S02.E03: Paradise Lost

[Dagny]

Two survivalists are dropped on a deserted Fijian island. They must battle the elements, as well as each others’ annoyances, as they try to survive 21 days together.

 

Nope, "they" didn't survive 21 days together. Mad props to Alana for toughening it out till the end.  It reminded me of Julie when she was on Borneo and her teammate had to tap out.

I didn't stick around for the after dark part.  Did they find out what took Keith out?

This is the second challenge where the people pretty much starved the entire time.  It makes me appreciative for division of labor.

[ari333]

So the dude had to have a seizure to get the Ginger's attention?  Alana seemed kind of bee-otchy to me.

[HurricaneVal]

Props to Alana for sticking it out, but we sure didn't get to see very much of it.  We hear her partner isn't returning from being medivac'd, she does a little commentary, the narrator does a little commentary of the "there's ten days left before extraction, will she choose to survive on her own...Naked and Afraid?" ilk, then *bang* she's hiking to the extraction point with very little to show of those ten days.  She seemed a little chummy with the production team, looking straight into the camera (and therefore the cameraman) and said "Let's do this!" so I think after she was there on her own she grew attached to the production team.

I think all we saw was the "something is charging the shelter!" panic--which, hello?  hells yeah I'd be wigging out if it were me and I was all by myself in the freakin' wilderness--and the footage of her making her clothes out of Keith's sack.  Wait, that didn't sound right....

I found it quite interesting, sociologically and psychologically, that nearly the first thing she did after learning her partner wasn't returning was to make herself some clothes out of his burlap sack.  Yes, she's a fair-skinned redhead prone to burning from the sun, but then why make yourself a skimpy bikini top and give yourself full coverage down below?  If she were interested in protection from the sun, she should have gone for more coverage of her back and shoulders.  I found that very interesting.  You spend half your time in intimate naked company with a man unknown to you and don't attempt to engineer clothing, but as soon as you're alone, your first instinct is to cover up?  Very interesting.  Did she feel more vulnerable to the environment, and therefore saw the clothing as protection?  Was she attracted to someone on the production team, and felt awkward?  Did she feel threatened by being the sole focus of a (presumably) all male production team, and clothing gave her back some control?

I'm really on the fence about this "After Dark" show.  I hate, hate, HATE "Bob the Blur."  Please get rid of him.  The inane twitter flirt crap back and forth between the host and the "Queen of the Twitterverse" needs to go, but I find the twitter questions from fans interesting, so that actual content part can stay.  Guest stars, and the silly "eat a bug" competitions are just a waste of space.  I want them to spend more time on the castaways, because I find their experience so fascinating.  I can see if you have a couple of boring or awkward castaways you'd need the filler crap to make up for the fact that a lot of folks are lousy interviews, but for the most part, their perspective and inside details of their experiences are far more interesting to watch.  Like when they show "never seen before footage" and immediately and directly ask "and what were your thoughts there, at that moment?" you get some interesting stuff.

Dagny, they didn't really figure out why he had the seizure, and the guess is that he was his complete dehydration that caused the seizure, but they couldn't confirm for sure.  So, not knowing, and not being all that confident in the third-world medical care he was risking should something like that happen again, he elected not to return after they had completed their testing.  I don't really call that a "quit" in my books, but they kept calling it that during the "After Dark" show, and I kept shouting at the screen "He didn't quit!  He had an effing seizure and got medivac'd!  He didn't quit!" but they didn't hear me.  When my sister had a seizure out of the blue during her chemo treatments (for non-neuro related cancer) and extensive testing was inconclusive, she was not allowed any activities, had to have someone with her for at least a week, and was restricted from a lot of things from a long time.  There's no way--even if the cause was dehydration--he would have medically been cleared to return to the ordeal, so saying he quit was totally bogus.  I don't really like the guy, but I do think that was unfair.

[rainsmom]

Loved that Alana stuck it out and was sorry Keith had to get medi-vac'd out. I thought he said something in the after show about his blood sugar being zero. Maybe that was just hyperbole, I dunno. When I watched the episode, I speculated that his electrolytes had gotten so out of whack that it had caused the seizure.

I also wish we'd seen more of her time alone. I guess since her shelter was made and she knew where the water and food were (what there was of it), there was less to focus on. Sounds like she was smart enough to sleep as much, and drink as much, as possible to conserve energy. Also seems like there should have been more sea life she could have hunted for.

I was glad when I saw her eating some termites at the end. I always wonder why they don't immediately go on the hunt for bugs and grubs. Those have just about the best protein they could possibly get -- and they're not likely to get injured getting it.

[Dagny]

I can see if you have a couple of boring or awkward castaways you'd need the filler crap to make up for the fact that a lot of folks are lousy interviews, but for the most part, their perspective and inside details of their experiences are far more interesting to watch.

 

I tried to DVR the after show, but it got way too stupid to even FF through it. Stop trying to make it happen and just interview the people.  You had three weeks of footage. You could make a five minute clip of them just failing to catch anything.

I think that a lot of the eps are a mad trade off between finding an isolated place, a place where they won't be killed by the wildlife and a place that should have some food and water.

I would have loved to see more footage of Alana chopping wood and the effort to get food and water without a partner for those 10 days. I think that extra effort was what sank Julie.

[DaWezl]

A couple of random thoughts in no particular order...

1. I was smh at how inept they both appeared to be at water collection. Compared to some episodes, they had no lack of fire or water, so the only issue they needed to solve was a container for boiling. Just from a few episodes of Survivorman, if I had nothing "bowl" shaped, I'd be trying to work out a steam/condensation method. And what was with being on a tropical island and having zero rainwater collection methods set up? Or even just using leaves to channel the water into your mouth like on a previous N&A episode? This in combo w/their fairly low PSR scores made me wonder if they had any real survival experience prior to the show--they certainly didn't seem to be trainers like some of the participants have been.

2. I was trying to figure out how she got a bra strap/bathing suit burn early on, lol.

3. It was very interesting to see the body language/lack of any real personal connection bt them during the After Dark reunion. I would have thought they would have hugged or something when they saw each other again. And then she was turned away from him a lot of the time, even when they were both talking. You could tell neither really liked each other, lol!

[ramble]

I tried to DVR the after show, but it got way too stupid to even FF through it. Stop trying to make it happen and just interview the people.  You had three weeks of footage. You could make a five minute clip of them just failing to catch anything.

Good grief this! The After Dark is pure crap. Quit trying to make it edgy & personality-driven & give us extra footage & let the castaways talk. I wish someone would knock the host in the head for screaming & being so "on". Ugh. 

 

I wanted to be impressed that Alana made it on her own, but they showed us so little it was hard to be much of anything. Keith got evac'd out & then she seemed to just exist. She got scared by something, ate a crab & some termites & walked to the pick-up site. Did she just do nothing of interest in those last 10 or so days? Was the camera crew bored & kept taking naps? It was odd. 

[Dagny]

They only showed her eating the termites when they did the talk over evaluation of her performance!  There were tons of footage they could have showed of her finally breaking down to go for the termites. Ten days is a lot of time to do nothing. She had to of chopped wood or gone to the ponds to gather the water. Something!

[thedaynos]

yes the after dark show is ridiculously pointless, i've stopped DVR'ing it too.

as for these two on the normal n&a show, i was not impressed with either Keith or Alana, but it's obvious that discovery would rather portray this show as two people trying to get along while surviving, as opposed to just "here's how they survived". i think it would be way more interesting if we got to see more survival techniques. I really could care less how well they get along together.  Since they're doing that, and i'm not even joking, they should hone in more on the aspect of how they sleep together and if any of the couples ever make passes at each other or try to cuddle and stuff like that.  But they seem to half ass it in both the relationship and survival aspects. 

show is getting boring to me, i'm not sure i'll keep watching if it continues like this. I never watched season 1 so I don't know if it's always been this way or not.

[msbeesknees]

Something is just off with these shows now. I mean Alana just hopped into the heli like she had tons of energy... I just remember last season, people were f*cking practically DYING... I'm sensing there are safeguards in place now. Anyone else feeling that way?

[DaWezl]

I was wondering what sorts of producer manipulations might be going on--she seemed pretty drained when Keith left and then it was like "Oh yay! Day 21!" with very little explanation of how she made it that far.

[JackKnife]

Something is just off with these shows now. I mean Alana just hopped into the heli like she had tons of energy... I just remember last season, people were f*cking practically DYING... I'm sensing there are safeguards in place now. Anyone else feeling that way?

 

Adrenaline rush knowing she was close to escape.  Pretty simple.

[JackKnife]

A couple of random thoughts in no particular order...

1. This in combo w/their fairly low PSR scores made me wonder if they had any real survival experience prior to the show--they certainly didn't seem to be trainers like some of the participants have been.

 

2. I was trying to figure out how she got a bra strap/bathing suit burn early on, lol.

3. It was very interesting to see the body language/lack of any real personal connection bt them during the After Dark reunion. I would have thought they would have hugged or something when they saw each other again. And then she was turned away from him a lot of the time, even when they were both talking. You could tell neither really liked each other, lol!

Neither of them were teachers, that's true.

The strap burn came from her canvas bag. Obviously. 

And as for why they didn't like each other... well, there's an explanation for that....

[JackKnife]

There's a very good reason why Alana seemed unreasonably angry toward Keith. it was revealed in some of the unused footage that was put on the Discovery Channel website.

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/survivalist-home-decor/

Make a long story short...

1. Keith assured Alana he would stay up while she slept and make sure the fire didn't go out.
2. Keith fell asleep and the fire went out.
3. Keith blamed Alana for this, saying "It's your fire, woman!"

4. Keith spends the next morning drawing designs for chairs on the beach and cutting wood to try and make furniture.
5. Note at that this point they do not have a fire, reliable water or food.
6. He bugs Alana about making her a stool while she is trying to make a fish basket to deal with their food problem.

So... yeah. Everyone above who said Alana was bitchy and that she shouldn't have used bag to make a dress after he was pulled out?  I think Keith's damn lucky she didn't skin him alive and turn him into a dress.