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Stuntwoman Ky Furneaux is out of her comfort zone in Naked and Afraid: Alone, writes Siobhan Duck

IF you thought the creepy crawlies consumed on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! were the most disgusting dishes served up on TV, think again. And if the sight of contestants shivering under ramshackle shelters on Survivor seemed like the worst night’s sleep imaginable, well, you are in for a very rude shock. Because South Australian stuntwoman Ky Furneaux’s experiences on reality television series Naked and Afraid will make even the most arduous survival series seem like living it up at a five-star resort.

During her three stints on the Discovery Channel series,

Furneaux has travelled to some of the most uninhabitable places on the planet. She has fought off sharks, hunted rodents for food and slept alone in the jungle as a cougar prowled around her campsite. And, as the title of the show suggests, she did it all while completely naked.

“I’m not a nudist. I have never been comfortable being naked,” Furneaux says.

“You know, you really don’t think about things like sitting down [while naked]. You actually get calluses on your butt, and on your hips and shoulders as well because you are sleeping in the dirt. The body is amazing and it adapts to anything. But people really underestimate how even a single layer of clothing will add protection in these extremes.”

Furneaux says there is no time to wallow in inhibitions when waist-deep in alligatorinfested waters.

“The whole issue of being naked becomes secondary to survival,” she explains.

Her tactic for surviving that scary swim was to be “faster” than her fellow competitors… so they’d get eaten first.

The stuntwoman didn’t have the benefit of human shields on her most recent adventure to the Amazon for Naked and Afraid: Alone, during which she spent 21 days camping in the jungle while battling a chest infection – all alone. Still, Furneaux says she prefers the solo experience to being in a group and wouldn’t ever do a show like Survivor, because she’d struggle with the group politics.

“I love heels, dresses, red carpets and five-star hotels, but I’m definitely happiest barefoot and in the middle of nowhere,” she says with a laugh.

Another Australian who is happiest when he’s cut adrift is explorer Tim Charody, who spent eight months sailing the dangerous Northwest Passage. His death-defying experience – braving icy seas, polar bears and extreme weather – is detailed in the series Expedition to the Edge.

A fan of shows such as Bear Grylls’ Man Vs Wild, Charody understands why people get a thrill from watching others being pushed out of their comfort zones. “I’m always fascinated by survival and watching how people can get by,” he says. “There’s something very primal and innate inside us that makes us survive in difficult situations, and that’s fascinating to watch.”

NAKED AND AFRAID: ALONE

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