Throughout the Season 17 episode, we see Jennings and Moore find natural sources of food and water. At times, the two struggle to hide their irritability due to a lack of sleep, but through their collaboration they're able to make it through the harrowing fortnight.
Jennings credits his survival skills to his time growing up in Cedar Hill, Texas. As a Gen Xer, he fondly recalls spending much of his time outdoors.
“My mama kicked me out whenever the sun would come up and said, ‘Don't come home ‘til the streetlights come on,’” says Jennings. “Out there in Cedar Hill before we grew up, the only thing to do was play in the woods or play in the pond down the street. “From there, [my fascination with survivalism] grew from 6 or 7 years old, up to now, 43 years old.”
While we see Jennings identify plants, hunt and gather food and set fires on the show, he posits that the most impressive skill he possesses as a survivalist is having mental fortitude. As a young adult, he served in the U.S. military, which he says taught him a lot about keeping cool under pressure, and making sure those around him push through.
Years before Jennings was selected to participate on Naked and Afraid, he often pictured himself on the show, daydreaming about how he would handle various difficulties. As we see on his episodes, Jennings handles many a challenge with skill and confidence. He also says appearing nude on television wasn’t anything daunting.
“You really don't think of yourself as appearing naked on national television when you're in the moment,” says Jennings. "Living in the military barracks with a bunch of guys, running around naked is something we would do when we were young and dumb, so it kind of came naturally to me.”
Though Jennings found the experience fulfilling and rewarding, going consecutive nights without food or sleep began to take a toll on him.
Ants in Your No-Pants
“I was fairly irritable, and it mostly had to do with rain and the cold, and trying to keep the fire going through the night,” Jennings says. “I think all of that and no food contributed to the irritability. If I take 10 minutes to myself, then I can usually get over all that, and be back to my normal calm self.”As a longtime viewer of the show, Jennings says that he has often watched and thought about what he would do differently from the show’s previous contestants. But having been out there, he can vouch for the fact that the show is even more grueling than it looks on TV and that many “armchair survivalists” couldn’t make it through such conditions.
For him, the most challenging part of it all was the fact that he missed his wife and children. But throughout the process, Jennings learned that he is able to “push through difficult times.”
Jennings says that filming the show was one of the most difficult moments of his life, but he had so much fun doing it. And that he would “absolutely” do it again if asked.
“I've studied the show in depth, and I've talked to past survivalists,” says Jennings. "I've only done 14 days, but I'm hoping that the show will call me back for 21 days, 40 days or longer challenges, but time will tell.”
All episodes of Naked and Afraid are available to stream on Max.
