A ‘Naked and Afraid’ Producer Once Called Prospective Cast Members ‘Slightly Unhinged’
What does it take to make it on Naked and Afraid? The best candidates for the Discovery Channel reality series have a combination of survival skills and mental toughness that give them a good chance of lasting 21 days in the wild with no clothing, no food, and limited survival tools. It’s not a challenge for the weak, as the show’s producers explained during an early episode of the series.
‘Naked and Afraid’ is ‘the most primitive’ survival TV show
When it came to developing the idea behind Naked and Afraid, the show’s creators took a cue from the Bible.
“The concept of Naked and Afraid was, ‘Were Adam and Eve actually survivalists?’ executive producer Jay Renfroe explained during a behind-the-scenes look at season 3, which aired in 2014.
Producers wanted to see what would happen if they paired a man and woman together and dropped them in the wild to see if they could survive. They settled on a three-week challenge because that “is about as far as you can go without eating,” Renfroe explained.
“We wanted to do the most primitive, primal survival show ever done on TV,” executive producer David Garfinkle shared. But would they be able to find people crazy enough to take them up on their challenge?
Thousands of people apply to be cast on ‘Naked and Afraid’
Finding people who were willing to bare it all for the Naked and Afraid cameras turned out not to be a problem.
“What constantly amazes me is how many really genuinely want to be on the show,” executive producer Steven Rankin said. “We have thousands and thousands of people apply.”
“They must be slightly unhinged to want to take on the hardest and toughest survival experience you’re ever going to do, with no clothes on at all with a complete stranger,” he added.
Of course, just being willing to strip down to your birthday suit isn’t enough to get cast on Naked and Afraid. People also need genuine survival skills and the mental strength to endure tough situations. How they’ll come off on TV is also a factor.
“It’s really important that we make the right selection,” Rankin said. “Who are the best personalities with the right balance of skills that are going to get them through it?”
“It’s so important for a candidate to have a big personality,” casting director Kristi Russell added.
How someone will interact with their partner is also a factor. Producers don’t hesitate to pair people together who might not see eye-to-eye.
“Who will there be conflict with? … Who has opposing beliefs?” Russell said of the questions that the Naked and Afraid team asks when casting the show.
“Sometimes we don’t get it right,” Russell admitted. “It’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen.”
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