By Ashley Thompson

On the Naked and Afraid finale we are in the north shore Lencois Maranenses National Park in Brazil. It's 9 million acres of dunes and 6.5 million acres of semi-aquatic vegetation, making it the largest national park in South America. For the first time the participants are dropped into a desolate landscape with mostly birds, snakes, 12 inch tarantulas, blistering heat and 30mph winds.

Matt is a 24 year old (PSR of 7.1) vegan from Oregon who works as a primitive skills instructor and he brings along a homemade machete. Honora is a 28 year old(PSR 7.6) herbologist from California and brings along a magnifying glass. Seems like an odd tool but she tries to use it to sanitize the water via UV light. Smart but time consuming.

From the beginning Honora has expressed distain for Matt's plump size but a few days in she goes full-on ballistic yelling, "You stank and you're stupid and you're fucking lazy!!!". Um, news flash, sweetie... you don't smell like roses, I'm sure. And now that you've completely offended the human race with you're grand attitude, have fun staying warm and dry in your shelter away from your partner. You're missing his fat now that it's cold and raining, aren't you?

She is expending her calories and energy foraging in the hot sun while he is using his energy to remain at his shelter eating cactus. At the point of her breaking down due to malnutrition, one coconut finally restores her lucidity. This allows her to acknowledge how horrible she was to Matt and apologizes. But, I mean, ONE coconut? Really, that's all it takes to revive her? Or did the producers slip her a granola bar?

A few hours later Matt finds Honora passed out in the sun (which begs the question, where were the camera crew?). Unable to squeeze his hand he immediately asks for a medic and assistance rushes in. She is completely unresponsive and almost catatonic. Very scary. It turns out her sodium and potassium levels were low as well as her blood sugar levels. After an IV she had improved 100% but doctors said it would be unsafe for her to return to the challenge. Matt is now on his own on day 17.

Matt's extraction point is 5 miles south. He'll have to use the sun to navigate across the dunes to a crimson river (stained red by plants in the forest) then wade for 3 miles to an awaiting helicopter. Before his departure he grabs Honora's left behind magnifying glass, given to her by her recently deceased father, in order to return it to her. So sweet.

During the challenge Honora lost 18 pounds and dropped her PSR score to 7.2 because of her early exit. Matt lost 28 pounds and raised his PSR score significantly to 7.7. On a side note, have you ever wondered why "survival experts" don't have better PSR's?

Photo courtesy Discovery Channel