[imagesource: Discovery]

My ideal holiday is somewhere in the bush, with zero cellphone reception, where nobody can bother me.

As a general rule, though, I won’t go naked 24 hours a day and hunt to survive.

The Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid series is one of those ‘reality’ shows I always considered to be heavily edited and contrived.

Then I read Blair Braverman’s superb article on Outside, titled ‘Everything On ‘Naked and Afraid’ Is Real—And I Lived It’, and I had a newfound respect for those who take part.

Give it a read – she was terrified during her time surviving in Mapungubwe, on the northern border of South Africa.

Warrick Harvey can relate, having taken part in the show himself. Recently, Carte Blanche spoke with Warrick about the experience:

It’s a very public test of endurance – two strangers, meeting for the first time, bound by a single purpose: to survive 21 days in the wilderness while completely naked.

Naked and Afraid is one of the most extreme and popular reality television shows and, when South African Warrick Harvey was offered the opportunity to participate, it was a dream come true.

But after three weeks of living in the wild with no food, the reality of reality TV finally hit home. Painfully underweight and emotionally withdrawn, how did Warrick survive the torment that followed?

He was sent to spend his three weeks on the banks of the Zambezi River and the challenges soon mounted.

Rather Warren than me:

[source:carteblanche]