Survivalists will find their skills tested in surprising ways in the new season of Discovery’s reality TV series Naked and Afraid. The show drops pairs of contestants – including a professional backpacker and an MMA fighter – into some of the harshest conditions on Earth and challenges them to find a way to survive for 21 days without food, water, or clothes. Season 15 features a number of firsts for the show, including two people who hope to become the first foreigners to last 21 days in a remote part of the U.S. and two of the show’s medics who find themselves in front of the camera and fighting to survive.
A new season of ‘Naked and Afraid’ premieres in February 2023
Naked and Afraid Season 15 premieres Sunday, February 19 at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.
The new episodes will see contestants battling harsh conditions in the jungles of Guyana and Mexico’s notorious Devil’s Canyon. They’ll confront unpredictable temperatures, hungry insects, pounding rain, and more challenges as they fight to survive.
“What looked like paradise turned out to be hell,” one contestant says in a teaser for the new season (via Twitter).
“I want nothing to do with the desert,” another says. “F*** the desert.”
How to stream ‘Naked and Afraid’ Season 15
The new episodes of Naked and Afraid will also be available to stream the same day on discovery+. The streaming service also has all 14 previous seasons of the reality show, as well as the spinoff Naked and Afraid XL.
This season kicks off with two survivalists from overseas who are striving to become the first foreigners to last 21 days in America’s Wild West. And in a role reversal, viewers will also meet two veteran Naked and Afraid medics who get a taste of their own medicine when they try to survive 21 days in front of the cameras. Season 15 will also feature the return of four survivalists who tapped out in previous challenges. They have deep regrets about past decisions and they’re hoping to find redemption as a tribe when they return to the show.
All of the participants will find themselves challenged in a variety of ways.
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“An ant bit my ballsack,” one cast member says in the teaser. “Why?”
“Everything here is named after the devil,” another observes. “Not today, Satan.”
How are people chosen for ‘Naked and Afraid’?
It takes a special kind of person to be on Naked and Afraid. Though there is no shortage of people interested in testing their survival skills, finding cast members can be a challenge, Kristi Flowers, the president of Metal Flowers Media, told Channel Guide Magazine in 2015.
“Every season the number of people applying increases. Unfortunately, the number of people who actually are qualified enough to get on the show remains the same, and that is a scant number of submissions,” she said. Producers look for “really elite survivalists,” reaching out to wilderness groups, ex-military, and even people who’ve experienced real-life survival situations.
Prospective cast members can improve their chances by demonstrating some bona fide survival skills.
“If you can come to us and prove that you can start fire in more than one way, that you have a really deep and wide knowledge of shelter building, and if you can name three or four ways to get water, and you can prove it,” Flowers said. “When you come to finals, you can actually show us that you have the skill set, you’ve got a huge leg up on everyone else.
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