Andy DehnartNaked and Afraid season 11 will premiere in early 2020, and change up its format in two significant ways: its survivalist cast members will be familiar, as they’re veterans of the series and/or its spin-off, and they’ll also be alone.
Like the History Channel show Alone, which strands its contestants by themselves to survive until they’re the only participant left, Naked and Afraid will be without partners, surviving for 21 days by themselves (and with a camera crew, of course). It’s even adding the word to its title in the preview below: Naked and Afraid: Alone.
Discovery Channel’s announcement said that “the best of the best” will be transported “to the most isolated areas around the globe, leaving them there with nothing on their backs and no one by their side.”
The new season premieres Jan. 5, airing Sundays at 10.
Those episodes will be preceded by repeats of episodes that feature the returning participant. As Discovery says, “audiences can look forward to seeing the night’s solo survivalist in their previous challenges from the Naked and Afraid franchise, featuring new interviews with the survivalists ahead of their episode.”
A press release described the new season and identified four of the returning cast members:
“Dropped in Amazon jungles, the Balkan Mountains, or the African savannah with nothing and no one to watch their backs, tensions are at an all-time high as Naked and Afraid veterans take on the most intense challenge yet – surviving 21 days completely and utterly alone. This season includes top survivalists Luke McLauglin (North Carolina), Gary Golding (California), Lacey Jones (Illinois), and Max Djenohan (Washington) who will each begin the Alone challenge with solo performance rating based on their previous experiences. Together, these battle-tested survivalists have spent nearly 500 days stripped down in the wild.
While each survivalist returns to the challenge for a different reason – some to avenge a past performance, others to honor loved ones – all share the same will to overcome their fear of failure, outlast this ultimate test of survival and prove they can do it all without help from anyone else.
As they work through their respective journey finding the essentials for endurance, it quickly becomes evident the affects isolation has on an individual. After just 15 days, there are proven changes in brain chemistry that cause people to become more alert and aware, and often, more depressed and irritable. The mind is a muscle that, if not trained like the body, can quickly lose control. Without a companion to share the work with, help in precarious situations or simply lean on for emotional support, survivalists will resort to a variety of ways to stay sane. From befriending wildlife to developing and creating scenes with loved ones back home, each one has their own strategy… but will their mental toughness carry them to the finish or will their psyches crack and send them over the edge?”
What happens behind the scenes on Naked and Afraid? How does the crew interact with the cast? Answers here: How Naked and Afraid is produced