Original subtitles

♪♪

[ gasps ]

it's right there.

[ growling ]

ah!

♪♪

narrator: One man...

[ tarzan yell ]

narrator: One woman...

Whoo!

Narrator: ...Alone for 21 days to face the wrath...

[ thunder crashes ] -stop raining!

Narrator: ...And fury

of the most hostile environments on earth.

Ah!

Narrator: They have no clothes, no food, no water.

I want water.

Narrator: Do they have the skill and the will...

Man: Fire!

Narrator: ...To overcome

the most brutal survival challenge of their lives?

"naked and afraid."

man: Hell, pure hell.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by discovery communications

[ birds calling ]

♪♪

oh, my god. It looks so thick.

There's bull sharks in here, freshwater bull sharks.

It's got me a little nervous even for the boat ride.

Narrator: This is lake nicaragua,

the largest freshwater lake in central america.

In this desolate, foreboding corner of the world,

the only freshwater bull sharks on the planet

attack with an aggressive bite stronger than the great white.

In the middle of this massive lake sits east la zapatera,

an inhospitable island forged from a volcanic eruption

and covered with razor-sharp lava rocks.

Cloaked in mystery, it was once inhabited

by pre-colombian tribes,

but it has since been reclaimed by poisonous plants,

swarms of mosquitoes, and vicious vampire bats,

who can gorge up to half their body weight in blood.

Prowling in the undergrowth are jaguars,

deadly coral snakes,

and central american rattlesnakes,

whose venom can cause paralysis and respiratory failure.

Unforgiving, treacherous,

in this deserted land of unrivaled peril,

only the strong-willed can survive.

Leah: I love challenges.

I'm looking forward to getting out there.

I'm really excited more than anything.

My name's leah.

I'm from northern arizona, and I'm a grand canyon river guide.

I get to take 28 strangers

down 288 miles of wilderness.

It's up to me to be able to guide them through it

and take care of their well-being.

I was exposed to outdoors as a kid.

My dad would always take us out

and show us fire building or how to trap small animals.

Put me anywhere for 21 days, and I know I could do it.

Narrator: As a seasoned river rafting guide,

leah is able to adapt in unpredictable situations,

and while her skills have only been tested

in a desert environment,

years of outdoor experience

have honed them to an expert level.

She begins with a psr of 7.0.

Wes: There's a ton of jungle surrounding us.

Even on the boat, it's still pretty hot.

I'm already sweating. It's going to be tough.

I'm wes.

I'm from white salmon, washington.

I'm a former ski patroller.

I've become a mountain man

and taken it to a whole new level.

I can make a fire with steel and flint and using a bow drill.

I can hunt. I can fish.

I can track animals.

I'm a free spirit who loves adventure...

Ah!

I've been an extreme kayaker for years.

I'm a mountain badass with the skills to do

just about anything in the outdoors.

I haven't found my limits.

I think it's time for me to come out here

and be tested by the elements.

Narrator: Wes is an avid outdoorsman with experience

in a variety of terrains.

He brings a strong set of primitive skills

to the challenge,

and has the instincts and stamina required to survive.

He begins the challenge with a psr of 7.1.

About to take my clothes off and get naked in the jungle.

I've been chasing waterfalls for many years,

and white water has a way of teaching us

how to go with the flow.

Freedom.

It's a matter of setting aside the fear

and realizing that we just have to get through this now,

and this is without a doubt going to be the deepest canyon

and hardest rapid I will ever run.

♪♪

all right. Here's what I came for.

I hope to meet someone who, even though we don't know each other,

just has that quality of working as team.

Keeping a positive attitude,

a team dynamic is really important to me.

You have to have someone there in the clutch moment,

and if you don't have that person, it just doesn't work.

♪♪

♪♪

-hey! -Hi, how are you?

I'm good. Fancy meeting you here.

-Watch it. You're barefoot. -Nice to see you.

-You, too. -I'm wes.

I'm leah.

-Nice to meet you. -Nice meeting you.

And he looks like tarzan, and that's really good.

[ laughs ]

awesome.

Well, here we are, in the jungle.

Yeah. Finally.

I'm definitely out of my comfort zone.

-Yeah. [ exhales ] -[ laughs ]

-yeah. -Awesome.

You want to see what's in our bags?

Sure.

All right.

Well, I brought my trusty machete here.

That ought to handle business out here, huh?

I have fire starter.

Oh, nice. That'll come in handy.

Yes.

It looks like fishing line and some hooks.

Awesome.

Be able to catch some protein out here.

-Fish on. -Yee-haw.

And I also have the map.

Oh, look. There's snakes and sharks on it.

Wonderful. Jaguars.

Want to stay far away from over there.

Oh, I would love to see a jaguar.

So, well, where should we go?

We should probably go check out what this water is

and see if we can make camp over there.

See if we can find a better water source than the lake.

And something without bull sharks in it.

All right.

♪♪

leah: I feel like we are deep in the jungle now.

-Ouch. [ bleep ] -ow. [ bleep ]

wes: Lots of pokey things on the way.

Narrator: The island is overgrown

with bullhorn acacia trees

that house thousands of ruthless stinging ants

within its hollow thorns,

and the dense canopy teems with tarantulas

and venomous banana spiders.

-[ gasps ] -what you got?

You're probably gonna think it's beautiful.

-Oh, yeah! -Okay.

-Is that a banana spider? -Yeah.

Yeah, I definitely don't want to accidentally walk into that

and get it on my face.

I'm glad I'm short, and you're taller than me --

oh, nice.

...So you have to walk in front all the time.

There you go. I'll just take one for the team.

-I love these vines. -Yeah.

I think the vines are gonna come in handy.

I'm gonna start swinging from them like tarzan.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear!

[ imitates tarzan yell ]

wes: She seems strong and friendly,

and she's super hot.

[ exhales slowly ] yeah.

Leah: How do you think that we're gonna work together?

Wes: Well, I mean, so far, so good.

I think we move close to the same pace. Ouch.

I think we're gonna work really well together.

I play well with others.

Until he starts being a [bleep].

If you start being a [bleep] then I'm not gonna play nice

with you anymore.

-Copy, I guess ditto. -[ laughs ]

leah: Wes seems pretty confident.

I haven't run the idea of jungle love past him yet,

but it could be a possibility for me.

How do you feel about your primitive-hunting skills?

I'm an archery hunter for elk --

-are you? -...And deer.

-Oh, yeah. -My dad -- I grew up that way.

-Oh, really? Nice. -Yeah.

I'm pretty confident at killing and cleaning animals.

I would like to set some fish traps.

Nice.

Oh, my god. How pretty.

It's a real life lagoon.

The lagoon could be a good source of water

and certainly has lots of animals nearby

so it might a great spot to camp.

Especially if the fishing is good in it.

♪♪

and...[ spits ]

no, it's totally sulfur.

-Huh. Well... -So not a good drinking source.

Narrator: Drinking water that contains high levels of sulfate

can cause severe dysentery and dehydration,

which depletes the body of vital nutrients.

I'm gonna say, "no."

we don't have a pot,

so we're hoping to find a fresher water source.

Plan b, go back towards the freshwater lake

and then we can make camp somewhere.

Yeah. I believe over here somewhere.

That's a bummer.

Certainly could have been a nice area,

but got to have clean water. -Yeah.

'cause we're not gonna be able to do much without it.

♪♪

oh, look it, a bird nest.

No, eggs, but you know what that would be good for

is tinder. -Oh, yeah.

Birds make the best tinder

'cause it's all different kinds of dry stuff.

Good tinder. Good eye.

Ooh, ow.

One of those chichicaste things got me.

Just like everything else here in the jungle,

it wants to hurt you.

Narrator: Plants known as chichicaste blanket the island.

Just brushing up against the leaves

releases hundreds of tiny hairs

that pierce the skin and inject a poison

that causes an excruciating burning sensation.

-Ow! -I know. It hurts, huh?

Things are starting to sting and burn now,

and it's just the realization

of how uncomfortable it's gonna be.

Ow. Oh, [bleep]. That hurts.

[ bleep ] ow.

Ow. I shouldn't have followed you in there.

Ow! I'm sorry I'm leading you the wrong way.

-Ow. -[ bleep ]

oh. Okay.

Well, that'll piss a man off.

♪♪

yeah, it is, eh?

Yeah, I can already feel my body using up its water.

The heat's really taking it out of me,

and we haven't drank any water since we got inserted.

I'm sweating. It is hot out here.

At this point, I'm just hoping we find clean water.

One thing's for sure, the jungle is itchy,

very hot, very nasty, very smelly,

not a very hospitable environment.

Oh.

Ooh, is that the shore we can see?

Well, we're back at the lake.

Now we have bull sharks to deal with.

We do have water, though it doesn't look very clean,

but it's getting late in the day, and yeah.

Here we are.

Leah: Well, we wasted so much time

trying to find a better water source than the lake.

Now it's gonna be dark soon,

and we still have to get shelter and fire built.

Oh, those are beautiful. They're totally looking at us.

Oh, yeah.

Definitely don't want to be too close to the water

because all the wildlife is going to come on down here.

It's really moist in here. There's lots of mosquitoes.

Okay.

Here's a more flatish spot up here.

I mean, we'd have to move some major rocks out of here.

-Oh, I see. -Nothing looks soft.

We don't want to be near ants' nests.

Monkey, show us where we should put our camp.

I think everything's gonna just look the same where we are.

So we can pick the lesser of the worst.

[ insects buzzing ]

I'm gonna look every direction

until I find something that looks good.

I don't like this.

I don't really know wes, so I'm kind of just giving him

the benefit of the doubt that he doesn't mean

to sound abrasive or anything.

I think that's just maybe his personality.

There really is no soft ground here.

We've got nothing but lava rock as bedding,

and yeah, so right now

I'm just trying to wrap my head around it.

Leah: Wes is, I think,

maybe dehydrated and out of his element.

I'm gonna be super supportive.

Keeping a positive outlook is gonna be the thing

I focus on more than anything.

I don't know, if we, like, say,

"okay. This is where it's gonna be,"

then we can just evolve this.

Yeah.

We've got the things we need to survive at the moment, so...

-Perfect. -Okay.

Wes: The jungle is everything I expected and more.

It's already thrown lots at us today.

Nothing was gonna be handed to us out here,

and it's sure not being.

At least we're really close to the lake.

Fair enough.

Bull sharks. Bull sharks are in the lake.

♪♪

so many ants.

With that super awesome bird nest,

I will attempt to make our fire.

Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo, ant, you little [bleep].

[ laughing ]

oh, my god. That is so uncomfortable.

You little bastard.

I'm gonna get this on there because

that will burn for a while.

[ blows air ]

-whoo! -Whoo!

Yeah! We got fire.

Nice work, wes.

Well, it's a team effort, man.

At this point, with the fire started,

we at least have one success.

I feel like, you know, that's a big hurdle,

especially out here with the wet wood on the ground.

I suppose it's all we can ask for.

Now the question is, what are we gonna do about

drinking water?

I say tomorrow, I mean, we're gonna be up

[bleep] early anyway, so let's go down to the lake

and dig a well close to the shore bank.

We've had enough water this morning to last us all night.

♪♪

drink your pee.

I don't really like that answer.

I don't really like that answer.

Okay, just an idea.

♪♪

night one, and here we are.

Didn't know what to go into the day expecting,

but really kind of uncomfortable.

I've been bit by 1,000 bugs all over my body,

including my nether regions.

So hopefully we get through the night.

[ insects chirping ]

[ fire crackling ]

the bugs...

♪♪

[ insects buzzing ]

let's go see about finding some clean water.

Feeling really, really tired this morning.

Bugs crawling on me, spiders,

and mosquitoes buzzing in my ear,

so needless to say, they kept my attention all night,

and I stayed up all night.

♪♪

[ british accent ] look, water.

That is really, really pretty.

Let's see how deep we can even dig.

Let's find something to dig with.

Well, I imagine, actually, that this is probably all sand beach,

and the reason why it's even here

is because both of these places have met

during the rainy season and flooding

and created a sand beach here.

Cool. Where do you want to dig?

Mid, like four feet, five feet away?

Yeah, why don't we just dig right here?

See what we get.

♪♪

leah: One thing that we do know is that the lake is

a good, clean source of water.

So if we could just filter it a little bit

and make it that much better, then this is a really good idea.

Narrator: Digging an indian well near a freshwater source

helps to filter out potential contaminants.

As the water passes through carbon in the dirt,

impurities are left behind

greatly reducing the risk of serious illness

from animal feces and mosquito larvae.

Awesome, and it's already filling up with water.

I'm gonna try it just now just to see how it tastes.

Mm. It tastes really good.

This is gonna be our best source of water definitely.

It just needs the layer of junk pulled off the top of it.

I was little concerned with the color of the water

what might be in it.

It's hard to say, but hopefully it doesn't make me sick.

Are you going to drink -- try it right now?

Oh, no. I'm gonna let it settle for a bit first.

Until it's clear on top?

Yeah, let the sediment settle.

In the meantime, well, we have water.

Yeah, so we have the water. We have fire going.

I feel way better about being down here.

I'm sure a lot of the animals that are here

come down to the beach,

but I like being by the water,

and I like the idea of the well here, too.

Yeah, I think this might be a better spot.

-I agree. -Here it is.

Cool. I'm gonna go grab some coals from our fire up there.

-Copy that. On it. -Awesome.

Okay.

I'm gonna go maybe see about getting myself

a little bit of...

Oh. [bleep].

Just messed up the well. I fell in the well.

[ bleep ] trying to go get water.

Fell in the well.

[ thunder crashes ]

do you want to try and build some kind of shelter

if it stops raining a little?

Or do you just want to bank on it stopping the rain?

Oh, I don't know that we can bank on anything in the jungle.

I mean, I guess I don't see a need for a structure.

I'm still trying to get to know

wes and figure out communicating with my partner,

seeing what he wants to do.

We might be on different pages of stuff.

I just hope the team dynamic thing comes into play soon.

Oh, yes.

This is going to be so comfortable

compared to last night.

I decided that the canopy of trees above us

was probably sufficient enough for shelter.

Certainly not going to put energy into something

that is not going to be of use to me right now.

Leah: Let's chop some trees down.

♪♪

wes is fine sleeping in the sand,

but I don't think I am,

so I'm going to build a short, small platform

just to keep me off the ground a little bit.

Awesome.

[ wood creaking, various animal sounds ]

♪♪

I'm just making divots in here.

Perfect.

Maybe add a couple more cross beams and then call it good.

♪♪

-the sun's out. -How was your nap?

It's exactly what I needed.

-Good. -What are you making?

I'm just making a raised bed

to get myself off the ground tonight.

Oh, yeah.

Look at you being little suzy homemaker.

♪♪

is it only day two?

I have lost my belief in jungle love.

What are you gonna do?

Just make it another day and then hopefully another one,

another one until 21.

♪♪

hopefully that burns slower.

I just want the night to hurry up and go by.

[ growling ]

[ gasps ]

it's right there.

♪♪

ah!

♪♪

[ gasps ] it's right there.

♪♪

ah!

♪♪

I think he might be gone.

He was close.

Do you think you're gonna be able to sleep tonight?

-Nope. -At all?

Nope.

♪♪

♪♪

leah: Last night, we heard noises, and it sounded like

it could've been a jaguar.

This would alert us that there are predators around.

So it makes me a little nervous.

It makes me want to keep the fire going for sure,

keep them from being too curious.

My body is starting to feel weak.

I think I need to find some food.

I'm hoping we'll find some protein.

Leah: Maybe that will lift wes' spirits a little.

♪♪

wes: I got my fishing line,

and I need to find something to tie this onto for a pole.

That's not gonna work.

I think one of the next goals it to locate some protein

and get it in the system.

I need a worm. Do you want to find me a worm?

Did you look for a worm?

No, I've just been busy tying the line up.

I don't necessarily carry a whole lot of extra weight.

My metabolism's super high,

so I have to make sure that even if it's a little bit every day,

I'm taking in a little bit.

Leah: Ah, chichicaste.

Find a worm?

Oh, you're not even looking for a worm.

Yes, I am!

It's hard when you want to be in a really good mood,

but you're working with someone

who is salty all the time.

♪♪

got him. All right, bud.

Let's go catch a fish.

Leah: Maybe we'll split up the duties.

I don't think we need to do everything together.

I think we're already spending enough time together,

so the least amount of time we're actually

together is probably good.

♪♪

wes: Ooh.

Hopefully no bull sharks lurking.

♪♪

I would say I've always had a bit of a fear of sharks,

but I'll rise to the occasion.

My biggest fear is not being able to catch the protein

I need to survive.

♪♪

narrator: Aggressive freshwater bull sharks

can grow to over 11 feet.

Since they hunt in very shallow waters,

they are the most dangerous sharks to humans in the world.

These deadly hunters can feel the heartbeat of nearby prey

and use 50 rows of over 350 teeth

to rip apart their victims.

Come on.

Come on, big one.

Come on, big one.

You little [bleep].

♪♪

it's amazing how the comforts of having the things at home,

our methods of fishing, seem to be really efficient

and sometimes more about fun than catching fish for food.

Um...

The jungle's really humbling.

Maybe the only way to catch a fish is to go swimming

and hopefully you get eaten by a shark.

♪♪

leah: I'm going on a little walk to see if I can find some fruit.

Trying to do my part as partner.

[ sighs ] it's, like, I thought he was gonna be

a really upbeat person,

but it turns out he's just kind of mopey,

and it's really, like,

playing on my, like, mental part of everything,

but we'll see.

Just got to stay positive.

Ow. [bleep] oh, my god. Ow.

I don't know what I just stubbed my toe on, but it's burning.

Oh, my god. It was chichicaste in my foot.

Wonderful.

I totally broke the plant in half.

Oh, my god. It's burning.

[ bleep ]

ow.

God.

♪♪

okay.

We got this.

[ animal grunting ]

♪♪

♪♪

it's a big [bleep] spider.

♪♪

I'm looking for animal sign.

♪♪

not really seeing any tracks.

[bleep] a.

Oh, man, this chichi stuff is everywhere over here.

Nothing has come quite easy yet.

You know, I don't know if I was expecting abundant wildlife

and that essentially,

we'd have tons of things at our fingertips.

It's frustrating and humbling,

but now it's imperative for me to start eating.

[ groans ] these wasps are not gonna be pleased,

and there's a lot of ants around.

Man.

Walking by you guys without you getting pissed, or what?

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.

Ugh, [bleep] ants.

Hell, pure hell.

♪♪

narrator: As night sets in,

the island becomes a hunting ground for jaguars

but also tarantulas,

whose sharp barbed hairs

can hook into the skin, causing extreme pain.

Wes: Another buggy evening here at the beach camp.

[ insects buzzing ]

taking little pieces of my heart with them

[ speaks indistinctly ]

[ bleep ]

ow!

[ bleep ]

[ insects buzzing ]

something just stung

the [bleep] out of me,

and my shoulder is on fire right now...

Fire.

[ groans ]

[ exhales ]

ow. [bleep].

♪♪

the jungle's tough.

I think being naked in the jungle

is a little tougher than me.

♪♪

leah: There's more and more ants.

Oh, there in this whole area.

Whoa.

How are you feeling?

Uh, what do you mean?

In general.

You don't seem very upbeat.

No. I'm not very upbeat.

I got about, oh, I don't know,

five minutes of sleep all night long,

spiders, ants crawling all night long,

biting me all night long,

mosquitos swarming all night long.

The lack of sleep, the lack of food,

I've been pushed at this point.

We're still dealing with the bugs and stuff,

which I think is gonna be this whole time,

but I feel like if wes was just a little more positive,

it would help with not just morale but everything.

♪♪

I am going to make a windscreen.

And it's just gonnaa be a little windshield

because I sleep right by the fire.

I'm hoping that the wind is blocked

just in this little area.

♪♪

what are you making?

-A thing for the wind. -Nice.

♪♪

leah: There are tasks that need to be done for our survival,

and he's just not helping.

He needs to let his head get in the game

because I need a partner who's going to be able

to last with me.

It totally works. I feel very minimal wind.

♪♪

morning four, and, uh,

yeah, what can I say? I, um...

Yeah.

I just, uh...

You know, I definitely came out here feeling like

I could do this

and wanted to do this,

but, uh...

Being bit by mosquitoes

and ants all day and all night long,

I, um...

Yeah, I'm not sure what else to say.

♪♪

leah.

Leah!

Yeah?

Yeah. I've seen and done enough here.

♪♪

I think I'm good to go home.

♪♪

♪♪

oh...

What's up?

It gives me a lot of anxiety to think about being out here

at night by myself,

and even I lived through it,

it would be mentally [bleep] hard.

Well, I'm truly sorry for putting you in this position.

It certainly...

It certainly puts some weight on me, but...

I, you know...

It makes me feel something,

and for that,

I am, yeah, just a little --

I suppose I'm just feeling a little remorse about it.

I mean, I personally think you're a strong woman,

and you've got this.

Leah: I didn't even want to try and convince him to stay.

He's just not bringing skills and motivation to the table.

Narrator: Wes informs production that he has decided

to leave the challenge.

Oh, I'm tapping out, dude.

-Yeah. -You are making

100%, this is your decision. You're leaving the challenge?

All right.

♪♪

yeah, take care.

Have a good meal.

Wes: I think leah certainly has the skills,

the resolve and the intelligence to make it through.

She's a strong woman.

I came here, and I learned my lesson.

Narrator: After surviving only four days on isla salvaterra,

wes is unable to find the mental strength

to complete the challenge,

leaving leah to face the next 17 days alone.

As a result, his primitive survival

rating drops from a 7.1 to a 3.8.

♪♪

leah: There's a feeling of relief.

You don't have to carry the weight

of someone else's emotions and energy.

Going into this alone is extremely difficult.

The workload is gonna be harder and more difficult,

but I'm here,

spending the night alone in the nicaraguan jungle.

♪♪

♪♪

these ants are, like, crazy.

Oh, this is terrible.

There's, like, more and more ants.

They are all up in -- oh, my gosh.

There's thousands of them.

Oh...

♪♪

it's hard to focus on anything else when you're uncomfortable.

Oh, god.

But I'm just gonna take it day by day

and see what happens.

♪♪

I feel like I was limited when wes was here

because his negative energy kind of messed with my head.

If it was hard doing it with wes,

it's gonna be 10 times harder doing it by myself.

I think I'm just scaring the fish away.

Okay, new method.

One of my main projects today is going to be making a fish trap.

♪♪

it's going to be a cone-shaped fish trap made out of vines,

but it's gonna have a very narrow hole at the top

so they'll be able to swim into it

or the current will take them into it,

and then they're not gonna be

able to figure out how to get out.

Ow!

Ugh, I didn't know grasshoppers bit.

He has, like, fangs.

That will be good bait.

♪♪

I really like the idea of setting it over

in kind of the rocky area,

making it way heavier

so that way it really kind of

just sinks and rests down by the rock.

So he has his fish hook in him, so then if a big fish comes in

and swallows it, the hook will get lodged in his throat,

and he'll be stuck.

He's still kind of alive.

He is a tough dude.

I haven't had any protein since I got here,

so it would be so amazing if this fish trap actually worked.

All right. Let's see what happens with that.

♪♪

[ groans ] my god.

This is terrible. [ sighs ]

the highs and lows have been extreme for me.

The mental part is way harder than

I thought it was gonna be,

10 times harder than I thought it was gonna be.

♪♪

I just found a scorpion, a really big one.

Oh, my god. He's huge!

He moved so fast.

Narrator: Scorpions camouflage themselves

within the jungle landscape,

and their sting causes intense pain

that can send victims into anaphylactic shock.

[ sighs ]

it's just too much of a mind [bleep],

and...

[ sighs ]

I'm just feeling really low-energy.

And I have to, like -- there's stuff I have to do,

like check my fish trap.

Go collect firewood.

♪♪

[ sighs ]

this part really sucks, doing everything by myself.

♪♪

ow. [bleep].

I can tell that my calorie intake

is definitely affecting me.

Oh.

Oh.

[ exhales sharply ]

♪♪

ugh, everything is so uncomfortable.

Whoo.

♪♪

[ gasps ]

oh, my god.

Did you come early to make camp or something?

♪♪

[ gasps ]

did you come early to make camp or something?

Oh, my god.

Just when I really just hating being by myself,

I see a naked man in my camp.

Crazy.

I totally thought I was gonna be alone the rest of the time.

Wow, and I thought I was coming in green with someone

who was just as green as me.

-Awesome. I'm leah. -I'm james.

-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

What a surprise.

Narrator: When leah's first partner surrendered

to nicaragua's harsh jungle on day four,

she was left with the harrowing prospect

of surviving alone for 17 more days

in one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet.

Now a new partner has been brought in to join her.

It's a lot denser than I thought it was gonna be.

You can't see 10 feet into that jungle,

and I hear that there's puma and there's jaguars.

It's gonna get dark and spooky, I think.

My name is james. I'm from tallahassee, florida,

and I've been waiting 35 years for this challenge.

I have been telling everybody for 35 years

that I could take on a challenge like this,

and now, I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

I absolutely consider myself to be a survivalist.

There. I feel better now.

I have tracked fish down rivers successfully,

real good at hunting.

Lunch!

I can do fish traps, building an elevated platform.

All those things, they're gonna work out here.

If I make it to day 21, it'll be my birthday.

I'll be turning 50,

and this challenge is gonna be a great test

to see how much fuel is left for the rest of my life.

I'm ready to get going.

I'm gonna be the master of nicaragua.

Narrator: James' shelter-building skills

will be a huge asset in the rain-soaked jungle,

and his high level of determination

will be put to the ultimate test

as he takes on the most difficult challenge of his life.

James begins with a psr of 7.9.

♪♪

-how long you've been out here? -Six days.

-Okay. Well... -Two by myself, so...

So you've been surviving on your own.

Two nights.

Where have you been sleeping?

This is it.

My last partner really wasn't into building a shelter.

She has been here for six days

and not had a successful shelter.

It did concern me a little bit.

It's gonna rain on us, and we need to be prepared.

I have made a very

unsuccessful fish trap

and have not caught anything on the fishing line.

Okay.

But the food thing, if we can figure that out,

I think it's gonna be huge.

I don't know how the fishing line's working,

but I brought a fish castanet.

Ooh...

I also have a beat-up, old metal pot we can boil water in.

Oh, wow.

Now that james coming in with a seemingly awesome personality,

that is gonna be way better than me just being alone,

and it's -- I mean, this actually might be the thing

that helps me get through this.

I'll take a throw and see what we get

if you're ready to have fish, assuming I catch some.

I am ready to have fish.

♪♪

♪♪

-I already see one. -[ laughs ]

I see two.

Oh, my god.

This is so awesome, my first protein

since I've been here, six days.

Here's another fish.

Oh, my gosh! This is so awesome.

I don't see any point in catching any more.

I mean, we do have to make the source last, well, for me,

21 days, for you, 15.

Yeah, no. I think that's good.

Three big fish, two little ones compliments of james.

This guy, I think he's a keeper.

♪♪

that is definitely done.

I needed my hero to come in to catch me fish. [ laughs ]

all right.

First impressions of leah, she's been here for six days,

and she's been having a real hard time,

and I'm hoping I can make the situation better.

♪♪

oh, my gosh.

That is so good.

I feel like he's been my saving grace right now

just 'cause I've been struggling so much.

♪♪

mmm.

♪♪

♪♪

[ barking ]

leah: I just went to the bathroom,

and I heard something over here.

♪♪

oh, my god.

It sounds like it's coming right through here.

This makes me want to go home. I am not cut out for this.

♪♪

[ growling ]

[ gasps ]

oh, my goodness.

♪♪

it's something really big.

It's definitely a cat.

This thing has a bar.

Oh, my god. [ crying ]

♪♪

james: After a very rough night,

could keep hearing something in the trees,

in the woods over there, and something --

wait. Wait. Wait. I hear something.

Leah: Ow, [bleep].

♪♪

I don't know.

[bleep].

[ speaks indistinctly ]

I think it's gone.

♪♪

during the night, we've got some kind of wild cat coming through.

We know we've got snakes around, so I'm making myself a weapon.

It's a spear on one end and a snake gig on the other,

and that way, we've got a little bit of protection

because today, it's about searching out the resources

and trying to avoid being attacked.

♪♪

[ monkeys howling ]

leah: So the howler monkeys are closer than they've been.

That came from something last night.

That came from a big animal.

It looks like a giant cat turd.

-Oh... -He's close or she.

Narrator: Jaguars are extremely territorial.

Normally, they are nocturnal, but if they feel threatened,

they will come out during the day to protect their domain.

That was not there yesterday.

[ monkeys howling ]

♪♪

-wow. -Oh, my god, terrible.

James seems like a really driven,

energetic person that just likes to go get stuff done,

but it's been a week, and it feels like forever.

I feel dizzy

and very low-energy.

James: Right now, leah seems tired.

I really don't wanna have a partner tap out

because we didn't get enough resources.

There's got to be something out here.

Yeah.

James: We need to find something else other than the fish

that are in the pond.

After about three or four days, I think they're gonna be gone.

[ gasps ] ow, [ bleep ]. Oh, my god.

I'm getting so bitten up, bad.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

god, I feel so tired right now.

This exhaustion has just really caught up with me,

and I really, really feel it today.

♪♪

I think this may be a papaya tree.

No.

I see no fruit.

They're around. We just can't find them.

Ugh.

Okay. I'm done.

♪♪

-[ bleep ]. -Did you see something move?

Yeah.

Be careful.

Get back.

-Get. -[ gasps ]

[ snorting ] -leah: [ screams ]

[ gasps ]

oh, my god.

Get back.

Get.

That made me want to go back to the beach.

You want to circle back around and back towards camp?

Yeah.

-Yes. -Okay.

♪♪

[ thunder crashes ]

james: Oh.

♪♪

♪♪

I want to go hunt for some vines for lashing.

Do you think you'll need to just hang out here?

I don't know what I'm thinking yet.

When we woke up, it was fairly cold,

and I'm thinking how leah was a little slower.

She seemed to be a little quieter and that troubled me.

Oh, my god.

You okay?

I feel like I can't even sit up.

Night after night and day after day

of just being completely itchy

and sleeping in the dirt and bugs crawling all over you,

those total discomforts are just hard.

James: Last night, we did not have any kind of roof

for shelter,

so we're literally just laying there

with the rain drops hitting us,

so I got to reinforce the shelter,

build some type of roof for protection.

♪♪

♪♪

[ bleep ]

no, rain.

Oh, my god.

♪♪

well, this is miserable.

James: My fear is this big, torrential downpour,

that'll cool us off way too quick,

and it'll put the fire out,

and that could create a serious problem.

Oh, my god.

♪♪

♪♪

but the shelter is actually starting to work.

You can actually count the drops.

I mean, that's how much it's helping.

It's only drops now getting through.

The rain will stop.

-I am not this tough. -You've already done eight days.

If you think about what it was

that made you want to do this in the first place --

wanted to see if I could. That's it.

There's, like, no -- that's it, and I can't, and I want to.

So I'm absolutely confident you can do this for 21 days.

This is not something I have any desire to do.

♪♪

we'll make it work, make it happen.

No, I just want to go.

I'm just done, over it.

♪♪

I came out here to do this and do the 21-day challenge

and see what my body could take,

but I have two weeks to go, and that feels like an eternity.

I'm sorry, james.

Narrator: Eight exhausting days in

the wiles of nicaragua have left

leah emotionally and physically drained.

With james unable to turn her around, the producer comes in.

I've decided that I'm ready to go.

I have no desire left in me.

If that's your decision, we can get you on out of here.

Do you want to say goodbye to james?

I'm sorry to leave you here.

It'll be all right. It'll be all right.

There is badasses who have finished this,

and then some people just can't.

I don't think I've ever hit my breaking point like that.

I feel really bad for leaving james.

Bye, leah!

I wish I would've started out with james.

It would have been completely better.

It was hard to leave him. He was awesome.

He's the most perfect survival partner you could ask for.

I tried my hardest, and it was just way too hard.

I gave it my best day after day.

Narrator: After only eight days,

the harsh conditions of nicaragua's isla salvaterra

prove to be too overwhelming for leah.

Her early departure drops her psr from a 7.1 to a 5.2.

My first thought after leah left was,

"okay. I thought she was a pretty good badass

"for being on here for two days by herself,

"and now, I'm going to have to find a way

to do it for 18 days."

so even though I'm being left alone,

I'm going headfirst into this challenge,

and I'll survive the 21 days.

♪♪

♪♪

[bleep]

[ wings flapping ]

there has been a bat flying into the shelter.

He's come in three times right over there and right above me.

♪♪

I mean, he's just about landed on my head.

I have felt the wind from his wings.

[bleep]

get.

Now you're standing in front of my shelter,

and I'm getting attacked by the bat.

That really, really ticks me off.

Gosh dang that bat.

Fricking leave me alone.

[ groans ]

[ rain falling ]

it's not what I wanted, but it has started to rain.

Now I'm going to pile on some wood

keep it going.

[ thunder crashes ]

the last two days, I've had nothing but rain,

so I was looking forward to the morning

so I could start a new day, but the rain came again.

♪♪

narrator: Unbeknownst to james,

a powerful hurricane is blowing through central america,

which could cause weeks of rain

and flooding around the island.

James: The rain is controlling a lot.

[ bleep ]

puts out the fire,

makes getting firewood much difficult.

And then, when you have rains like this where it's a downpour

and gets you wet,

makes you cold, so miserable.

It is just absolutely miserable.

If this keeps up, I'm gone.

I can't do this.

It's hard.

♪♪

[ thunder crashes ]

yeah! What's that?

I don't freaking care!

I hate this jungle.

[ sighs ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ birds calling ]

what a morning. What a morning.

[ thunder crashes ]

you cannot predict the weather out here.

You can see those storms sitting out in the middle of this lake

as large as this lake is and say,

"oh, it'll never make it here."

two hours later, it's on top of you.

Never know.

One day at a time.

♪♪

I have found some sincuya fruits laying on the ground here.

Narrator: Rich in vitamin c and potassium,

one sincuya fruit, or sugar apple,

will provide james with a much-needed boost of energy

and almost 150 calories.

♪♪

like a mango, really soft and really sweet.

♪♪

[ thunder crashes ]

that sounds like wind-blown rain.

Something is coming through the trees.

That sure sounds like rain.

I have been in the woods before and heard that.

It's not a light rain. That's a heavy rain.

It's got to be less than 100 yards away.

♪♪

there's an embankment here

between the lake and on the lagoon,

and if that starts rising, oh, my shelter is flooded,

so I'm basically digging the panama canal for nicaragua.

♪♪

narrator: James' shelter is on the low point of the island

at the bottom of the creek bed.

During heavy rains, water rushing down

from the top of the island

can cause the area to overflow and quickly turn

james' shelter site into a flood zone.

♪♪

it's coming in faster than it's going out.

It's still coming up.

Crap.

This may be a little too little, too late.

Water is already moving into the shelter

literally six inches from the fire.

[ bleep ]

♪♪

the canal's dug now.

This should be it.

It should not get any higher than this

and just head out into the lake.

I couldn't have dug that on day 20.

I guess, if it's gonna happen,

it's better to happen now than later.

♪♪

♪♪

[ monkeys howling ]

♪♪

[ bleep ]

[ whispers ] pretty sure I just heard something.

[ normal voice ] it's right over there.

♪♪

[ monkeys howling ]

the howler monkeys just continue to go crazy.

[ howling continues ]

[ growling ] -[ bleep ]

[ leaves rustling ]

go on. Get back. Get.

Get.

♪♪

and I think it's gone,

but it was definitely a cat.

And he's got the advantage.

He can see in the dark, and I can't.

We're only a couple hours into this night.

I wonder how long this is gonna keep up.

Heck, I don't know.

[ various animal sounds ]

just stay the heck out of my shelter.

♪♪

a larger cat was walking within six feet.

Sure enough, you can see the pads.

You can see the toes and actually see the stride.

The stride is about that wide walking.

Narrator: The recent storms have displaced many of the animals

that jaguars prey on.

The disruption to their hunting patterns

makes the big cats more unpredictable.

I got to do whatever I need to do to protect myself.

That was crazy,

absolutely crazy.

♪♪

[ howling ]

♪♪

[ exhales ]

more and more, I'm thinking about food.

My energy level is extremely low,

and I got to have something to give me some energy.

A lot of debris. [ bleep ].

But the areas where I was getting fish,

there's nothing,

absolutely nothing.

Afraid it might be a blank today.

[ bird caws ]

this morning, I've been watching the same bird,

and I've started noticing a pattern.

Either in the morning or late afternoon,

it comes down, and he rock hops.

He doesn't walk in the water.

He hops on the rocks.

He seems to not like to get in the water,

so important preparing some snares, works for an arm,

which is real difficult on a bird

because a bird's leg is so very small,

but he's a big bird,

and I'm setting these snares out on the rocks

that he was hopping on.

We'll see what happens.

♪♪

it's a battle.

Your body and your mind both feel like they're being beat,

you know, just going on and on, beat you down, beat you down.

No, I'm not gonna be beat down

because there's still that push that says,

"complete the challenge."

I've found fruit laying on the ground here.

This is jocote fruit.

They just fall out of the tree.

It's now been days since I've had anything to eat,

and there's fruit here, but sincuya I can't get to.

It's in the top of the tree.

The jocote, again, is at the top of the tree.

I can only get what falls, and everything has been so old.

It's been rotting.

You can't eat it. It's so decayed.

It's putrid.

I'll starve to death before I eat one of these again.

♪♪

[ bird calls ]

[ whispers ] there's the bird.

He's walking right towards the snare.

[ normal voice ] he's six feet from the snare.

Oh, man, he stepped right in the snare

and right out of it again.

Cannot believe that.

That was crazy.

His foot went right in the snare.

Well, you never know.

Maybe the stupid bird will stick his neck in it.

♪♪

[ caws ]

no dinner tonight again.

♪♪

♪♪

[ bird calls ]

♪♪

wow.

Drained, very low energy.

♪♪

I haven't eaten anything in several days.

This jungle is just zapping the energy out of me quickly.

Right now, it's low.

Five days until my birthday, this is so hard

I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

Every day that there's a day of sunshine

is another day closer to a rainstorm.

It's gonna rain and that's when I'm gonna be in trouble,

so what do I do?

I'm not getting the food resources that I started with,

and I have to be creative

and come up with different solutions.

[ exhales ]

♪♪

oh.

There's a possibility, now that our dry creek bed

is a flowing stream,

some of the fish from the lake may have been going in there.

On a whim, I'm burning calories to go check on something

I'm not 100% sure of.

♪♪

♪♪

no fish.

[ sighs deeply ]

one more pool and I'm done. This is wearing me out.

♪♪

oh, oh, oh, my gosh.

Wow. That was big. Let's try that again.

♪♪

oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

I don't know what kind of fish that is, but, boy,

he's got some teeth on him.

Narrator: James has caught a machaca.

Related to the piranha,

it's one of the most aggressive freshwater fish

in central america

but also very high in protein.

Wow. [ laughs ]

I feel like I'm back in the game again.

This fish is very important to me,

how few opportunities there are now to get some protein.

This is great.

I mean, this is like a game changer.

I get this in my stomach.

I feel like it's a reset button.

♪♪

that's so good and no bones.

[ laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ thunder crashes ]

oh, man.

♪♪

well, there's some major rainstorms,

thunderstorms out in the middle of the lake.

The lake water has risen about 12 inches.

That's water. See that?

That's my bed. That's water. There's a fire.

Bed, water, and fire all together doesn't mix.

[ thunder crashes ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I am not enjoying this at all,

cold, wet, hungry.

I feel absolutely beat, and this is where

I was sleeping just a little while ago,

so we got three inches of water there.

[ exhales slowly ]

[ rumbling ]

holy crap.

Can hear it roaring as it's rushing down,

that water coming through right there.

[ roaring continues ]

may be the most water coming out of that creek yet.

That is absolutely crazy. That is insane.

♪♪

narrator: The biggest part of the storm

has hit the island hard.

The raging runoff from the top of the island is causing massive

flooding and threatening to wipe out james' shelter.

Ah!

♪♪

♪♪

oh, weird. Gross, disgusting bones.

I don't know what these are, but they look pretty disgusting,

and I'm sure I can use them for something.

It's a vertebrae.

Might be some kind of fish.

I got up really early this morning, and I saw them,

and I noticed that my hair was almost dreadlocks,

and so I just broke them off a little bit

and used it as a toothcomb.

The bones are so tough, so even, like, going through my hair,

like, they didn't break.

So I'll be using this the whole time

I'm here as my comb, jungle cosmetology.

♪♪

everything is washing away.

Ah!

My shelter is gone.

Even the highest spot on this beach is now submerged.

It's water everywhere.

I don't have much of a plan.

I didn't plan for this.

♪♪

narrator: James has been hit by his second flash flood

in 10 days.

With torrents of water wiping out his shelter,

he's forced to move to higher ground.

Really got to try and rebuild some shelter up

on the rocks out of the water,

got to make it through today and tonight, just hunker down.

I didn't come here to tap.

Just hang on. Don't think about anything else but hang on.

You let go, you die.

♪♪

♪♪

[ various animal sounds ]

♪♪

[ insects buzzing ]

and it's not raining.

Right now, it is not, but I can't make a fire.

You know, I got to stay up all night battling dang mosquitoes.

I'm gonna do it.

Need to get through this night, one more night.

That's what I need to do.

-Mm, oof, ugh. [ insect buzzing ]

narrator: As night falls, the rain subsides

but leaves behind an insect population that has exploded.

Dry mosquito eggs need water to hatch.

The rain and the resulting spike in humidity

have created the perfect storm

for torment and torture.

Ugh. Oh. Ugh.

♪♪

I don't know how much more of this I can do.

I've been swinging this bag at least once every second.

It's been three hours.

That's 10,800 times

I swung this bag,

can't keep this up.

Holy crap. I can't keep this up.

[ thud ]

♪♪

day 21.

I got to get this body moving again.

It's my birthday.

I'm now 50

and 95% badass.

Got to get that last remaining 5%.

[ exhales slowly ]

♪♪

right now, I'm in the deep section of this lagoon,

and I've got to get out on the lake over here.

I'm gonna cross this island

so I have the shortest possible swim

and then hope there's no big bad bull sharks out there.

On extraction, I have some swimming,

and I'm thinking I'm gonna need this

to give me a little bit of buoyancy.

I'm using this piece of driftwood that washed up

as my personal flotation device.

I drill two holes in it and then put some cordage through it

so I can carry it on my back.

I hope it works.

Narrator: James' two-mile trek across the island

will be more treacherous than ever due to the recent rains.

The massive flooding has brought out deadly coral snakes,

and the mud that's been washed away

has exposed more of the island's sharp lava rocks.

♪♪

so these rocks are definitely wearing on my feet.

Ow. I hate the little rocks.

[ exhales sharply ]

right in the center of the ball of my foot.

♪♪

oh, no.

Uphill.

After 21 days, every one of these inclines is brutal.

♪♪

oh, I feel every one of these rocks on my feet.

Oh, my gosh.

Ugh. Ow.

Oh. Wow.

That's gonna be a tough swim.

♪♪

oh. I've got to get in that.

I can't see what's in the water.

Bull sharks, very unusual creature,

and I get to go swim with them.

Out of the jungle,

into the shark-infested lake.

It floats.

[ exhales ]

♪♪

♪♪

where is the freaking boat?

♪♪

get me out of here.

[ engine revs ]

over here!

He's turning! He's turning!

That's my ticket out of here!

♪♪

whoo-hoo!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

I did it!

I finished the 21-day "naked and afraid" challenge!

Let's go! [ speaks indistinctly ]

whoo-hoo!

This is absolutely the hardest thing

I've ever volunteered to do.

I wanted to take something way beyond what I thought

I might be able to do and push it to the limits,

and this challenge absolutely did that.

I will forever be a changed person

because of this challenge.

This was the challenge I've been preparing for.

It's done, a 35-year dream accomplished.

Came into this challenge a 49-year-old.

I'm leaving a 50-year-old 100% badass.

No doubt about it!

Whoo-hoo!

Yes! Ah!

"naked and afraid," nicaraguan jungle!

Whoo!

Narrator: After 21 days battling the brutal conditions

of nicaragua's isla zapatera,

james lost a total of 54 pounds.

Alone for 2 1/2 weeks,

he bravely endured the deadly threats of the jungle...

James: Go on. Get back. Get.

Narrator: ...And all that mother nature could throw at him.

Everything is washing away.

Narrator: As a result, his psr increases from 7.9 to 9.1,

earning james one of the highest psrs of all

who've survived before him naked and afraid.