Original subtitles

[ Elephant trumpets ]

Oh [bleep]

Narrator: They survived in pairs and in groups,

and now the best of the best

are taking on their greatest challenge yet...

to survive 21 days...

Holy [bleep]

...with no support...

Oh, my God!

...no one to watch their back...

Man: This is my shot.

Narrator: ...Completely exposed.

[ Groaning ]

I'm terrified.

Whoo!

Just got through customs.

Just headed to my gate.

It's getting real, baby.

It's getting real, woo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

♪

First impressions.

It's a little chilly here in the morning.

Like pretty much everything is gray.

This place is dense.

Something could just show up out of nowhere.

You know, there's predators all around here.

♪

My name is Max Jimoi.

I started as a fan.

The last two years

I've completed the 14-day fan challenge,

21-day challenge,

and the 40-day XL challenge.

I'm a primitive survivalist.

I'm an outdoorsman.

I'm a person that thrives in the outside.

I just don't quit.

Whoo!

Narrator: Max's solo survival rating

was established based on

how he performed on his past challenges

in three areas...

self-reliance, mental toughness, and skills.

On his fan challenge in Panama,

Max struggled with a less skilled partner.

I feel like I'm doing double the work.

You came into this with like, no skills for this.

I can't take insult after insult.

I'm not insulting you.

No, I don't want to talk anymore.

I just don't want to talk anymore.

But his persistence at fishing

scored a food win

that propelled them to the finish line.

Mmm.

It is very good.

During his 21 days in Isla San Jose,

Max worked to overcome another difficult pairing.

Max: Just going to stand around?

Dude, you're not my boss

so stop acting like it, all right?

Well, then start working.

Don't [bleep] start ordering me around

or we're going to have some serious [bleep] problems.

Narrator: And then Max was hit

with the loss of his partners by day 13.

I don't want to be here anymore, I can't do this.

It's your decision.

Max: It's relentless out here,

you know, it could break anybody.

Narrator: But his determination and resourcefulness

helped him to survive the remaining 8 days, alone.

This will get me through extraction.

On his challenge in the Philippines,

Max risked his life in shark-infested waters

to secure a much needed win and completed 40 grueling days.

Man: Wow! You got coconuts!

Max: We're all in it to help each other out right now.

Contributing, thank you. Thank you.

This challenge is going to be much harder

than all my other challenges.

Even though I felt like I could have done it by myself

in all the other challenges,

I still had help along the way.

I still had someone to help me

put in that work that you need in order to survive.

Narrator: As Max attempts 21 days alone,

his SSR stands at 8.7.

Max: Now I'm going to have to step my survival skills up.

You know, just evolve as a survivalist.

I want to push myself at hunting,

primitive fire building,

and if I can finish this challenge alone,

I can prove that I'm one of the savviest survivalists out there.

♪

Here we go, South Africa.

Whoo!

Here we go again.

All right.

It's colder than it looks.

Here's my stuff.

Narrator: Max was allowed to choose three essential items

to help him survive this environment.

Max: Here we go.

Trusty kukri.

Got this primitive bow.

And then we got my pot.

And then I got to pull out my map here.

It looks like I'm right here,

right next to this big old anthill.

And it looks like my water source is that way,

due east from here.

This is going to be a challenge.

Narrator: Max enters South Africa's Selati region

as winter tightens its grip on the arid plateau,

and temperatures swing wildly.

Max will have to endure 90-degree days.

Frigid 40-degree nights,

and receding water sources.

While competing with predators for precious protein...

lions that can communicate through flicks of their tails,

to sneak up on unsuspecting prey.

And aggressive African rhinoceros,

responsible for 200 human deaths each year

that can charge anyone threatening their territory

at 40 miles per hour.

♪

♪

Max: 21 days, baby.

The only partner I have is mother nature.

Hopefully we can agree on more things

than we can disagree on.

So far it's hot.

Getting thirsty, and there's thorns everywhere.

Getting worked.

These bad boys will pop tires.

You got to take care of your feet

because everyone's a tough guy until their feet are [bleep] up.

♪

Bunch of animal tracks here.

Out here, I'm scared of lions,

I'm scared of charging hippos, black rhinos.

You know, these are the biggest animals on earth

all in one concentrated area,

and they can take you out.

Oh [bleep]

[ Exhales sharply ]

Those are the worst.

It's definitely getting more lush around here.

You can just see it in the leaves.

I see mud.

Oh, I see water.

Yes, we found some water.

Whoo!

It's like a mud bath more than it is water,

but it is what it is.

♪

Yummy.

It's looking pretty... pretty murky, pretty muddy.

It's so gross, but I just need a drink.

♪

I got to boil this really well.

Who knows what's in this water.

Oh, yeah.

All right.

Here we go.

Now we got to find a nice place to set up.

♪

It's so hard working with these thorns.

Shelter building.

First move is kind of setting a boundary,

and then just start piling on as many stickers as possible.

Now we're talking.

Whoa, that's the centerpiece of my crib right there.

What up, champ?

Sick.

With that little soul patch.

Just make it super uninviting for anything

to want to come in there.

♪

Aah!

I've just been getting poked and stabbed, like, everywhere.

That's so gnarly.

It's definitely tough

for doing all this manual labor by yourself.

Kind of take for granted having a partner,

but you know, still jamming.

Got to check out my new buddy here,

willy the wildebeest.

Yeah.

Rock and roll.

♪

I'm going to have to start working on this fire.

That's warmth.

That's food getting cooked.

That's water.

That's scaring predators away.

Freaking perfect.

This is the first challenge

that I've actually had to use a bow drill.

I've had a fire starter in every single one of my challenges.

Badda bing badda boom.

I can't wait to drink something.

Working with the bow drill is all about using friction

to get an ember going.

That's hard enough in a controlled environment.

Out here, my life depends on it.

[Bleep].

♪

♪

There it is.

Whew.

Yeah, baby.

Whoo!

That means I can drink.

Well, damn, it feels good to be a gangster.

This is epic.

Just got a fire,

which is probably the biggest survival win so far.

Feels super, super good.

♪

That's nasty.

Need to figure out a way to filter some of this crap.

♪

All right. That's a wrap for day one.

Got my boma.

Got my fire.

[ Rhinoceros grunts ]

Oh, man.

Check out this white rhino.

[ Grunting continues ]

That's kind of why I chose this,

this area right here.

I got this nice tree I can just crawl up

if a rhino were to come in here and charge.

They can't really get height on you,

so if you can get up into a tree you're safe.

But they're aggressive, they pretty much walk around

like they got a stick up their butt

and they're ready to charge anything in sight,

so I'm not trying to be on their menu.

♪

♪

♪

[ Rhinoceros grunting ]

The rhino's back right now.

He's right outside.

Like, 20 feet away.

♪

[Bleep].

He's right there.

Hey, get on out of here.

Get on.

♪

♪

[Bleep].

He's right there.

Hey, get on out of here.

Get on.

♪

Okay.

He's gone.

Thank you.

♪

♪

Day 2.

Made it through my first night.

Already seeing, you know, signs of huge predators.

So, got to mark your territory.

Close off this zone right here,

and it will add some protection to it.

Yeah.

♪

♪

I need some water.

Man.

It's not the most inviting water source I've ever had.

Animals are defecating in there, feces,

just stewing all day in the heat.

Look at this [bleep] prehistoric creature

I just pulled out of this pond.

It's like an underwater cockroach.

Be free my prehistoric nasty animal.

Yikes.

So, decided to use my bag as a filtration system,

and then I'll boil it.

Using my bag to filter the water

is superior to just scooping it straight out of there.

I really hope this works out.

♪

[ Wind howling ]

Just want to get a little sleep, but it's miserable.

Even with this fire,

it is so [bleep] cold right now.

It's probably around 45 degrees.

It would be nice to be sharing some heat

with somebody at least.

Bro, we got enough room right here man, no big deal.

We can both lay together, dog,

that's how we're going to stay warm.

I'm not going to [bleep] cuddle you or anything.

Yeah, I don't.

Dude, this is a survival situation.

I mean, this fire is a God-send,

but I'm still freezing my balls off.

It's like I'm burning on one side

and freezing on the other.

The cold is that way in the heat.

♪

[ Elephant trumpets ]

♪

It's fricking cold.

You can seriously...

watch. You can see my breath.

So today it's essential for me to get a little lean-to going.

♪

Something to reflect heat within my boma.

Oh, yeah.

The first step, you have to make two prongs,

put them together,

and then put the beam through the middle,

and just have like an a-frame,

like the old school tarp tents.

And then just lash that together as tight as possible.

Narrator: Next, Max creates a lattice made of sticks,

then uses foliage as insulation to block wind and reflect heat.

Max: Hopefully that retains a little bit more heat tonight.

That's crucial.

♪

I need some food,

some sustenance to keep me going.

Today I'm going to really focus on hunting,

and I'm ashing up

so I can cover my scent a little bit better.

I'm sure if you're a wild animal,

you can smell me coming.

Narrator: The carbon in ash works as an odor absorbing sponge,

masking Max's scent.

♪

Max: My survival skills have never entailed

killing large animals,

but I'm seeing food here.

And now it's time for me to use my bow.

♪

[Bleep] Are you kidding me?

I was so close.

♪

I had the perfect opportunity to capitalize on a giant buck.

♪

Ah. [Bleep]

It snapped in half.

Are you serious?

[ Sighs ]

[ Bleep ]

♪

Day 5.

I've had a couple chances to capitalize on some protein.

Little disappointed.

You know, I'm just not hitting my shots.

Also, I've been kind of neglecting drinking this water

because it's been just running [bleep] havoc on me.

That bag filter didn't work,

so I'm only drinking when I have to.

[ Sighs ]

I can't afford to keep doing this.

♪

Day 7.

I'm feeling pretty rough.

This is by far, the hardest challenge yet.

It's a battle 24-7.

My other challenge is

I had an opportunity to catch crabs here and there.

♪

You're mine, you're mine.

That's dinner tonight, baby.

[Bleep] Yeah.

Whoo!

You know if I was a better hunter,

I think I would have had food by now.

So hopefully I get some impala.

I really, really need this.

♪

A kill right now would just reinforce

that I belong in this challenge.

I belong to be thriving.

It's big protein or bust.

But one of these shots is going to pay off.

Practice makes perfect.

♪

[ Insects chirping ]

It's pretty late.

Definitely missing my fam, food.

I really want to make everyone proud, crush this.

I got to get me a kill tomorrow.

I got the jitters out.

I just need to bring it to animal instinct.

♪

I've been sitting for about two hours.

I got to get myself some dinner.

I need a win, baby.

I need a [bleep] win.

Just visualize and execute.

Just like sports, just see yourself doing it.

♪

We got some impala.

♪

♪

I just nailed an impala.

I'm going to track her down.

♪

I hit her right here.

Right now, I'm looking for a blood trail.

♪

Wonder where I hit him then?

[Bleep]

Still no blood.

♪

[Bleep].

♪

Max: I see blood.

[Bleep] Where did I hit it, then?

[Bleep]

Oh, she's right there.

Oh, my God.

♪

Oh baby.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

Oh my God.

Thank you.

[ Sniffles ]

You're so [bleep] beautiful.

I'm so thankful.

[ Sniffles ]

You got to survive.

Narrator: A female impala will yield 40 pounds of meat,

or 8 days worth of food.

♪

The first time skinning a mammal.

I've done my research

and watched a ton of YouTube videos

on how to do this.

Man, it's fricking hard.

I'm making a [bleep] hack-job of this

but I got her heart, baby.

But you know, it's all a growing experience.

Whoo.

So I got it gutted.

Now I am making a smoker for it.

It's about 500 yards away from my boma

so I can keep the meat and the predators away from me.

I can smoke it and preserve it

and have it for the rest of this challenge.

I'm on the right track.

Got this smoker here, boom.

About to put obviously, a fire pit down here.

I'm going to use a lot of the sun,

because the smoke just needs to billow up into it.

Get this fire going.

♪

♪

Still not time to celebrate.

Hyenas, lions will take this [bleep] out.

I got to make a giant boma around it

so hopefully that's a deterrent enough

that they don't want to come and eat this.

So I got my first bush kill today.

Yeah!

Look at all that meat, baby.

Looking like Snoop Dogg's house on 4/20,

just straight smoking.

I'm going to go stash these up in the trees

away from my shelter,

and hope to God

that this makes it through the night.

♪

This'll be a good night.

Oh, yeah.

♪

Mmm.

Those are the moments you dream of,

whole mouth full of meat.

I wish I could share this with my XL family.

[ All cheering ]

Miss you guys.

[ Insects chirping ]

♪

♪

♪

Got a big kill yesterday.

It was amazing.

I made my case to be part of the elite survivalists out here.

But this water is still running a [bleep] number on me.

I'm barely obtaining any nutrients from it

because I'm literally just crapping it out.

Charcoal should minimize the effects of this pond sludge.

This is essentially what you should drink

if you're getting poisoned

because it neutralizes whatever's in your stomach.

Please lord, let my meat still be there.

Yep, got both of these legs right here.

[Bleep]

It's what's for dinner.

I am cave man. I must eat meat.

Hopefully my meat shack across the way is impenetrable.

Uh-oh.

Something definitely got after it last night.

[Bleep]

That whole lower rack has been eaten.

♪

All right, well I'm taking this [bleep] with me for sure.

I'd rather battle them in my shelter than anywhere else.

♪

So, lost about a quarter of it.

Still got a big old leg right there.

I have been urinating all around my shelter.

Animals realize I've established this area as my zone,

so I feel confident it's pretty safe here.

♪

♪

The crux of this whole challenge is drinking this water.

♪

It's not sanitary by any means.

And it just keeps running the [bleep] gambit

on my intestines here.

[ Groans ]

I'm just super dehydrated.

I thought with my big protein win

I'd be set,

but this water's killing me.

If I don't do something soon, it's going to take me out.

Boom, there goes my challenge, there goes my life.

I got to get out of here,

I need a legitimate water source.

[ Groans ]

♪

I just really want a good water source,

because... yeah.

Just please, God, just let me... help me out here.

Day 15.

I've decided to move on.

Looks like we're right here.

Extraction's over here.

So essentially I'll be heading to...

looks like almost a river.

This is my only option.

♪

I need to make myself some shoes for this next journey coming up,

just because everything out here

wants to stab your feet.

I feel like it's going to be a long mission to water.

You know, I'm going in hopes of a legitimate water source.

I don't really know.

♪

[Bleep]

They're kind of fresh though, right?

♪

Grabbing some elephant dung

so I can get a little ember fire going

so I can just start a fire

as soon as I get to this new location.

It's just one thing I don't have to worry about.

Yeah, I'm ready to get out of here.

♪

Narrator: Max risks further dehydration

as he embarks on a 4-mile hike south

to find a more viable water source.

Max: Currently just going to keep following this river bed down.

It's going to be a long mission to water,

so if I can get to this new location

and the water over there is crap,

I would tap.

♪

Whew, it's hot.

Got to keep charging though, stay positive.

Hope for the best, you know, prepare for the worst.

♪

Look at that.

♪

Big old lion prints right here.

That thing's a monster.

This is a straight-up kill zone.

♪

I see water.

Hell yeah.

It doesn't look great but it looks way better.

You can see the bottom.

This is far better than my last location.

Whoo-hoo.

So this is my new water source.

I like green over dark, dirty brown any day.

But right now, I'm going to get some water going

after that long hike.

I'm just so thirsty.

♪

[ Elephant trumpets ]

Oh [bleep]

[ Elephant trumpeting ]

Oh [bleep]

Got some elephant down the way.

♪

And they have a baby with them.

Oh, God.

♪

But, yeah, my shelter is potentially right here.

So you have offsprings and large animals,

need to get away.

Elephants take precedence around here.

They're the bosses so I'm not going

to put myself between cubs and lions.

I'm not going to put myself between calves and elephants.

They're very dangerous, they're no joke.

I'm in it, I'm by myself.

There is no complacency when you're by yourself.

On my 40-day challenge,

I almost stepped on a baby viper.

That could have killed me.

I could have died on the spot.

Max: I don't want to make him mad.

- Oh, oh. [Bleep] - Oh [bleep].

With the sun where it's at,

I don't have the liberty to hang around

and figure out what they're going to do.

I got to get out of here.

So vacating my premise here,

start building a boma down the way.

♪

[ Animals chirping ]

I got this fire ember and elephant dung.

Lit up the fire,

that's a huge win right off the bat

just because that means I can purify water

and scare away predators.

Ahh.

That actually tastes good.

I can drink that [Bleep] right there.

Time to get to work.

♪

I found a legit spot to set up a boma,

but I got a lot to do,

and I'm definitely running out of daylight.

I don't have time to build an insulated shelter right now,

which is scary.

It's [bleep] cold at night, super hot during the day.

That contrast of extremes is just tough.

So it's going to get interesting tonight.

♪

♪

It's so freaking cold at night.

I really hope I can make it through the night here.

♪

Winter in south Africa is no joke.

I thought Africa, and I was like,

"yup, it should be easy climate-wise."

But nope, South Africa, not so much.

I'm trying to stay warm.

♪

Night one in the new boma location,

within an hour of trying to fall asleep,

it got bone-chilling cold.

It's definitely the coldest night

I've had on "Naked and Afraid" ever.

Without a doubt.

♪

Plan for today is make a bomber shelter

that will maintain a fire inside of it.

Mud it up, brick-and-mortar style.

♪

Narrator: Max's shelter,

modeled on a sub-Saharan mud hut,

starts with a brick-and-mortar base

of stones and mud.

Next, he constructs a round igloo-like enclosure

from stacked river rocks.

Finally, palm leaves and river reeds

create an insulated roof.

Very robust.

To be able to build a fricking stone shelter,

moving hundreds of pounds of rocks just to stay warm,

that's thriving in a survival situation.

My little shelter looking pretty bomber right now.

It's tough you know, I miss my family.

You know, it's just...

You can't think about those type of things,

'cause you're in the moment

you have to be here.

You know, once you start floating off,

that's when you start going off the deep end

and you don't want to do that.

My last 21-day challenge,

everyone left me on day 13, everyone.

It was pouring down rain, the bugs were bad.

♪

First night by myself,

just started monsoon raining out of nowhere.

It's fricking cold.

But I made it to the end, just like my other challenges.

To be passing the finish line, it's huge.

[ All cheering ]

So I just got to power through.

[Bleep] Power through.

♪

[ Wind howling ]

I just woke up,

freaking wind storm going on out there.

My beard, there's crap all up in it.

But my rock shelter seems to be holding up pretty well

but there's still holes all in it.

Oh, it's cold.

Crazy.

♪

All right, so last couple nights have been absolutely frigid,

like seriously, the coldest nights of my life.

So going to work on my shelter,

I'm going to insulate with the grass.

Oh, yeah.

It's been pretty tough

since I've been putting in so much work

I've been eating probably more than I probably should have.

I'm down to around like 10 pieces of biltung.

I have 3 days left before I hit the road for extraction.

You know, it's cutting it close but you know, stay tuned,

because I'll let you know if I'm warm or not

and I'll let you know if...

yeah, if I was just a waste of calories or not.

♪

[ Insects chirping ]

So this shelter is working great.

Oh, it's so warm in here.

It's toasty.

I feel like a wood-fire-oven piece of pizza.

Yeah.

Pepperoni.

♪

Day 20.

Whoo!

Made it this far.

Pretty crazy.

Just thinking about family and friends

and how much I dearly miss them.

But it's still not over yet.

I still go one more night.

I got to push through.

You know, I can see the finish line,

it's getting close.

So it's all on me.

♪

[ Lion roars ]

♪

And I just totally hear a lion over here, roaring.

That's scary, you know.

Respect the king of the jungle, that's for sure.

♪

♪

♪

[ Animal growls softly ]

[ Animal roars softly ]

♪

♪

There's something pretty close to my shelter.

Whatever it is, it sounds big.

It sounds very big.

A lot of movement out here.

Hey!

Get going!

Hey!

Move along!

Hey!

♪

Get off!

You better get on out of here.

♪

♪

Willy the wildebeest.

Look at that.

That's fricking stellar.

Willy's not looking too hot.

He's looking willy [really] Bad.

And I willy [really] Don't want to be like that.

Willy, I brought food.

I know you're dying to eat.

He's my first friend, but, yeah, you got to move on.

Be free, willy, be free.

Ah!

Max: You better get on out of here.

Hey!

Keep on moving.

Sounds like he's making his way out of here.

There's so many predators out here,

like, how am I still alive?

Whew.

♪

It's extraction day.

Definitely heard some lions last night.

They were stalking around the boma.

They definitely saw and heard me.

They were too close for comfort, that's a little scary.

♪

I'm about to head out,

and it looks like I have to make my way east.

I just see a long trek. It's going to be a long one.

I'm a little apprehensive about this hike.

I'm still not done yet,

but you know, I really want to get to the end

so I got to push it to the finish line.

It's been real, rock.

♪

Narrator: Max sets off on a 6-mile hike to extraction,

depleted, exposed and at-risk of becoming prey

as he treks through thorny foothills

where lions are actively stalking.

♪

[ Sniffs ]

[ Exhales sharply ]

♪

I'm in the river bed

and the energy is just getting sucked out of me

by the freezing cold sand.

It's like a death march.

Seeing a lot of bones,

it's always nice to have an extra set of eyes

especially if you're in like, a ravine.

I don't have a vantage point in here,

kind of just a sitting duck,

just walking through the kill zone.

Don't want to end up like that guy.

Oh, yeah.

Wow! Holy crap!

Look at the size of these cat tracks.

Holy [bleep].

Double the size of my fist.

That is a big freaking cat.

Right now, I'm vulnerable and exposed,

but just not a quitter.

I'm an athlete. That's what I strive for.

You got to make it to the end zone

or you're going to [bleep] lose, and it's game over.

I got to just power through.

♪

It's pretty bushy.

It's not very safe to be down low in the bush here.

This is where all the predators kind of like to hunker down.

I think taking the higher route

is probably my best plan of attack here.

Walk above the ravine for a while.

♪

Oh, my God.

Look at the freaking rhino right there.

Oh, damn [bleep] that thing's pretty close.

I got to get out of here.

[ Screams ]

Holy [bleep]

Did that really just [Bleep] happen?

♪

My extraction point, I should be pretty damn close.

Over this ridge.

It's right up there.

This is when you switch into sixth gear,

and you're heading into the finish line.

Almost there.

Whoo!

♪

Ah, man, what a view.

What a special place.

Oh [bleep].

There we go! There we go!

Hey!

Whoo!

Hell, yeah, baby.

21 days solo... feels surreal man.

I can't believe I made it.

I started as a fan.

Four challenges later, I'm still naked, but unafraid.

♪

Hey, you picking up any hitchhikers?

Ah!

Thank you, sir.

Well done. Hell, yeah.

Whoo!

Just finished 21 days in South Africa, solo.

One of the most epic journeys, ever.

♪

Oh, I feel very accomplished.

I survived about 96 days with "Naked and Afraid"

in the last two years.

I know it's such an evolution in my survival skills.

I'm thankful for that opportunity

to really broadened my repertoire

when it comes to primitive survival.

And to be able to live in the same environment

as some of the most dangerous animals on earth

all on my own, it's huge.

Yeah, finally, I'm an ultimate survivalist.

♪

Narrator: Max lost a total of 23 pounds in 21 days.

He overcame severe dehydration

and proved his excellence as a hunter.

His solo survival rating rises to 9.7.

I lost a ton of weight, but I still feel great,

and I definitely feel like I came through thriving.

You either afri-can or you afri-can't.

And I'm definitely afri-can.

Coming home, baby.

Whoo!

♪