DC ExtraTime: From Being Stranded to Being Naked and Afraid

DISCLAIMER: Certain Content Embedded in This Post May Not Be Suitable for a Younger Audience. Viewer Discretion is Advised.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

In early 2017 before everyone began taking notice of the channel once again, MTV experimented with entering something that Turbo of War of the Worlds and Jay of Ex On The Beach 2 are familiar with: survivalist reality competition shows. Their experience on Survivor inspired many of these shows in that genre, including MTV's Stranded with A Million Dollars: ten strangers being marooned on a remote island with a treasure chest of seven figures, and having to decide whether to tough it out over 40 days, or spend a fortune on things we'd get for cheap at the local Walmart. The show might've lasted one season like most other MTV shows nowadays, but Stranded has lived on overseas having been franchised in Europe and other countries.

But those two shows are fairly different compared to the most unique show of its kind in this reality subgenre. Since summer 2013, The Discovery Channel has taken the concept of people having to fend for themselves in the wild to a totally different level that only cable television can be the venue for such endeavors in our living rooms. Naked and Afraid follows a pair of survivalists - a man and woman - who meet each other for the first time when they arrive and like other endurance fests have to find and produce water, food, shelter and everything else in a rugged part of the world. But as the show's title suggests, they have to do those and survive the wild while being naked for 21 days.
   For those who haven't watched it, those who come on Naked and Afraid meet each other only after they have stripped down all of their clothes to the point where their bodies are blurred, and are allowed one useful item on their 3-week trip into the wild, which is featured in one single episode. Like what we saw on Stranded, castaways are allowed to quit at any time, but as it was in that lone season finale a helicopter will await them at an evacuation point if they last the distance. And last summer, a familiar face to MTV fans came to try her luck in Teen Mom OG's Maci Bookout, who quit after only one day in Nicaragua after being chosen in a fan contest. Now, the girl who has a few connections to each of the three main shows we cover here has some company in taking her talents from MTV to Discovery for one night only.

The attention of Stranded centered on the bitter rivalry of Army paratrooper (and now eBay and sports betting expert) Cody Dunlap and local TV news reporter Alex Apple and their respective alliances. One of those who sided with the Texas native was New England native turned Malibu yoga instructor Makani Nalu, whose first name means "the wind" in Hawaiian. Her MTV bio described her as "a free spirit who goes where the wind takes her," and who was excited about going to the island to utilize her survival skills as well as being a vegan.
   Those who watched Stranded saw Makani align with Cody from when they and the rest of the islanders were choppered in to spend those 40 days in total isolation. When the rest of their fellow residents quit, they, Alex and his fellow partner Gina were left in the end... and while it's what happened with Cody spoiling the fresh water and Alex burning a stash of cash in a bonfire, lost in the chaos was how Cody and Makani dominated the handful of challenges that came their way, as well as being fiscally conservative compared to their counterparts. The last four shared in the $500,000+ final payday once they survived all 40 days of that trip out to sea.
   Last night, Makani returned to TV when she was part of the series' first-ever threesome that came to the Amazon rainforest deep in the wild of Ecuador for this week's episode of Naked and Afraid, which once again departed from its usual format of having only two cast members per episode to now have an additional survivalist. Makani joined two other partners, taxi driver Sarah and Air Force veteran David as they tried their luck at going three weeks in the wild in having to survive not only the animals that call the rainforest home, but also tension and jealousy with three people instead of two being in the same camp.

When she announced her participation in the series, Makani wrote on Instagram: "I don't have a television, but I suppose people are beginning to tell me they see me there again. When I disappeared last summer for a while, it was to film another survival show. I am more proud of this one. It was real in every sense of the word. There was no opportunity as there was in Stranded or as there is in Survivor to 'win' rewards or food to merit your way out of a true survival experience. For this reason, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to film with @discovery network on the 10th season of their show which pushes all boundaries, @nakedandafraidtv . See you on March 17th, 2019. ♥️🌿"

   And Makani further added on IG before last night's episode, "Although this challenge was shorter, it was more real & powerful to me in every sense of those words. I’m interested to see on Sunday how much I have grown from one to the other...the nature of the challenges themselves were worlds apart in the best of ways. I can say no matter how the edit goes, I am proud of me♥️🌿"  And after the episode aired, Cody tweeted @CodyThrive, "Congrats to @makanime on completing her 21 day challenge. I’m ready to see how she does on a season of N&A XL. She’s done 40 days and she’s done 21 days naked. Now she’s gotta do 40 days naked! #NakedAndAfraid #MTVstranded #MakaniOnChallenge @NakedAndAfraid"

Below, a sneak peek of last night's episode and some of Makani's posts relating to Naked & Afraid... because of the nature of the material embedded below, this content is intended for an adult audience.

View this post on Instagram

The first cut is from Stranded with Mtv🏝📺A year after that air date, I was able to switch networks & work with Discovery on a new survival show🌿Although this challenge was shorter, it was more real & powerful to me in every sense of those words. I’m interested to see on Sunday how much I have grown from one to the other...the nature of the challenges themselves were worlds apart in the best of ways. I can say no matter how the edit goes, I am proud of me♥️🌿 • thank you to @billy_sportzz for making this clip🙏🏽

A post shared by Makani Nalu (@makanime) on Mar 13, 2019 at 4:33am PDT

Makani is ready for the jungle, but is the jungle ready for @makanime? 🦎 pic.twitter.com/krNe3UehE7

— Naked and Afraid (@NakedAndAfraid) March 16, 2019

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG