Pocatello native to compete against other legends in new ’Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing’
Published at | Updated at
POCATELLO — Pocatello native and reality TV star Jeff Zausch says viewers can expect absolute “carnage” in an all new Naked and Afraid series airing this Sunday.
“It’s going to be much more exhausting and it’s going to take a lot more out of the survivalists than we have seen previously,” Zausch said.
Naked and Afraid is known as a reality TV show where a pair of survivalists, most commonly one male and one female, are left in remote destinations. The duo, without clothes or supplies, are left with only one survival item each, and attempt to survive on their own for a certain number of days.
However, the new season Zausch is in is called ‘Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing’ premieres Sunday on Discovery Channel and pits 12 Naked and Afraid legends against each other for a completely new type of challenge.
It takes place in the Oribi Gorge in South Africa and the conditions are brutal.
“You can think of it as the Grand Canyon of South Africa. When you are all the way down in the bottom of this canyon, it gets incredibly hot during the day (and) incredibly chilly at night,” Zausch explained.
It’s a grueling 45-day survival challenge.
Zausch has competed on ‘Naked and Afraid’ and it’s spinoffs, including ‘Naked and Afraid: Savage’ and ‘Naked and Afraid XL.’ He’s hosted ‘Dual Survival’ and has been on ‘Snake in the Grass.’
RELATED | Local man competing on new ‘Snake in the Grass’ survival show
This all-new show of ‘Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing’ will prove to be different and surprising. According to the shows synopsis, “Winner takes all as 12 all-star Naked and Afraid survivalists battle to take home $100,000 and be crowned the Last One Standing in a head-to-head, multiphase challenge.”
“For me, this is everything that I’ve been wanting. This is every person for themselves. If you make it to the end, you are going to do it by your own hand, by your own skill and I really like that,” said Zausch.
And with an actual prize at the end, it changes people.
“People think we are crazy, but for years we have just been doing this for the pride of it,” Zausch said laughing. “The fact that there’s a cash prize at the end, that will definitely make people do some things that they may have not done otherwise had there not been that money there at the end.”
In the shows trailer, a competitor asks, “How do you know you’re the best unless you compete against the best?”
“I don’t trust anybody,” Zausch says in the teaser trailer.
There are three different phases to the challenge Zausch explained. In the first phase, each person is partnered up with another survivalist.
“Similar to like a 21-day Naked and Afraid — the original Naked and Afraid — where we are partnered with one person for 21 days but what’s different … is if your partner taps out of a challenge, then you also are eliminated from the challenge. So your fate is tied to them. That’s never been done before, which is incredibly terrifying to someone like me,” he explained.
The second phase of the challenge is when the elimination begins.
“We are going to be going head-to-head in environment survival-related challenges where the weaker survivalist will be forced out of the challenge against their will based on their performance … and that’s never been done before,” he explained.
The third phase will have the remaining survivalists compete in a battle. It will be a “brutal fight to the finish.”
“They will compete in an all out, head-to-head race to the finish line and then the first one to the finish line on day 45, they will be crowned the champion,” he said.
Other competitors on the show include Amber Hargrove, a US Army veteran who has successfully survived 148 days in the wild on Naked and Afraid Challenges. There’s also Gary Golding, who has survived 140 days on six previous Naked and Afraid Challenges. Click here to read more.
This is Zausch’s seventh time being on Naked and Afraid, and he said he couldn’t be more excited for this season to air.
“There is so much that happens in this season that viewers have never seen before. I am so excited to see what the reaction is from viewers. In my mind, this is going to go down in the books as the greatest Naked and Afraid ever filmed!” he said.
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing premieres Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET on the Discovery Channel.
EastIdahoNews.com comment boards are a place for open, honest, and civil communication between readers regarding the news of the day and issues facing our communities. We encourage commenters to stay on topic, use positive and constructive language, and be empathetic to the feelings of other commenters. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Click here for more details on our commenting rules.