It’s almost over, we’ve made it to Naked and Afraid XL, Episode 8. Somewhere, what started out as a celebration of our favorite survivalists, has turned into a “warts and all” expose where we realize that our heroes are little more than flawed humans with a very specific set of skills.
We’ve seen strong men and women felled by dehydration, but more surprising, we’ve seen strong people taken down by bullying and mental instability. I didn’t foresee team members turning against and tormenting each other. Did you? It’s disappointing; in the regular two-person 21-day experiences, if you don’t get along with your partner, you’re alone. In N&A XL, people decided that if their partner had “Quirky” the best thing was to cast them out, or better yet, make them quit, because there are plenty of other folks around.
We can blame the actions that we’ve seen on editing, we can blame if on hunger, we can blame it on focusing on “Me” instead of “Team,” but it seems to have damaged the legacies of a few people who were held in high esteem. At least in the opinions of many who’ve been watching Who knows what the participants think?
Day 37
8 survivalists remain in the 40-day survival challenge.
We get a look back at the highlights and lowlights of the first 5 weeks. It’s amazing to look back at how much weight some of them have lost. Particularly EJ, who started the challenge with extra pounds on his frame.
The highlight and focus of the next few days will be the grueling extraction where the producers of Naked and Afraid will throw every crappy geography at them imaginable.
Jeff predicts, “Only the strong are going to survive until the end.”
Danielle is hoping that she finished the experience over 100 lbs.
Laura and Luke are hunting, but their teammates are lying around. They see a stingray, but aren’t able to catch it. And to add insult to injury, a monkey peed on her from above.
“This is my life,” she laments. “This is more than a little weird.”
On the way back to camp, Luke, whose body is bordering on skeletal, blacks out for a few seconds.
EJ and Jeff are hunting too. They also see a stingray, but their hunt ends successfully. And this time, EJ and Jeff show their food to the six-pack and don’t share. They go to sleep with full bellies.
Day 38
Jeff and EJ plan their extraction route. Their 5-mile route will take them across piranha lake, across a desert covered with basalt rock, across a larger body of water to an island, which they must cross. EJ and Jeff decide to face the extraction as a team of 2, they don’t want to be burdened by any dead weight.
The other team is planning their extraction too and their jaws hit the floor when EJ and Jeff reveal that they’re attempting extraction as a duo. Eva is insulted that her Madagascar “brother” thinks her team has weak links and Chris is mega-insulted.
That night, EJ’s diary confessional wakes up the other camp, who yell snarkily at him.
Day 39
Early in the morning EJ and Jeff skip out of camp. The other group is also up and out early.
Jeff and EJ are first to the lake and have to swim 500 yards through piranha, anaconda and caiman-infested water. There’s nothing like a bracing, life-threatening swim to start your morning off right!
Alana isn’t feeling strong at the start of the journey. Their entire team is starting the journey hungry.
Once Jeff and EJ exit the water they have to near a near-vertical climb and I feel sorry for the camera people who got a view of the men’s undercarriage.
Next, they men have to walk 4 miles across hot, volcanic rocks.
90 minutes later, the other group arrives at the lake. Their swim includes a few nibbles from piranhas and then they start across the hot basalt rocks. They’re all feeling like they’re dragging, and they’re roasting alive! I wish Luke had made his team some sweet sandals.
EJ and Jeff find a few barrel cacti and arrive at the Orinoco River. The other group can head their triumphant yells. The men start building a raft. When the others arrive, Eva decides to put the two men to task for abandoning them. She felt insulted and abandoned by her survival brother. But at the end, she says her piece and walks away.
The 6-pack starts building their own raft and Laura, Eva and Luke look for bamboo and find a caiman. They come up with the plan to throw their bags over its head. The caiman skillfully ducks the bags, but can’t outrun Laura’s spear. They enjoy a caiman dinner while Danielle eats cactus. Alana doesn’t want to share with EJ and Jeff, but Eva uses it as a way to drop it off and deliver notice that her team has no weak links. Revenge is a dish consisting of a reptile’s neck and shoulders.
Day 40
Jeff and EJ have forged “The Columbian Crusher” — a pretty seaworthy-looking boat. EJ shows that just like when he and Laura dominated the Peruvian Amazon in their second N&A appearance, EJ can build boats.
The 6-pack makes a dainty longboard, which takes them only 20 minutes to build. “Work smarter, not harder,” they figure.
The 6-pack launches first — at the river’s narrowest point. Their raft is essentially a kickboard that they’ll push across the swift current.
The men head 1/2 mile upstream and hope to use to current to their advantage. Their vessel has awesome oars and they’re much out of the water, riding atop the current, instead of in it.
The 6-pack sees something freaky in the water with them. Is it an anaconda? A giant caiman? Maybe a school of piranha in a feeding frenzy? Nah, their marine danger are river dolphins. But river dolphins are way freakier looking than Flipper.
The current pushes Jeff and EJ’s boat past the island and Jeff has to dig deep to find the energy to finish. Maybe there’s a little energy reserve down in his diaphragm where he stores his yells.
Once they’re across the river, the six survivalists have to walk across scorching sands and they all suffer with dehydration-fueled cramps. But when they see three rescue boats, they find an untapped resource of energy and run — that’s right — they run to the boats!! Their strides are caiman-fueled!
A half hour later, EJ and Jeff wander out onto the hot sand. And when they see the boats, they too start sprinting.
EJ tearfully admits that he can’t wait to see his family.
Danielle is proud of herself for remaining a vegetarian the entire 40 days.
Luke is proud of himself too.
Once EJ and Jeff arrive on the boat, there are no enemies, and everyone shares big hugs. They’re all family now. A big, awkward family. That hates clothes.
Laura doesn’t seem like she’s ready for her adventure to be over and says, “I would do 40 days again … what the F@#$ is wrong with me?”
Of course, what I’ve been wondering for the last few weeks was how much weight each of the participants have lost …
Weight loss
Danielle 25 pounds
Alana 25 pounds
Laura 38 pounds
Eva 36 pounds
Chris 44 pounds
Luke 43 pounds
Jeff 43 pounds
EJ 73 pounds (Holy cow, EJ! You lost a child!)
XLR
EJ Jeff’s score dipped from 8.5 to 8.4 out of 10.0. Not sure why, but I chalk it up to this number being pretend.
Laura, Luke, Danielle, Eva, Laura, Alana their team approach raises their score from 7.1 to 8.3 out of 10.0. But we know that these numbers are fake and these scores are meaningless.
Next week, there’s a reunion special, which is gonna be awesome!! I hope that everyone has had a chance to see how they were portrayed on the show, because I wanna see some fireworks! And if we can’t get fireworks, a few heartfelt apologies would be good too.
Other Naked and Afraid XL recaps
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 8 “40 Days Filth and Fury”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 7 “40 Days Falling Apart”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 6 “40 Days Sacrifice”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 5 “40 Days Death Match”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 4 “40 Days Jungle Rich”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 3 “Snake in the Grass”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 2 “40 Days, No Escape”
Naked and Afraid XL Episode 1
Discovery announces new series, Naked and Afraid XL
Naked and Afraid Casting Secrets
How to get on Naked and Afraid
all images © Discovery Channel
Well crew or no crew that neurotic moron would have felt my fist into her chicklets. That moron showed how stupid she is by bringing a magnifying glasses to her first challenge. She then spent her time under the sun getting dehydrated to the point of no return. And what did she do in XL, same stupidity, staying under the sun and getting cooked. She demonstrated many time her limited intellect, imagine the little she as to go for her being boiled by that sun, thought pattern going awire. Neurotic moron meet LSD and her reasoning, the very very little she had, evaporated litteraly into the burning atmosphere. And for her stupidity she blamed everyone else around, as in previous challenge. I hate morons like that and since you cant fix stupid, might as well go Pavlovian on them and teach them to behave or there will be consequences. Which obviously she was never tought, home schooled by folks that let her do all she wanted without owning any mistakes she did.
Then you’re as much of an asshole as Chrissy. She’s a woman, she didn’t do anything to deserve the treatment she got from little Chrissy and she fought back the only way she could since she couldn’t go up to him and punch him out. It wasn’t the best way but her other choices were to just tap out after being harassed.
I;. with you, KenO (I have yet to disagree with pretty much anything you have said, thru months of this blog):
Even as an ‘amateur’,..Id have Honora as my partner,..as long s I could talk w her 1st.
Everyone deserves a chance.
To clarify what I meant:
1=Honora’s body betrayed her on the 1st challenge,
2= On the 2nd,..her teammates betrayed her, emotionally, and supportedly (even if her ideas were bad in their eyes,. They didn’t & should NOT have treated her like shit!
So , no one has really seen what Honora could do, given a FAIR chance.
Again, I WOULD have her as a partner, potentially.
I don’t do anything ‘blindfolded’,..so i’d want to talk w her 1st.
Thanks Craig. Meanwhile I’d have her for a survival partner before I’d have Chris whether I got to talk to her first or not. I’d be glad to sit with her when we were dropped off to determine what jobs we could each do and then work together to accomplish the common goal. I’m amazed that it appears that none of the teams did this. By the way my wife and I are vegetarians, have been for over 30 years of our marriage.
Sorry, but the only person responsible for Honora’s failure was Honora.
Well there goes the theory of cause and effect.
Sorry that the facts conflict with your preferred narrative.
To Pierre’s comments:
The fact that someone as Honora, was eve there, was the Producers’s decision,.& I’m sure that WAS based on ‘DRAMA/making the show definitely have ‘Controversy’, & ‘Issues”!
Including,..the assholes she, & pothers were paired with!
Did anyone ellse notice how Chris revealed how violent he really is/can be,..early in the challenge, when, he exclaimed that (referring to Honora tossing the tools in the lake),..”Had this happened on the Streets,……I would be handling this ‘WAYY DIFFERENT”!.?
Even when she 1st took them, & started to go toward the water,..he said that he “Guaranteed”, that if she tossed them in, that she would have a “VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM”!
I think he thought that was enough to intimidate her/stop her.
It wasn’t.
I got the string feeling, that he wanted to punch her out,…..but the camera crew would have protected her.
What else was he supposed to say or do? He is starving, and she is about to throw his tools away. He can’t do anything but try to reason with her, and that failed. He had to try to intimidate her. But I agree, it didn’t work either. He was really just screwed. They never should have let her get that knife. But I def don’t get the feeling the he would’ve physically assaulted her.
Then, what do you think he meant, when he said, he’d of” handled things differently, on the streets”?
What else was he supposed to do? Try not harassing the weak chick in the first place. Try thinking of her as his team mate instead of slapping her around emotionally. What did he expect her to do? Give him a back rub? Screw Chris, and screw Luke for not doing anything.
Wayto go, KenO.
I think Chrissy & Luke have the same characteristic,.in that they (esp. Chrissy, of course) think that most women are beneath them,..& would each prefer they stay at home, barefoot & pregnant.
The moment these 2 met,..I instantly saw they took control, considered themselves IN control,..& Honora was beneath them,..even before she did anything at all.
David, much of the Chris-bashing seems to be coming from a single person, posting under multiple names. The facts are beside the point.
As I indicated to KenO, it’s possible to find fault of one sort or another on the part of any given participant while staying within the facts, so there’s really no need for this type of fiction if you’re actually interested in having an honest discussion about the show. On the other hand, if (for example) you’re trying to rehabilitate Honora by distracting people from her well-documented behavior, or in hope that they didn’t watch the early episodes or forgot what happened, that would explain the reliance on fiction.
I noticed, he’s a dick, pretty good at harassing women. I’m betting he wouldn’t try that with a man.
A ‘small’ man’,..Maybe’.
The common characteristics, I think, of ‘Bullies’, is, that they:
1- Only pick on those they perceive as ‘weaker’ than themselves,
2- Are esp. ’empowered’, when they have other people around themselves,..that will ‘back them up’,/and/or, are ‘like them’, and/or,..’like THEM’!
Does anyone know if there will be a new 21-day show starting or is this it? I saw that N&A was nominated for an Emmy; hope the show starts again. Anyone know?
I would like to suggest that Naked & Afraid producers do a viewer p0ll on how viewers rate the contestants. As for myself, I’d put EJ and Jeff at the top for staying out of the crap and, of course, Alana is at the very bottom for being such a selfish, nasty bitch.
First off it took me 15 minutes looking at Google Earth to find where you all hung out. “Pirhana Lake” is at 6 deg 05′ 47.0 N, 67 deg 29’50” W or if you like UTM Zone 19N 666,281 m E, 674,105 m N. There is a farm house 860 m WNW of the camp location and a house on the Orinoco River 1.5 km on an easy trail ENE where the last girl walked to to get the boat out and probably where the camera crews slept at night. Reality Drama!
The hike to the Orinoco River was NOT 4 miles. It is only 720 m to the basalt island and then 1 .02 km to the Orinoco a total distance of 1.74 km or 1 (ONE) mile NOT 4. More Drama!
The two women who joined the group near the end lost the least weight because they did NOTHING in their original group or the group they joined.
In a long survival situation it is those who start hunting for food and water and stay doing that that really survive. Without the three eels shared by the ‘Alpha’ group the other group would have been gone. And then on top of that those who objected, especially SHE of the two who joined late, to sharing their food with the 2 ‘Alpha’ group after all they did for your group……NO RESPECT!
I know I could do this 40 days by doing what the ‘Alpha’ group did. They are what made you all survive in the end. Really!
Oh, and the swim across Pirhana Lake was only 120 metres NOT 500 yards.
Thanks for the factual data. A sharp eye will note in many of these shows they walk down a “jungle path” that is an overgrown road. One was on a defunct and overgrown farm. These locations are not as remote as DC would have us believe. Most of them are essentially devoid of wildlife to hunt, indicating the wildlife is kept down by the natives.
Thanks Honoree, very much what most of us were thinking on Alna and Dani B. (the last two girls that joined the group losers). They did pretty much nothing the whole time.
great data. we all knew it was contrived, but now we know it borders on fraud. a simple way to make it less so is to offer a prize for the winning team. then, and only then, game theory kicks into high gear. even jeff, after he shares his first eel, contemplates about whether the other group will expect his team to share (he wasn’t wrong), and he himself is conflicted about sharing. regardless, he shares every one of his catches (without his generosity, one half the clan population would have tapped out, and the other half would have cramped up and drowned during their swim/paddle treks) because he is a good and decent man. but if there was a prize at the end, he would do what is best for his team. no eel for you!
Alone, another survivalist show where there is a prize ($500,000, real money), and where the players are truly alone (no camera crew to offer a psychological failsafe) is a true test. only 4 out of the original 10 were still competing at day 15 (players do not know how many people are left in the game, so you can’t rely on hope). But N&A is fun and a good learning experience not for their survival skills (minimal to none) but for the group dynamics under stress. The latter lessons are invaluable in today’s collaborative society.
Honheree, you are a super-sleuth!! Excellent!!!
Richard w- do you prefer the reality of “Alone” to “Naked and Afraid”? I haven’t seen alone yet, but my Brother-in-law was hooked (former Marine sniper) and I may watch the series OnDemand.
I tried to get into the NBC show that Bear Grylls did, “The Island.” Everyone was miserable and kept tapping out. I imagine it’s be like if I was in a survival setting because the people had limited survival experience.
What else would you watch in this vein?
I have a feeling that the next season’s premiere date will be announced during Sunday’s reunion special.
kellie, sorry for the late reply. my interest in N&A was primarily to see what survival techniques work so it was a rather disappointment that there was none to be had. but the group interactions were interesting. Alone is clearly superior if you want to watch real survival techniques, plus there are no failsafes, physical or psychological.
Yes, I liked that one and the fellow who won deserved to win. He did everything right. Best psychologically, best philosophy.. He reminded me of me. Best shelter too. The other shelters would have driven me nuts also with wind and pelting rain. Nothing like branches to keep safe and snug and deaden the sounds or wind and ran. And he was prepared to stay until Spring, but that area unfortunately unless he had a cabin would probably not have made it. Wind, rain and snow to come. But never-the-less much more real.
Whoops. Sorry, reply was for Richard. I was talking about ‘Alone’.
For you, the island looks contrived, with the Women’s island having pigs totally fake. Feral pigs would not let you get within 20 m of them let alone walk up and jump on them.. They were obviously domesticated and planted. On first episode of Women’s Island I did not actually see where the coconuts came from. I am looking for the palm trees, and them collecting the coconuts from the trees, as the number of coconuts on the path at the end were considerable. That there was a single boa right next to each team’s landing zone was coincidental to say the least. What the snake would have eaten, I have no idea as game, even rats seemed scarce. The only real food came from the sea.
I watch most of the survival shows. “Alone” was the best so far. The raft, island etc., with camera crews close by seem a bit contrived to me, but would be exciting I am sure for those with no experience. Some of the shots with Bear Grylls and Jonathon Ross on the Canary Islands, when they were abseiling from the cave they slept in, was poorly edited as a road (looked paved) was only about 30 m away.
While I don’t find your arguments to be particularly compelling, it is interesting to view the location by satellite.
https://goo.gl/RNNEmE
But,..could we trust them,…to give us the real results?
Yeah,..what the hell is it with this sadistic bitch, Alalna?
Shane is tired & starving,..& she has food think it was a fish, or fishes, she caught),..so she seemingly out of the goodness of her heart, poses to he snickering flunky Danielle, that maybe it would be a good idea to share some of this (which, Danielle isn’t eating anyway,..cause she’s a vegetarian),..with poor Shane.
Not surprisingly Danielle does have the courage to say “No”,……..being likely pissed off at Shane,..& tells Alana “It’s your call”.
Alana, without hesitation, instantly throws back that she’ll keep it all for herself (e.g.,..’April fools,……” SIKE !Shane’……or otherwise pulling the football away from Charlie Brown type thing!
The cherry on the cake is (of course),..she laughs & snickers all the while, & after she says this (kinds felt that even if Danielle had had the balls to say “Yes Alana,..share it w poor Shane”,..that Alana would have vetoed the idea anyway!
“Snickering flunky”, best description yet of Danielle…..truly perfect image.
Scary image,..!
There are too many “people” like either of them,.. out there!
People that w see someone dying,..or in pain,..& just make fun of them/not help/or even hurt them!.
Been trying to recall, WHO Alana & her partner,.Danielle, reminded me of.
& then,..it came to me,….PERFECTLY,..!
They remind of (In the Wizard of OZ,..), respectively,. :
The ‘Wicked Witch of the West,..& her ‘Lead’/Evil Monkey’!!!
The Witch would tell the Monkey what she thought, & (evil) was Planning, for Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, & the Cowardly Lion’,..& the Monkey would ‘Laugh, & ‘Snicker’,..even when the ‘Wicked Witch’, was keeping a straight face!
DEAD ON!!
I like you Emerald but no one has responded to my comment about the military boats loaded with guns and helmets picking up the survivalists, didn’t that seem weird especially when they were in the cocaine capital of the world? It was mentioned that there were live mines in the Savannah; why would the producers allow this? It could have ended up being ‘NAKED & DEAD, what do you think?
Hi Laura.
I didi respond to someone’s comment (maybe yours) on the ‘rescue boats’,..con=ming in, with machine guns.
But, responding to you comment, a few hrs ago;
– 1= I’d love to know more about both you, & 1 or 2 others, on this blog, before it completes. (tryin to figure out how to do that,..I think you’d be GREAT friends!
-2= I DID respond to someone (you?0, bring attention, to the recue boats having machine guns,…somewhere below.
-3= I think the rescue boats appearing ‘soo dranmatically/being sooo fully armed’,..where for DRAMA,..pure, & simple’,..despite ANY Crime to the region!
Hi Emerald, trying to find out where the “Badlands of Columbia” are; maybe it was some protected park where the cartel isn’t operating but, if so, why the machine guns?
It might have been that the producers didn’t have a choice and the Colombian government required it as a result of the cartels. Or it was for dramatic effect, gotta admit, pretty dramatic.
Yes,..all possibilities.
And, all good observations (see,….that’s why I wish, many people on this blog,..would be contestants, in a challenge,…seriously!).
If they were in such a dangerous location, why have the show there? Good thing Pablo Escobar is no longer with us or maybe it would have ended up NAKED & DEAD.
My daughter and her husband went to a cousin’s wedding in Columbia and the groom was from Mellanin, home of Pablo Escobar and, while at their fancy hotel, were surrounded by military with automatic weapons and the guests were told to NEVER leave the premises of the hotel. So glad when she got home, was scared for her all the while she was gone.
The Colombian Army picked them up as the armed ‘River Ship’ was the closest place to treat the ‘survivors’, and the FARC terror group are in this area. I guess the Colombian government did not want trouble and also an opportunity to show their presence.
Honheree, those were my thoughts exactly. It was the governments decision.
My two cents. The gunboats and troops are there to prevent smuggling and border crossings along a major waterway. They probably stop and search lots of river transport boats.
just finished the last episode. comments are based on what the producers allowed viewers to see. Stage I: environment is food deficient, especially in protein. except for luke, chris and honora who land in a place where they had relatively more food vs. the others. with this hindsight, the optimum strategy was to endure, and to reserve energy. sorry shane, but your teammates were proven right. even the alpha males got very little for their massive efforts, barrel cacti, anyone?
Stage II – Piranha Lake: everyone migrates for better resources. Now its the 3-man alpha males (redundant) vs. the clan. Despite the editing that implies that the clan continue to endure and reserve energy, i am giving them the benefit of the doubt and that they tried hard to get food (they still had a long way to go and they were running on empty). unfortunately, they were poor hunters. anyone notice that Chris, the commercial fisherman, did not catch an eel or much of any seafood (can’t remember if he caught a little fish). without the generosity and skill of Jeff, most of the clan would have tapped out. the clan received a huge amount of eel, over 20 lbs at least. An aside, i understand why the clan did not give EJ some of their ray since they were so depleted, and looking out for themselves. but it was hypocritical of them to get bent out of shape when they learned that jeff and ej decided to go it alone. did the clan become so dependent on jeff and ej that they became so angry at their plans to go it alone? numbers are not as important as the quality of the members. the clan had very little survival skills (actually none of them had much, if any) and their teamwork produced minimal results (0 + 0 = 0). in contrast to the alpha males, Jeff was the MVP. he always nailed his eels with the first attempt. not surprising, he is a big game hunter, and understood the optical illusion of fish in the water (light rays get deflected). why chris, the commercial fisherman didn’t understand this is puzzling. EJ, as far as the editing showed, did not do much. as far as i can remember, he didn’t even strike an eel, yes he got shocked when he was approaching the first eel, but he never took a swipe at it or at any other eel. Shane made the killing blow of the first eel. Shane, depleted from his wrong strategy, and mental battles with his teammates, eventually succumbed to malnutrition. but not before he contributed with his “gypsy well” and even tested it for his team. I wonder where the clan got its water? i wouldn’t be surprised if Shane’s well was shared or maybe Dani created another one. (the producers may not have wanted to highlight her contribution since it would detract from their emphasizing Dani’s conflict with the rest of the clan). Jeff, not only did he catch all these eels, he caught the last one by himself. quality not quantity.
Stage III: extraction. Yes, the clan did cross the finish line, but IMO, that does not matter. the clan took an unnecessary risk in crossing the river with their floatation device. i wonder if they knew that if they encountered a deadly situation, piranha, eel, snakes, etc, that the camera crew would have come to the rescue (remember the medical assistance who came to suture a wound). high risk if successful, results in high return, hence they won the race. Jeff and EJ took a more prudent and much safer approach and built a boat. last note, during the discussion on whether the clan should share their gator, not once was it mentioned (or was it purposeful editing) that they should share their food since Jeff was so so generous with his eels (3 count them 3). many of the clan members, based on my read of their faces/body language would have been happy to not share at all.
I had been thinking that about E.J. as well. I don’t remember him bringing in anything but barrel cacti. Also E.J., “Sarge” for all his macho military-ness, seemed to have lost his voice and allowed Jeff to take the lead in every situation, especially as the spokesman for “Team Alpha”. Not impressed with E.J. any longer. Actually all of them lost so much weight none of them can be said to have conquered their environment. If they gained weight they would have been successful hunters and would have thrived in their environment much as Matt Graham on dual survival would have and that Ed Stafford guy on Marooned. If they all would have had to do another two weeks they all would have tapped out. E.J. was so depleted he could hardly talk or walk, just lumbered along, a mere shell of an Army Ranger.
I also wondered about the medics, who with the slight chance of hypothermia or stomach cramps, immediately interfered for fear of organ damage but DID NOT go to Shane’s rescue when he was lying, looking dead, at the river’s edge. They only intervened once when Eva cut her finger with her machete. As the “team” layed there in the sun, what happened to the tons of mosquitos that tortured them in the beginning; they looked like they were just sunning in Maui.
I don’t believe the cast truly killed that caiman. I think the producers/crew caught it as seemed like it got by them and then next shot they are on top of it??
have been watching the show since it came on and preferred the 2-person, 21-day challenge. This 40-day thing with 12 survivalists turned into a soap opera with bitches, nastiness and cruelty. Chris actually drove Honora and Dani out, he’s such a pig, bet he doesn’t have much success with the ladies on the outside.
I’m not sure how anybody who watched the show would hold anybody responsible for Honora’s departure other than Honora.
Laura is right!
Chris & Luke both emotionally drove Honora to quit the challenge.
Only an idiot would miss just how poorly Honora was treated by Chris and Luke. Both of them were obnoxious towards her from the moment they met her. They had not intention of giving her a chance.
I like the way you think, KenO.
I wonder how you, I or many people on this discussion would have handled the ‘Insensitive’s,..had we been part of the group.
I, for one,..do not let my ideas, etc., be changed by ‘peer pressure’.
I do, however, change my mind, instantly, or when the proper time,…if anyone has a better way.
I don’t think, many on this challenge were prepared for the emotional ‘beatings up’, that could, & sometimes did happen.
They more thought on the physical.
That’s why, I think, all the ones that dropped out, were so caught off guard, & devastated.
Where as the bad people, had no hearts, as being bad is the real them, at a certain tier (or more).
Right on KenO, Laura and Emerald! Honora needed help and support to remain stable and she got zero from Chris and Luke.
Luke didn’t seem to treat Honora badly before she started throwing the supplies away, the problem was he sat there completely passive while Chris pulled his attitude on Honora.
All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.
I love this sentiment, KenO! So much of this season’s drama could have been stopped if one person had the courage to say, “Stop!”
Sorry but Honora seemed unstable from the start. Chris was in no mood to carry her and I don’t disagree that the two were both confrontational. I don’t think she would have fared any better with the other groups.
Throwing away critical survival gear was childish and dangerous.
Has anybody seen this picture, supposedly something Honora posted?
I thought it was both funny & cute:
http://i.imgur.com/gjSZToI.jpg
oh,….SO true!!
I sense the return of “Ema Nymton”, but posting while using multiple names.
Who are we gonna believe — you or our lying eyes.
To recap, did you infer, that ‘Ema Nymton’,..is, in fact the person ( the ‘Witch’),.from the challenge?
E.g.,,Alana?
If I read everybody, recently, correctly,..we don’t have to be worried about this ‘“Ema Nymton”, as we are strong to our knowledge,..and/OR ,… KNOW,…WHO THIS PERSON MIGHT BE!
You’re right, Honora was a bit unscrewed as she was the first time around, passing out in the hot desert sun while holding a magnifying glass to purify water but she was also a bitch to her vegan partner. But I believe it was Chris who pushed her final button.
She did have her faults, among which were an obvious and overwhelming need for exhibition that cried out for attention. However, had she been given a little bit of encouragement and acknowledgement for her climbing skills (which, by all accounts was considerable) she may have been able to shine. Instead of that her “team mates” chose instead to attempt to destroy her emotionally and were successful. They seemed proud of that. The evil sisters did pretty much the same with Shane and Dani J. This, to me at least, is inexcusable in what was supposed to be a survival situation, not a situation in which people attempt to outdo each other to see who they can get to tap out. It’s not like there was a singular monetary prize that was to be split between those who finish and everyone gets more if there are fewer who finish. There are none of them, none, that I would want to be stranded with and that includes E.J. who, if you’ll notice seemed to be crawling farther and farther inward, doing less and less. Never saw him catch anything but barrel cactus the whole time (was this editin? I think not). He also lost his command to a lesser man, Jeff, who first time around couldn’t hunt, couldn’t fish and couldn’t cook. I believe he lucked out in being able to stab the blind and slow moving Eels.
KenO:
why did you think Honora had a need for ‘exhibitionism’?
Because she loves to run around naked. According to herself she’s done it since she was a child. She likes to rock climb naked, ski naked and pose for calendars naked. This seems to be a cry for attention. Not that I mind, I find nice looking females quite, er, stimulating. I mean, even when she’s kind of in a funk with these two misogynists her fall back is to fall on her back with her legs spread. Freudian slip? She has no martial arts skills and few survival skills however she does appear to have feminine wiles skills…..didn’t work on Luke or Chrissy though. Notice that Chris would be glad to help any member of ‘his’ team should they fall behind but he wouldn’t help Dani J. or Honora….hmmm.
Sorry Emerald I didnt really answer your question as to why she felt the need. I’m thinking it might be that nothing else was working on these two. She tried several times to contribute to the team and they would have none of it. Yeah, she has problems, obviously but not wanting to or trying to help the team isn’t one of them. They slapped her down hard then got worse when she retaliated. What did they expect her to do? Punch one of them out? Naw, she fought like a girl, devious and effective.
Yeah,..Honora was an interesting broad,…err,… character.
I’d still like to see her back,..in a different challenge,..
Could be interesting.
I’ll tell you how. I’ve said it before and I’ll explain it here. It’s shared responsibility of Honora and Chris. Just like a good marriage/partnership takes both ppl working toward keeping it healthy and productive, both parties can also act in a way to tear it down simultaneously. Honora has awful communicative skills, is head-strong, negative, and not as strong as she would have us and herself believe. She is self-conscious, partly b/c of her failure in the 21 day, and this made her very defensive right off the bat. So the first time anything went wrong in her group, her flipping out again was inevitable.
Now, this being said, Chris is an asshole. He’s a thinly veiled chauvinistic bully, and I mean BULLY. You could probably tell if you are watching for it, how adept he is at sniping at others for being weak. How casually and easily he tells women (that’s right plural, b/c he did the same thin in the 21 day challenge) “go tap out”.
I was pretty irate in the very first episode of XL when I saw that, not only did they bring Honora back, which they should not have done, they threw her in a group with Chris dooming her from the get-go. I hated her after seeing the 21 day challenge b/c she was such a bitch to the guy but after seeing Chris’s treatment of her I felt bad for her.
TL;DR : It wasn’t ALL her fault
I agree w all your points about Chris, Stephen.
And it wouldn’t surprise me if, in the future, we hear that he’s up on charges of hitting a woman (or, a man).
He seems that type!
I agree with every point. Well put. Thanks.
Funny, how the “team” of Chris-bashers seem to be parroting the personal attacks on Chris made by Honora in the preview of the reunion special….
Shame on Alana. She was cruel and started crap on Shane and Dani. Hope her day of reckoning comes and the same is done to her. She really showed her selfishness. Shane and Dani were more loners but did not deserve the crap. Wished they both could have made it to the end, even if they had to do it alone.
I continue to watch the shows over again, & am haunted by the horrific images of poor Shane, crying on several occasions, as if :
– he had lost hope in all humanity
– he had been betrayed on serveral levels
– everyone he cared about had been murdered (I’m NOT trying to exaggerate,..as what I am trying to describe, is what griefs I saw him experiencing, AND definitely on his face!
This was contered, almost,..that is,.by EJ & Jeff accepting him into their group & camp.
I was overjoyed for him.
But,..& watching this again & again,…know that,..what I saw,…was that Danielle was 40% to blame, to Alan’s 60%.
And,..notice, that Danielle actually had a routine of ‘Snickering, & Laughing,..all in the meanest,..& ‘EVIL’ ways,..BEFORE Alana, AND even when Alana would trash poor Shane, in a straight & serious manner,..& ALL, behind his back,…both of them would do!
You are correct.
Emerald is right, sweet little Danielle just snickered and giggled while Alana abused Shane, not even encouraging her to share some fish with Shane when they knew he was starving AND I don’t believe that Danielle survived 40 days eating nothing but mangoes and a few almonds, where’s the protein? She didn’t look too bad on extraction day; think she may have screwed the cameraman for a veggie burger?????
Emerald,
Danielle is a condescending person and looks down upon everyone. She was the same with Charlie F. in her 21 day challenge. The patronizing smile and tone of voice are an attempt to mask her narcissistic arrogance and feeling of superiority. People like her go through life as posers and fakes. The ancient symbol of a snake eating it’s tail best describes her. I like your straight from the shoulder comments.
Alana was the worst of all; she showed no compassion to Shane who busted his ass to provide shelter and food for her and
Danielle. When he asked them for help, they refused. After Jeff and EJ provided her with 3 eel meals, she was still relucant to share their last caiman meal with them, what a bitch, was hoping the crocs would get her.
agree with you; Alana and Danielle even made fun of him when he told them of his tragic childhood, nasty-ass bitches who laid on their naked asses while Shane built their whole shelter and tried to get food for Danielle, they were so nasty and not at all compassionate with this man who only wanted to do good and make friends. F**k both of them.
Agree with you.
I wonder what they thought, or felt, if anything, about them making him cry, and I wonder when they 1st learned that he had cried (during the challenge, maybe his eyes where red, etc,…..or, did they not know it till after the whole thing ended).
Bet they don’t think it was their fault.
I’d like to see the tables turned on them, someday,.
But, I’d also be VERY suspicious of them staging something,…or crying ‘crocodile’ tears, for sympathy.
I like the fact that the group that worked together got the last meal and made it to the ship first. The two men was probably mad they didn’t make it first.
The two teams had radically different approaches to survival, and that carried over into their tactic for crossing the river. One team built a boat that took it out of the water, and required a lot of energy to paddle, but which protected them from hazards in the water. The other took a minimalist approach, exerting a minimum of energy to create the smallest raft that could reasonably assist their crossing, but was much more vulnerable to the environment as a result of that choice. Both approaches carried different risks, but ultimately both worked.
Notice that the group of 6, never even asked (to each other, or the boat crew):
Where are EJ & Jeff?
Are they safe?
Were they already picked up, yet?
Astute observation.
Of course,….I said it,..:).
They “worked” together? How so? They seemed to lay about together, but work? Um unless an awful lot was “edited out”.
Absolutely correct, KenO!!
Also right, that both what these people ‘claim’, was the real reason for sooo much of their ‘negative images’,…& what you,..& I presume, most of the people on these discussion sites, are focusing/curious about,..is the ‘editing’.
I, frankly, carefully look at everything,..& STILL think that these ‘bad people’,..are still ‘BAD’,..& they are relying on tryin to fall back on the ‘editing’,..to save their own skins, public relations, & ‘image’ wise!
I ‘Got your back’,..on this one (OOPS!!! POOR CHOICE OF WORDS,..given these ‘(fill in the blank!)’.!!!
Ken-O, you were right about Honora’s exhibitionism, after their trek through the Savannah, she sprawled out on the ground with her crotch spread for the whole world to see but I do think that, since she was in such bad shape, Chris and Luke could have at least taken her into the shelter. Maybe she didn’t realize or care that she was totally exposing her Va-j-j to everyone (aka AJ).
Why did you like that the group (of 6?) got the last meal?
EJ and Jeff also worked together.
My above message was addressed to ‘MAX’S’ statement.
Was I the only one who noticed that the rescue boats were totally armed with helmets on the crew? Why would the producers allow the survivalists to walk across the mine-filled survannah, the show could have ended up being “Naked & DEAD”.
I think the rescue boats chosen, were all for ‘drama’ ( or more for drama).
Although,..I was hoping (in my mind)= Great! They’re gonna ‘rub-out’, the group of 6,…:)
That’s funny.
Max – the only reason that group that worked together made it to the finish was because of the generosity of the Alpha team. If not for Jeff sharing their kills with them, many would have tapped out.
Elizabeth, you’re so right, EJ and Jeff shared 3 huge eel meals with them but when they accidentally caught a caiman on the final day, Alana was reluctant to share with them. Bet she has lots of difficulties in personal relationships.
I have yet to see a true self reliant survivalist on any episode. You have someone like Jeff now and then who will actually hunt when he gets hungry. But has anyone ever seen any actual survival skills from anyone at all on any of the shows? These are just city slickers with zero real survival skills looking for recognition. I’m done with this fake show.
I think the only one that came close was that guy (don’t remember his name) in a 21-day challenge that trapped & ate the rats in the cave they were sleeping in. He seemed up for anything, energetic & knew more than most on this show about survival skills. I often wonder how much of this “drama & tension” is staged like an episode of “The Real Housewives.” That whole drama with the stingray & the caiman “sharing” looked so fake. What would a “show” be without heroes & villains ? The producers leave it up to you to decide which are which.
His name was Darrin and his vegetarian partner was Angela, kind of stuffy and said that if she ever met Darrin on the street, she would stay far away from him. I liked him, he was so cool and invented rat-kabobs (not that I’m looking forward to seeing Mc Rat-Kobs w/cheese on the menu). She complained about him farting, belching and scratching his ass but he did his best for her; so he’s way out there, he was a fun survivalist. She finally decided to rescue him when he was almost drowning during evacuation but I liked him. He was a loner as was Shane and Dani but he didn’t have to deal with the group mentality of being driven out; wonder how he would have matched up with dickhead Chris.
He was also a victim of child abuse when his parents dumped him in the woods at age 9 and told him to fend for himself.
I agree crazyhorse. No flint knapping (you can knap other rocks besides flint) for arrowhead making. No real shelter making skills, no fish traps, no real fishing, no hunting at all (I don’t consider blundering across an animal hunting). No making of real spears (no heads, pointy sticks aren’t spears), no atlatle’s (one of the simplest forms of hunting gear). Nothing. Like you say “City Slickers”. Laura seems to have genuine skills but didn’t appear to use them, even getting the Cayman was an accidental find.
Alot of the survival is cut. What you see aired is basically a highlights reel.
Team Alpha carried all the women and two men, meaning fully that only the Alpha duo would have been the sole “experts” to make the challenge. What slays me is the shows producers continually refer to all as “survival experts” when clearly not one woman was up to the challenge and they possibly dragged three male members down with them. One literally. I stopped watching this joke-fest weeks ago and am done with the show entirely having seen the complete phony credentials of the producers and especially participants.
I don’t think that you’ll hear E.J. criticizing Laura’s survival skills, or Jeff criticizing Eva’s. I wish that Eva an Laura had demonstrated a different dynamic, something for which editing may be partially responsible but in large part seems to have been a matter of style, in order to better highlight their skills. I think that the producers expected Eva, Laura and Dani J. to dominate the environment.
Why would E.J. criticize Laura’s survival skills? She obviously has some but seriously didn’t use them until like the last two days. Eva, I’m not sure about, never saw her do much this round and the last time all she did was cook snake until it was inedible. So, can’t hunt, can’t fish and can’t cook.
The assertion to which I was responding was that none of the women had meaningful survival skills. That, as you concede, is not correct.
Actually Laura had skills but didn’t use them, same as not having them. Eva not only can’t hunt or fish she can’t cook as she proved on her episode with Jeff, who, at that time could neither hunt, fish or cook himself.
I was wondering why Laura would look up with eyes & mouth open after the monkey pissed on her… maybe look up but keep your mouth closed for God’s sakes!
Cause Laura’s an airhead.
What the monkey did was the most constructive part of the finale.
Hi 5 to that monkey (& shame he didn’t do it on the rest of ‘the ‘Clique’ of six’).
Correct!
Again, you’re right on Emerald.
She was hungry? 😉
Sue, you are so right!!! Even if you are smelly and filthier than you’ve ever been before, Laura didn’t even try to fell the pee!!
I call the team of six the mob, as they all have a mob mentality. If you don’t agree with them then you are a outcast. You need to feed them, agree with everything they say, don’t wander by your self, then you can be part of the mob. Sorry for Shane and Dani.
Congrats to Jeff and EJ you didn’t give in to the MOB. You Rock!!!
yet the show continually refers to these leeches as “expert survivalists”
without the alphas they’d all have been carted off by the ems personnel by now.
I applaud, & approve of your term ‘leeches’,..!
You tell it like it is,.:)
The group of six are a bunch of self-centered complainers. They were totally unappreciative of the help they received and refused to share anything they caught. They were cruel to Shane and Dani and what I saw was a bunch of lay arounds complaining instead of doing. Jeff shared all but the last stingray he caught. The group of 6 have a poor memory. They only shared the Cayman to try and look good for the show. I would not doubt that the producer had to step in and make them share it.
I hate what she did to Shane and she started the whole complaining about Dani! The reunion will just allow complaining Alana to keep demoralizing them! I hope someone puts her in her place!
I feel the same way,…..but I wouldn’t be surprised if Shane ends up ‘forgiving’ his former 2 girl teammates, as he’s that kind of a person.
I wouldn’t!
Not even Danielle, as she sided w Alana.
Sad, when they made Shane cry,..& also didn’t care if he was alive , OR dead, when they saw him collapsed, down by the river.
I don’t think Alana, esp., cares, how cruel, she is,..& if, by some miracle, ANYBODY apologizes to Shane (or anybody that tapped out),..I hope the apology is rejected!
I’m with you Emerald.
I was shocked when Alana and Danielle saw Shane passed out by the river and didn’t even go to him to try to help or, at least, call EJ and Jeff to go and help him; they wouldn’t even cared if he was dead which he may have been, they didn’t even take the time to go and check.
You’re right.
Had he actually died, I can see it now:
They would definitely claimed that they both thought
“He’s alright”,…& ” We thought he was just sleeping”,…
In the 21-day episodes, medics were in and out of camp for whatever reason; how come they didn’t intervene when Shane was collapsed on the river front? They didn’t intervene once except to fix Eva’s machete wound.
Lynn – I’m with you. It would be nice if someone would speak up.
Anyone that spoke up, would likely have been shunned by the group.
The team of (7, then) 6 did share, but they didn’t catch much or share much. Jeff indicated in the show, when they opted not to share a stingray, that the team of 6 had shared two small lizards. I don’t think that it’s entirely fair to criticize the group of 6 for not sharing, because the fundamental problem was that they were largely unsuccessful in their hunting efforts — when you aren’t catching food, you don’t have food to share.
In terms of sharing the Cayman to look good for the show, perhaps…. but if that were the case I think they would have shared more equally or a bit more generously. Had they been discussing, “How can we look good for the show”, I don’t think that Alana would have argued against sharing. I think Eva’s suggestion to share, and the consensus that followed, reflects their actual thinking at the time.
I think it’s absolutely fair to criticize people that won’t share for not sharing especially when they’ve been shared with by the other “team” (and I use the word loosely). Their inability to hunt or fish is directly proportionate to their inability to get up off their asses and go do something.
If you don’t catch food, you don’t have food to share. That’s not a particularly difficult point to follow, is it?
When you do finally catch food, no matter how little it’s simple courtesy to share with those who have shared with you no matter how little you give to them. That’s not to hard to understand is it?
As Jeff said, on screen, they did share a couple of small lizards.
If you choose to disregard facts that conflict with your opinions, there’s not much point in trying to engage with you.
To KenO’s point, the ‘Team of Jungle Bullies’ had issues with not only their abilities to hunt, but to get off their butts, and go do something. They may have had much more to share, had they actually put forth more of an effort. In order to understand that however, you must follow both parts of the statement 😉
Aaron – I agree if you have nothing you have nothing to share; however, what scene did make it to the screen showed them justifying why they wouldn’t share the stingray they had caught. I agree with KenO – once they caught something of value and EJ said he hadn’t had stingray – the very least to do was to offer him a bite of that and not some lizards the team of bullies accidentally caught.
If your investigate, or go back to the posts on this site from other forums, you would learn that Luke did share some of that stingray with E.J. and Jeff. But that fact aside, it would not materially change the sharing ratios had the group decided to share the stingray equally — there’s not much there to share.
I think Eva decided to share the caimon because Jeff and EJ dismissing her as a weak link made her at least look at how they behaved with the food.
I agree,..at the very least, she may have wanted to do some ‘damage control’, to her group’s image (really, as you described).
I could watch more programs like this. But, I question “why only the younger folks are featured on such reality calendars”? How about senior citizens who are fit? LOL
Laura, I think you are the more fit of the women. Of the men, its obvious that E.J. is the fittest. He “had Jeff’s back” in the final run of the extraction. Jeff, I feel kept the final contestants fed. Kudos to Jeff. Nothing but poison spilled out of Alana’s mouth. What a bitter woman. She spoke poorly about Shane, she spoke badly of Dani then she was negative about sharing food with the Alpha Team in the last sequel.
I totally agree about Alana! Wish she’d left!
I totally agree about Alana. In nearly every shot I saw of her, she was just laying on the ground. Out of the women, Laura seemed to be the only one who really took any initiative in hunting for food. Knowing that they had a 2 day extraction trek ahead of them, all six should’ve been off their butts hunting for food instead of laying around pissed off & drooling that EJ & Jeff wouldn’t “share.” They were camped in the same place & had the same opportunities plus there were SIX of them! If they had been “on it” they would’ve gotten food on their own instead of whining that EJ & Jeff weren’t sharing…. looked like a bunch of kindergarten kids!
Well, Alana did tell Shane “Survival is supposed to be ‘Lazy”.
& I’m amazed that the ‘Clique of 6’, got so upset, that EJ, & Jeff had decided to finish alone,..as I don’t believe there was ANY rule, as to joining/combining with other groups or people in this whole thing.
I think the ‘teaming’ was just a ‘supposition’ (based on the close, or ‘near’,..proximity, that initially people would be released, to find another person/other people,..at the start of the challenge,…….,..but NOT a requirement.
They probably were upset, though, in part, because team Alpha could have continued to make things easier for them, by sticking around.
I know he said “I have your back” but what did that mean in this context? Nothing really, he was just sitting behind him on a log.
Guess, to him, anyway,..that’s ONLY, what he meant.
That he was ‘behind’ him,..LITERALLY.
That’s ALL!
Kellie,
I was very disappointed throughout the episodes with the performance(s) of the “magnificent 8.” None of them showed any real wilderness skills. They exposed their character flaws and lack of virtues (compassion, empathy, hope, etc.). They were there seeking celebrity status and nothing else, they are fakes. Those with the weakest character will blame the “edit” and continue the excuses for their failure(s).
I am sure all will be happy, happy during the after show as the “magnificent 8” continue faking it.
J.C. I’m sure that many of them will play nice because there’s money to be made by doing personal experiences. Bars, trade shows, etc. will pay good money to have a “celebrity” come and sign autographs, even ones that aren’t 100% likable Heck, Sue Hawk from Survivor Season 1, may still be surfing her “Snake and Rat” fame somewhere.
Right on!
There won’t be much money to be made from any bars and trade shows that have seen the XL episodes. Maybe for Dani J., even Honora. By the way did you catch Hissy Chrissy’s little tirade about how he was “perfectly capable of helping anyone in distress” when they were getting ready to cross the river? I’m guessing he meant anybody but Honora and Dani J. What a prick, short memory.
From what I have seen in life, the ‘EVIL’, and , or more ‘controversial ones (and ‘weak ones’), get more attention, from the public in those venues.
Sadly, you are correct about the public.
Kellie,
The money making deals of celebrity status are endless. Book deals with titles like: “How to lose 70 pounds on the barrel cactus diet” or “How to lose 40 pounds by screaming at dead fish” or “How I took a haircut and shave and found Jimmy Hoffa’s body.” The possibilities for the women are even greater: nude posters for tattoo shops, men’s dorms, locker rooms, tire and auto repair shops; featured dancer at strip clubs and the porn movie venue.
HEH, HEH,HEH.
So we recorded the show last night and watched it this morning. My suspicions were confirmed. Team “Alpha” males managed to spear a stingray (well, Jeff did anyway) and Sarge managed to stalk and capture another barrel cactus (he’s pretty good at that though he didn’t catch much else). While team Tatoo’s were pretty upset that they didn’t get to share the Alpha’s sting ray, I mean how rude is that? Later, Chrissy, the brains of the outfit, asks the group if they should ‘share’ the cayman that Laura got with the Alpha’s. I mean why should they? They never shared anything else with them. Oh, yeah when Jeff (who seem’s to be team Alpha’s spokesman now) tells team Tattoos that they’re going alone to the extraction point Chrissy get’s all huffy and says “You’d think that an Alpha male would want to help the weaker ones”, right you simpering twit just like you “helped” Honora and encouraged “Dani”? Is that what you mean? What a jerk. Later Eva has the gall to spout off on Jeff for abandoning her, completely forgetting apparently how she threw Dani J. under the bus and dismissed her rather insensitively from her own little trio and later the whole group. Jesus what a bunch of high school mean girls. Can’t wait for the reunion where I’m sure all the mean girls will diss team Skull crusher (the scourge of the Cactus plant people) and Eel stabber (the Mormon turned Neanderthal) for doing what they’ve done to their team mates all along and at the same time tell the people that they burned how they didn’t mean it that way and oops so sorry. So it turns out that Sarge, Luke and Chrissy have one thing in common: they can’t hunt or fish. Well to be fair, neither can Alana, Dani B. (nabber of fruits), or Eva, but it’s pretty obvious Laura can kill things too bad she didn’t do it earlier to challenge Jeff’s dominance in the area of making meat. Well it happened pretty much as I thought so I wasn’t disappointed. Now let’s see if I’m right about what’s going to happen at the reuinion.
Ken-I love the nicknames that you’ve given the survivalists! I’m glad that you’re not the only one whose noticed that almost everyone has a tattoo. It must be a survivalist thing. You’re right that Chris’ comment about the Alpha’s not helping the weaker members is a little bit of Karma biting them in the butt. I would have loved to see Laura away from the drama because she is an outstanding survivalist. She and Jeff would be a good paring because she’d be able to reign in his screaming (remember how she took EJ to task when he taunted his Peruvian eel? she made him cry our of shame!). I wonder if at next week’s reunion, Jeff will announce the creation of his own outdoors show. (FYI- you can get your own Jeff Zausch autographed photo for the low-low price of $14.99 on his website. Act now and you can get two for $19.99 or three for $24.99-which he says is the most popular choice. Yes, three Jeffs screaming “Yeah Baby! at you from multiple directions!)
Yes, yes. E.
E. J. is selling a survival knife for only $240! Save your money folks; a $15 machete from anywhere will do the job.
I would LUV to know,..exactly how many of those knives, he actually sells!
Coming up on Jeff’s website, audio tapes on how to survive, Tape 1: “How to yell” 1st lesson: What to yell at: A. If you see an animal yell at it. B. If you see an Eel, yell at it. C. If you catch an Eel, yell and keep yelling. D. If you kill anything, yell at it. E. If you see the river you were looking for, yell at it. F. If you cross the river that you were looking for, yell. G. Pretty much yell at anything and everything.
KenO – The reunion show was taped prior to the show being aired. So the reunion will IMHO, be rather dull, as it is missing the obvious shock that people would have, had they seen, and heard the diary ‘confessions’, and the things that were aired, but many had no idea went on, or knew what was said. Shane says on his FB page, quote:
Shane Lewis I wasn’t aware of what was said on the diary cams until the shows aired. Please try to understand that I’ve been hit with what was said at the same time as all of you.
Unlike · Reply · 4 · 11 hrs
Followed by (in response to a few comments):
Shane Lewis I relive it with all of you.
Like · Reply · 2 · 1 hr
I can only imagine if they would have watched the show first, then had the reunion…WHOA. I suspect many would not make an appearance.
Sincere best wishes to Shane and Dani J. Also to Honora and Hakkim. I have some small respect left for E. J. and Jeff.
I am really interested in how people will react in the reunion show. Even if they didn’t have the benefit of watching themselves, and their actions, on TV, perhaps time to reflect on the experience will grant a few of the survivalists the wisdom and compassion they lacked in Colombia.
They (the bad ones) will try to dismiss weeks of being ‘a__holes’,…with mere minutes of giving lip service in appearing nice, & explaining away everything bad, they did, being due to “editing”.
Kellie, I hope you are right that some of them will show a moral sense of conscience. The alternative would be an hour long exchange of insincerity.
How could the reunion show possibly be taped before the show even started and no one knowing one another; how could Honora call Chris a “chauvenistic pig” had she not met him.
Laura, I take it for granted you are asking an honest question. It was taped months ago and the reunion tape soon afterwards BEFORE it was on TV in July.
Kellie,
When Eva came down to the Dynamic Duo to “put them to task” on day 39. Jeff reminded her of what they had done to Dani. Eva had a “weepy” moment, then stalked away as arrogant as ever.
I still think it was good of her to remind the two men that they weren’t above playing games, despite their comments to the contrary. I think everyone’s soul came away from that experience smelling as badly as their unwashed armpits.
Kellie, I agree fully. I like hyperbole and metaphor. So much gets said with so few words. I think that’s why Jesus used parables.
Meanwhile, I just watched again what Jeff said to camp complainers. He merely told them that he and E.J. started together and wanted to end it together. After they left Hissy Chrissy said that what Jeff said was that they didn’t want to have anything to do with the weaklings. That’s when Eva got her tits in a flurry about how dare they call them the weak ones. Duh? Double Duh? Then she says “That’s crazy”, well at least she got that part right but the “crazy” wasn’t on Jeff and E.J.’s part.
Recall the “lions and lambs” comment — Eva may not have heard that comment, but her inference about their meaning was consistent with that comment and, by all appearances, the correct interpretation.
There was no rule that everybody had to join one team, and to do so would have created a serious problem for E.J. and Jeff — they had a plan for crossing the river by boat and, as a group of eight, would have had to give up that plan in favor of the other group’s plan — which I’m not sure was even formed before they reached the river. E.J. and Jeff had no obligation to help the other team, or even to share the food that they chose to share. They were correct that some of the members, perhaps most of the members on the Team of 6 were quite weak at the end — physically weak from lack of food. Chris acknowledged as much when he made his comment about being able to help teammates who might encounter problems in the water. But for the shared eel, and possibly but for the serendipitous cayman dinner, it’s not clear that Chris wouldn’t have been putting those skills to the test or that all six would have lasted until day 40. I can’t say that I blame E.J. and Jeff for keeping their team separate through the end, but they could have been more tactful in their explanation to the other team.
She never heard that comment, what she did hear was Chrissy’s pissy comment that wasn’t true. She took off on that. They never said anything about weaklings, or weak links.
Once again, your comment is off-point.
Um, J.C. I just re watched that scene and, much as I would have liked it, Jeff made no reference to how Eva treated Dani.
I must have been mistaken, my wife was so busy yelling expletives at her and at the “gang of 6” every time she saw them it was hard to hear what was going on. I’ll catch a rerun this week.
Ha, Ha, your wife and mine must think alike… Hilarious.
JC, they are re-running that episode (uncensored) before the reunion show this coming Sunday.
Thanks Sue.
They didn’t try as far as I could see. Perhaps they couldn’t but if the other team could then they should not be on a survival show. They would not have survived without the eels Jeff caught. The 6 did not deserve the rating they got. They sure forgot the meals they got from Jeff and E.J. when they got the cayman. Most of the 6 had the personality of a rock. Just laid around. Alana was pure evil and I never say her do much of anything. Eva and Laura for some reason were mean to Dani and Alana took and ran with it. Just wanted to run her off the show. Why. It was no skin off her nose if Dani made it. If lack of food makes you mean then women win the mean fest. Luke and Chris were okay at first but then joined right in on picking on Dani. Did they forget that Dani found Luke and Chris or they would not have had all that fruit esp. the vegitarian. Danielle should be ashamed as she would not have made it if Dani had not took them to the other camp. They did not mind using her net all the time.
Thats the way I remembered it but thought I had missed something. I wished he had reminded her. I wanted E.J. and Jeff to tell them what rats they were. Team 6 wanted help but THEY were not willing to help the weaker ones. Shane and Dani. I think emotionally Dani was not up to the evil way she was treated and why if Laura was a descent person didn’t she speak up. It would have only took one person, and I am including E.J. and Jeff in this, to say something and team 6 might have backed off.
Wanda I like your style.
I agree with you Wanda – all it would have taken is one person with conscience.
Hi Elizabeth!
That says it all!
There apparently wasn’ t even 1 moral person with conscience,.left,..out of all the finishers of the group!
Makes me SICK!
Wanda, If any of the gang of 6 had a moral sense of conscience or decency the would have said “stop the BS” (or more to the point: STFU). Then said “Dani let’s form our own team and get away from these jerks.”
First!
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