By Ashley Thompson

Welcome to Namibia, Africa, our first destination on this season of Naked and Afraid. Good things to know about Namibia: vicious chacma baboons, razor sharp thorns, black mambas, and large cats. Namibian desert, must be hot right? Nope. They're shivering with blue lips and red noses through the nights, even with a kudu blanket. Yet they have some intense sunburns.

This week we meet Luke and Lindsey. Luke is a 27 year old wilderness instructor from Salt Lake City with a PSR of 8.1 due to his expert bow drilling (drilling tool used to make fire). His tool of choice is a hatchet. Lindsey is a 30 year old home-schooling mother of two who is "used to balls in her face" as she explains to Luke. Her PSR is 6.7 for her endurance races she participates in. However she has already admitted to not knowing much about desert climates. Her tool of choice is a pot... or more like a tin can.

Factoid: The PSRs aren't just made up, it's actually a real thing! An expert with over 30 years of wilderness experience rates the challengers based on their location and specific experiences. Who knew? I'd like to see this so called expert participate in one of these challenges... hint hint Discovery.

Besides being bludgeoned on their soles by thorns, these two are lucky enough to find a kudu (in the antelope family) on the way to their camp. The bad news is it's already dead and may have died from rabies. But mountain-man Luke knows he can use the hide and hair for blankets and string. They also find a nice little cave full of baboon poop as their initial shelter. Not too bad, but they decide to build a shelter outside instead. The hide from the kudu is a huge help as a carrying bag and a blanket at night. But what happens when they need more string for the bow drill after several failed attempts at making fire? Hatcher haircuts, of course! Seriously, Luke takes his hatchet to Lindsey's hair (she offered) and bow drill string is made. It doesn't work, though. Not until well into their journey.

The food sources are a plenty but they've only been able to obtain raisins and poop grubs. Not enough to sustain them through their physical activities. And Luke is getting sensitive about his failed fire attempts... get some food in the man! And now Lindsey is getting emotional, oh boy. They are going down fast after two weeks without substantial food. Oh! But what's this? A penetrable bird's nest?? Let's knock that sucker over a cliff and see what we find. Birds! Yay! Lindsey grabs a stork and breaks it's neck. Ok, badass! She's obviously upset about the act but once they enjoy some un-plucked yet delicious roasted protein (yes, fire!) I think all is forgiven.

Now they must start their 7 mile trek to their extraction point. But how will they get through the thorns? Kudu shoes (this kudu was such a lucky find). Lindsey makes some pretty amazing Jesus sandals, perfect for Jesus-looking Luke, out of the remaining hide. But for some strange reason they take them off and lose them during a storm. Amazingly they find them the next day amongst the mud and off they go, a helicopter in their future.

Over the course of the 21 days, Luke lost 25 pounds and his PSR went up to 8.3, not a huge leap probably because of his fire frustrations. Lindsey lost 15 pounds and her PSR increased to 7.1, probably due to her diligence.

Amazingly these two didn't fight and worked well together... what kind of premier is this? According to the previews for the upcoming episodes, we will see some heads butting. Can't wait!

Photo courtesy of luke.holistic.survival.school Instagram