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N & A XL is much better than the original N & A. Instead of only 21 days, survivalists have to reach 40, and rather than just 2 people, there are 12.

They begin divided in small groups, but after several days tend to bunch up into one big group.

The show can be viewed from many different perspectives. Nature people will find most interest in the survival aspects and the beauty of the exotic outdoors, people who like reality television drama will like it for the relationships, teams, cliques, and alliances, people who live an active lifestyle and exercise will find it interesting how their bodies physiologically respond to low calories, and people who like contests will be intrigued by who makes it to the end.

Because the environmental conditions are so harsh, many people can't make it to the 40th day and "tap out". The brutal conditions really take their toll on everyone as they severely lose weight and struggle to find any significant amount of food to feed the group. By the 20th-30th day, the survivalists' energy levels are so depleted that they can barely move and to conserve it, they have to stay in one place most of the time.

This is the type of show that lots of people would be embarrassed to admit they like. Some of the drama is staged, and they use lots of stock footage of dangerous wildlife to try to increase the viewers' feelings of danger and suspense. Rumors have gone around that sometimes producers will sneak in a candy bar or drop a fish in their pond to catch for food when they're starving. So there are some weaknesses that people will be quick to point out and you'll notice that aren't fully realistic.

However, this is a guilty pleasure on a bored Sunday night if there ever was one. The nature shots are beautiful, the animal footage will leave you in awe and captivated, and the sense of fear and danger is real. The survivalists really are struggling to make it due to unbearable heat, scarce food, irritability and emotional volatility due to the frustrating situations.

I didn't think season 2 would be as good as season 1, especially after the first episode or two, but after the last episodes 6 & 7, I'm surprised to honestly feel and say that it just passed it. What looked like an easy glide to 40 days for everyone turned into a nightmare that saw 5 people, 3 of the most popular, tap out within 24 hours, and there's still 11 days to go. It was a real surprise how many survivalists who appeared to be the strongest suddenly couldn't make it.

I think the best way to describe this show would be a guilty pleasure with occasional bits of brilliant survival knowledge.

In the first incarnation of "Naked and Afraid", it seemed like a series of long endurance tests. Most of the individuals either tapped out or were miserable for the entire 21 day experience.

"Naked and Afraid XL" is different. The 12 survivalists are dropped into a harsh area of Colombia where the daily temperatures routinely reach 105 degrees. They start as 4 teams of three. Although there are hardships--especially at the beginning--they fare fairly well. A local survival expert had predicted that most of them would not last 20 days, let alone the 40 day goal. But at the end of 20 days, only two had tapped out.

What makes this show better is the large number of people involved. Much more is happening and there are a variety of experiences. Some of the most interesting moments come from unexpected interactions between the participants.

My husband and I watch the show and we love how you create monsters out of the people who are participates. We always pick out the ones that we love to hate. The number 1 contestant that we loved to hate was Alana (we referred to her as 'Red").

Laura, Luke, Chris, Eva, Alana and especially annoying Danielle we thought were real a**holes in the way that they treated Dani & Shane. They were not leaders. They teamed up on Dani & Shane & Honora and proved that they were a total waste of space, their egos got the better of them and it was really pathetic.

Luke called himself a hippie when he was acting like a real jerk by following in Chris's ways, he was showing no love & he calls himself a counselor?

What they did to Dani was unconscionable.

Trish the worthless cast member is back. She was mean in season 8 and barely survived. In season 9 she is back to her old ways of laying around making everyone else take care of her. The other cast members are great and show their survival skills. Great show.

Love XL, its even better than the normal size naked & afraid. But my only problem is that they keep repeating clips again and again and again and again, and that gets SO ANNOYING. I have to literally sit with a remote, fast forwarding the first 5 minutes, then after every break and the rating stuff. I swear they show some events like 5-6 times!! They clearly have so much footage, this show will be a 10/10 if there were no repetitions.

Maybe the show runners are confused about their target audience - they are trying to get the mass audience with more drama and repetitions of dramatic events, which is alienating the actual audience for shows like these. Forget about the people who will never be regular watchers of the show, focus on your existing dedicated audience and give them better quality - no repetitions, focus more on survival stuff, even if parts of it look a bit like a documentary. Some of the hunt scenes could be longer, you don't need a voiceover all the time, give us a real feel of the situation, etc.