Original subtitles

[ insects chirping ]

samantha: We are literally starving.

Fernando: It's -- it's almost...

It's almost surreal.

I fantasize about food all the time.

Probably not a good idea to eat them.

Desperate times, here.

Wow.

Ooh.

Some kind of reaction's happening

on the roof of my mouth.

Over here! Hurry!

Narrator: Two strangers...

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

have chosen to put their skills to the ultimate test.

Just one victory, please!

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

Their challenge is to survive for 21 days...

Aaah!

I want to go home.

...Knowing that the human body

can only live three days without water

and begins to shut down after three weeks without food.

Get out of there!

Narrator: This is the everest of survival challenges.

Can a man and woman

survive alone in the wilderness naked and afraid?

Fernando: This jungle has no mercy.

Narrator: Peninsular malaysia.

It shares a border with thailand,

and is home to the oldest rain forest in the world.

Inundated by over 100 inches of annual rainfall,

its impenetrable jungle

is teeming with huge biodiversity

and threats of all sizes.

From bloodsucking leeches and malarial mosquitos

to malaysian tigers

and fiercely territorial giant monitor lizards,

whose sharp teeth and large claws can cut deep,

causing serious infection.

Many of its thousands of species of plants

contain poisons and bacteria deadly to humans.

But the most feared in the jungle

is the elusive blue malaysian coral snake.

Brightly colored but extremely venomous,

it's known as the hundred-step snake

for the distance its bite victims travel before dying.

Dense, difficult, and dangerous,

this ancient land remains mostly untouched by man for a reason.

Fernando: This jungle is the real deal.

I mean, you look around,

and this is as jungly as jungle gets.

I'm fernando calderon. I'm 33 years old.

I'm a firefighter/paramedic.

I feel my strongest skill set is my mental toughness.

As a firefighter, I've learned to stay calm

in some pretty dangerous situations,

and I've also been training in extreme survival

for the last 12 years.

I'm good with fire, I'm comfortable handling snakes,

and no matter how crazy things get,

I always try and keep a positive attitude.

I'm just ready to go out there and just see what I'm made of.

Bring it on, malaysia. Bring it on.

I feel really excited.

But I admit, I'm feeling kind of scared.

My name is samantha pearson. I am a single mom.

When it comes to survival, I do not mess around.

I have the physical strength to survive in any environment.

But the hardest thing I've ever been through

was a painful divorce a couple years ago.

I'm doing this challenge

so I can prove to myself and my two daughters

that no matter how hard life can get,

if you're tough enough, you can succeed.

Man, you can't even see five feet in that jungle.

You know, it's starting to definitely get real now.

I'm very, very nervous and anxious.

I've never quite pushed myself to this level.

This is crazy.

21 days in malaysia.

Here goes nothing.

Yeah. Okeydokey.

Now I'm naked. [ laughs ]

all right. Here we go.

Samantha: I'm actually a very modest person

when it comes to nudity,

so it's going to be uncomfortable.

I hope that when I meet my partner for the first time,

we get past that part very quickly,

and move into making this place our home.

Naked. In malaysia.

Hi.

No judging.

No, absolutely.

Yeah, this isn't weird at all.

This is awkward. I'm fernando.

I'm samantha. Nice to meet you.

It's very nice to meet you.

Welcome to malaysia.

Thank you. Same to you.

Um, so... Wow.

Yeah.

This is a little weird for me.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, satchels with our items.

Yeah, let's go see what those are.

Got it.

Narrator: Samantha and fernando

are each allowed to bring one essential survival item.

Ah, I got my machete.

This is gonna be huge out here.

Yeah, it's gonna be really -- I'm glad to see that.

And I've got my fire starter.

Which, I'm really excited to see this,

because it is wet in the jungle.

In addition,

samantha and fernando are given handheld cameras

to document their experiences.

State your name and where you're from.

I'm fernando calderon.

I'm samantha pearson.

A small crew will capture the 21-day journey,

with clear instruction not to intervene

unless there is a medical emergency.

And...Have a map.

Oh, awesome. Yeah.

The map shows that samantha and fernando

have been dropped off along the northern shore of a lake

completely surrounded by dense rain forest.

To find a suitable spot to camp,

they will need to make their way deeper into the jungle

along this tributary stream, where they hope to have access

to fresh water, fish,

and reserves of bamboo for a shelter.

After 21 days,

they must swim 3 1/2 miles up this river,

amid snakes and monitor lizards,

where a boat will be waiting to extract them to safety.

So, try walking on the bank?

Yeah, sounds good.

Okay. Got to watch out for snakes.

Bring it.

As part of their selection process,

fernando and samantha have each been thoroughly evaluated

by experts based on three key survival categories --

skill, experience, and mental toughness.

As a fireman, fernando's leadership

and ability to perform in life-threatening situations

give him a high mental score,

but his lack of jungle-specific skills could be a problem.

Samantha receive high marks

for both skill and physical endurance,

but her lack of experience

could put the pressure on her partner to support her.

Samantha and fernando have each been given

an overall primitive survival rating,

or psr.

Fernando scores a psr of 7.1,

and samantha rates a 6.8.

If they are able to make it

to the end of their 21-day challenge,

their psrs will be re-evaluated by our experts.

[ thunder rumbles ]

this is gonna be a theme. I can tell already.

Yeah, I know.

We're just gonna have to get used to never being dry.

Whoa. Whoa.

This is actually pretty deep.

Take it slow.

You're gonna fall in about four feet of mud.

Don't get freaked out. You will hit bottom.

Okay.

But hold it up pretty high.

Samantha: Crossing this river is really creepy.

I can't see anything in the water.

Every now and then, I kick

or brush up against a stump that was just below the surface,

wondering what I'd actually bumped into.

Fernando: Samantha's great.

She seems fit, in shape.

She's just going for it.

So, so far, so good.

Awesome.

Samantha: It is amazing how quickly the rain just goes away here.

Ooh. Samantha: What?

That hurts.

Something in this region really hurt me.

Okay. Then let's go that way.

This plant hurts.

See, this is good. This is good to know.

It's a little weird to me

how fernando can be so upbeat in these conditions.

I took one for the team, there.

That's right.

And that could start to annoy me.

Some good bamboo out there, looks like.

Fernando: It rains here every single day,

and we can definitely get hypothermia,

so we can't afford to be wet all night.

This little pocket here?

Use these existing trees to get us off the ground.

If we build it kind of right in there,

that's a pretty good amount of space.

That bark burns really well

if you scrape off the outside of it, so...

Oh, nice find.

And then, even starting with that branch there,

something to start creating something

that's a perfect start to a lean-to.

Oh, this will be like a hotel.

Yeah. Piece of cake, right?

We can charge people to come sleep here,

for like a rain-forest experience.

Narrator: With only a few hours of daylight left,

samantha and fernando split up

to find cordage and bamboo to build their shelter.

Samantha: Trying to build a shelter in this environment

is really difficult.

It is wet and muddy everywhere.

Whoa. You're covered in leeches.

A leech? Oh, it's...

Ohh! A leech got your ankle.

Oh, crap.

So let me go ahead and get him off for you.

The key is just to annoy it so it falls off.

Good.

Man, we've been here only a few hours,

you look beat to hell already.

Uh-huh.

And the flies are feasting on the blood.

When you have open wounds and you're in the jungle,

flies smell the infection and they won't leave it alone,

which is not only preventing it from healing it,

but it continues to contaminate it.

So I'm just gonna have to keep an eye out.

Oh, it's miserable.

It's really getting dark. We are running out of time.

We have got to get something up off the ground.

Fernando: If we don't fix up the roof before tonight,

we're screwed.

Our shelter is barely finished.

We have no roof over our head.

The only thing saving us from the rain

is the heavy, jungle canopy.

Samantha: Out here, there's no protection.

We just have to figure out how to get through the night.

Please don't rain. Please don't rain.

Crap!

[ gasps ] there's a snake.

And I don't have a machete.

Fernando! Snake!

I don't even know what that is.

Watch out. Watch out.

[ gasps ] [ gasps ]

aah!

Over here! Hurry!

Samantha: Fernando is really sick.

I don't know that he's gonna make it.

Samantha: Please don't rain. Please don't rain.

[ sighs ]

fernando: Still night one. We're still not sleeping.

It's just cold. It's been raining all night.

Soaking wet.

My feet are just getting rotten with moisture.

This jungle has no mercy.

Samantha: Night one.

It was so uncomfortable,

and you could start feeling parts of your body going numb.

It was awful.

Aah! You suck.

Cut myself.

Samantha: Oh, you did. With your machete?

No, no, no. From the bamboo.

The bamboo cuts up your hands really bad.

Just blood everywhere.

Leeches, cuts.

Uh-huh. Falling apart.

Oh, I have a leech on my ass. A big one.

Just very painful.

The misery is hard to imagine.

I mean, I can't think of a time

I've suffered for that long in my life.

Ouch.

Our goal is to get our shelter better than it was last night

so that we can have shelter from the rain.

Samantha: Keep going on the bamboo,

and I'll keep going on the cordage.

Fernando: I'm so sick of cordage and bamboo.

[ sighs ]

I even have a leech in my vaginal area.

This is just not good.

With all this rain, there are leeches everywhere.

It feels like a stabbing pain underneath there.

It's just disgusting.

If it doesn't stop raining soon,

these 21 days are just gonna be unbearable.

Fernando: Man.

There's a leech on my scrotum.

That's gonna bleed.

That's the least of my worries is that.

Samantha: Fernando's still so upbeat.

It just seems like nothing bothers him.

And as the days go on, it's getting really old.

Honestly, it's miserable.

Have some water.

One of the benefits

of it raining around the clock in this rainforest,

we get lots of fresh rainwater,

which is obviously good to drink.

So we put out some big leaves here to collect the rainwater,

and hopefully stay hydrated.

It's a nice, efficient way to get water.

We're not having to go and boil anything.

We're letting mother nature take care of it for us.

The harder it rains, the more water we get.

So bring it.

I'm ready. Rain all you want.

[ thunder rumbles ]

samantha: He just keeps saying, "bring it on, malaysia."

I think it is bringing it on.

It's annoying, and it's probably just gonna get worse,

so we'll see.

This will be waterproof.

I mean, you line these up like this

and you put the other ones on top.

What I'm hearing is we're gonna need more cordage.

[ chuckles ] you're like, "no more cordage!"

this is awesome.

Fernando: I'm cutting a notch in this tree, here,

to have a point for this to kind of rest on

to help make it more secure.

How you doing, sam? I'm okay.

You don't look good, sam.

I'm just cold.

I'm just freezing cold.

Narrator: The human body loses heat 25 times faster when wet,

and after days of being exposed to the harsh elements,

samantha is already in the early stages of hypothermia.

Fernando: You're super, super cold?

I'm just freezing cold.

Fernando: She seems like the cold is definitely getting to her.

She's shivering, she seems confused.

We got to get her body heat up.

Right now, you're, like, miserable.

We've got to finish this. We don't have any shelter.

No, no, no, hear me out. Hear me out.

So, what's making you miserable right now

is you're so, so cold, okay?

Now, we can fix that, believe it or not.

If you just go do like 20 jumping jacks, okay,

and just get yourself warm,

you'll be surprised how much heat you'll generate, okay?

Okay.

So, no more -- I'll take care of this.

Just go out there. Just do jumping jacks.

Do whatever you think

and I guarantee you, you do like three minutes of that,

you won't be cold.

All right?

Sound good? Okay.

All right. You got this.

No, sam. Sam, seriously.

You got to get warm. I promise you.

Come out here with me. Here, I'll do them with you.

We got this. We got this.

Fernando: Doing all this exercise,

this will get her blood pumping, get her body moving,

get her body warmed up

to keep her from going into hypothermia.

We got this.

Thank you.

No, that's good.

See? We're solving this problem.

Okay.

Now tell me you don't feel a little bit warmer.

I'm feeling warmer.

There you go.

Get up.

Cool? You feel warm, right?

I feel a lot better. Yeah.

Samantha: I really appreciate

fernando's positive attitude a lot more now.

He just made such a genuine effort

to really exert energy he doesn't even have

to bring my head back into the game.

Cool.

Don't be cold.

If you're cold, I'll meet you out here again.

Thank you.

Fernando: There are gonna be times

that she has to help me out, I'm sure.

But for me to be able to help her out at that moment,

it was a good team-building thing.

Fortunately, it worked for now,

and she seems like she's doing a lot better.

So hopefully she can bounce back from this.

[ thunder rumbles ]

narrator: After two days,

their shelter is finally complete.

This is the shelter, which is holding up amazingly.

This is so incredibly nice.

It feels like a bed.

I'm so tired.

The rain has come with a vengeance.

The rain is seriously like a character.

The rain is the villain because it's a formidable opponent.

Narrator: After six days of relentless rain,

the survivalists have been confined to their shelter

and unable to search for food.

Samantha: Day six and I didn't sleep.

I actually felt hunger pains last night for the first time.

So I'm gonna have to dig deep to get through this day.

[ thunder rumbling ]

this is our fire-building operation.

We just can't keep water out.

Fire not gonna happen in this downpour.

[ groans ]

we've had nothing to eat since we've been here.

Eight days trapped in this shelter.

We have got to get out and find some food.

You know, the rain makes it hard to find anything.

Samantha: It does. I think everything's away.

Everything's gone.

I mean, there's no bugs out now, I mean everything...

Samantha: I was really expecting that coming into the jungle,

the resources would be more accessible, more plentiful.

I'm gonna go look for some food.

Yeah.

I'll go look this way and then come back.

[ gasps ] there's a snake.

And I don't have a machete. Uh...

Fernando, snake!

Over here!

Hurry!

Hurry, I can still see the head.

Oh, it's going, it's going, it's going.

Okay. It's right here.

Right here -- the blue right here.

You see it moving on the tree?

Ahh.

I know, I know, I know. Get your machete.

I don't even know what that is.

Watch out, watch out.

Aah!

Fernando, snake!

Narrator: Samantha has stumbled across

a highly venomous blue malaysian coral snake.

It's right here. Where is it?

Right here -- the blue.

You see it moving on the tree?

I don't even know what that is.

It's known by locals as the hundred-step snake.

For fernando, one bite could be fatal.

Watch out. Watch out, fernando.

Oh, that's beautiful.

That is amazing.

Get it. Watch out.

I'm gonna fling him this way.

[ gasps ]

oh, crap.

Okay, I have him pinned.

Wow, he wants to fight.

I'm coming.

I just don't want to ruin his body,

so I'm trying to get a nice, clean cut at the head

so we have more meat.

Machete. Good find.

I asked for food. You weren't messing around.

Okay, ready? Thanks.

Uh-oh. What?

No, he's just --

he's squirrelly.

It's a narrow escape,

but the survivalists have found their first source of protein.

Yeah, wow.

It'll be dinner. This is just pure protein.

Samantha: Partner, we're gonna have to cook that.

Getting fire is crucial for tonight.

[ thunder rumbles ]

snake meat is inedible raw

and starts to spoil in about 24 hours.

Now fernando and samantha need fire more than ever

if they are to taste protein for the first time in over a week.

We're in the hardest place on the planet to build fire.

Come on, come on.

Fernando: Everything out here is so wet.

Gosh, it's not getting anything.

Almost looks like the best plan

is to keep some of the tinder with us through the night,

and hopefully it'll dry out some more

and we can try again in the morning.

Narrator: After nine days of unrelenting rain,

the sun finally breaks through.

It feels so good.

It does feel good.

This is the first time we've had sun on our bodies

since we got out here.

I know.

We're gonna have some great sun

to set up the driftwood to dry in to attempt fire again.

Some of it's still pretty wet.

Fernando: If we don't get a fire soon,

that snake's gonna go waste.

Samantha: Yeah, that looks more dry.

We need to get super, super dry, inner bark for the kindling,

and we are running out of time.

[ sighs ]

I think we're ready.

My gosh, just blow just right.

Good, you're getting a flame.

That's good.

No, it's gone. Come on.

No. No.

I think it's a lost cause.

Samantha: It's hard to keep your attitude high

when I can see something that I can eat

but I can't eat it because it has to be cooked.

I mean [bleep] I don't know.

This [bleep] sucks.

Ugh. Look at that snake. Smell it.

Fernando: It stinks.

It's pretty nasty.

I mean, now it officially smells like dead, rotting flesh.

Yeah.

Fernando: It's killing me to have to waste this snake

and throw it away.

To have that protein be wasted because we have no fire,

it's heartbreaking.

Yeah, this snake has definitely seen better days.

The colors are all faded now.

I think he's a lost cause.

We haven't had protein in over a week.

Gosh.

That snake could have been a very good meal.

Weakness is just gonna continue to increase

if we don't get protein or fat in our diet.

If you don't get fat,

it's harder for your brain to function.

I'm feeling hunger pains.

Unless we can get fire,

I feel like I may not make it through the night.

Narrator: Without a fire, another freezing night awaits,

and the lack of rain

means the jungle's insects come out in abundance.

[ mosquitos buzzing ]

the mosquitos, the flies, little flea things.

It makes sleeping impossible.

So we just lay here.

Samantha: And scratch.

Swat things away.

This is not gonna be solved until we get a fire.

We need it bad.

It's miserable when you're so exhausted

and you can't sleep because you're itchy.

Like, I don't know how many more nights you can do this.

Narrator: After a sleepless night devoured by insects,

samantha faces the dawn with a new setback.

Samantha: My legs look like a buffet,

and I've got bug bites on the bottom of my feet.

I just feel like a big part of the food chain.

Not on a part of it I want to be on.

Fernando: She's ready to gnaw off her own skin.

I mean, I've never seen someone bitten

by so many insects like samantha is.

I wish I could take some of them for her.

I wish I could share the weight of these bug bites

because she's really going through a lot right now.

Samantha: Just I can't function.

I just am about to pass out.

I'm tired and malnourished and I really want a fire.

I don't feel very good.

Oh...

My two kids -- I thought about them a lot last night.

[ voice breaking ] the thought I kept having in my mind

was just getting to get back to them.

[ sniffles ]

I miss their voices, I miss their hands, I miss their hugs.

I am a mom, and I'm a mom without my kids.

And it gets me really down.

[ sniffles ]

samantha: Unless we can get fire,

I feel like I may not make it through the night.

Fernando: Samantha -- she's having a hard time.

I want to be there for her.

I get one more push to get a fire going.

This tinder bundle just feels a little bit different

than the other ones I've made.

[ sighs ] so, here goes nothing.

Fernando: Whoo! Samantha: Yes!

We have fire!

Whoo-hoo! I'm so happy.

I know. I know. Sam, high five.

We got fire, dude. We got fire.

Samantha: To get the fire is very much a blessing.

It's something I'm very grateful for.

You're doing great.

Fernando: Okay, now that we have fire,

everything is fair game.

I mean, we can get some fish or some snails.

It would give us a huge boost.

Sam and I both really need to eat,

and there's a bunch of fish in this creek.

Narrator: With no bait or hook,

fernando attempts to catch a fish with his bare hands.

Yes! Yes!

I got one. Whoo!

Samantha: You're amazing.

Dinner. This is protein.

That's a lot of protein.

It's gonna make a big difference in today.

Samantha: I'm amazed at fernando's fishing skills.

No pole, no net, and next thing you know,

he's just throwing fish on the shore.

Really astounding.

I don't think this fish is good.

The meat's, like, disintegrating.

It feels like it's just...

Something's not right with this.

Narrator: The fish is most likely a female

that has recently spawned.

Many species of fish die within just a few days

after laying their eggs.

It's just like mush.

It's like mush.

Yeah, I don't risk it.

I've never seen fish look like that before.

Samantha: There are some kind of disturbing steps backwards.

Having to throw away a snake that required effort to catch,

having to throw out a fish that required effort to catch.

Food is so scarce.

We are literally starving.

Oh, I look so skinny.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, my gosh.

Look at my arms.

I'm usually ripped.

I'm so scrawny right now.

You need a substantial day of protein.

And you've got to find it.

Lot of termites.

Those aren't grubs or worms.

Any insect that lands on me,

any insect that lands near me, I'm eating those.

If getting protein means eating bugs, I'll do it.

I'll do whatever I can.

Whoa, what is this?

Samantha: They're mushrooms.

These were not here yesterday.

Not even a hint.

The jungle just gives us a gift.

I know. These all edible?

Um... I don't know.

We'll just have to take a look.

Narrator: Mistakenly eating the wrong type of mushroom

can be fatal.

Within hours of ingestion,

it can cause respiratory failure and shut down vital organs.

Probably not a good idea to eat them.

This is so taboo in the world of survival.

I know.

Mushrooms are, like, a big no-no.

But I'm just so hungry.

Desperate times, here. I'm gonna dig in.

Just gonna go for it?

I just don't know if I can do it.

Samantha: Fernando is not picky at all about what he eats.

I am a little more cautious.

I'll probably hang out here for a few minutes.

That's good.

That is good.

Ooh.

Huh.

Very unusual sensation.

Some kind of reaction's happening

on the roof of my mouth.

Narrator: Before they began their 21-day survival challenge

in the oppressive malaysian rain forest,

samantha and fernando were both given

a primitive survival rating, or psr.

Samantha has struggled with hypothermia and starvation,

making her overly dependent on her partner.

As a result, her psr has been trending down.

Fernando's optimism while under duress

has helped support his teammate.

His psr was up.

But now his desperate decision to eat an unidentified fungus

could change everything.

Whoa, what is this?

Samantha: Probably not a good idea to eat them.

Narrator: After 15 days of starving

in the malaysian jungle,

fernando has made the risky decision

to eat wild mushrooms.

Fernando: Some kind of reaction's happening

on the roof of my mouth.

Narrator: Fernando's reaction to the toxins in the mushroom

has passed.

In the world of survival, he's dodged a bullet.

Fernando: It was definitely an eye-opener.

That definitely made me more cautious.

I'm gonna go ahead and abandon the mushroom operation.

[ coughs ]

over here! Hurry!

[ coughs ]

samantha: Fernando is really sick.

I'm not sure whether it's from mushrooms

or drinking the wrong water, but he needs help.

I feel so cold, like my whole body...

Woman: Aches? Aches.

[ thermometer beeps ]

narrator: If fernando's core temperature

is not reduced in time, it could lead to brain damage.

Immersing him in cold water is the only emergency resource

the medics have in this environment.

Samantha: I am really worried.

I don't know that he's gonna make it.

Narrator: Fernando's temperature has been reduced for now,

and medics return him to camp.

The medics just told me that if my temperature hits 104 again,

they're pulling me out from this challenge.

Samantha: You'll make it.

Samantha: If I had to be out here by myself,

I don't even know that survival would be possible.

Without fernando, I can't do it. I can't do it.

Narrator: Fernando remains dangerously weak,

and in two days' time,

he will have to summon the resolve

to make the perilous 3 1/2-mile swim to extraction.

Samantha: Fernando is still not feeling good.

He can't even sit up for more than a minute.

So now it's my responsibility to get us through to the end.

Narrator: Samantha has no choice

but to begin building a makeshift raft all alone

to help fernando make the journey to extraction.

This was my biggest fear, getting injured or sick.

There's no way I'm not finishing.

I'm too, too close.

I'm so close now that if I can just not get a whole lot worse,

I can do it.

Okay, there's one piece down.

I'm gonna take it down to the lake and see if it floats.

It should.

It has been mentally, physically,

and emotionally a complete drain.

That's a really good sign.

When I was down and wasn't sure that I could make it,

fernando helped pick me back up.

So I feel like it's my turn to step up

and do whatever it takes

to get us both to make it to the finish line.

[ sighs ]

I've got nothing in the tank.

I can do this, though.

I just have to really pace myself.

Oh, let's do it.

[ groans ]

I vomited earlier today.

It's been brutal.

Brutal, brutal, brutal.

I've been thinking about this long swim

for the last two days now

and how I'm gonna do it in my current condition.

I'm gonna have to really dig deep.

How are you doing?

I feel like crap.

Okay, all we need to do here is get this top beam.

We can take it down to the lake and finish the raft real quick.

Fernando: Sam, you are amazing.

These last two days,

you've really pulled us through as a team.

So grateful.

[ screeches ]

so, these last days, I've never been this sick in my life,

and sam has stepped up and got that raft together by herself

while I was just laying there, lifeless.

Samantha: You ready to try this?

Yeah. Let's get out of here.

Samantha: Not sure what's gonna happen with fernando

on our swim to our rendezvous point.

All right, ready?

[ sighs ]

hoping that once he gets in the cool water

and is able to kind of lean on something

that he'll have just enough strength to kick

and we can get it there.

But if not, we will make it work somehow.

Did you just see that?

There's a lizard in the water.

Oh, man.

Fernando: There's a huge, four-foot lizard

on that shoreline.

That's a problem.

Narrator: Monitor lizards are fiercely territorial

and aggressive creatures,

and they've been known to attack humans.

Fernando: Man, this is crazy.

But this is the only way we're getting home.

Narrator: To reach their extraction point,

they must now swim 3 1/2 miles up this river

amidst deadly monitor lizards

and rendezvous with a boat that will bring them to safety.

This is a lot more work than I thought it would be.

Yeah.

How's your energy?

I'm definitely tired.

It's just unrelenting.

This is a long way to go.

Yeah, we're working really hard and we really should --

we're not getting as far as we should.

I feel like I may crash.

[ chuckles ]

whoa, did you see that?

Oh, whoa.

That is a big lizard.

Oh, crap.

Samantha: Lizards can kill you.

And if they kill you, they will eat you.

Right there, right there.

Perfect.

This is not good.

Fernando: Every single thing that crawls out here

just wants to get their fangs in us.

Yeah.

Man.

This is it.

Whoo!

Samantha, we made it.

Ohh.

Seeing that rescue boat come towards us,

it's an amazing feeling.

Samantha: This is it.

This is the moment that we've been working for

this entire time,

and getting out from all the freaking misery.

Whoo!

Sam, we did it.

We did it.

21 days.

I am really proud of myself for sticking this out.

It's just amazing to know what your mind can do

if you really feel like you don't have any other option

than to face it.

That's all you got, malaysia?

Fernando: I don't feel invincible.

I don't feel like I can do anything.

But I feel like, "wow.

That wasn't easy, and I was able to get through it."

I'm first and foremost just proud of myself.

I mean, this was no joke.

Whoo! We did it.

Samantha: This was an incredible feat

of determination and mental strain.

When my daughters see this,

they are gonna know that if mom can do this,

then they can do anything.

And that's huge.

Narrator: Over the course of their grueling,

three-week challenge,

the survivalists each went through extreme mental

and physical stress.

Fernando lost a total of 31 pounds,

while samantha lost 21 pounds.

Based on their performance,

experts re-assessed their primitive survival ratings.

Early on, samantha struggled with the wet conditions

and was forced to lean heavily on her partner.

But she rose to the occasion when it mattered most.

Fernando showed great skill

and mental resolve in supporting samantha,

but some questionable decisions and a dangerous fever

almost took him out of the challenge.

As a result, fernando's psr falls from 7.1 to 6.9,

and samantha's rises from 6.8 to 7.0.

In the end, they both helped each other cope

with the horrendous conditions

and proved they have what it takes

to survive naked and afraid.

Samantha: I'm gonna be savoring this for a long time.

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

captions paid for by discovery communications