By Ashley Thompson

RealityWanted: Hi, Steve. First question, and it's kind of a personal question. Are you really Justin Bieber's number one fan (in reference to his Twitter profile)?
Steve: No! ::laughing:: Not at all. I'll eventually change that now that you've brought it up.

RealityWanted: Okay, let's get started. How were you cast?
Steve: First is a phone interview asking about my skills and what I bring to the table. They were like, 'Here's the deal... it's exactly like you see on tv'. And I said, "cool" so they asked to put some stuff on tape. Since I live here I got to go in to do the process in person with metal flowers media. They put me on tape for about 30 min. From there I went back for a final casting, I guess. Medical screenings, doctors, blood work, vitals, written psych exams and in person to make sure we were ok to do the show. Then finally the executive producers came to ask more questions and went down the line, question after question after question, with a camera on us to see if they could rattle us.

RealityWanted: Did you do anything special to stand out?
Steve: I don't know. I didn't get to see everybody else audition ::laughs::. No one had ever crossed each others paths. ??RW: Maybe they'll have a special episode with your casting tapes at the end of the season.

Steve: I hope so because I don't remember what I even said. It was the better part of a year ago. June/July/August.

RealityWanted: So how did you prepare?
Steve: Very minimalistically. The most important thing I did was put on weight. I ate really unhealthy, fatty foods and drank a lot of unhealthy things. To increase my body fat content much higher than it normally is. I put on about 15 pounds from where I was because I knew it was going to come off during the first week anyway. The other was just mentally preparing. Knowing you're going to get bit, you're going to get torn up by nature. That's a fact. You're going to get cut by things, you're feet are going to bleed. Wrapping my head around that before I even left I was like, 'great'. I know this is going to happen so quitting is not an option. I also knew I wasn't going to sleep very much. I can't imagine sleeping very much with all the mosquitoes so I would go out on my porch at night in just a pair of shorts. It got down to 62 at night at the coldest so I tested myself to see how many times I woke up.

RealityWanted: Do you think the preparation worked?
Steve: I think the actual sleeping outside was important. Bugs are going to bite you... how to deal with it mentally. I walked around barefoot a lot but that didn't really help me at all.

RealityWanted: Knowing what to expect with the bugs, if Christina were a client of your life coaching business, would you consider her a difficult client?
Steve: ::laughs:: Um... no not at all. Christina was a lot different once she had eaten a couple of meals here and there. It's hard to judge someones character when watching a show when people are putting themselves in a situation no one is putting themselves in. At one point it had realistically been two weeks since we had eaten anything it was just affecting her a lot worse. I understood her attitude but at the same time we both know what we signed up for. It's just i dealt a little bit better with it mentally blocking it out.

RealityWanted: Do you think the mud really helped repel the mosquitoes?
Steve: Any percentage of your body you can cover up with something that the mosquitoes cant' get through helps. Mud wasn't the best thing but there really weren't any other options. They came out in full force every night. I also put the mud in my ears so I didn't hear the buzzing. Just take my blood, don't wake me up!

RealityWanted: Do you think the sleeplessness or hunger were the biggest hurdles?
Steve: For me more the sleeplessness. That was more frustrating for me. I knew I could do without food as long as I had water, but without recharge you're energy levels dip really bad. 10 consecutive nights of maybe an hour of sleep. It was the most difficult thing other than hunger.

RealityWanted: Did you bring your own survival items or did they chose for you?
Steve: You bring your own and they chose.

RealityWanted: Do you wish now that you would have brought bug spray as a survival item?
Steve: ::laughs:: No, not at all. All I wanted was a knife and a fire starter. My item ended up being a pot.

RealityWanted: We see the bags, are you allowed to use them other than carrying your diary cams?
Steve: No not really. They don't us using anything that's not natural. I used mine at night. I would wrap my diary cam up in it and use it as my pillow. Christina used it sometimes to cover her side so the mosquitoes couldn't bite. It was good to use it on her hip because we would sleep next to the fire at night and the wet wood would pop and shoot out embers onto your skin. My hips are scarred from where the fire would pop and sit on us and burn and wake us up. There's a lot you don't get to see.

RealityWanted: During the extraction, why didn't you make shoes?
Steve: The issue with shoes, that's a big thing people always ask, it was wet so many days everything was really muddy. I don't know if you've walked in mud with flip flops, it's useless... it pops right off. It didn't make sense to make shoes.

RealityWanted: Did you know your PSR score or did you find out while you watched the show?
Steve: I found out with the rest of you. My Dad was asking me every day.

RealityWanted: Were you disappointed with the scores or were you satisfied?
Steve: I was happy. It wasn't really the base score I cared about it was the improvement. As arbitrary as the scoring can be I feel like .7 improvement is 10% increase. For me that's a good showing. It's a good number.

RealityWanted: So you feel it was accurate at the end?
Steve: I felt good about it. At the end of the day that's not what drove me. It wasn't about the score, it was a good experience for me. It was about helping my partner out and proving to myself that I could succeed at what I'm doing.

RealityWanted: Would you do it again?
Steve: 100% yes. Actually every day I wish I was back out in the woods.

RealityWanted: What would you do differently if you got a chance to do it again?
Steve: The only thing is I think focus more when I have energy. Trying to figure out one source of food, one thing that would work. There's not much you can do because it's so situational. Be more resourceful with the things around you.

RealityWanted: If we go to LA anytime soon will we find you in the woods stripping down?
Steve: ::laughs:: No. No... I'm a minimalist but I work with my options. If I have the chance to wear clothes, I'll probably wear clothes. If I have the chance to eat, I'll probably eat.

RealityWanted: Do you keep in touch with Christina?
Steve: We do keep in touch. I texted her last night because I was traveling all day yesterday. She sent me an article that I didn't participate in but they took my information off of my site and Facebook and I thought, 'this is what it's like to be violated online'.

RealityWanted: All the more reason to go back into the woods and be Naked and Afraid.
Steve: EXACTLY! So you're with me... you get my mindset.

Photo credit: Discovery Channel