by Ashley Thompson

This pair is in the Australian Outback where the heat is in the triple digits during the daytime and near freezing at night. The extreme temps are the reason for the horrible storms that cause flash flooding. But the animals and critters are no better. Australia is home to the deadliest snakes and spiders on the plant. Snakes such as the brown snake and the inland taipan as well as the red back spider that has fangs longer than the snakes! No, thanks. But there are two people who are ready and willing... meet Laura and Nicklas.

Laura is a 47 year old housewife from Texas (actually she's an Air Force vet... I don't know why they downplay service time). She claims she is clumsy with bad luck but her most pressing concern is wether or not to shave her nether regions for the show. Seriously, she is worried about this... for bugs sake, of course. She brings along a fire starter and a PSR of 6.1.

Her partner is 30 year old Nicklas from Sweden. Swe-den. It's unclear what he brought along with him other than a silly sense of humor and a confidence with nudity. He does have a PSR score of 7.3, probably because he's an adventure guide.

Day one is full of walking on horrible ground towards a shallow creek where they decide to make camp. Unfortunately they don't get to fire or a decent shelter in time for their first storm which leaves them shivering and miserable on their first night. Although the pair started off with a good sense of humor about things, the shift to animosity is happening quickly. Methinks they need some carbs. No time for that, though, the next storm is already on top of them. Still no fire, still no decent shelter, and thunder so loud it makes them jump. Now they are at risk of hypothermia and all Nicklas can do is cry while he huddles next to Laura and it's only 6:00p on Day 2. Right there with ya, buddy.

Their sleep deprivation can cause erratic hear rates, confusion, manic behavior and physical fatigue. And we've all seen a psychotic break on Naked and Afraid before. These two don't seem far from it when they disagree on how to effectively make fire. They are butting heads early in the challenge but Nicklas is easy to apologize although Laura isn't easy to forgive. By Day 4 it's Laura with tears in her eyes. She's offended that Nicklas wants her to make bedding and cordage which she feels is "women's work", but it seems that maybe he has just asked her to do those things because they need to be done.

Without sleep and only crawfish as food, Laura is spiraling. It's safe to say she is out of control, even threatening to kill Nicklas. This causes him to make the decision to split up. But Laura somewhat disagrees saying that it's not fair for him to keep the knife and she doesn't want to build another shelter. Nicklas refuses to change his mind and says he will take a coal to start a new fire so that she can keep her fire starter. Laura loses her mind and pours water on the fire so that there are no viable coals and then takes the smoking log and throws it in the creek so that Nicklas is left with nothing. Laura asks the producers to bring in a medic to check her blood pressure but continues to act erratically. The producers are left with no choice but to force Laura to tap out due to the threat and the behaviors, lowering her PSR to 4.9. She continues to blame her partner calling him, "evil" and "vindictive". Meanwhile, Nicklas has no clue what's happening because he's focused on building a new fire in a temporary camp.

Nicklas eventually returns to his original campsite, and throws Laura's walking stick in his fire as a symbol of freedom. He has 14 days alone ahead of him. His new goal is food and he sets traps around his camp but ultimately settles for citrus flavored ants that bite his tongue. But the good news is that his snare has caught a rabbit and with this protein he will have enough energy for extraction. "This is like a taste explosion."

To prepare for extraction he wakes up before sunrise and makes one shoe with the rabbit skin for the journey. He has a 600 ft climb to an emergency access road but he has to get through in the dark with nocturnal red back spiders seeking warmth and food, and the taipan snake that has enough venom to kill 100 humans. Somehow he has enough energy to run on Day 21, that is until he reaches the cliff. How's that one shoe holding up?

By the end of the challenge, Nicklas is down 22 pounds and his PSR rose to 8.1. Australia only claimed one victim.

Photo by: Discovery Channel