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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.

Naked and afraid XL is the next level for the contestants as well as the viewers of the regular naked and afraid Survival series.

A Single episode is too short to cover the ordeal of 21 day survival challenge hence Discovery has come up with XL which covers the 40 day survival challenge instead of 21 and is spread across an entire series.

The highlight of the show is that Many veteran survivalists come for a more gruelling challenge or are given a shot at Redemption through XL and it showcases how human nature changes when the same person is pitted in a different group.

Group dynamics plays a major part and each person has to come up with his survival plan for the 40 days. You can see lot of survival plans/fails, and a lot of drama too which is obvious when many people are pitted together and decisions clash.

It's true that the show is edited in such a way that events seem to be more linear and a lot of drama is triggered by the showrunners themselves like asking specific questions intentionally or deliberately picking contestants who are sure to bring in drama. But thats obvious considering this is a reality TV show and not a documentary.

It would be amazing if a crossover with Bear grylls is done someday.

In short this is an amazing survival series if you consider this as a reality TV show which is more real compared to all other current crop of shows.

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.

This show is socialism at it's very best, and that's not saying much for it. You can see how fast lazy people take advantage of the workers, and it happens every season. My husband and I love this show because every time we hear people talking about how much they would love to have a socialist society, we think of how well it works out with just these small groups of people. There are always lazy people ready to take advantage of worker bees, regardless, love the show, watch every episode.

This show is a must watch- very entertaining when they have tribes. Love the all female team gettin it done! The dynamics are perfect for entertainment and love of the outdoors. I can't wait for it to be on each week. Great show