Publish date: 2024-05-06

Thanks, I Hate It

Nine elite survivalists fight to survive on a deserted island with no tools in 'Naked and Afraid Castaways.' It premieres July 30 on Discovery Channel.

Published on July 7, 2023

Naked and Afraid is going full Robinson Crusoe. The latest installment of Discovery Channel’s survival reality series will drop the survivalists on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. Their only tools to survive are whatever they can salvage from wreckage strewn across the island. Will these cast members be able to make it to the extraction point? Or will this turn into a Lord of the Flies situation? 

‘Naked and Afraid Castaways’ premieres July 30 

Naked and Afraid Castaways premieres Sunday, July 30 at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. 

In the new season, nine survivalists are abandoned on a tropical island. They have no maps or tools and are miles away from civilization. Working in teams of three, they’ll have to swim to one of three different ecosystems on the island: a sun-scorched beach, a mangrove swamp, or a dense jungle. Once there, they’ll have to rely solely on their survival skills and whatever tools they can scavenge from debris located around the island, including a shipwreck, an abandoned Jeep, and a crashed airplane. If they want a pot, knife, firestarter, or anything else, they’ll have to fashion it themselves out of whatever they find on the island. 

The challenge will be intense. 

“We have no idea of what we’re walking into,” one cast member says in the teaser (via YouTube). 

“This is a whole new ball game” another says. “And it is much harder.” 

On day 21, any survivalists who are still left will have to travel to the same extraction point, where they’ll signal a rescue boat. 

The ‘Naked and Afraid Castaways’ cast 

Nine elite survivalists (who’ve all appeared on previous seasons of Naked and Afraid) will fight to make it through this unique Naked and Afraid challenge. They are: 

• Kerra Bennett (Nashville, TN) 
• Patrick French (Canterbury, NH) 
• Justin Governale (San Antonio, TX) 
• Bulent Gurcan (Point Roberts, WA) 
• Na’im McKee (Aurora, CO) 
• Candice Mishler (North Phoenix, AZ) 
• Andrew Shayde (Lexington, KY) 
• Heather Smith (Brookeland, TX)
• Rachel Strohl (Oahu, HI) 

“Beyond stoked to share this incredible experience with y’all!!!,” Kerra wrote on Instagram. 

Andrew referred to his Naked and Afraid Castaways experience as “the most terrifying adventure of my whole weird-little-life” in an Instagram post. 

“Yeah it gonna be epic,” Bulent wrote on his Instagram. “Honored to be a part of this team of amazing people.”

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