5 life lessons Binging Naked and Afraid Taught Me

The lessons in Naked and Afraid are always learned the hard way as I’ve seen from binging this show with my husband. It’s a simple premise: one woman and one man are taken to a seemingly middle-of-nowhere location where they have to fend for themselves for 21 days. They’re also butt nekkid. Each is allowed to bring a tool. There’s a camera crew following them around but they aren’t allowed to interfere.

As much as I question the decision these contestants make, I know I couldn’t handle an overnight in the jungle. The first spider I saw would have me “tapping out.” By watching this show, Chris and I have watched humans grow, break, and make stupid decisions. Here’s what I’ve been learning from this outrageous show:

1. Being difficult holds everyone back

When one of the partners refuses to work with the other, everything slows down. In a survival situation, it’s less about what you want and more about what will keep the team happy and healthy. We watched one show where the woman contestant refused to hunt or find food because she thought it was the man’s job. And then they starved. They went for two weeks without substantial food.

This happened again when a man contestant let his pride get the best of him when the woman ended up hunting because he lied about…