Naked and Afraid

[Donuthole]

So, a Malaysia episode was on last night. The nearly 10 consecutive days of rain made things interesting. The girl got a leech in her vaginal area and the guy got a leach on his scrotum. It seemed like after a while he gave up on the leeches on his back and just walked around with them.

If it hadn't dried out after 10 days I would have put their environment right up there with the Louisiana swamp in terms of difficulty; however, once the sun came out things weren't nearly as harsh. Food seemed somewhat available although the episode never really did show them eating anything of substance. Water wasn't a problem because of the rain.

Spoiler for Spoiler Alert:

The whole eating a mushroom and then calling in the medics was a bait and switch as far as the buildup of the episode goes. We never really found out if the mushroom was the cause of his fever or if it was drinking bad water or just overexertion/starvation. All the medic did was put him in the river to cool him down and then he goes on with the challenge for 3 more days so that was anti-climactic.

In thinking more about fire starters, a 9-volt battery and some steel wool is probably better than anything I've seen used on the show so far. Small, lightweight, will start even if wet. You just have to conserve your steel wool and keep it separated from the battery in a plastic baggie or something. I'm having a hard time thinking of any downside to the battery/steel wool trick.

I wonder if they even get to pick the type of firestarter. I can't remember an episode where the firestarter provided wasn't a blastmatch-style starter. I think i've missed a couple episodes, though. Would steel wool and battery be considered two separate items? At any rate, after watching these episodes, it has become apparent that fire is just as important as shelter, if not more so. Depending on the environment, getting a bed off the ground is also pretty key, but if you're in a potentially wet environment, you've got to seize any chance to make a fire as soon as possible. You can build a shelter in the rain if you have to, but if you don't have fire before the rain hits, you're screwed until things dry out.

Spoiler for Spoiler:

As for the mushroom, yeah, that was dumb. I didn't understand why they didn't spend a little more time trying to fish the stream, but perhaps the editing made it seem like fish were more plentiful than they actually were.

[Surfah]

I don't know how these guys go for so long without food.

I agree that the Louisiana Bayou was the worst of them all.

[BigFatMeanie]

I've seen at least one different types of firestarter on the show. Most of them are your garden variety ferrocerrium firestarters but it seemed like a couple episodes ago the guy had one where you scrape off the magnesium shavings first. Some quick googling on firestarters reveals that there is a lot of confusion about different kinds of firestarters out there with many people incorrectly referring to ferrocerrium starters and also cheap Chinese brand "magnesium" starters that aren't really magnesium at all.

Caveat emptor when you're buying firestarters I suppose.

[Sizzle]

Spoilers, so don't read ahead if you haven't seen Malaysia.

Last nights show looked absolutely miserable. The one thing I'm not sure I agreed with was the guys PSR dropping and the girls rising based on the episode to the point that her score was higher than his. Their shelter was one of the better ones I've seen on any show. That may have been due to materials available, but it looked very solidly built. The guy was able to start the fire in those extremely wet conditions. Also, the chick wouldn't have made it past three days if it wasn't for him pushing her through. I get that he are the mushroom, which was stupid, and that he got sick, which we didn't know if it was related to the mushroom as had been mentioned. But from the footage we saw, he seemed pretty skilled (caught the fish, the fire, the hut, the attitude, etc.)

[Donuthole]

Spoilers, so don't read ahead if you haven't seen Malaysia.

Last nights show looked absolutely miserable. The one thing I'm not sure I agreed with was the guys PSR dropping and the girls rising based on the episode to the point that her score was higher than his. Their shelter was one of the better ones I've seen on any show. That may have been due to materials available, but it looked very solidly built. The guy was able to start the fire in those extremely wet conditions. Also, the chick wouldn't have made it past three days if it wasn't for him pushing her through. I get that he are the mushroom, which was stupid, and that he got sick, which we didn't know if it was related to the mushroom as had been mentioned. But from the footage we saw, he seemed pretty skilled (caught the fish, the fire, the hut, the attitude, etc.)

Agreed. The dude was killing it (happily, mind you) until he got sick, and he still sucked it up and made it through. Not really a reason for a lowered score. I guess it's like the BCS --late season losses are worse than early season losses.

[RC Vikings]

Spoilers, so don't read ahead if you haven't seen Malaysia.

Last nights show looked absolutely miserable. The one thing I'm not sure I agreed with was the guys PSR dropping and the girls rising based on the episode to the point that her score was higher than his.

Agreed. The dude was killing it (happily, mind you) until he got sick, and he still sucked it up and made it through. Not really a reason for a lowered score. I guess it's like the BCS --late season losses are worse than early season losses.

I wonder how they come up with those numbers, it was a little stupid that his dropped and her number went up. I'm still not sure what she contributed to the three weeks other than tying 4 bamboo poles together for the swim.

[Surfah]

I agree. I don't really get the PSR. If it was any real indicator of who I'd want to help me in a survival situation it would have been the guy hands down.

[BigFatMeanie]

Agreed. The guy was rock solid, mushroom notwithstanding. The dude pulled a leach off his scrote - that's gotta count for something.

[beefytee]

Spoiler for Spoiler:

On the follow-up show the guy mentioned that he didn't get sick from the mushrooms. He said they knew which mushrooms were safe and which ones weren't and it was definitely on the safe list. IIRC they both ate the mushrooms and both felt tingling in their mouths.

[BigFatMeanie]

Spoiler for Spoiler:

On the follow-up show the guy mentioned that he didn't get sick from the mushrooms. He said they knew which mushrooms were safe and which ones weren't and it was definitely on the safe list. IIRC they both ate the mushrooms and both felt tingling in their mouths.

So far I've been skipping the follow up show because I think the follow genre in general is cheesy and lame ("After the Catch" is my canonical example of how a good series like Deadliest Catch starts jumping the shark when they do these stupid spin-off and follow up shows or replay the same episodes with tweets enabled and stuff like that). Do you think the follow up show for N&A is worth watching?

[beefytee]

So far I've been skipping the follow up show because I think the follow genre in general is cheesy and lame ("After the Catch" is my canonical example of how a good series like Deadliest Catch starts jumping the shark when they do these stupid spin-off and follow up shows or replay the same episodes with tweets enabled and stuff like that). Do you think the follow up show for N&A is worth watching?

I'm probably not the one to answer this as I don't regularly watch the show and just happened to catch the end of N&A and the beginning of the follow-up show. Given that, I'd say it probably isn't worth your time.

[Sizzle]

I wonder how they come up with those numbers, it was a little stupid that his dropped and her number went up. I'm still not sure what she contributed to the three weeks other than tying 4 bamboo poles together for the swim.

It's not just that his score dropped, it was that her score was HIGHER than his at the end of the show. I think she was a 7.0 and he dropped to a 6.8. I guarantee you anyone watching would rather spend the time with the dude than her, if survival was the objective.

I get that we didn't see the whole story, maybe the girl was more responsible for the shelter than we saw, because that to me was a huge part of their survival. But in all, I felt like he got hosed.

[Surfah]

Plus that dude went after the blue coral snake like it was a garter snake.

[Sizzle]

Plus that dude went after the blue coral snake like it was a garter snake.

Are you saying that makes him more badass or more of an idiot? Because I'd like to think it's a little bit of both honestly.

[Donuthole]

Are you saying that makes him more badass or more of an idiot? Because I'd like to think it's a little bit of both honestly.

He didn't get bit, so badass. If he'd been bitten, then idiot.