by Ashley Thompson

Before the opening scene we hear a conversation between Angel and a producer, "If someone becomes violent your best defense is to pick up one of these cameras so there's documentation". Are we in for another psycho? Yes, but it's not who you think...

Angel from California and Nicole from Massachusetts are in the arid lake-bed of Nicaragua. It's the worst drought in 32 years which means the more vicious predators are the more prominent ones. This includes the red tailed boa and the tarantula called "horse biter" because of it's ability to take down a horse with its venom. And the scarceness of water means that what water that is left standing is home to dangerous cayman.

After meeting, Angel, who was homeless for 5 years and went barefoot for a year, and Nicole, a nursing student fluent in survival skills thanks to the ROTC, have to hike 5 miles through dried brush to find water. And it wasn't easy because all they find once they reach the lake is dried and cracked dirt. Angel's PSR is 7.3 and Nicole's is 5.9. Anyone else sensing more sexism? I mean, ROTC taught her shelter building, fire starting and hunting. Angel's claim to survivalist training is being homeless and born in Puerto Rico. What are we missing?

It's clear during the first few days that Angel likes to push Nicole's buttons consistently. It's not obvious wether or not he actually believes Nicole has no survival skills or if he's just an ass. But nonetheless, he is condescending and borderline mentally abusive. However, Nicole does claim to be completely out of energy on day 1 so maybe her skills are actually lacking. She redeems herself by finishing off an iguana he brought to camp and skinning/cooking it. All while listening to him tell her she should be better and faster. Ugh. Constantly questioning her skills cannot be good for her psyche.

They finally decide to search for a new camp after Nicole gets stung by a scorpion twice on her neck, which Angel calls "a bee sting". They come across a much larger body of water and decide they are happy in their new home. Until the rain comes in. Nicole wants to build a shelter to protect them from the rain, Angel says he's fine with the rain because he was homeless. M, k. He claims he isn't interested in doing things for her because she is used to "having a maid do everything". Remember that first quote? It wasn't warranted. In the slightest.

Trying to move on, Angel makes a huge trap for cayman but it's Nicole who catches a turtle for dinner. And then loses it. "He told me that I couldn't survive out here by myself... maybe he's right about that." A good partner makes you better and worthy, not doubtful. Yet she runs back to camp to apologize and promise to be a better partner. So she goes for a boa... and gets closer than we have ever seen a survivalist get. Lucky for her it strikes her stick and not her ankle. Thus we have the quintessential snake meal and protein for extraction.

Nicole lost 20 pounds and her PSR 6.1. Angel lost 33 pounds and his PSR rose to 8.1.

Photo by: Discovery Channel