Naked and Afraid – Melt Down Under

Naked and Afraid – Melt Down Under is season 5 episode 10 of Naked and Afraid. The two contestants in this episode are Laura and Nicklas who will be surviving in Australia.

Laura Thompson-Nelson is 47 and from McAllen Texas. She is married and is a USAF veteran who has had some formal survival training. Here’s Laura’s Twitter: @CafPowPow. Laura is given an initial PSR of 6.1.

Nicklas Lautakoski from Stockholm Sweden and here’s his website: www.nakedafraidviking.com.

He has trekked Madagascar and is an adventure guide.

Let’s see how they do down under. I  bet this is a rough episode, given that they have never seen an environment like this at all!

Day 1

It begins! Nicklas talks just like a dude from Sweden! lol. He seems very upbeat. That is great. Will his mindset help him survive? It sure beats being a beyatch. 🙂 Niclkas brought a machete and Laura brought a fire starter. They were also provided with a cast iron skillet or bowl to cook water in.

They check out their map and select a small body of water to head to. Along the way they discover a kangaroo skeleton which Nicklas thinks would be great to have, so they brink it along. What will they use it for?

Day 1 ends quickly and they have no fire and not much of a shelter. Uh oh. It begins pouring rain and it is under 50 degrees.

Not good.

Day 2

Laura and Nicklas are already beaten, bruised and running on no sleep.

I am beginning to see why this may be called “melt down under”. I think one of them is going to have a meltdown, down under.. Get it?

4PM rolls around and it begins raining. Their shelter is inadequate and they have no fire again! What the hell have they been doing all day long??? By 6PM they are cuddled up together and shivering while Nicklas is crying. Wow.

Day 3

If I were there I’d be building a fire first thing in the AM.

1PM rolls around and they’re finally working on a fire. Nicklas throws a little tantrum when starting the fire. Laura was attempting to help and give some input and Nicklas is all like “Nicklas brain only work one way no talk”. lol At this point due to all the editing I’m not sure if Nicklas is being a jerk or Laura is just in the way of him trying to get the fire going or what. It may even be a bit of both.

Laura has no sleep

By day 4 Laura seems extremely emotional. Nicklas likes to do things by himself and Laura wants to work as a team. I personally think they both need to compromise more to make this thing work. I do know that Laura needs sleep.

Meltdown

On day 7 Laura asks Nicklas for the knife. Instead of just handing it to her he says he is resting. The knife is right beside him and all he had to do is reach over and grab it and hand it to her. But, he refuses, multiple times. Laura snaps and says she is going to kill Nicklas.

Now I’ve been told this by almost everyone in my life and it doesn’t bother me at all but Nicklas claims he feels threatened and that he must leave the camp. Of course, he wants to take everything with him.

Laura says it isn’t fair and starts trashing the camp, throwing water onto the fire and smoldering wood into the pond.

Here’s the meltdown:

At this point producers step in and force Laura to tap out.

Nicklas is Alone

He finds and burns Laura’s walking stick. haha.

On day 10 Nicklas begins setting up traps. He has deadfalls and snares he is putting out. By day 12 he is eating ants. Day 14 he sees a snake and lets it pass. I think Nicklas has just 1 snare out and it is in front a rabbit hole. I would personally put like 50 more of these out, but whatever.

By day 19 Nicklas’s skin is dry and cracking. It is very hot and the wind is blowing. He keeps checking his snare and the rabbit has not stepped into it yet. I have no idea how this guy goes on so long without eating. I just ate a half rack of ribs and 2 ears of corn, a glass of lemonade and a coffee just while sitting on the couch and watching this guy! hehe. He has got to catch that rabbit..

Nicklas catches the rabbit!

Just in time. I’m not sure if this guy would have made it without this animal. I hope he is grateful for it!

Nicklas with the rabbit

He says it is the most delicious meal he has ever had and that he’ll never look at meat the same way again! Nice!

He even makes a shoe out of the fur. Yep, just one shoe.

Extraction day

Nicklas gets a very early start and heads out before the heat gets him. By the time the sun comes up he is jogging and running towards the finish line.

Nicklas lost 22lbs and is given a PSR of 8.1 after succesfully completed the challenge.