By Ashley Thompson

 

Reality Wanted: Did you watch your episode?
Ryan: I watched it twice! It depicted a very accurate account of my challenge and my performance.

 

Reality Wanted: How were you cast?
Ryan: I was actually a student at a year long wilderness survival school in Northern Maine called Jack Mountain Bushcraft and the master who runs the school, Tim Smith, works with the cast members on the phone as part of the application process. He saw my dedication and how I wanted to open a business so he put in a recommendation with some of the producers and they reached out to me. And two months later I was on a plane to the everglades.

 

Reality Wanted: How far in advance did you know you'd be on the show and where you were going?
Ryan: I didn't know WHERE until about 10 days prior to leaving.

 

Reality Wanted: Were you disappointed you were going to stay in the US?
Ryan: At first when I was told I was going to Florida, I had already been to Florida, and I was really hoping to go somewhere exotic and out of the country. But after doing some research about the dangers and resources I got very excited and was very happy I was going to the everglades. It provided everything I needed.

 

Reality Wanted: Do you feel you trained adequately?
Ryan: Oh yeah, definitely. I got to apply all that I learned from my survival and guiding school and it was so fresh. My skills and knowledge were very fresh.

 

Reality Wanted: Do you think being in the military is essential to success on Naked and Afraid?
Ryan: Not necessarily. I credit my history in the military to my mental toughness in that aspect of the challenge. But you can't get by just experience in the military. You need other schooling and other schools, which is why I credit my school.

 

Reality Wanted: Is being naked ever NOT awkward?
Ryan: It was never awkward, no. I was very comfortable, you know being in the military with group showers... it was very natural. My partner had a very bubbly, happy personality that anything that may have been awkward she made more humorous than anything.

 

Reality Wanted: Do you feel the urge to be naked in the woods now?
Ryan: ::laughing:: I wouldn't say so, no. I'm not a nudist, I'm a survivalist. I do feel the need to be barefoot now, though.

 

Reality Wanted: When others notice your "THRIVE" tattoo on your back, your slogan for your experience, do you get to relive your challenge all over again?
Ryan: Oh yes. That single word carries meaning, it just brings back everything I did down there.

 

Reality Wanted: You mentioned helping other vets who suffer from PTSD use survival techniques to heal, have you thought of calling your venture "THRIVE"?

Ryan: I haven't come up with a business name yet, that would be a good slogan. Yeah, I like that.

 

Reality Wanted: Everyone always wonders about the one man one woman nudity thing. Is it essential to the experience?
Ryan: I like the concept of that, it's like a primitive attitude style challenge. I think being naked adds to that element of being exposed to your surroundings. I like that element of being crafty and making a grass loin cloth and put things together and making my own wardrobe.

 

Reality Wanted: Is there any part of not showering for 21 days and being surrounded by alligators that turns you on? Is that part of the excitement?
Ryan: Um, yeah, I would say so.

 

Reality Wanted: Did you feel vindicated when you killed an alligator after Amber called you a "pussy"?
Ryan: It was definitely rewarding. I had no doubt the entire time that I was clearly capable of hunting an alligator. I had to think it through and do it right, not irrationally. I didn't take any unnecessary risks. All we had was time down there so you take your time and do things right the first time. In the end when I got the alligator and she wasn't there, yeah, it was a really good feeling.

 

Reality Wanted: Your "alligator boom stick noose" and your smoker oven were pretty badass, was the challenge as easy as you made it look?
Ryan: ::laughing:: I'd have to say yes, I definitely made look easy. At no time was I starving at no time was I feeling hunger pangs. The boom stick noose, I wish they would have shown more of that. It actually came to me in a dream.

 

Reality Wanted: During your 21 days?
Ryan: Yeah, on day 7. I was sleeping and I had this vision and I was in this pit surrounded by alligators and in this pit was a trainer. He had a long aluminum pole with a wire noose on it and he was using it to hold on to the alligators like a dog catcher would use on a rabid dog. I woke up and sat straight up and wide eyed like a light bulb had lit up and thought 'I could totally make one of those'. It was like 3a and I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep. The sun came up and I gave my morning interview and talked about my dream, then spent the next 3 hours harvesting the resources and putting that together. Just made it really functional. I had planned on building a smoker early on in case I got an alligator but kind of procrastinated on that. I was losing hope by day 18. At the very last minute I had to build it or waste the animal. I don't know how it came together. I understand the concept of a smoker and how it works but I thought it through and was biding time because of the storm on the way. As soon as I lit the fire it started raining. I smoked the meat for about 8 hours.

 

Reality Wanted: Did you take home an souvenirs?
Ryan: Yep, I've got my grass loin cloth and my grass necklace. I've got my headband, they didn't show a lot of my other crafts. I crafted fishing nets out of vines, a predator whistle to call in hawks, I made a net bag, I made the back pack... I wish they would have shown me making more of that. That was too big to bring home so I left it down there, and the boom stick. It's all on the land of the alligator hunting business so I put it on the wall of their hunting business. I kept the bottle and made a cork for it out of wood. I also made a tic-tac-toe set for me and Amber and I also brought that home.

 

Reality Wanted: Do you keep in touch with Amber?
Ryan: We're good friends. We talk and keep in touch.

 

Reality Wanted: How did you feel when Amber was forced to tap out?
Ryan: Um.... I wouldn't say "forced". ::laughs::

 

Reality Wanted: Did it bother you that you'd be left alone or was that enticing?
Ryan: No not at all. I've spent a lot of time in the past three years on many solo adventures and extended time in the wilderness by myself. I was in my element and I was kind of excited.

 

Reality Wanted: Do you think your PSR score was accurate at the beginning?
Ryan: Based on what they know about me, I'm not sure who's picking these numbers, but not knowing me and what I was going to do it it was pretty accurate.

 

Reality Wanted: What about the PSR score at the end?
Ryan: :: laughing:: Am I aloud to say no? No I don't think it was accurate at all. I ate food every single day except day 14. I had some type of protein, I ate meat every single day. I crafted all that stuff and I thrived. I don't understand, I don't see what I could have done better. THere's nothing else I could have done to do any better. Based on my location and my environment and my resources and how I put it all together, not ever having been there and figuring it out along the way I don't see how I could have done better.

 

Reality Wanted: Would you do it again?
Ryan: Absolutely, yes.

 

Reality Wanted: Where would you go the next time if you could chose?
Ryan: I like the jungle environment with the abundance of resources. Some people on the show get stuck in the dessert and I feel kind of bad for them. It doesn't leave them much room to apply skills. I'd like to go to Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama, maybe somewhere tropical. The only place I wouldn't want to go is the dessert. I've had enough sand overseas.

 

Reality Wanted: Any advice for others wanting to be on the show?
Ryan: It's not for the lighthearted or weak minds. Don't fight your environment, the minute you fight you're environment it will fight back. Everything seems to flow when you're in the moment.

 

Reality Wanted: It sounds like you respected where you were and it respected you in return?
Ryan: Exactly, and I absolutely lived in the balance of my environment.

 

Photo credit: Discovery