finish the challenge without a partner.
  • Her challenge was particularly noteworthy because her partner tapped out and went on to get the lowest ending PSR of any male contender in the show's history.
• Double Standard: Some fans have suggested the medics elected to forcibly withdraw the female survivalists over the male survivalists, due to a sexist belief the women couldn't work through the pain. In this case, Tawny was forcibly withdrawn from the challenge after falling down once, despite being lucid enough to request a specific teammate by name.