Naked And Afraid Episode 5 Recap: Breaking Borneo

"Naked And Afraid" is a tough, tough show. For those of you who haven't seen the show before, the basic premise is a man and woman who don't know each other are stuck in a remote location together. They must survive for 21 days without food or water. They can only bring one personal item each. And did I mention they're naked the whole time?

For the first time we saw two people who couldn't finish the competition. Puma got sick on some bad water and Julie quit at day 18. I'm still really impressed with them and all the contestants though. Everyone seems to be  "decent people" even if they do get stressed out from starving, freezing and being fried by the sun.

I must say that the women seem to be faring pretty well on this show. It seems like the guy gets hurt or drinks bad water or something. Then the woman is left to keep them going. I don't know if its edited that way on purpose but yeah women!!!

Episode 5:

• Team: Puma and Julie
• Location: Borneo
• Personal items: Julie brought a machete and Puma brought a pot. 
• Challenges: difficulty in making fire (and keeping it lit), bad water, heavy rainfall, wild boar, leeches, isolation and depression. 

From Discovery Channel website:

Puma Cabra and Julie Wright have to survive in Sabah, Borneo for 21 days. The jungle is their unrelenting foe as they battle with sickness, starvation and deadly wildlife, all of which tests their resolve and determination every step of the way.

Puma Cabra

Age: 38

Current Residence: Nevada

Occupation: Tattoo Artist

Relationship Status: Single

Skills: Shelter building, trapping, hunting, plant identification

Growing up in East LA, Puma always knew that he wasn’t meant to live in the city. His family ran a chop-shop garage until his uncle was murdered by a bike gang. His father then relocated the family to Mammoth Lakes.

Puma became a professional snowboarder and turned to survival as the sport took him to places that pushed the limits of his abilities. He could then disappear for multiple days with nothing but his knife and his knowledge.

He has encountered mountain lions and pulled himself out of six avalanches. Puma is ready for anything.

Julie Wright

Age: 30

Current residence: Washington

Occupation: Wilderness instructor

Relationship status: Single

Skills: Tanning hides, tracking, plant identification, primitive fire, CPR, mentoring, peace-making, staying hidden

Growing up, Julie always had a fascination with the natural world. She would spend entire summers barefoot and muddy in a backyard pond in Vermont where she was raised. This fascination led her to study biology at Wellesley College and get a Master's degree in Biological Oceanography. She has spent over 2 months at sea, has served on several research projects and done field work next to a remote glacier in Alaska while counting harbor seals resting on icebergs.

Julie's career-track of becoming a tenured professor of biology changed course when she took her first class at Tom Brown's Tracker School and realized that her childhood dream of living off the land and tracking animals was possible. After that, Julie decided to stop paying rent and start camping out, sleeping in parks and natural places, once even sleeping on a floating island of cattails in the middle of Seattle for a month.

She has taught summer camps at the Wilderness Awareness School for the past five (going on six) summers and will be teaching an advanced survival overnight camp this summer. She is passionate about bringing the skills of survival and primitive living to others and showing them the joy of connecting to themselves, the natural world and each other.

Julie was also an instructor at Quiet Heart Wilderness School this past year and got to run around in the woods with kids and make atl atls, fish arrows and hoko-style fish knives, just to name a few projects.

She has been to primitive skills gatherings like Rabbit Stick and Winter Count, where she learned the basics of flint-knapping, hide-tanning, bow-making, primitive archery, basketry, cattail hats and moccasins. She has even made her own buckskin skirt with instructor Lynx Vilden.

Julie is now a science and math teacher at the middle and high school level, and hopes to start writing and publishing articles and books in her free time.

Grade: No grade assigned since this is a reality show.

World According To GMonster
TV: Heavy On Sci Fi, Horror & Adventure; Light On Reality

July 24, 2013

7:47 AM