Original subtitles

I see one, Billy. Oh, he's massive.

Holy [bleep] there's another one.

Oh, my god, they're everywhere.

This is dangerous. Billy!

I'm getting the hell out of here.

Narrator: Two strangers...

There's my partner.

...One man and one woman, both experienced survivalists,

have chosen to put their skills to the ultimate test.

Whoo-hoo!

They have no water, no food, and no clothes.

Their challenge is to survive for 21 days...

God, we are so screwed.

...Knowing that the human body

can only live three days without water...

We need water fast.

...And begins to shut down after three weeks without food.

This is the everest of survival challenges.

Can a man and woman

survive alone in the wilderness naked and afraid?

Billy: It's insane here. Everything wants to suck

-- captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

narrator: Louisiana --

home to nearly half of the wetlands

found in the lower united states.

More than a million alligators

and six types of venomous snakes own these swamps.

Among them,

the deadly water moccasin, or cottonmouth,

the world's only pit viper

adapted to living on land and in water.

It's also home to blood-sucking mosquitoes, leeches,

and venomous spiders.

Frequent hurricanes and rain storms lash the swamps,

causing storm surges

that swallow up huge tracts of dry land.

Unbearable humidity and its deadly inhabitants

make this one of the harshest environments

for any human to survive in.

Billy: My name is billy berger.

I'm an outdoor author,

but I've also been fascinated with primitive skills

since before I could drive a car.

I'm proficient in primitive weapons,

primitive hunting,

but this is an environment

that I really don't have much experience in,

so I'm really hoping to not freak out

when things get difficult,

because they're gonna get difficult.

Ky: I'm thinking, "do I have the skills

to match the louisiana swampland?"

my name is ky furneaux.

I've been practicing primitive survival

since I was about 19 years old.

I come from australia,

which is the driest continent in the world,

so I'm not used to swamp.

I'm a stuntwoman by trade,

and it's really taught me to ignore physical discomfort.

If I can survive in here,

I think I'm gonna be able to survive anywhere.

Billy: Wow.

Cannot believe I'm doing this.

Narrator: Ky and billy's arrival

marks the beginning of an unseasonable cold spell.

Temperatures suddenly plummet to the mid '50s.

In this wet environment,

the chilling effect of water on bare skin

means hypothermia will be a significant risk.

This is crazy.

Yep. The weirdest thing I've ever done.

I'm about to head into one of the hardest situations

I've ever been in my life.

I'm not ashamed or embarrassed of nudity,

but these temperatures

are gonna make being naked a real challenge.

Ooh, it's chilly.

I'm a pretty shy person,

and the fact that I'm gonna be running around naked

with somebody I don't even know,

I'm not scared.

I'm absolutely terrified.

This is not awkward at all.

First thing I thought of when I saw billy was,

"good, he's, like, big, tall, and strong.

"but does he have the right mentality

to make it through this?"

hi. How you doing?

How's it going? Nice to meet you.

I'm billy.

I'm ky. Ky.

Good to meet you.

I see you're naked.

Yeah, I know.

I'm naked, too, and you're naked.

Yeah, yeah.

Nice necklace. Thank you.

I'm, like, so embarrassed right now.

Me too.

My first impression of ky was rather attractive,

but she doesn't really look like the wilderness type.

I really hope she's got the survival skills.

Should we check out what we've got?

Those are our bags?

Yeah, I think so.

Narrator: Ky and billy are each allowed to bring

one essential survival item.

I have a fire starter.

We're gonna need that.

It's gonna be very handy out here with all this moisture.

Oh, I've got a knife.

Oh, fantastic.

That is gonna be a big help.

A small crew will capture the 21-day journey

with clear instruction not to intervene

unless there is a medical emergency.

My diary cam. I've got one, too.

In addition, billy and ky are given handheld cameras

to document their own experiences.

Looks like a map.

The map shows

that ky and billy are in an area of dense swampland

with no clear landmarks.

They have to navigate from their insertion point

through the deadly swamp to find an area of high ground.

There they will establish a base for 21 days.

The map shows their extraction point

near a deep open-water breeding ground

teeming with aggressive gators.

There they will wait to be rescued.

Got to get to high ground in this direction.

Let's get the hell out of here.

As part of their selection process,

ky and billy have undergone

rigorous physical and psychological testing.

Their overall survival assessment

has been evaluated by experts according to three categories --

skill, experience, and mental.

Billy's primitive skills score very high,

but doubts about his mental toughness

in extreme survival situations count against him.

Ky's calm, methodical manner earns her a high mental rating,

but her weakness with basic survival techniques

is a disadvantage.

Billy and ky have been given

overall primitive survival ratings, or psr.

Billy scores a psr of 8.1 and ky 6.3.

Our experts will reevaluate their psrs

at the end of the 21-day challenge

if all goes well.

Okay, it's getting deeper.

Billy: Oh, my god.

What? What?

Aah.

Do you know how hard this is for a guy to do?

Do you have any idea?

Trust me, we have just as sensitive bits.

My first impression of billy was

that he was complaining a hell of a lot

from the first second he got in the water,

so I was a little bit concerned.

Oh, that's freezing.

Unbelievable.

I'm naked in the land of venomous snakes.

Will you stop reminding me?

This is insane.

Billy: There's a lot of different stuff out here th

and they are really well-camouflaged.

I mean, if you think about it,

we're just warm, pink, soft bodies,

and everything that wants to take a bite of us

is gonna do its best to do that.

Just follow the white butt cheeks.

The alligators are breeding, they're more aggressive,

and they're gonna be out in force.

That's something I'm really concerned about.

Narrator: Alligators as small as 4 feet

can sever a limb.

And nesting mothers will attack

at the slightest threat to their young.

[ hissing ]

do you hear that? Shh.

I did hear something.

[ hissing ]

hear it?

You know what that is?

An alligator? Yes.

He's calling for his girlfriend.

She's not here.

Just don't come over here. Freakin' naked.

Snake. Snake. Snake.

Right up there. I saw him jump off that branch.

This has got me all, like, on edge.

I have a feeling

it's just gonna be 24/7 paying attention to every step.

Yeah. I think so.

This looks a little more promising.

Look. It looks a little bit drier.

Ky: I'm feeling pretty good about this right now.

I mean, this is not ideal. I mean, it's not dry land.

It's just not ankle deep in water.

Narrator: Ky and billy's campsite

is a 600-square-foot strip of land

rising barely a foot above the swamp.

This meager island is the only high ground

for miles around.

This water is pretty gross.

Honestly, I think this place sucks.

I'm really concerned about drinking water.

We don't even have enough to make shelter.

I mean, this is gonna be slim pickings.

The resources are limited, but the birds are chirping.

[ chuckles ]

it's not all bad.

Ky: What are you thinking we'll sleep on?

Oh, god. I don't know.

We just don't have anything here, really, much to work with.

Narrator: With temperatures in the low 50s

and unpredictable weather conditions,

billy and ky have to make their shelter

as weather-proof and warm as possible.

Billy: If we do get a really good rain,

we have a place we can hunker down in and stay dry.

I found us a treasure

billy: What's that?

No way.

You are kidding me.

When ky was going to get some palmettos,

she comes back with a cooking pot.

This water comes from stagnant pools,

but now we've got something

that we can boil water in and purify it.

Ky: What a great find.

Hopefully, it'll make billy feel a bit better about this place.

Hey, don't move. There's a snake over here.

Where do you think you're going, little guy?

Well, don't chase him over that way.

What do you mean -- oh, did he bite you,

or you get cut from something?

No, he bit me.

And you're 100% positive it's not venomous?

Yeah.

Ky: I'd prefer to have a survival partner

that would probably talk things over with me

before he goes running after something like a snake.

I mean, if billy goes down, I'm on my own out here.

See how his eyes are round -- his pupils?

Mm-hmm.

If it was a venomous snake, he'd have elliptical pupils.

His eyes would look like cat eyes.

This is just a water snake.

This is our first bit of food.

You don't know when food's gonna come along.

I truly think you should kill him.

This is the way it goes, I guess.

Sorry, man.

I promise I'll make it quick.

One little spark.

Narrator: In order to survive the cold night ahead,

ky and billy need to get fire.

Fire will also enable them to purify their water

and cook their food.

Come on.

Here we go.

Nice.

You got it.

Yeah, baby. Get it in there.

We just took a quantum leap in survival.

[ sighs ]

[ chuckling ] yeah!

You just saved our lives.

[ laughs ]

what do you think?

About the snake?

Yeah, what do you think?

Very appreciative to the snake for dying

so that we can go to bed with a full belly.

So I can go to bed with a full belly,

because I think billy is gonna still be hungry after this.

We need a bigger snake.

Oh, my god.

There's another one.

Another one!

They're everywhere.

Keep your eyes out, ky. Something made some ripples.

Oh, he's massive.

Holy [bleep] oh, my god.

We're in trouble.

Billy!

Narrator: Ky and billy have trekked

to a tiny patch of dry land in the louisiana swamplands.

We just don't have anything here, really, much to work with.

Surrounded by stagnant water,

their rudimentary shelter is proving inadequate

as a cold weather front has sent temperatures plummeting.

[ billy grunting ]

so cold.

Ky: The mosquitoes are just eating me alive.

Damn it.

So many.

They are the craziest mosquitoes

I've ever come across in my life.

Billy: It's a freakin' joke in here.

I'm getting the hell out of this damn shelter.

I'm not naked and afraid now. Now I'm naked and pissed off.

That was awful. We need to fix that shelter.

Last night, it was so cold

that we spent the entire night side-by-side shivering,

and if conditions are like this,

it's gonna be a real threat to our health.

We will not survive if it's too cold.

Yeah.

Once we keep weaving more stuff in here,

I think it's really gonna make a difference.

It's just gonna take a lot of palm fronds.

We're gonna have to get on it.

All right, I'm gonna keep collecting materials.

I'm collecting this spanish moss for bedding in our shelter,

which is something we sorely need to help keep us warm.

Ky: Oh.

There's a snake just below my feet.

Hey, bill.

Billy: Yeah?

Water moccasin.

Nothing like making a weapon on the fly, right?

The cottonmouth is

one of the most poisonous snakes out here.

It was one of my biggest concerns.

If we get bit, we're in trouble.

I'm gonna go for this guy because he's food,

and he's a potential danger if any of us step on him.

Narrator: Cottonmouths have heat-sensing glands, or pits,

on their heads,

enabling them to strike at their prey with deadly accuracy.

Crap, I can't believe I'm in here

doing this with this guy.

The bite injects hemotoxic venom,

causing extreme pain, massive tissue damage,

and blood loss.

Death can follow within two days.

1...

2...

3!

Okay.

This is dangerous.

But I got him.

He's still alive, though.

Still perfectly capable of biting, too.

I'm gonna cut his head off.

I mean, there is an art to it, and he's very good at it.

But this is the first time I've felt a bit nervous

about where we're set up to camp.

Head is severed.

You are the mighty hunter.

Now get out of there before another one comes.

Ky: Billy, there's another snake over here.

Billy: Where is he?

He's in this tree here. I see him.

Oh, my god. That is a huge cottonmouth.

Holy [bleep]

there's another one.

Oh, my god, they're everywhere. Look at the size of that one.

I'm getting the hell out of here.

Billy!

Another one!

Billy: Unbelievable how many there are out here.

I mean, this is really unnerving.

We need a lot more materials to make this shelter weatherproof,

but being naked

with so many venomous snakes out here that could kill us,

how in the hell we're gonna do this, I don't know.

Oh, I missed him.

Ah, damn it.

He's in the brush.

I don't want him to get in that water.

He's slowed down. I may be able to get him.

Hope to god there's no gators in here.

Are you sure you should be in there, billy?

Do you want to tangle with him in the water?

Oh [bleep]

there are so many snakes around here

that even if I can just kill one or two, it'll help.

I think you should leave that one, billy,

if you can't see him in there.

Where the hell did he go?

[bleep] I wish we could've gotten that one.

They're gonna be wandering in and out of camp

before we know it.

Billy: Clouds are starting to blow in.

It looks like bad weather is coming,

and we are way behind on our shelter

because of all the snakes.

I saw another cottonmouth, but I couldn't get him.

I mean, it takes --

look at how much material we've had to gather

to make this thing.

It still isn't useable.

This ain't gonna work.

[bleep]

they look great in survival books.

They look so cool and [bleep]

but they don't work worth a [bleep]

[ grunts ]

you let me know if you have another idea,

and we can work on it tomorrow.

No, I don't have an idea now. No idea's gonna work.

I'm not going back there to get bit by a [bleep] snake.

[bleep]

ky: Billy's morale goes and swings in roundabouts.

At times, he really dips low

into feeling dreadful about the situation

and what's going on out here,

so I try not to let it bother me.

Honestly, there's no point, I think,

in getting angry and pissed off at the situation.

It just takes more energy than just figuring out a solution.

So, I'll let him get on with it,

and then when he's ready to come back

and help make this work, that would be good.

'cause I can't do it alone.

Billy: I'm worried --

if the rains come, what the hell we're gonna do.

Narrator: Discouraged, billy is struggling to concentrate

on the task of reinforcing the shelter

while having to deal with the constant snake threat.

Billy: I really wasn't focusing on hunting.

My focus was on fixing that shelter

and getting it weatherproof,

because the rains are gonna come, mark my words.

And if we don't have it weatherproof,

we're gonna be in real trouble.

[ insects chirping ]

we're about to attempt going to bed,

and we're gonna head on in.

As you can see, it's not really finished yet.

There ain't no way.

We got work to do.

Holy [bleep] we do.

Yeah. But let's give it a go.

We're not gonna be able to do anything about this tonight.

[ sighs ]

good night.

[ thunder crashes ]

narrator: An hour before daybreak,

a massive storm hits ky and billy's camp.

Heavy rain and strong winds

drive temperatures down to 48 degrees,

putting them in mortal danger.

Billy.

Oh, my god.

[ thunder crashes ]

[ panting ]

oh, my god, we are so screwed.

The whole camp is flooded.

Our fire is totally dead.

I'm freaking freezing.

[ exhales deeply ]

there's our fire.

And there's the water.

I don't know what we're gonna do.

I have no idea what to do now.

Holy [bleep]

narrator: For the past five days,

ky and billy have been fighting off venomous snakes

and struggling to build a weatherproof shelter

in the louisiana swamplands.

[bleep]

and now a violent storm has brought high winds, rain,

and record low temperatures,

completely flooding

the small patch of dry land they call home.

We are in serious trouble now.

Narrator: Before they embarked on this 21-day challenge,

they were assessed by survival experts

and given a primitive survival rating, or psr.

Their psrs will be reassessed

according to how they cope with the conditions.

Ky: This area is completely flooded.

I mean, everything that we worked so hard for

was swept away.

I mean, look at this. This is all water everywhere.

Narrator: Ky and billy's shelter

was on a small patch of land

barely a foot above the water level.

After the storm, the tiny island in the swamp

has disappeared completely.

Billy: I've never felt so disheartened in my life.

Ky: I'd say we were back to step one,

but we are so far back behind step one.

Narrator: Billy and ky desperately need to figure out

a way of getting a fire going.

Surrounded by stagnant water

and with no means of purifying it,

they now risk dehydration.

Now we've got to build a fire on that?

I mean, this is serious.

I guess my priority would be building something

that we could keep a fire off the level of the ground

for when this area turns into a river again.

How about you work your magic

on how the hell you're gonna make a fire,

and I'll make the platform and start on that?

Okay. Sounds good.

Billy: We need to make a mound, get our fire built there,

and then have some way to protect it from up above, too.

Ky: We're gonna make a lean-to to put over the fire

that will waterproof the fire if the rains come down again.

That looks all right.

No, I can't get it to light now.

We have to have a fire.

Because if we don't get a fire, we won't be able to survive.

Not much, but it all adds up.

Boy, this is gonna be a hell of an accomplishment

if we can get a fire tonight.

All right, ky.

I think we're ready to do this.

Come on. Come on.

Ky: It is so cold here

that if we don't have a fire burning,

we're not gonna survive the night.

Oh, my god, I see flames!

We got to nurse it. Hang on.

We're not out of the woods yet.

You did it!

Oh, my god, we did it.

[ chuckles ]

just set it on the sleeping platform?

Sure.

Let's set it there for right now.

I can't even describe how happy I am to see the flames.

I mean, this is life.

Craziest thing I've ever seen.

I know.

Fire on a platform of mud surrounded by water.

I thought I'd seen it all.

Ky: I stood here this morning and I was like, "we're done."

and out of a 4-foot patch of dry land,

we've created our home again.

It's pumping out some heat now.

She's burning good.

Billy: Having everything that you've worked for

for the last five days washed away

and being able to bounce back as quickly as we were,

I can't believe we did it.

I do just feel like giggling.

[ chuckles ] maybe it's delirium.

We're gonna make this swamp our bitch!

[ chuckles ]

ky: It's night 6,

and there are leeches everywhere in this water.

It's just one more thing

that the louisiana swamplands are gonna throw at us.

Billy: Look at that nasty bastard.

Come on. Let go.

It's like a freakin' eel.

Everything wants to suck your blood and kill you.

My foot hurts.

Narrator: Ky and billy have been immersed in stagnant swamp water

for more than 48 hours...

[ billy groans ]

...And it's taking a toll on their feet.

Billy: It looks like something's going on there.

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Being in this water constantly gives you immersion foot.

Immersion foot's the beginnings of trench foot,

where your flesh will start to decay and rot off.

[ sighs ]

billy: The skin is constantly soft.

It's very easy to step on thorns, poke holes in your feet.

Then you introduce bacteria,

and then you can get a bad infection.

Walking around on broken sticks,

it hurts twice as much as if my feet were dry.

I just want to grab the bottom and rip all my skin off

to try and give it some relief.

Oh, those feet. They look awful.

We can rest our feet and try to make some traps,

because we haven't had anything to eat in a while.

Since this water has come up,

the snakes have virtually disappeared,

but we've been seeing a lot of crawfish

down here in this slough

but have not been able to catch any.

I don't know how much more I'm gonna be able to go

without some kind of calories coming in me.

It looks so damn simple.

Can you believe this?

It's like a supermarket for these birds out here.

[bleep] man.

Catching them all over the place.

He's over here. He's over there.

He just picks them out of the water like they're nothing.

I'm extremely pissed off

because the animals can find food out here, but we can't.

What the [bleep] man?

This is when I get pissed and start breaking [bleep]

we're gonna get through this, billy.

[ sighs ]

ky: Billy is really struggling, both mentally and physically.

I know I can't survive without him,

so I'm finding I'm having to motivate him.

And it's so hard to be the energy

for both of us at the moment.

Now we have this awesome trap,

but nothing to bait the crawfish.

How about leeches?

I've never used bloody leech as bait.

But then again, I've never dealt with a bloody leech, so...

Narrator: Desperate for food,

ky and billy risk using their battered, infected feet

to attract blood-sucking leeches to bait their crawfish trap.

How's the leech fishing going?

Come on. Let go.

Get off.

Come on. I'm not gonna quit.

There you go.

Ugh. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Yeah.

Ky: I think that we've got a good bait

for our crawfish trap.

Regardless of what it is, we need to find food.

We need it bad.

Good job, team. Let's see what happens.

I'm gonna check the trap, billy.

Billy: Anything?

One, but it fell out and got away.

Damn it!

Son of a bitch.

Ky: I didn't expect them to be able to escape,

but that was just what happened.

Billy: I'm running on empty right now.

I just don't want to suffer like this.

And I'm so hungry that I fantasize about food.

I wish I would've known

what I was getting into before I started this,

'cause I wouldn't have done it.

There's no way.

Ky: You know, I know he has the skills to make it out here,

but it's more about a mind-set.

And if he doesn't want to be here,

it's going to just be worse for both of us in the long run.

Can't remember the last time I've shivered

for over 48 hours straight.

I am literally starving right now.

Narrator: For the past 10 days,

ky and billy have barely eaten anything.

Billy is sinking deeper into depression,

while ky struggles to keep them both positive.

The floodwaters haven't receded

since the storm that devastated their camp on day 5.

Their feet are infected,

and their energy reserves are severely depleted

from trying to stay warm.

We've got a lot of firewood collecting to do.

I don't want my foot to be a perpetual infection.

We do need to get the wood. Yeah.

Yeah.

We're not going to get through tonight without that.

Ky: We have to roam so far to get wood dry enough to burn.

I don't know how long our feet can take it.

[ sighs ]

I don't know how many trips I have in me.

Maybe one more back.

My feet are just...

Okay. ...Agony.

The conditions that we're in are beyond comprehension.

Ky: My feet are so painful.

It's the toughest conditions I've ever been in,

and we're both exhausted.

I feel like everything we do

is just to get through the next moment.

I'm dehydrated, I'm sleep deprived,

I'm starving, and my feet are killing me.

I can't stand this damn swamp.

Ky: And I think, honestly,

at the end of my rope.

Billy: I mean, this place sucks.

And honestly, I mean, I'm done.

Time to get the hell out.

I mean, this is getting us nowhere.

Where do you think we're gonna go from here?

I saw the water flowing this way.

High ground's got to be up here somewhere.

When we came in here,

I didn't see one piece of dry land anywhere.

I mean, that just seems suicidal to me.

Well, I don't think staying here is doing us any good.

Ky: Billy hasn't even got off the platform for the last four d

and yet he feels like he has the energy

to search for some new bit of something

that we don't even know exists?

You know, you can make the decision you want to make,

but I'm at my wit's end.

I'm to the point where it's either we tap out

or we find another place to live.

Ky: Relocating and restarting this late in the game scares me,

but I need him and he needs me out here in this swamp.

We came into this as a team. We're going out as a team.

All right. Then we'll do it.

We'll start bright and early tomorrow morning

and see what we can find.

Okay.

That way.

Narrator: It's a desperate move.

Billy and ky have no food or water

and no protection

from the many deadly reptiles lurking in the swamp.

Cold, wet, and demoralized,

they hope that by heading north against the flow of water,

they will eventually make it to some dry land

before nightfall.

Billy: I don't know what lies outside of my eyesight.

It is a complete gamble.

Billy: Covered in freakin' thorns.

Ky: There's a water moccasin over here.

Where?

Something just backed away.

Where did he go?

All right, I'm getting out of this area.

Is it just me, or is this getting worse?

It's not looking very good, is it?

Ky: We have no idea where we're going.

We're in deeper water than we've been in in 14 days.

I'm freezing.

[ gasps ] snake. Snake. Snake.

Let me come around by you.

Oh, he's a big one.

Ah, missed him. Down he went.

That's got me really, really nervous right now.

Keep that sun to our right side and just keep going.

I can't see anything that would even suggest dry land.

Oh, my god, it's all the same. It just keeps on going.

How much longer you think we're gonna do this, billy?

I'm exhausted.

We got to find something, or we're done.

I'm done.

I might've made a mistake doing this.

Billy!

What?

I think there's some land up here.

It still looks swampy. I can't tell.

Billy, that is dry land.

Unbelievable.

[ sighs ]

I feel so relieved.

Billy: When we did finally see some grass

and some dirt and some trees, it was a great feeling.

We just wanted to get there as quickly as possible

and get out of the water.

Oh, my god.

Oh, that looks fantastic.

Oh, whoo-hoo!

Wow. Look at that land!

I know. Whoo-hoo!

Oh. I can see where I'm putting my feet.

It feels so easy to walk now.

It is a fantastic feeling to step onto dry ground.

This is beautiful.

Palm trees everywhere.

Perfect for a beautiful shelter.

That is how you do that.

Well, I want to lie down.

Ky: I'm so glad we left that other place,

but you only have so many calories left in your body

to burn in a day,

and we just went above and beyond.

[ yawns ]

who knows what exists on this piece of dry land along with us,

but I just want to lie down

and go to oblivion for the rest of the night.

[ sighs ]

ky: Yesterday's hike, we just burnt serious reserves.

Not feeling good?

Just don't have any energy.

This is what I was sort of afraid of.

It's one thing heading off,

but it's another thing re-establishing in a new area.

Billy: I'm malnourished.

Ky: We're both feeling really dehydrated

and exhausted and starving.

Definitely making the next six days

look fairly impossible at this stage.

Narrator: The swamp is unrelenting,

taking billy and ky beyond the limits

of their mental and physical endurance.

Billy: I am literally starving right now.

They need to get some food

to help them recover from the ordeal of their trek.

Their survival depends on ky keeping her partner focused

and using his skills to keep them alive.

I don't know how much more I'm gonna be able to go.

We need to eat.

I reckon we should get some weapons together.

That's true.

Seeing lots of tracks and stuff.

I'd hate to miss out on an opportunity.

Come on, billy. Got to get up and get moving.

Billy is getting harder and harder to motivate.

Whew!

Come on.

I need him to be on it, I need him to be alert,

and I need him to be thinking about

how we can bring some bigger game down.

We need to eat something

or else we're not gonna make it through.

I hope we can get something.

Oh, it's beautiful. Oh, it's gorgeous.

Tracks.

This looks like deer track.

Ky: Looks like there's some kind of track

up here from the water.

Looks wet.

Oh, yeah.

Something must've just walked out of there.

And look. It goes into this log.

I hear it.

Oh, yeah. I see him.

I see you, buddy.

Ky: You can start calling him dinner.

[ growls ]

I got a good shot right here through his vitals.

If this'll bug you, you probably want to turn away.

[ growls ]

that's perfect. Okay.

I decided to try and do

this kind of underwater rake technique.

You ready? I'll be the catcher.

Go to the bottom of the slough and then push all the water out

and try to drive up any animals that were hiding in the leaves.

Let's just see what we get.

What is that? It's a fish.

Oh, it's tadpoles.

Oh, we could eat them.

They're almost like little shrimp.

Billy: When you haven't eaten and you're starving,

pretty much anything starts to look like a meal.

That worked pretty good. That was great.

I'm gonna try to dispatch him as quickly as I can.

Narrator: In the last 17 days,

ky and billy have eaten barely enough to survive.

After a violent storm washed them out of their camp,

they faced an exhausting trek to a new location,

which has completely depleted their energy reserves.

Desperate for food, ky and billy discover a large rodent.

It's a vital source of protein they sorely need.

That would be some good eating if we could get him.

This ought to do it.

[ growling, squeals ]

ky: I mean, I can battle the elements, starvation,

but hearing that nutria die, that's almost my undoing.

Give me my club, ky, please.

If this'll bug you, you probably want to turn away.

[ sighs ]

we did it. That's dinner.

I know it's not easy to look at, but we need to eat.

Felt bad for her, I felt bad for the animal,

but you can't pass up an opportunity like this.

You don't eat, you die.

This is protein.

Yeah. This is real protein.

I'm so happy now.

What a turnaround from the other 16 days.

Feel like a man now.

Check me out.

Whoo-hoo!

There they are. We're like a matching pair.

Good job.

Since we moved our camp to this new location,

things have been much better,

but nothing here is easy.

Let's see. So...

This is our extraction point.

I don't know what awaits us tomorrow when we leave,

what hazards we're gonna face.

We're just gonna go slowly and carefully

and try to get out safely and in one piece.

There are gators everywhere and snakes.

We've just got to be really alert.

It's our 21st day,

and we're finally getting out of here.

Narrator: Ky and billy struggled for two weeks

at their first camp

before being forced to relocate to their current site.

Their extraction point lies in open water,

which will enable them to be picked up,

but the deeper water means

they are in the killing zone of aggressive alligators.

Ky: Let's get wet for the last time.

Billy: You think we're going the right way?

I sure hope so.

This is the prime alligator and moccasin territory.

I know. You don't want to splash around.

Narrator: Alligators can swim at 20 miles an hour.

They hunt in the deeper waters of the swamp,

where they lurk on the surface

before sinking silently to attack their prey.

Keep your eyes out, ky.

A gator's not gonna show himself.

Something made some ripples up there.

Oh, yeah. There's ripples, isn't there?

[ gasps ] I see one, billy.

Where?

It's on the other side. Oh, he's massive.

Wow.

He's getting closer. Really?

[ gasps ] he's really close.

I see him. He's right there.

[bleep] there's another one.

Billy: The gators we're seeing now are man-eaters.

We may have to contend with some big reptiles

before we make it out of here.

I got eyes on the one in the water in front of us.

I'll keep an eye out for gators, you check the map.

So, this is it.

All right. This is it.

I'm not sure how we're gonna get out of here

'cause we're standing in waist-deep water

and there are big alligators

between us and our extraction point.

We've got to get out in the water.

We got to get out and exposed so they can see us.

Just keep your eyes on him.

Where's that other one, ky?

I can't see him yet.

You can hear a helicopter.

[ helicopter blades whirring ]

I see them.

There's gators down there.

I'm gonna circle -- see if we can scare them off.

Ky: The chopper landed, and all I could think of was

I just wanted to get out of this gator-infested water.

Whoo-hoo!

Yeah! Whoo!

[ both shouting ]

we did it!

What this experience has really, really shown me is

it's not how many skills or layers that you have,

it's your attitude in life

that's gonna get you through the tough times.

Narrator: Over the course of the 21 days,

ky and billy went through

a major mental and physical transformation.

Ky lost 18 pounds

and billy a total of 42 pounds.

Billy: I mean, we struggled,

but having ky as an anchor,

I think I learned that I am capable

of being much tougher than I initially thought.

Narrator: Survival experts reassessed

ky and billy's primitive survival ratings

based on how they performed in the louisiana swamp.

Billy: I got him.

Narrator: Billy showed tremendous ability,

but became discouraged by the enormity of the challenge.

Ky: Come on, billy.

Narrator: Ky showed superior mental resilience,

but relied heavily on billy's primitive survival skills.

Still, as a team, they complemented one another

and conquered one of the most inhospitable environments

known to man.

This brings billy's psr up to an 8.9

and ky's to 7.7,

proving they both have what it takes to survive

naked and afraid.

Being able to do this and get through it

really opened my eyes

to what the human body and the human spirit can endure.

Captions paid for by discovery communications