Original subtitles

What are those jumping? Frogs?

Oh [bleep]

debbie: This lake is full of caiman.

Bo: Either you deal with the caiman

or you deal with the dehydration.

So, you know, pick your poison.

Oh, I cannot believe I'm doing this.

Oh, my god.

There's a caiman -- two of them.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

narrator: One man and one woman...

[ screams ]

...Alone for 21 days...

Aah!

I cut myself up pretty good here.

Narrator: ...To face the most primal survival challenge

of their lives.

Man: Mmm -- rat kabobs.

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

Only their skills...

Oh, god, that [bleep] hurts.

...And their will to survive...

Whoo-hoo!

Captions paid for by discovery communications

debbie: I'm tired of being hungry.

I came here to kill stuff and eat it.

I'm looking forward to a new adventure.

This is my normal work gear.

I've always had my army equipment to rely on.

And unfortunately, I won't be able to

take any of this stuff with me.

I'm not very superstitious or anything like that,

but I did, about six weeks ago, get a fortune cookie

that I kept the fortune of, so we can read that.

Narrator: Deep inside the remote south american nation of guyana

lie the rupununi wetlands, a thick tangle of jungle,

swamps, and stagnant lakes.

The area is also a breeding ground

to a vast population of deadly caiman.

At the height of the breeding season,

the area is teeming with stealthy juveniles

and aggressive adults ready to defend their young.

Overrun with caiman, crawling with venomous snakes,

and swarming with disease-carrying sand flies,

this is surama lake.

Bo: Apparently, there are caiman out here.

I'm definitely gonna be on the lookout for these guys.

I've been around the world, in tropical rainforests

all over the place, and this is pretty typical.

My name is bo. I'm from chesapeake, virginia.

And I'm a u.S. Army special forces officer,

a green beret.

I don't really have anything to prove to anybody else.

I'm just doing this for my own self-satisfaction

to see if I can do it.

In group dynamics, I want to be in the leadership role,

just 'cause the people who are successful

are people who do take charge and get things done.

Being a green beret, I'm very confident and determined

I'll make it to 21 days.

Narrator: As a jungle-savvy green beret,

bo's years of training in diverse environments

make him very adaptable.

But he's had no experience

surviving without his arsenal of tools and gear.

He starts off with a primitive survival rating of 7.3.

Bo: A couple of my green beret buddies

knew I was gonna take on this challenge,

and there wasn't a word of encouragement.

Their parting words was "don't embarrass the regiment."

debbie: I heard something loud. It sounded like a giant otter.

It is intimidating, coming into an environment

that I have never been to in my life,

and it feels kind of surreal.

My name is debbie.

I'm from la crosse, wisconsin, and I'm a registered nurse.

I grew up in rural iowa, and I spent a lot of time

outdoors with my family, hunting and fishing.

That's when I feel the best.

I'm doing this to see if this nurse and mom of three

can get through these 21 days.

I'm mostly excited about gaining more self-confidence.

I don't want fear to be a reason that I don't do something.

Narrator: Debbie is a medically trained,

fiercely independent outdoorswoman.

She's an adept survivalist in the northern wilderness,

but untested in a tropical jungle.

And she's never spent more than one night away

from her three small children.

Debbie's initial psr is set at 6.2.

I'm not really nervous at all, which surprises me.

I'm more nervous about being naked

in front of a complete stranger at this point in time.

All right, 21 days in the north rupununi wetlands.

Here I come.

Being naked doesn't bother me at all.

I'm a fairly open guy.

I think pretty much everybody I went to college with

has seen me naked at some point, so being naked's no big deal.

Meeting my partner is gonna be awkward, I'm sure.

Typically, you don't meet anybody naked,

except for your mom when you're born,

so I'm gonna just try to not draw attention to it

and focus on surviving.

Hi.

Howdy.

I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark

and say because we're in the same uniform

that we're on the same team.

[ laughs ] yeah, you're right.

My name is bo.

I'm debbie.

Nice to meet you.

[ laughs ] nice to meet you.

I'm guessing there are a lot of caiman here in this lake.

Yeah. I want to get out of here as fast as we can.

We'll have plenty of time to talk.

That's my bag.

Is that your bag? Awesome.

Narrator: Along with a bow drill fire kit,

bo and debbie have each been allowed one survival item.

I see I got my mosquito net that also doubles as a fishing net.

Awesome. I actually thought about bringing that, too.

Great minds think alike, right?

Yeah.

I brought my machete.

That's gonna make things way easier.

Yeah.

This map is probably the next order of business.

I think we need to head west to dodge the caiman.

Once they find a safe area to exit the lake,

bo and debbie will make their way inland.

They'll have to make camp at a safe distance

from the lake's aggressive caiman population,

but not so far inland as to be devoured by insects

or risk contact with the jungle's venomous coral snakes.

So, you traveled much?

Nothing like this.

Nothing like remote.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, the caiman -- they like to attack by ambush,

so you've got to be very careful where you step.

If you see a small caiman, that definitely means

there's big ones nearby.

Oh, my god.

It looks like there's a break in the wood line there.

I guess we'll head that way and get out?

Yeah. Sounds good.

What do you do for a living?

I'm a special forces officer in the army.

Oh, awesome. Thank you for your service.

Oh, well, thank you.

[ laughs ]

so, how about you?

I am a nurse.

This is gonna come in handy.

Oh. Awesome. Nice find.

Container one.

Spice jar. [ laughs ] great.

Bo: My initial impressions -- debbie seems to be really fit,

which I think is gonna be quite helpful for this.

Hopefully, she's willing to work as a team

and do everything that we need to do

to make ourselves successful.

This ground is sloping up, so that's a good sign.

Get us out of this swampy lowland.

Yeah, it's gonna get dark soon,

and if we had time to play around with trying to

get that bow drill to go, that would be awesome.

Being that it's so late today, my biggest concern for tonight

is to get the mosquito net something to hang off of.

It's gonna be something we need to talk about.

Debbie: Well, having a partner like bo,

I'm concerned that he's this alpha male personality

and he's not gonna listen to me.

Okay, now we're getting a lot of palm.

This is good.

So, do you want to be somewhere closer to the water?

Bo: I'm thinking because of daylight,

we find a flat spot here shortly.

This maybe even has some shelter potential right here,

like it's a ready-made rest to stick to lattice across the top

and then put on some of these palm leaves.

Debbie: Yeah.

For starters, maybe we clear this out

so we have a decent working space.

All right, so...

I know that you have, like, an idea in your head --

you know what I mean?

Like, you're envisioning something, and --

yeah, so try, like, you know, a crosstie like this,

so it creates a kind of support of itself.

Grab some cordage and tie this one here.

Thread another one through here.

Mm-hmm.

Watch out. I'm gonna sweep this by you.

Oh, sorry.

All right.

Looks pretty good.

It's getting there.

Tying the edges up so we can easily get under here

and start putting our bedding down.

Debbie: We're gonna need water, you know,

and we'll probably need fire to get that going.

Unfortunately, there's no way we're gonna have time

to build a fire before it gets dark,

so that's just not on the menu for today.

Uh...

[ laughs ]

we should start putting our bedding down.

Yeah. I might, like, head back to, like,

that giant tree, just check things out over there.

Okay, yeah. Yeah, okay.

Absolutely.

And I can put stuff in my satchel.

Debbie: I just kind of need to get away for a little bit.

Obviously, we need fire,

and my partner was just telling me this is what I'm gonna do,

and then he was doing it.

My opinions weren't asked.

I'm not the kind of person that's just gonna complain

and not talk to him about it.

Are you all right?

No.

You know, I'd kind of like to talk about stuff together,

and I feel like you kind of forgot to ask my opinion.

Yeah.

It's just coming across a little bit like

you would treat a person in the military.

Yeah, okay. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I didn't ask your opinion up front.

I just want to make sure that you don't think

I don't have ideas, because I do.

Yeah, no. It's cool. It's totally cool.

Okay.

Bo: I think the initial mistake I made

in the rush to get the shelter up,

I didn't really share my thoughts with her.

I was being a boss instead of being a partner.

I'm really glad we got that straightened out right away.

Yeah. Me too.

Holy crap, it's getting dark.

Yeah.

You lose an hour of daylight

when you're in a jungle that's this thick.

It's the end of day one.

We got our mosquito net up.

I'm not getting bitten by any bugs right now,

so it's pretty comfortable.

Oh, my gosh. Look at these ants.

These ants are like -- they just came out of nowhere.

And they bite. Trust me. They freaking bite.

We got to move our shelter.

Yeah.

Oh, the flies are biting me, too.

Debbie: Last night was terrible.

Even though we had a mosquito net,

little ants got in,

and there were these black flies that are just awful.

You can see I have some bites on my shoulders

and all over my face, apparently, as well.

I'm feeling dehydration right now.

I know.

We are dangerously low on fluids

before we start doing a boatload of manual labor.

Yeah.

We have to correct that right away.

We can't put the full force into effort of making shelter.

We can't go really hard with the bow drill

when you're this dehydrated.

So I think we got to get some water back in us.

You want to try the lake water?

Yeah. We have no other option.

I mean, right now, there is no option.

Um....We have to look out for the caiman.

Either you deal with the caiman

or you deal with the dehydration.

So, you know, pick your poison.

Bo: It's dry season right now,

so there are no running streams feeding this lake.

If we don't drink the water, we're gonna get dehydrated,

and we're gonna be carted out of here on a stretcher.

Debbie: What are those jumping?

Oh [bleep] oh, my god, let's get out of here.

Get out! Get out!

Debbie: Oh [bleep] oh, my god, let's get out of here.

Get out! Get out!

Bo: Okay, out of the lake.

I think stomping through there

is probably not something that we want to do.

No.

We need to find a safe spot to drink.

Yeah.

Narrator: Because it is breeding season,

it's a particularly dangerous time

to be at surama lake.

If they feel their young are in danger,

caiman will viciously protect them against any threat.

This is where we came in yesterday.

I'm gonna try to get just far enough out

and start drinking.

It's a 50/50 chance we're gonna be regretting this,

but -- actually, I won't regret it,

'cause if I don't drink now, we're gonna be done.

Debbie: Yeah. We have no choice.

Oh, I cannot believe I'm doing this.

Oh, my god.

It's either that or go home, you know?

Debbie: I'm just hoping I don't get

gravy train, whatever you want to call it.

Oh, well, at this point in time,

it's more important to move our shelter than get fire.

Yeah.

Let's find a better spot.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Okay, like, behind you, there's a y-shaped stick,

so that can be the top of our a-frame,

and, then, we start stacking in a traditional a-frame.

We're just gonna be on the ground again?

That sound good?

I mean, we can try it tonight,

but if we get eaten again,

like, tomorrow, we have to do something different.

Have to do the platform?

Yeah. Yeah.

So, how are you feeling after the water?

It's not in my system yet,

but at least my mouth is not crazy-dry like it was before.

Put a little tension on there, and then put our ties on there.

Here.

Thank you, partner.

Five-star resort right there.

Yeah. Black fly shelter.

I think that's as good as it's gonna get.

Okay.

Let's make some f'ing fire.

[ thunder crashes ]

son of a bitch.

Look at that.

Freshwater. Probably better than the lake water.

This rain -- you know, it will pass.

Yeah, it's not gonna last long.

Bo: Looks like our bow drill is gonna be on pause for a while,

'cause everything's wet.

We have water, but we really, really wanted to

make fire with the bow drill,

because I don't like being wet and cold when I sleep.

It will give us some basic protection

from caiman, snakes, and other reptiles.

Oh, man. It's cold. This sucks.

Bo: It's cold in here.

I am freezing.

We can just untie the mosquito net

and use it for a blanket for body heat, you know?

Yeah.

Okay, so, here's the...

That's a little bit better.

Debbie: Last night was [bleep] cold,

and we didn't have a fire to keep us warm,

so we did have to share body heat.

It was a little bit awkward, and I am kind of wanting to

get something to cover myself up, just so I, you know,

feel better walking around.

And hopefully, it will help with the bugs, too.

So, it comes out here. It will come across here.

Occasionally, your end flaps might flap up.

You may have to pull those down.

Bo: I found these two roughly triangular pieces of cloth,

and right away I saw it.

I said, "hey, you know, that could be a bikini top."

you want the knot showing in the front,

or you want the knot away from your skin?

Yeah. Yeah.

I think any woman, if you're naked and you're running around,

you're gonna feel, you know, exposed.

And I think it's gonna boost her self-confidence that,

you know, she's not walking around completely naked.

I'm gonna have my balls busted by every green beret

on the planet, like, "dude, you're on tv making bras?

What the [bleep]"

oh, my gosh.

Thanks, bo. [ laughs ]

no worries. Let's make some fire.

All right. Let's do it.

[bleep]

yeah, I just don't have enough energy.

I just -- I don't.

[ sighs ]

[bleep] it smells like rain.

Should we check it? See what we got.

Yes!

Yes, we're good.

Take it easy, take it easy.

I don't think so.

[ blows ]

we got no smoke at all now.

The rain is coming. I can hear it getting closer and closer.

Okay.

[ thunder crashes ]

narrator: Three days into their challenge,

bo and debbie are frantically racing to get their fire going,

as a storm threatens overhead.

[ sighs ]

debbie: We have to hurry, bo.

Yeah.

I just want to give you one tip --

to put your body weight more over, like more forward.

You know what I mean? Yeah.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Oh, we got fire.

Okay.

We got fire.

Awesome job, bo.

We are like the best team ever.

[ laughs ]

your pliers and bow drill are awesome.

[ laughs ]

you're amazing.

Oh, my gosh. We're not gonna get rained on.

Great.

Bo: We had a near-miss with the rain today.

We're really, really lucky.

We are super-excited about our fire right now,

and I wish I had some marshmallows and some hot dogs,

but we'll get some food soon,

and it's gonna be awesome.

So, I'll just show you what's on my feet right now.

I have, like, bites all over.

There are these black flies, and their bites are about

10 times worse than mosquito bites.

All those little red dots, they just itch like crazy.

[ insects buzzing ]

you can keep those flies off of us.

I know. This is ridiculous.

Besides the lack of food, it's the bugs that are killing us.

Do you want to watch the fire?

If you're okay with that.

Yeah.

I am just gonna kind of not overexert myself right now

until I get some food.

All right. I'll be back.

Bo: Debbie's covered with bites,

so it's starting to take a toll on her now.

She's definitely well behind on storage of calories

on her own body, so...

The soil here is really nutrient-poor,

so it doesn't have the ability to support a lot of the fruits

that you see in other jungles.

Nothing there.

Score!

These palms have these nuts on them,

and inside these nuts are the worms

that get inside to eat them.

[ gasps ]

that's what we're looking for -- the grubs inside.

Wow.

Mm.

Debbie: It's just disgusting,

but there's no other food option,

so got to take what you can get.

You want them?

Go ahead. No, keep going until you start feeling better.

Yeah. So...

It kind of tastes a little bit like coconut,

but, like, oily.

I'm figuring if we toast them, it will taste like --

toasted coconut!

Let's steam those bad boys up, see what happens.

Oh, there they are.

Ooh. They're golden.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yeah. It has a smoky flavor now.

Watch.

[ both laugh ]

that's funny.

Debbie: I'm very thankful for this,

get our energy up a little bit, then maybe we can get some

serious protein.

Do you want to go out that way?

Yeah, I think I'm gonna try, like, away from the bank

so we don't get the sticks tearing at the net.

Bo: We're sitting on a lake,

so we just got to get some methods to catch fish.

If we could draw some protein out of the lake

without getting attacked by a caiman, we'll do just fine.

Debbie: We have to go in the water quite a ways

to try to just find something to eat.

A caiman could come up at any time

and try to take a bite, so we're always on the lookout.

Let's check it.

Nothing flopping around.

No.

[ groans ]

a lot of silt. A lot of silt.

We can hear the fish jumping all day long,

and it's really frustrating when you're so hungry

and you know that food is, like, almost at your fingertips

and you just can't get it.

[ sniffs ] that smells real lemony.

I've never used this particular vine before.

But the natives all around this area --

this is how they make fish traps.

One of the things I learned throughout my military career is

always have a backup.

So I use that same philosophy here.

I have a different tool for every task,

and hopefully it's gonna pay off.

The fish swim into this basket, and they try to get the bait

that's gonna be way down there on the end,

where you can see it's all closed up.

So then he is stuck, so --

or she.

Or she.

Debbie: My job is to be on guard, because, you know,

a caiman could come up at any time,

and we need to have each other's backs.

No movement over here.

So, bo is just staking it in there so we don't lose it.

Oh, man. I'm ready to eat some fish.

[ rustling ]

I heard something in the water that sounded like a person.

I'm hoping that that's the sound of a fish trapped in my trap.

If I had a flashlight, I'd go check it out, but I don't.

We'll just see in the morning.

I'm gonna go over and check the trap.

I'm so hungry.

No caiman in sight.

Holy [bleep]

there's something in there.

What have we got?

Something's flapping.

I can't see how big it is, though.

Yeah. Just bring the whole thing in.

Hold it by the lip, and just let it drag behind you.

You don't have to tote it.

Oh [bleep]

[ groans ]

got out?

Yes.

Well, check it for any others.

If not, just put it back down.

We know it's working then.

[ whimpers ]

debbie: I'm just frustrated beyond explanation.

I feel like I let our team down.

Bo: If you grab it by the sides,

it morphs the trap and makes it --

yeah, I know. I know.

All right. Let's go.

We won't make the same mistake next time, right?

No.

I'm just so hungry right now,

my stomach's, like, eating itself.

Bo: We had a lack of food the last couple days,

but we can't give up.

I've always had my issued military equipment,

but I realized to survive here, I got to make my own,

so I'm just trying something new every day

to see what we can do to capture one of these big fish,

'cause our big protein is in those big fish,

and we've got to get one.

There's always seems to be something jumping right there.

Oh, I see a fish right here.

You see one?

Yeah. It's a good size.

[ splashing ]

I got one!

Are you kidding me?

No, I'm not kidding you. Oh, my gosh.

This is a big catfish.

Awesome.

I got one!

That thing is humongous.

That's a monster.

We can get the guts out from here.

I'm still not satisfied with that one.

You're gonna want a bigger one.

Yeah, this is a good-size one.

I want a 20-pound one next time.

[ laughs ]

this is the huge protein score that we've been looking for.

This is gonna fuel us up for a good, long time.

That's all right. I don't mind a little dirt.

[ blows ]

mmm. God. Mm.

Mm.

Oh, that's so good.

It's awesome.

Mm-hmm.

Good job. Thank you.

I can feel it, like, soaking into my body.

Debbie: The catfish just gives me more hope

that we are gonna be able to continue to be successful

with food, because we still have a lot of days to go,

and I'm not leaving here on just one catfish.

All right. It's time to check the trap.

Yeah, I am hoping there's something in there,

'cause I'm ready for some food.

You ain't kidding.

Something's definitely trapped in here.

Oh [bleep]

there's a caiman in here.

Oh, sweet! There's a caiman in here.

Oh, my god.

And he's deep in there.

Let's go way, way up on shore.

Okay.

I didn't think about a caiman. I was thinking about fish.

Oh, my god.

I didn't imagine that we'd have a caiman in here.

Dude, I've never eaten a caiman before.

We're about to have a caiman lunch.

Bo: Deb, you work the spear action.

You want me to do what?

If you just run the spear all the way through him,

out the other side.

Holy [bleep]

bo: Debbie hasn't done anything like this before,

so this is a great opportunity for her to try out

her warrior spirit and do something big.

Holy [bleep]

drive it straight through.

My heart is, like, pounding.

Get your she-ra jungle killer face on.

There you go.

Oh, my god.

You did it.

He's dead. Wow.

Look how fat his tail is. Wow.

That's a boatload of meat on that thing.

Oh, he's still moving. Oh, he's -- hang on.

Let's just make sure he's -- finish him off.

[ thud ]

debbie: I'm so happy and thankful right now.

You know, we are in a survival situation,

and killing something for the first time like that,

I felt strong and like I could provide for my partner and I.

It was empowering to me.

Do you want to butcher this thing?

Yeah.

It's not hard.

Yeah. I'll do it. Just kind of supervise.

Oh, my gosh. That's tough.

Nice. It's all great fish-bait stuff right there.

That goes right back in the fish trap.

That's crazy.

This appears to be a tapeworm.

And if you eat this guy, he will live in your stomach.

This guy's full of worms. Oh, my gosh.

All right, well, normally, I wouldn't call this edible,

but this is a big-protein meal that we need,

so it's a calculated risk.

I'm so hungry.

Okay, he's getting cooked well-done today.

Yes. I like my caiman well-done, de-wormed.

Let's put this bad boy on.

Whoa! Oh, my god. Look at that.

He doesn't like being cooked.

I guess not.

Oh, man. The skin is just, like, falling off.

That's awesome.

Oh, yeah, it's like the leg is just

falling off the bone like chicken.

All right.

All right. Here goes. First caiman.

Cheers. [ chuckles ]

so, how's your first kill taste?

It was very rewarding, you know?

Debbie: When you're out here starving every day,

you're just thankful to have anything,

and it's great that bo is able to encourage me.

I'm really thankful that he's my partner.

Tastes just like chicken.

Bo: It's day 14.

Earlier this morning, we got up, and we built a bench.

So now we have a bench to sit on.

It's notched so the thing doesn't roll,

and we won't have to sit in the dirt anymore.

And we also built a rack for our tools.

They're organized.

You can come by and grab the tool that you need

and head on about your day.

It was deb's idea, and it paid off handsomely.

I think a lot of times, success breeds success,

so when you get a big victory like that caiman,

you want to seize that opportunity

to keep pushing the envelope further and further.

These downed leaves are as good a place as any to start.

If I were a snake, I'd hide there.

At this point, my number-one objective before extraction

is to get a snake.

I'm a green beret. We're known as snake eaters.

And, you know, if I'm out here for 21 days

and I can't come up with a snake,

you know, that's not saying much.

Well, this is prime snake habitat.

I'm not coming up with [bleep]

nothing here.

Debbie: So far, no movement over here.

Oh! Jackpot.

Holy [bleep]

yes!

There we go.

He is definitely a constrictor,

'cause he's squeezing me pretty good.

This guy's going on the grill.

Nice.

This is gonna be great.

This will fuel us up for another couple days, hopefully,

until we can get something else big.

Being out here, I've eaten a lot of things

that I don't eat every day -- grubs, caiman, and now snake.

You know, I'm pushing myself to the limit

and seeing what I'm made of.

I have upheld the green beret legacy

of being snake eaters.

My to-do list as a green beret has been checked off today.

[ laughs ]

this is an example of people who are thriving, not surviving.

Kick ass, sea bass.

That's how much ass we're kicking.

[ thunder crashes ]

it's cold. This sucks.

This rainstorm has lasted a decent while.

Getting more and more worried about our fire,

'cause I didn't want to start a fire from scratch again.

Narrator: The rain intensifies, trapping

and forcing snakes and caiman to seek higher ground.

Bo: It is the morning of day 18.

Our feet are waterlogged. Everything's waterlogged.

We're sitting in our shelter. We got leaks all over.

Check out the floor.

You can see it's all wet inside of

this rainy, damp, stinky, musky, moldy, wet shelter.

It is [bleep] absolutely miserable out right now.

We are soaking-wet and --

[bleep] cold!

Yeah, getting wetter by the moment,

[bleep] cold. And it's really

this officially sucks right now.

Like, it's reached that level. It sucks.

Narrator: The cold is sapping their energy reserves,

and the plagues of sand flies are a constant menace.

The tiny insects are vectors for a terrible skin disease

resembling leprosy, and their increasing numbers

put bo and debbie at higher risk of infection.

They were getting my inner thigh during nap time.

I can't even [bleep] grasp this. They were just chewing me up.

Another day of this... Aw, man.

It's not gonna come fast enough

to get me the [bleep] out of here.

[ thunder crashes ]

bo: It is day 21.

I woke up this morning, and the rain has stopped.

We're just feeling low energy, like just really out of gas,

but we're ready to go, like, we're ready to take a shower.

We're ready to get something to eat.

We're ready to turn into, like, normal human beings.

We're here.

Yeah, here we are by the columns.

Narrator: To reach safety, bo and debbie

to a native village on the far edge of the wetlands.

To get there, they must first cross

caiman-infested lake surama and then hike through

nearly four miles of uncharted jungle.

Bo: We have a good ways to go to the water,

and that's really gonna be difficult.

This lake is totally overrun with caiman.

We got to use extra caution.

Oh [bleep]

there's a caiman. There's two of them.

Narrator: During nearly three weeks on surama lake,

bo, the green beret, and debbie, the wisconsin mother of three,

have forged a strong partnership.

Working together, they used a variety of tools and traps

to obtain protein.

I've never eaten a caiman before.

We're about to have a caiman lunch.

But on the verge of extraction,

a four-day rainstorm trapped them in their shelter,

shutting down their ability to hunt

and putting them at the mercy of voracious sand flies.

Yeah, screw the flies. Death to all flies.

Their ability to overcome these challenges

and find their way out of the jungle

will determine bo and debbie's

final primitive survival ratings.

Bo: Oh [bleep] there's a caiman. There's two of them.

Debbie: Oh, my god. No, there's more than two.

It means we definitely ain't going that way.

No.

We want to pick our way through here carefully.

I can't wait to get shoes.

Yeah.

See where we're supposed to...

I think maybe it's this way here.

Bo: The vegetation is so thick.

Can't get a bearing on the sun, because you just can't see it.

Green berets are world-renown for their ability to navigate.

And I'll also tell you, there's an insider rule

for all special-forces soldiers.

Rule number one is look cool.

Number two is don't get lost.

Rule number three is if you get lost,

see rule number one.

So you got to do that.

It appears to be like a game trail in front of us.

Let's stay on that.

Okay.

I said, I think we're almost out of here.

So, this is a double-track trail.

That means a car's been on here, which means we're getting close.

There's the village.

Wow.

I see a truck.

That's our ride.

Sweet.

Wow.

21 days in the jungle, and I am done.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Great job, partner.

Debbie: I'm totally happy.

I'm beyond ecstatic with how bo and I did out here.

I feel like I've grown as a person.

You know, I feel a lot stronger and more confident in myself.

I can go home and be a better mom to my kids,

and that's what I'm focusing on

is seeing my kids at the airport.

[ voice breaking ] sorry.

[ laughs ]

I'm just not letting them go.

Bo: This is a difficult thing,

and your number-one survival tool is that other person.

What I was hoping for in a partner

was somebody who could be a team player and work together,

and deb answered that in spades.

It's been absolutely a pleasure to watch debbie grow

as a survivalist.

We've worked together, and we accomplished our mission,

and I think we're gonna be lifelong friends.

It's been a great experience.

Once in a lifetime.

Yeah, well, maybe once.

I'd do it again.

Whoo-hoo! Whoo!

Narrator: Over 21 days, bo shed 25 pounds,

but proved himself a formidable survivalist,

displaying top-notch foraging and fishing skills.

He also adapted his military attitude

for an entirely different type of partnership with debbie...

Thanks, bo.

...Elevating his final psr from 7.3 to 8.3.

Debbie entered her 21-day challenge

with very little body fat, yet still lost 11 pounds.

Her strong communication skills

and willingness to jump headfirst into the challenge

boosts debbie's final psr from 6.2 to 6.9.

Together, bo and debbie demonstrated the skill,

tenacity, and team spirit needed to survive 21 days

naked and afraid.

I came, I killed, and I ate.

Okay, I'm getting off the plane.

I'm gonna go see my family.

Man: Whoo-hoo!

Come here.

Oh, I missed my little man.

We missed my mommy.

[ laughs ]

let me hug you guys.

I brought some stuff back with me, unfortunately.

I have a case of cutaneous leech maniasis.

If you look closely at my ears,

one is much larger than the other.

Leech maniasis is transmitted by a sand fly.

Got bit by a sand fly while I was there.

I've been on numerous antibiotics.

So, on the pain scale, it's about a 6 out of 10 right now.

About two weeks after I got back,

my skin started having lesions,

so I'm being treated for leech maniasis.

There's a suture there, because I've done a biopsy,

and then I have one on the side of my toe.

I've been feeling weak, and my hair's been falling out,

and hopefully, we're on the right track of treating this.

It's a risk that is involved

when you sign up for this challenge.

Yeah, guyana bites back.