I love Naked and Afraid XL and don't want to see it swapped out for this, mainly because I think this could only be a one-hit-wonder. But I would by lying if I said that this special isn't the most compelling N&A series yet.
My main criticism is just that I don't like the challenges. Too much is dependent on luck, both on whether the contestant happens to see something in a tree, and luck as to whether the contestant is following a path someone might have already gone down. I'd like to see a more organic elimination structure if possible. Perhaps this would require 60 rather than 45 days.
The most compelling part by far are the group dynamics under duress. This whole season has been Jeff vs the rest and it's fascinating. There is a lot that could be said here, but I just want to say that I'm totally on team Jeff.
Jeff came to barter. Like small communities have done with each other for thousands of years. Totally fair outlook. A couple of characters jumped on this, and thought it could help them if they put Jeff in a bad light by sharing what they find. To create a contrast between them and Jeff. They succeeded in this and turned all of the weaker characters against Jeff, creating their own herd where the weaker characters were bullied and put in line if they helped Jeff at all.
This group mentality just kept on feeding into itself until Jeff became some kind of dark lord/demon in the eyes of this group. It was stunning to watch how quickly these otherwise totally competent adults devolved into completely irrational behaviour and beliefs.
There was some real nastiness in all of this. It just like school-yard bullying. The lackies to the bullies. (Dan, Cheeny), were regularly particularly spiteful, as if to try and prove their loyalty to the bullies (Waz, Matt). Meanwhile, other characters went along with the bullying despite knowing it was wrong, and you could see it affecting them (Steven, Sarah).
But the 'terrible thing' Jeff did (bartering) which caused all the bullies to succeed in making him a pariah was shown not to be such a terrible thing at all when Steven knowingly jumped onto the same path as Sarah in a challenge and stole from in-front of her what she had been looking for, effectively eliminating Sarah. The bullies paid absolutely no heed to this at all, because Steven was in their group, and useful to them. It just really demonstrated how shallow and double-dealing those people really were.
There would be a lot more to say, especially on Jeff's behaviour, but I'm not here for an essay. He was really quite remarkable, and I'm not saying he's a great guy or anything, he's manipulative for sure, but not nearly as snide and spiteful as a number of the other characters. He had by far the most difficult challenge. He ate the least, was by himself practically the entire time, and had the psychological aspect of being hated on by everyone else to overcome. I'm not sure what it would feel like to have your own team leave you and sneak off to go and eat with the other team, but I respect him immensely for how he responded. Always courteous and civil and never letting it beat him. I don't think anyone else would've lasted as long as Jeff, under those conditions. Most people would crumple as soon as the group turned against them. He made little psychological buoys for himself, like tricking the group into believing that all of the stashes has been taken, just so that he can get a 'win' in his mind. That's some enormous mental strength. There's no malevolence in that, just psychological survival.
And all of this is why this series has to be a one-hit-wonder. Alot of the characters here are mainstays of teh show, and they've been destroyed. I'm not even sure if you could have an XL anymore with these characters. Bridges are well and truly burned. Yet without these characters, this show would've been very average.
7 out of 10 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
