By Ashley Thompson

 

Reality Wanted chats with Amber from the Naked and Afraid season premiere and here's what she had to say about her survival experience in the Everglades of Florida:

 

Reality Wanted: How were you cast? Did you do anything special to get noticed?
Amber: I went on to the Discovery website and if you go under N&A there's a block you can check for casting and you literally give 180 characters about yourself and submit 2-3 pictures. I got contacted through metalflowers.com (metalflowersmedia.com) and that's how I got on. Once metal flowers contacted me I had to do several different interviews with them and then from that point in the interviews they told me I would be contacted by a survival expert... he asked me over 100 questions on survival and basic things like how do you boil water... from point A to point B type thing. It took a long time. We were on the phone for almost 2 hours asking me questions and he couldn't stump me.

 

Reality Wanted: How far in advance did you know you'd be on the show and where you were going?
Amber: They literally gave me two days notice to my location. I was originally supposed to go to Colombia. I knew for about a week and a half and I was training for this, two days before they were like, "You're going to the everglades". I was like, "Whaaat?"

 

Reality Wanted: Were you a little disappointed?
Amber: You know, a little bit. But at the same time I was kind of excited. As soon as I got the two day notice I was like, what can I do to train? What am I scared of? I thought, I should get some hands on experience with alligators. I Googled it and surprisingly an hour and a half from my house there's a gator farm and they do training. It's a lot of fun and they teach you different techniques. It's worth it, I recommend it for everybody.

 

Reality Wanted: You feel you trained adequately, then?
Amber: Research my environment. What's the most poisonous thing out there? They have spiders and they have snakes and I didn't know how to identify them I was flashing pictures over and over in my head on how to protect yourself. Are you able to eat the stuff there? Are you able to eat the type of fish, too. What to stay away from. Things like that.

 

Reality Wanted: Speaking of bad fish, how did you feel when the medic was called?
Amber: It did show at one point I was laying there and Ryan was like, "Are you going to be ok?" and I said I was going to be fine but I was shaking and I couldn't control the shakes. So the medic came over to me and he was like, "You've got to go". When I was puking blood that's when the medic was like "ding ding ding!... got to go". I don't think it was so much the fish, I know that's what they're trying to go towards. That water we were drinking you know, Ryan really talked me into drinking the water without boiling it. He said, they didn't show this, "I've been drinking swamp water for 4 days, it's taking us too long to boil it... you can trust me on this." That was actually a big deal for me. Number one rule, always boil. I drank some of the water and I started feeling a little funky here and there. It just got so bad that I couldn't control puking.

 

Reality Wanted: What was your diagnosis?
Amber: After I left and went to the hospital and talked with the doctor he said I had two different types of parasites in my intestines, a roundworm and hookworm. I was on heavy anti-fungals for about 60 days. I couldn't walk for about three weeks after I got home. I was miserable.

 

Reality Wanted: Would you do it again, even after all the pain?
Amber: After all the recovery time and losing half of my hair, I really contemplated on going back and doing a redemption. I can say in the future you will be seeing me again. Guaranteed. I can't talk about it, but it's already on the table.

 

Reality Wanted: Redemption feels good, doesn't it?
Amber: It does. And I didn't lose my hair so I'm happy now.

 

Reality Wanted: You were obviously skilled in weaving, how important was crafting clothing? Did you feel it was necessary or just like 'who cares?'?
Amber: I'm not going to lie, I did not know how to weave when I got out there. At all. Time is your biggest enemy when you're out there because it just doesn't end. And I was just sitting there like, I could weave a top. It was out of boredom, not because I was naked. Anything I had covered up, you know a bush over a bush concept, it kept me from mosquitoes.

 

Reality Wanted: Is it ever not awkward?
Amber: I caught Ryan staring at my vagina or my breasts when we were making a fire. When I covered them he was like, "Really? You're going to cover the ladies?" ::laughing::

 

Reality Wanted: Do you now feel the urge to be naked any time you're in the woods?
Amber: ::laughing:: I probably wouldn't do it locally in Colorado, but I noticed when I'm alone in the house I walk everywhere naked.

 

Reality Wanted: You called Ryan a 'pussy' for not wanting to hunt alligator with you. Were you jealous when Ryan killed an alligator after you had to leave?
Amber: I was kind of mad because in the morning I would go off and get us breakfast. I would get us crawfish and turtle soup or something so he'd have enough protein to go hunting. And it killed me that he'd go off hunting and he wouldn't let me go with him. It was weird. I was so stoked about going hunting. He kept calling me stupid for wanting to go get an alligator and that's when I snapped on him. And that is not my lingo at all so I can't believe I said that.

 

Reality Wanted: When did you find out he had gotten the alligator? Did the producers tell you in the hospital?
Amber: They would not tell me anything. After I got out of the hospital I couldn't fly home because I couldn't walk, so I had to sit in this hotel. I was really sad, I wanted to talk to him. He did great without me, I mean I'm more of a team player than he is but that's just who we are as individuals.

 

Reality Wanted: So do you keep in touch?
Amber: Yeah we text each other all the time. He was in Hawaii and he sent me pictures of his travels. He is such a good person with such a big heart. I wouldn't trade him for anybody, not even McGyver for a partner.

 

Reality Wanted: Was the whole thing what you expected?
Amber: After watching it, um, no. I was a little bit angry. I taught Ryan how to spearfish, I taught him how to skin a snake, I showed him how to cook the meat. All of my skills, I didn't see it. It kind of broke my heart. I'm thinking, I busted my butt teaching him all of these things and I didn't get any gratification at all. I was really hoping they would show the argument about the snake eggs, because he didn't believe.

 

Reality Wanted: How did they assess your PSR scores?
Amber: It was during the two hour conversation. The expert survival specialist does your interview and he rates you on your knowledge and what you show them, like I sent in videos of me starting fires, different ways to boil water. I'm pretty sure it's a computer generated thing. But he gave me a 7.8 starting which was amazing because I have the skills and knowledge for it. But when it dropped four points I was like "really?".

 

Reality Wanted: So you don't think your PSR score was accurate at the end?
Amber: I think it was very unfair. When people are medically pulled that's unfair. You can't control your body. Everything I did they did not show, I felt like I was just kind of there.

 

Reality Wanted: Did any crew give you water and/or a granola bar during your 21 days?
Amber: Oh no no no. ::laughing:: They don't even talk to you. No conversation, you could crack a joke but they just twitch a smile. They can't drink around you, they can't have food around you. I smelled one of them chewing gum and as soon as I said it smelled good the producer had them swallow their gum.

 

Photo credit: DIscovery