Original subtitles

Kim: I'm alone.

My whole body is shaking.

I'm so scared.

[ Animal roars ]

Narrator: They survived in pairs and in groups,

and now the best of the best

are taking on their greatest challenge yet...

to survive 21 days...

Holy [bleep]

...with no support...

Oh, my God!

...no one to watch their back...

Man: This is my shot.

Narrator: ...Completely exposed.

[ Groaning ]

I'm terrified.

Who's gonna fart first?

[ Both chuckle ]

Oh, God, no.

Not me.

Naomi J. Kelly, how do you feel about

your mother going to the jungle for the third time?

Anything could really happen out in the wild

since it's a pretty dangerous place.

I'm extremely nervous. I'm also extremely excited.

This has kind of become a spiritual rehab for myself.

I'm gonna miss you, little monkey.

Ow.

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

But I'm gonna do it with so many other monkeys.

They're gonna be obnoxious.

They're not gonna be sweet like you.

They're gonna be a pain in my butt.

♪

So I'm finally here.

And a part of me is just absolutely terrified.

You just can't shake this fear.

I'm like, literally shaking.

[ Exhales sharply ]

Like, you try and take a deep breath

and it just feels like you're not getting that relief

that you're hoping for.

I think I'm gonna head in.

♪

This is very different from home.

It is very hot, very humid.

It's been raining on and off constantly,

and it's full of life.

I don't think I've ever witnessed

a true tropical rainforest.

I'm sure that there's something around every corner.

My name is Kim Kelly. I live in Moab, Utah.

I am a waitress.

I have done two challenges in the past.

My first challenge, I was in Panama.

I've also done a challenge in Africa.

I'm in Belize.

And I'm going to be alone for 21 days.

Narrator: Kim's solo survival rating, or SSR,

was established based on how she fared

on her past challenges in three categories...

self-reliance, mental toughness, and skills.

On Kim's 21 day challenge in Panama...

I'm not as tough as I think I am.

...her partner tapped out after day four...

Kim: It's gonna get dark, and I'll be alone,

narrator: ...Leaving her to fend for herself

in a bug-infested jungle...

Kim: I'm getting eaten alive by bugs.

Feels like fiberglass being rubbed into your skin.

Narrator: ...But her ability to push through

an additional 17 days alone...

I've peed on myself

and rubbed it all over to keep the bugs off.

Narrator: ...Carried her to the end of her challenge.

Oh, my God.

Take me away.

During her 40 day XL challenge in Africa...

What is in my head?

That better not be a tick.

My whole side of my neck is just swollen.

Narrator: ...She battled a crippling tick bite fever...

Man: Wow. Yeah. You got big swelled-up spot

right behind your ear right here.

Narrator: ...And persevered.

Don't eat the fruit.

But after unknowingly eating contaminated fruit...

[ Groaning ] No!

...Kim and three other survivalists

suffered debilitating abdominal pains

and were forced to end their challenge on day 31.

Based on how she fared on her past challenges,

she begins with a solo survival rating,

or SSR, of 7.8.

Kim: I don't feel like I got the closure

that I needed in Africa.

In the past, I have always had a partner on day one.

This time, I don't have anyone to have my back.

So this is about owning my own survival,

my own decisions.

This is my redemption.

This is my chance to build my confidence.

It's gonna all be me.

♪

Okay.

Looks like this is it.

♪

21 days. Here we go.

♪

I am already in it. It's raining like crazy.

Okay.

♪

Little something.

Here we go. Here's my bag.

Narrator: For this challenge,

Kim was allowed to choose three essential items

to help her survive.

Kim: Got my machete.

Firestarter, that's gonna be really helpful.

Having a bug net definitely gives me

that comfort I never had.

In my past challenges,

the bugs would not leave me alone.

I'm getting eaten alive by bugs.

Ugh. Stop eating me, please.

They don't give a [bleep]

Oh, my God.

Looks like this is where I was dropped off.

And I'm down in the creek.

And I definitely need to get to these water sources.

There's extraction. It's quite a ways.

Well, I guess I just need to keep going.

Follow this creek.

Narrator: Kim has been dropped into a tropical rainforest

in northern Belize at the height of the wet season,

when torrential downpours can deliver

on average an inch of rain a day.

The relentless showers will make it difficult

to stay warm.

Under the dense canopy,

jaguars and pumas hide in trees

to observe their prey,

and territorial howler monkeys,

the loudest of all primates,

will also be watching her from above

and be able to communicate any potential threats

to others over a two-mile distance.

Kim: Man, the sun is brutal once it's finally out.

♪

And it looks like...

Travel can be a little sketchy.

The ground is all sorts of different patterns and colors.

I got to really look out for snakes.

Narrator: Venomous snakes, like the Tommy Goff,

hide in the undergrowth

and will kill with one strike if disturbed.

♪

Kim: The jungle is really brutal,

but honestly,

my biggest concern with this environment is the bugs,

and they are just everywhere.

Narrator: The humid environment makes it a perfect

breeding ground for mosquitoes,

botflies, venomous spiders, and millipedes

also inhabit the Belizean jungle,

and more than 18 different species of ticks

that will be looking for warm-blooded mammals

to bite and burrow under their skin.

So it looks like there is an opening right over here.

Wow, this is beautiful.

So I made it to the river.

You can see where the water has just been cutting away.

So this river definitely gets huge.

All the way back here

is debris brought on by the river.

So if I had my shelter built right here,

I would definitely be in trouble.

Be swimming.

Narrator: Due to heavy rainfall,

the Bladen river fluctuates in depth and strength.

Overflooding merges other channels into one,

creating strong currents that carry jagged debris downstream.

Kim: Ooh. What did I just step on?

So I know that the spring is close.

Just got to figure out

where the river would be filtering through.

I have decided to bring a bug net

instead of a cooking pot,

so I could potentially be in trouble

when it comes to staying hydrated

and finding clean sources that won't make me sick.

Love these rocks. Super comforting.

I can see this little channel that's definitely moving.

Looks like it's being fed through all of this rock,

so it's safe to assume that it's good to drink.

[ Grunts ]

Oh, wow, that tastes really good.

Okay. Yeah, that's good.

It looks like I just found my water source.

So now I got to figure out how I'm gonna get

this close to my camp and where I want to camp.

♪

[ Thunder rumbles ]

Sure is getting dark.

I really need to find trees, ideally,

that can hold me up and keep me out of harm's way.

Here is a site.

Potentially.

We've got three trees.

With all of the palm fronds above me,

it'll help break a lot of the rain.

This is a good spot for my shelter.

Time to build.

♪

Right now, I am trying to build a platform.

I really should be getting off the ground.

I'm building my platform using "Y" sticks

as well as palm fronds.

I also used vine, which is incredible portage.

It's similar to rope.

Spiders, snakes, thorns, poisonous plants.

So many things.

I just know that it'll be a very terrifying night

if I am stuck on the ground.

I'm learning with this challenge that being alone

can be extremely difficult,

but also it makes some of the work easy.

I don't have to really plan for a two-person shelter.

It kind of makes me able to be a minimalist.

However, you know, some support is always welcome,

I think.

I have no hope of building a fire this evening.

Just these endless waves of rain just coming down

and soaking everything.

And I don't foresee it stopping.

To build the fire,

I'd have to get out of my bed to feed it all night,

and the wood I got doesn't really burn well.

That might be too much work for the benefits

that I may get out of it.

Hopefully no one was planning on barbecuing.

The one thing that's nice about the rain

is that there's no bugs.

But as soon as it stops, they're just ready to eat again.

Mm. Just standing here, I can feel them.

[Bleep] Bastards.

♪

♪

This is the first time

I've spent night one by myself.

Terrified.

[ Thunder rumbles ]

Yeah.

I am [bleep]

♪

Oh [bleep]

♪

Getting wet.

♪

Getting wet is one of the quickest ways

to being extremely cold.

Oh, my face.

Ahh!

Water all over my face,

like the Chinese torture

with a little droplet landing on your forehead.

♪

Ugh.

♪

♪

I swear to God

there was something crawling around just now.

♪

Oh, God.

Oh [bleep]

♪

♪

I swear to God

there was something crawling around just now.

♪

Oh, God.

Oh [bleep]

♪

Go away.

[ Whistles ]

♪

That freaked me out.

♪

Oh, God.

[ Clears throat ]

Last night was absolutely traumatizing.

I didn't actually sleep.

I was rained on for four hours,

and then after that, my bed was just soaking wet

for the rest of the night.

And I kept hearing something moving around

in the trees and on the ground,

pretty close, actually.

I basically just sat all night.

Narrator: After 24 hours with no sleep,

Kim is in the early stages of sleep deprivation.

While she is awake,

parts of her brain are dozing off,

affecting her decision-making abilities

and her hand-eye coordination.

Kim: It's really hard to not freak out

when you're all alone,

you're stuck there, and there's no one else

that can, you know, try and keep your spirits up

or even share the burden with you.

And it wears you out really quickly.

Pretty dehydrated.

I woke up this morning really wanting some water,

and so now I'm gonna head down to the river and hydrate.

Oh, wow.

This is now flooded.

Of course. This is so much bigger.

Holy cow.

It's like up to the bank now.

My spring is gone.

Narrator: The river has risen four feet overnight,

washing away Kim's water source and limiting her access

to other parts of the jungle.

This water does not look as clean

now that it's being flooded.

I am extremely thirsty and I need water,

so now I'm gonna have to figure out a way to...

Drink it without a spring.

I need a different water source,

especially for today.

I have this vine here. It is a water vine.

Narrator: The Liana tree is common in tropical rainforests

and produces vines with drinkable water.

To harvest the water,

Kim will need to make an uppercut first

to prevent the water from being absorbed back up in the tree.

She can then make a lower cut

and drink from the freshly severed section.

Kim: The trick is you have to cut it correctly.

♪

This is not happening for me. [Bleep]

I am extremely thirsty.

Good God.

Being alone in the jungle is very difficult.

But I swear, mental is the biggest thing out here.

It's uncomfortable, it's painful,

and you got to keep reminding yourself why you're doing it.

♪

Come on.

[Bleep]

Okay.

Ah.

Mm-hmm.

♪

It's like a natural water bottle.

Luckily, I did find some fresh water.

So now I can focus on other things, like getting food

and building my shelter.

♪

♪

Here comes the rain.

It means the river is only gonna go up.

My main focus is to just finish my shelter,

at least where I don't get rained on all night long.

I could have all the water in the world,

but if I'm sitting out in the rain every night,

probably not gonna do so well.

So I'm really hoping to get a good rain protection

on my shelter as well as a bigger bed.

Thinking all these palm fronds that are on the ground

I might just throw on top of my shelter,

grab some really big palm fronds

and just stack them around the wall.

Hopefully that helps.

The shelter could either make or break my experience.

♪

I tried to use the bathroom.

I decided to just do a little inspection

and I found this little guy.

The ticks in Africa are big,

so they're kind of hard to miss...

There's a tick on your leg.

...whereas the ticks here are microscopic,

so they're very easy to look over.

I've been finding them on my crotch,

as well as in between my fingers,

so, I mean, they could be anywhere still.

Just kind of having their way,

and there's no way for me to know for sure

'cause I don't really have a partner to look.

Kind of a thing to look out for and be worried about.

I'll just add that to the list.

I've been sick with bugs in Africa,

so I'm trying to make sure that doesn't happen.

Can't keep warm.

Tick fever's no joke.

It is painful.

Your body feels like it's shutting down.

I felt like I was gonna throw up.

Man: It'd suck to have to go home

because of a tick bite.

Narrator: Ticks burrow into the skin

and leave behind bacteria

that can make its way into the bloodstream

and cause fever, paralysis, and even Lyme disease.

I don't have much of a tolerance for them.

♪

What a day.

Yeah, not bad, huh?

All screened.

Hopefully get some much needed shuteye.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna get some firing going.

Drive away some of these bugs.

That's the thing about being in the jungle is it's so thick,

it gets dark so quickly.

And you can never tell when it's gonna rain,

it just shows up all of a sudden.

Anything can change at any second.

More dramatically than I'm used to.

♪

[ Animals chattering ]

I can hear thunder coming.

[ Thunder rumbling ]

And the howler monkeys are sounding

pretty excited about it.

Got to keep rolling with it.

Stay happy.

Even if you have to have a little pity party

for a minute.

[ Thunder crashing ]

♪

♪

[Bleep]

♪

I'm so [bleep] cold.

Narrator: Water causes body temperature to drop

five times faster than air,

forcing the body to burn even more energy and calories

in order to regulate heat.

I just want it to stop raining.

♪

♪

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

I guess it's like, what do you want?

You want the rain to keep the bugs away

or you want dryness and to be eaten alive?

Damn it, tick.

[Bleep] Off, please.

[ Groaning ] [Bleep] [Bleep]

My body is covered in ticks, all different sizes.

Unfortunately, this bug net does not stop them.

I just don't see sleep in my future.

Oh, stop eating me, please.

♪

Kim: I think I got an hour of sleep.

It's really hard to sleep in the rain

because it's instantly chilling,

and I have had at least nine different types of bug bite me

and they all hurt.

You feel bugs climbing and biting all your body,

and there's nothing you can do about it.

Really difficult.

And without sleep, it just makes it even worse.

Narrator: Kim has only had one hour of sleep

in the past 48 hours.

Her brain now remains in a sleep-like state,

making her disoriented.

As her brain cells become increasingly sluggish,

her reflexes and alertness are being further compromised.

♪

So I'm getting pretty hungry.

My stomach growled all night last night.

And this morning, it's already getting pretty bad.

I started, like, dreaming about food.

This is a waree palm.

Sometimes, they have a little flower,

and if you slice that open, then it'll give you

a fruit that's similar to, like, baby corn.

The thorns on the waree palm are pretty heinous.

I'm pretty hungry,

so I'm gonna have to be really careful,

especially when I'm trying to harvest the palm itself.

It's really dangerous to be in survival mode

with lack of sleep

because your body doesn't operate as smoothly

and you don't think right

and everything's a little more fuzzy than it should be.

You know, you're swinging around a machete,

and could easily cut your finger off.

♪

Oh, God. That hurts.

This whole entire tree has thorns on it.

♪

♪

Mm.

It's pretty tasteless and dry.

I have no idea if the thing is worth eating, really.

I would say that's more of a necessity if it comes dire.

I don't think I'll be chopping those down every day,

so I'm gonna have to look elsewhere for a food source.

[ Thunder rumbling ]

♪

I don't think I've ever witnessed rain like this

before in my life, where it's just, like,

torrential downpour like crazy and then it's dry,

but you don't know for how long.

Could change within like 10 minutes.

And right now, the river's not too crazy,

but in two and a half weeks, it's going to be raging.

I want to go across the river because I may

find more resources,

maybe even better water and food.

So my objective right now is to build a flotation device

because I don't know how much longer I will have energy,

so it would be smart to do it now.

♪

Gathered a bunch of tall looking trees,

shaved off their leaves.

I decided to use the bark as portage.

It's thick.

Fresh, so it's not cracking at all.

And basically, I'm just doing the same tie

that I was doing on my shelter.

All right. Now that this thing is,

for the most part, finished, I'm gonna drag it on down

and see if I can't get it to float.

Hopefully it doesn't fall apart.

It is still pretty green.

So I'm just going to test it out and see how does.

♪

♪

Oh [bleep]

Doesn't seem to work very well.

So obviously the board is not floating,

so hopefully if I dry it out, it should be able to carry me.

♪

Since it has been dry today,

I want to try and get fire rolling.

Well, I need to grab firewood,

and I know that there's some sitting right along the bank

in the sun, which is ideal because it's to dry out.

A benefit to having fire is nothing's

gonna want to come near me,

hopefully the bugs as well,

and help keep warm at night.

Maybe I'll actually get some sleep.

I am [bleep] killing myself.

[ Exhales sharply ]

I feel strong enough to do it alone physically.

It's just my mental game waxes and wanes.

Some days I'm having a really good time

and I think everything's beautiful.

Whee.

That is so cool.

[ Chuckles ]

And then other times, I'm like,

"why the [bleep] am I doing this?"

But I've got really good about keeping my hopes up.

I hope this works.

I haven't used this firestarter.

I don't think it'll be hard,

but it probably will be.

In Panama, I really struggled to get the fire.

You choose whether things work or not.

I can do this.

[ Exhales deeply ]

I can do this.

♪

Well, I'll be damned.

Yay! Get it!

[ Animal snorting ]

What is that noise?

A monkey?

It's so weird.

♪

I'm pretty sure that the monkeys are kind of getting

a little too curious about me, and I don't really like that.

♪

Yes.

Please. No, no, no, no.

[ Monkeys hooting ]

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah!

There it is.

I'm pretty proud. Looks cool.

Hooray!

I definitely need to build it a tiny little shelter

so that if the rain decides to come,

I actually have a chance to at least save coals for tomorrow.

I haven't slept in 38, 40 hours,

but I hope with the fire, I sleep better tonight.

♪

♪

[ Monkeys hooting ]

There's a monkey crawling around right by my house.

It's freaking me the [bleep] out.

Jumping from tree to tree and getting extremely close

and shaking my shelter.

This is terrifying.

Howler monkeys are capable of being very aggressive,

and my fear is that they'll start

throwing branches on my shelter and break it

or hurt me.

♪

[ Animal growls ]

♪

[ Monkeys hooting ]

There's a monkey crawling around right by my house.

Howler monkeys are capable of being very aggressive,

and my fear is that they'll start throwing branches

on my shelter and break it

or hurt me.

[ Animal growls ]

Scared the [bleep] out of me.

[Bleep]

♪

Sounds like a dinosaur.

Gonna rip my limbs off.

♪

I wish I had some sleep.

♪

Narrator: After 72 hours with only five hours of sleep,

Kim's basic cognitive abilities have significantly deteriorated.

She's now increasingly prone to irritation,

depression, and mood swings,

and could begin to hallucinate.

Kim: This sucks.

I am terrified.

One more hour of darkness.

[ Monkeys growling ]

♪

Had a pretty rough night.

I've slept five hours in the past four days.

I'm feeling kind of low,

so I'm gonna try and change that by going exploring

and just seeing what I can learn today

and hopefully turn things around.

I can't say I've ever fished like this before.

Oh, there's some fish, but they're so little.

Food is starting to become a priority for me,

and I have decided that I will try some fishing.

So I laid down my net,

and the goal was to scare him onto that

and just kind of relax for a second

and then pull up on the flap.

I think they're smarter than me.

The nights are absolutely terrible.

It's super easy to, like,

slip into that mindset of missing home.

Better to be as active as possible.

Get in the net.

It kind of keeps my mind off of the uncomfortable stuff.

So I caught, like, four little baby fish.

There's one.

I feel like he's safe to eat whole, you know,

kind of like sardines.

And I don't really think it's worth

starting a fire for this little thing.

So...

♪

See him, he's so cute.

Hmm, the smaller one tastes fine.

Buttery even, and crunchy.

Very pretty.

Ooh.

[ Spits ]

[ Chuckles ]

♪

He's actually good, too.

I guess they're all a wild card.

So my fishing expedition was pretty fun.

I feel a lot more energetic.

I'm gonna keep working all day and see what I come up with.

♪

Freakin' flies in my crotch.

I hate that feeling.

I hope they're not, like, laying maggots.

That'd be so gross.

I can always feel little flies in my vagina,

like moving around, constantly, eating and puking,

whatever flies do.

I'm gonna dunk myself in the water

just to cool off and maybe get a fresh mind.

I keep finding ticks in my vagina as well.

It makes you feel disgusting.

You feel violated all the time.

♪

♪

Oh, come on. Get off of me.

I have ticks crawling all over my entire body.

They're so miniscule.

Whenever I try to scrape them off,

they just lodge themselves into me.

[Bleep] I hate bugs, dude.

♪

There's ticks crawling all over me.

It's probably gonna rain soon.

[ Monkey hooting ]

I can still hear a monkey out there,

maybe even a few of them.

This is hard.

♪

[ Thunder rumbles ]

♪

It's chillier today.

Tonight.

My whole body is begging for a break.

My whole body is sore.

Narrator: Kim has only had six and a half hours of sleep

in the past four days.

Now, severely sleep deprived, the neurons in her brain

are not firing or transmitting as quickly as they should,

making it hard for her to translate visual input

or retain information.

Kim: I don't really know what's going on

and if I'm okay.

I'm losing my mind.

♪

I need sleep.

I'm just so [bleep] sick of this [bleep]

Hitting a wall hard.

♪

Kim: God, everything's just so itchy.

Oh, yeah, I'm, like, itching off all the scabs.

Ugh, this bug net is sticking to my butt.

It hurts so bad.

I've checked like a million times to make sure

that my bug net is totally secured.

[Bleep] It's wide open.

Love itching my leg.

That feels so good.

Just can't get away from the bugs out here.

Ow. [Bleep]

♪

Kim: I don't really know what's going on

and if I'm okay.

Narrator: After four nights of rain and cold,

Kim's body has been burning energy trying to stay warm,

and she is now severely sleep deprived.

As she becomes more depleted, her brain continues

to produce less of the chemicals that regulate mood and memory.

And as her brain cells become more sluggish,

she's experiencing more and more cognitive lapses.

I'm losing my mind.

Tired.

I need sleep.

I'm just so sick of this.

I'm hitting a wall hard.

♪

[ Thunder rumbling ]

You know, my past two challengers,

I was in a very...

Confused time in my life.

Leap of faith.

First time, I genuinely was very curious and excited

and fulfilled me so much.

Oh, my God.

I did it!

Whoo-hoo!

[ Sniffles ]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

And the second time, I just felt robbed.

[ Screaming ]

And this time, it just feels so wrong.

I have so many people that wished me luck

and said they'd pray for me

and so many people that were looking up to me.

[ Sighs ] And I just hate to think that I let them down.

♪

[ Crying ]

I'm so sorry.

♪

♪

I'm so tired.

Bryan? Bryan: Yo.

Hey, I don't want to do this anymore.

Yeah?

I'm over it.

You want to come out and talk to me?

Sure.

♪

Last night was horrendous.

I really can't stand the bugs.

I can't stand being cold,

and I'm not spending another night in that shelter.

So I'm tapping out.

Tapping out for sure? For sure.

Okay.

Cam to cam, Kim's tapping out.

♪

[ Indistinct speaking over radio ]

Copy that.

Narrator: During her four days in Belize,

Kim lost a total of 10 pounds.

The insects, solitude, and long nights with no sleep

broke her 17 days before the end of her challenge,

lowering her solo survival rating to 6.5.

I think I had different expectations

coming into this challenge.

I just didn't realize that it would be this intense.

Even before going into the challenge,

I was scared out of my mind.

I'm alone, and that's extremely hard.

I think that's why I wanted to stay busy all the time

'cause I didn't want to think about being alone...

And waiting, and that's why the night's so hard,

because I'm just stuck in this little bed with no sleep.

♪

But I tried.

And I had a good time,

and I had really bad times,

and I think that that's what adventure is, you know?

♪

So I'm gonna leave it at that.

I believe I made the right decision for me...

...and hopefully the world can respect that.