S01.E03: Island From Hell

[Dagny]

Survivalists Jonathan Klay and Alison Teal are marooned on a Maldivian island for 21 days. The surfer girl and the former Marine clash when sunstroke and starvation threaten their survival as they try to get through 21 days naked and afraid.

 

OMG, the pop-up version was the producer's way to slap around Jonathan - completely making fun of his sunburn and showing (with arrows) where he dropped trou & pooped. Producers also pointed out that Alison was the only one to actually step in the other person's poop. That means no matter how bad the other guys & ladies were, they at least knew that you move far away from your shelter before you poop.

 

The other thing I noticed was that when the two made the decision to swim to the bigger island, they did it without having to carry their bags. I get not swimming with the camcorder, but it would have been a much harder swim with the drag of the bag.

[haydensterling]

This guy was one of the worst assholes they've had on this show.  I'm watching a rerun of this episode right now, and he really is an ungrateful, mostly useless jerk whose only talent seems to be in how much he can verbally abuse his partner.

 

Ugh. Just awful.

[fib]

Couldn't agree more, haydensterling!  I can't imagine being stuck with him.  I have a hard time understanding how he let himself get sooo sunburnt to begin with.  Obviously, they had no control over the sun exposure during the swim, but why wasnt he coated in sunscreen to start? He looked like he was getting burnt before he even got off the boat.  And then it didn't seem to seek the shade much at all that first day.  

And then the failing to boil water, and the poop.  Sigh.  He was awful.  

[gaPeach]

I never understood why, if he knew he burned that easily, they did not wait until later in the day or dusk to go over to the other island?  It was a mile over to the other island  but that can be done without much trouble even if it got dark. And they just got off the boat so they were not starving and emancipated or weakened.  I have seen them do much harder stuff getting to the pick up point.  My point is they did not have to go over to that island right then and there.  I give her slack because she had no idea he was so easily sunburned.  But he knew and did nothing to shield his skin. 

 

After that he just went down hill from there.  The guy was a total asshole and shitting that near camp was being a total dick.  I get that he had the runs but when they are over you can pick that shit up or bury it or something.  Plus that attracts flies and other creatures.  Ew . I would have knocked him in the head.

[tv-talk]

the guy was awful but the way he had that epiphany where he truly realized he was a useless piece of crap and that this woman (heaven forbid!) was 100x better than him and should be appreciated may have been best moment of the series. After she managed to kill that eel or whatever it was after he'd yet again flailed....his reaction and change of attitude toward her was most honest thing I've seen on the show. 

[fib]

I never understood why, if he knew he burned that easily, they did not wait until later in the day or dusk to go over to the other island?  It was a mile over to the other island  but that can be done without much trouble even if it got dark. And they just got off the boat so they were not starving and emancipated or weakened.  I have seen them do much harder stuff getting to the pick up point.  My point is they did not have to go over to that island right then and there.  I give her slack because she had no idea he was so easily sunburned.  But he knew and did nothing to shield his skin. 

 

I can't speak for that dipshit's actions, but as a redhead who went to the Philippines with an auburn freckled guy from indiana, I can offer some perspective.  I knew I had to protect my skin, and went through a bottle of sunscreen a day.  He made fun of me constantly, particularly so when we spent a day snorkeling from a catamaran on day 3.  I reapplied regularly, while he said "You're totally overdoing it - I ran around in the sun with my brother and never wore any sunscreen as a kid".  He wouldn't listen when I said, "yeah, but the sun here is more intense and I don't want to ruin my vacation".  The same thing could have happened in the Maldives.  Suffice it to say, my date learned his lesson, and spent the next 3 days recovering from a severe sunburn that included his buttcheeks because he decided nude un-sunscreened snorkeling would be funny. Vacation successfully ruined.  A lot of people don't realize how different the sun can be in a tropical place and learn the hard way.  I'd count this guy as one of those. 

 

I think they didn't wait to make the swim because they wanted to get the swim done so they could start on a shelter and couldn't be guaranteed that seas wold remain calm and there weren't storms coming.  It makes sense to me, and i think it would have been a mild sunburn  if his skin had been protected before the swim or if he had sought the shade shortly thereafter. But he really made a lot of fool decisions  - I think the guy just wasn't very bright. 

Edited September 12, 2014 by fib

[alegtostandon]

Saw this episode in the middle of the night last night; I could not believe how he was down from the start.  I have not watched the show since last night (this morning?) but has there ever been a person who has wanted to throw in the towel within the first couple of hours before? 

 

The way he started making fun of her for wasting time by  'weaving hats and baskets' and 'collecting coconut' just pissed me off! He was just lying on his ass!  He knew from the start that he would sunburn easily & should have taken precaution. I understand the need to get over to the other island to begin making shelter, but even then, he did not want to walk up in the shade, he stayed down in full sun. 

 

The tropical sun is totally different, I live in the Phoenix area and am in the hot, blazing sun everyday.  The 1st thing I do when I get dressed in the mornings is apply a spray sunscreen on my body & my face.  We just returned last week from 2 weeks on the island of Kauai.  The sunburn I received there is nothing like what I get at home.  But living in Phoenix, when you walk out to that 110 degree plus, that sun feels as if it is baking you. 

 

Alison did a great job at collecting coconuts, which is what kept them from dehydrating for the first few days. She amazed me the way she caught that eel.  I was so proud of her when she refused to drink that dark, skanky water.  I cannot remember, did they have a fire?  Why did they not boil the water? I was happy when he finally came around and realized that without her, they would not have survived.

[jennylauren123]

This is hilarious. She's sitting there with two flip-flops on, a dress, a hat that she made, and she's not sick from drinking foul water. She looks completely at ease in the shelter that she built.

 

Him? He's burned to a crisp, has the squirts and doesn't bother to walk away from the shelter to poop, and, worst of all, he's suffering also from being a complete asshole.

 

This is one of several episodes that I've seen in which the women do better than the men who have military training. 

[JackKnife]

Maybe it's my anti-authoritarian streak or maybe it's because I've known too many ex-soldiers who talked about Honor and Duty and Respect while cheating on their wives, but I must confess a certain schadenfreude watching these episodes where some macho military man's man is shamed by his female partner.