YMMV / Naked and Afraid XL

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Multiple examples in the show's fandom.
  • Alana - Is she a lazy, manipulative, man-hating, mean-girl who possesses an Eris-like ability to disrupt any group she is a part of or a smart survivalist of the slow-and-steady school who refuses to be bullied, turned into a wicked witch by the show's editing?
  • Chris - Is he a misogynist bully who tries to tear down any woman he feels is showing him up or a straight-shooting man's man who will tear into anyone he feels isn't contributing?
  • Dani B. - Is she a lazy minion of Alana whose vegetarian ways make her completely incapable of surviving on her own or is she a sweetheart and one of the toughest survivalists in the show's history precisely because of what she accomplishes in spite of her limited diet?
  • Dani J. - Is she a manipulative opportunist who abandons her teams when things get tough in search of greener pastures or is she a strong, independent survivalist being held back by other people, pushed over the edge by petty drama?
  • E.J. - Is he a father figure trying to look after everyone to the best of his ability or an elitist who takes joy from watching the other team fail without his leadership?
  • Eva - Is she one of the most capable female survivalists in the show's history or is she a lazy, bullying opportunist who lives off the efforts of her teammates?
  • Hakim - Is he truly a versatile survivor who just got unlucky in this challenge or is he a buffoon who plays at being a ninja to sound cool?
  • Honora - Is she a mentally-disturbed woman pushed over the edge by bullying teammates or a would-be actress who was intentionally adding to the drama of her situation?
  • Jeff - Is his sharing his food born of a truly generous spirit or born of guilt over his elitist attitude and rude treatment of the other survivalists?
  • Laura - Is she the toughest female survivalist in the show's history or one more mean girl whose true self was revealed when she went after Dani J?
  • Luke - Is he a chill survivalist who goes with the flow or a lazy moocher feeding off the efforts of his teammates?
  • Shane - Is he a well-meaning screw-up that just wants to be loved and respected or a weak-willed wannabe with no real survival skills and a manipulative misogynist streak?
• Designated Hero: The Manipulative Editing of the show attempts to make the audience feel more sympathetic toward certain contenders.
  • Shane. The show attempts to paint him as a Broken Bird who is trying his best, only to have his every action picked apart by his "lazy" teammates Dani B. and Alana. Unfortunately, Shane is clearly mentally unstable and far less competent than his teammates, so the effort has largely fallen flat despite the editors removing any footage of his teammates working or of Shane insulting them.
  • The second episode tries to do this with Honora. Unfortunately, any goodwill she might have gained from the fandom in the face of Chris's bullying is blown after Honora throws the rest of the team's gear into the river, putting them all at risk.
• Designated Villain: The show's Manipulative Editing attempts this as well.
  • Alana to Shane's Designated Hero. The show tries to make it look like she does nothing but undermine Shane's attempts to help the group, though it's clear Shane has no idea what he's doing and that his teammates are doing just fine without his "contributions".
  • Chris to Honora's Designated Hero. From the very first episode, he makes it clear that he views Honora as The Load and considers her lucky to have him looking out for her. This leads to him dismissing all of Honora's ideas and throwing away the fruit that she gathered for the group (after he decided climbing the trees to gather fruit was too risky), declaring that it tastes terrible.
• Jerkass Woobie: Shane. He had a tragic childhood but all of his problems are caused by his own bad behavior and poor decisions.
• The Scrappy: Honora became this almost immediately after it was announced that she was one of the returning survivalists. Any hope that she might have learned her lesson after her first failed attempt on the show was destroyed by the first episode. Honora's Scrappy status has been assured as of the second episode after throwing her team's tools into the river.
  • Following Honora's departure, Alana has become this among fans of the show who favored Shane as a contender. After Episode 3, they were actively cheering for Alana to starve without Shane's help after he abandoned their team. In Episode 4, when the reverse happened and Alana proved to be much more capable at fishing and hunting than Shane, they began to criticize her for being mean and not sharing her fish with Shane even after he said he didn't need her or Dani's help. By the end of the show's run, Alana was being blamed for all of The Group of Seven "laziness" and for turning them all against Dani J.