Why Naked and Afraid is as Fake as Any Other Discovery Channel Documentary

Facts from “Dunes of Despair,” Season 3, Episode 11

The magnifying glass was bought by a PA in Brazil. Honora brought 3 knives and a water filter and Matt brought 4 knives. They are supposed to bring 4 items each. Production wanted one of them to bring a fire starter. They liked Honora’s story about her dad passing away, and opted to find her a magnifying glass. They presented her with a cheap plastic magnifying glass and a flint on a key chain and gave her her pick.

Honora was asked to repeat her lines every time she referred to the glass as “the magnifying glass,” and was told to call it her “dad’s magnifying glass.”

All scenes pertaining to the magnifying glass belonging to her dad were scripted.

The editors specifically cut Honora out of shelter building. It was a multi-hour project that involved cordage-making on both Honora and Matt’s parts. Honora also used her legs to flatten out 300 cubic feet of sand on the floor of their shelter, which is evident on any clip of the shelter if you pause it.

The locust that Matt gave Honora actually fell onto the cameraman, Jessie. He threw it at Matt and started recording.

Honora found 5 coconuts while in Brazil. One was eaten completely off camera. The first two were found together and were shared with Matt. None of that was shown. However, there is a photo out there on the internet of Matt and Honora sitting on one of the mats she wove, with two coconuts between them.

Honora found about 20 buriti (moriche) fruit in the lagoons while in Brazil. Most of these were shared with Matt. (The orange around her face during her tap out was from the buriti). It was not until about day 13 that she stopped sharing food with him.

Both Matt and Honora were eating cactus. Honora did a 24-hour toxicity test on the cactus prior to them deeming it safe.

Honora found three baby blackbirds in a nest and killed two of them for food. They were caught late in the day and only half-way cured with the magnifying glass/sunlight. Matt and Honora attempted to start a fire but the sun went down. The birds became bait in her fish funnel trap.

Honora made a fish funnel trap in Brazil.

The producer egged Honora and Matt on until they had an argument. They edited Matt's part of the argument out.

None of these things were shown and the story was re-written because Matt was on amphetamines and they could not adequately explain why everything happened the way it did without blowing the story. Hence, they fabricated a storyline.

Ok, got it? Here's more:

Facts from Colombia, Naked and Afraid XL

Honora showed up in Colombia with a prescription for salt and electrolytes for her kidneys.

The producers told her they could not honor the prescription because it would not be fair to the other cast members.

Upon starting the challenge, Honora discovered that Luke had two bottles of homemade tincture, comprised of alcohol, fish oil, herbs, and other unknown ingredients. His brother made it for him and he was allowed to take it at-will as a substitute for Malarone, the anti-malarial medication that was prescribed to most of the cast members.

Upon starting the challenge, Chris told Honora that another (vegetarian) cast member was allowed to take B-vitamins. A producer informed Honora, when she told production they needed to honor her prescription out in the field, that many of the cast members had supplements.

Honora tried to leave the challenge on Day 5, prior to any arguments occurring, due to intense kidney point pain. The producers asked her to stay another day.

Day 6 was the day that everything was thrown into the river, and also the day that Honora left the challenge.

On the morning of Day 6, Honora had eaten a Malarone pill about 15 minutes prior to the argument occurring. All the other days, she had eaten it at night because of the severe side-effects of the drug on her system.

On Day 6, after leaving the challenge, a doctor told Honora to immediately stop taking Malarone because of its contraindication for people with kidney problems.

The show is a joke. Or more like a science experiment.

Posted on Reddit on 7/27/2015