S04.E08: Garden of Evil

[ari333]

Navy dude and military chick dodge the obligatory panthers on an Island in Mexico... while avoiding "poisonous tree sap." That's a new one on me. And I simply must find a way to work,  "point of insertion" (aka location) into my regular vernacular. *snort*

[ari333]

We have Brandon, 28, from Arkansas, described as "Navy vet, skilled hunter, and country boy." Then there's Robin, 32, a nurse and  air force reservist from California who doesn't like to be naked and became panicked when sleeping naked in her own bed at home. YIKES.

 

The island, Cayo Venado, looked beautiful, but they described it like a horror show. Cayo Venado, "Deer Fall?" Anyone for translating Spanish ? My Spanish is muy ter-REE-blay.:)

 

Quotes of the show:
Brandon while walking nads-deep in the water:" Mah boys are up in mah throat raht now."

Brandon in the thicket: "There's a lot of thangs I can catch mah giblets on raht here."

"Almost got mah churry popped thurr."  His accent is quite adorable imo.

 

Bummer that they built their shelter under the chintin, chichen, (or however you say it) tree, but when the sap got on Brandon, I really felt for him. Black sap blisters and spreading fast. OMG. He was looking at infection and possible septic shock. That thing can kill you, gees. That would have been game over for me. Oozing, infected blisters with joint pain? Check please. How did one person get it so badly and the other was thankfully unscathed? I thought it was unfair of Robin to try to talk him into staying when he wanted to leave and had good reason to leave. Acid burns. Not cool. Plus, she didn't think about the Mayan plant antidote  to the sap until he was suffering and plus the medic didn't mention it either? Really?

 

They kept advertising the other show, "Naked and Afraid XL" which premieres Sun, July 12. The show (the first one apparently anyway) is two hours long and involves 12 men and women IIRC, and is 40 days instead of 21

 

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Edited June 22, 2015 by ari333

[ari333]

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********************     crickets   **********************

 

 

 

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Plus, if that medic didn't give that dude some pain meds, I'll eat your hat in public.

[Dagny]

The show (the first one apparently anyway) is two hours long and involves 12 men and women IIRC, and is 40 days instead of 21

 

That one will be really interesting. Most of the pairs barely made it out of there and coasted the last couple of days on body fat. After 40 days, they would tap out or carried out.

[ramble]

*shoos away the crickets & waves at ari*

This one was sort of sad. In TBTP's attempt to continually find the most dangerous, inhospitable, stank hole ever in the history of stank holes they're setting up some boring possibilities because the survivalists can't do much more than exist which does not make for thrilling TV.

It rained for so long & so hard that half of the episode was the people trapped in their little shelter freezing their giblets off. I guess they had to point out the medic before the episode began because they had to call on him every other day. If no one lives on a particular island due to big cats roaming it, poisonous trees protecting it, sulfur water covering lots of it & vegetation so dense it takes hours to walk short distances then it's probably not a survival situation it's just a hold on until you can't take it any longer situation.

I did think these two worked well together. They both stayed remarkedly calm & were caring toward one another. Although I agree the sudden "remembering" of the helpful plant when Brandon was thinking of quitting seemed suspect, but I'm blaming production for that one. I can't imagine how badly the sap poison rash hurt. I'm crazy allergic to poison ivy/oak & have had to go to the doctor from it being burned nearby & the smoke getting on my skin & breaking out everywhere other than where my tank top & shorts touched. I took steroids, antihistamines & antibiotics & was still miserable in the comfort of my own home. Brandon has more guts than I do. I hate seeing the survivalists sunburned. I know the premise is about being dropped off with nothing but your sack & survival item, but the red, peeling skin just reminds me that it only takes one severe sunburn to elevate your chance of skin cancer. I want to be interested & entertained by this show, but if they let them use sunscreen I still would be.

Side note: are they letting folks have an item each plus a fire starter now? I counted flint, bucket & machete last night. I'm okay with that too because seeing days of trying to start a fire & slowly giving up due to dehydration means the show may tap out too.

[Cobb Salad]

I think I heard something like they were "given" a fire starter or something to that effect. Otherwise you're always counting on someone bringing it then what else are you missing? I'd think the skill would be more in finding enough firewood and keeping it going than struggling with starting it anyway.

I agree, the black sap cure seemed suspect -- Robin just so happened to read about the plant that neutralizes the pain? They don't know where they're going before they're dropped off, right?

I liked this team and they seemed to like and respect each other. It was sad to see them both tap out but with the conditions they were enduring it was a good decision. At least Robin said she got something out of the experience.

[Dobian]

I was really disappointed in this episode because I liked this team and wanted them to get to the end.  I agree that Robin's knowledge of the poison sap tree and cure was dubious, and makes we wonder about how much people are prepped before being taken to their survival location.  Wouldn't they get some basic information like local dangers to be aware of?  Still, I was impressed that she came up with the solution and found the plant.  I thought Brandon was very careless in getting the sap on him, because Robin told him twice about avoiding it, including right before he started to tear their shelter down.  But how come she didn't notice they were building it under one of those trees in the first place?

 

I also agree that this was a terrible location.  They had to spend so many hours crawling through thick jungle to get to their camp that they lost almost the whole first day to set up a shelter and find water.  It also meant that they were stuck on that beach, the jungle was so dense.  So no hunting and exploration like you see in other episodes.  And putting them in a spot where you have jaguars and panthers, those cats must have been drooling at the prospect of those big tasty treats.

 

The rest was bad luck, what with the frigid temperature in that tropical location.  Rain you can expect, temps that dip into the 40s when you are naked is not good.  But it was their fault for not building up a good supply of dry firewood.  They were there nearly two weeks before the weather turned bad, what were they doing all that time?  They should have built a bigger and sturdier shelter with room for dry wood storage.

 

 

I think I heard something like they were "given" a fire starter or something to that effect. Otherwise you're always counting on someone bringing it then what else are you missing? I'd think the skill would be more in finding enough firewood and keeping it going than struggling with starting it anyway.

 

There seems to be three critical things you need at the start of one of these episodes - fire starter, a blade of some sort, and a pot for boiling water.  But the survivalists can only bring two.  So pick your poison I guess.  If you have someone who is really good at starting fires (and there have been a few on there), then maybe you can skip on the fire starter.  Sometimes people are in places with bamboo that can be used as makeshift containers, but short of that you will be hard-pressed to find something else to use.  I think you always have to have a blade, you just need one for so many things.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Dobian

[ari333]

Thanks, ramble and you guys for not leaving me in the crickets !

:)

[nottopbravo]

 

But how come she didn't notice they were building it under one of those trees in the first place?

 

I guess the first rule of survival is pay attention.

 

I wonder who in production decides whether to blur the asses or not.  Does the conversation go something like this?

"These asses look ok to me--no blur"

"Ok"

"Man, both these asses look like cottage cheese"

"Maximum blur"

 

[KidHorn]

They have to pick inhospitable locations otherwise there would be people living there.

 

I liked these 2. They stayed calm and got along. They had bad luck. 7 inches of rain over 3 days is a lot. Plus the temperature dropped very low for a tropical location. There wasn't a lot of firewood. Everything was green and/or wet and there were no big trees. At least they had coconuts. Not ideal but way better than nothing.

 

The contestants know in advance where they are going so they have days to google as much info as possible. They could have memorized a satellite photo and read up as much as possible about the plant and animal life in the area. They should have gotten tan at home to help resist sunburn. Maybe walk around barefoot as much as possible in advance to toughen up their feet.

 

I think the show would be better if they had some basic clothing. Maybe the women wear a bikini and the men wear a speedo.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchineel

Edited June 23, 2015 by KidHorn

[januarie]

"I guess the first rule of survival is pay attention.

 

I wonder who in production decides whether to blur the asses or not.  Does the conversation go something like this?

"These asses look ok to me--no blur"

"Ok"

"Man, both these asses look like cottage cheese"

"Maximum blur""

 

I think they "blur" when hairy parts are visible.

[Neurochick]

I thought this episode was a bit of a bummer and I felt sorry for both of them.  I wonder how much the teams know about the weather.  On a past episode, the area where they were going had some freakish rainy and cool weather and the team was asked if they still wanted to do it, they said yes so they went in knowing the weather would be crappy.

 

I have SO many questions about this show and this episode really made me wonder even more:

 

Is there always a medic around?  

Does the medic ever order the person to "tap out?"

Are they given sunscreen?  They're naked so they have no protection against the sun and this makes me wonder about the disclaimers they sign.

 

A while back, Manu, who was on the show where there was a second team, contracted dengue fever and was very, very ill.  Her illness made me wonder about the disclaimers they have to sign.  If they get sick, does Discovery pay for their care?  How much are they compensated if they can't work?  What about long term effects, such as skin cancer if they don't have sunscreen, or if they're bitten by something?  What about Brandon and that sap?  Will he have long term effects from it?  Also, I was ticked that the medic didn't suggest that plant that was the antidote to the sap, I mean if those trees have been there since the Mayans, I'm sure they must have figured out a way to counteract its effects.

[Liberty]

I was really disappointed in this episode because I liked this team and wanted them to get to the end.

 

 

Totally agree.

 

Interesting and insightful comments, and interesting behaviors by Brandon and Robin. 

 

Brandon was ready to tap out and two days later after Robin's 'cure' he is back to his old self saying 'as long as we stay together we can do it'.  The attitude sure changes quickly in those situations.

 

A lot of the people who think of themselves as great hunters at home seem to find it very difficult without a firearm in hand.

 

ramble's comment about the locations being too demanding to create an interesting hour of TV is well taken.  It is more fun to see the pair be creative and successfully resourceful than just survive.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Liberty

[JackKnife]

Side note: are they letting folks have an item each plus a fire starter now? I counted flint, bucket & machete last night. I'm okay with that too because seeing days of trying to start a fire & slowly giving up due to dehydration means the show may tap out too.

 

From what i read in one of the survivalist Q&As on-line, each of the survivalists get to take a few items with them and the producers decided which ones are actually in the bag when they meet their partner.  That's how they always make sure they don't wind up with two knifes or two fire-starters, in case you wondered. ;)

For the most recent season, given some of the terrains involved, some of the contestants were given the fire starter in addition to their one item due to high humidity that made starting a fire using the primitive methods impossible.