Discovery Reveals the Bare Facts About "Naked and Afraid" - Ed Martin

Beverly Hills CA amp8211 Discovery Communications has so dramatically expanded its portfolio of networks in recent years that one never really knows what to expect from its presentations at Television Critics Association tours Its morninglong block of press sessions yesterday was no exceptionFirst up was a panel for Discovery Channel39s hit series Naked and Afraid This was quite a departure from the usual science history and nature driven programming the Discovery mothership has a reputation for offering at TCA toursIt may not have been as inspiring or informative a panel as Discovery39s usual fare but Naked proved to be of significant interest to the critics and reporters gathered here for the Summer 2014 tour This is a hot show amp8211 one that is so popular it has inspired other cable networks to develop series about unclothed people doing all kinds of things When introducing the panel Eileen O39Neill Group President of Discovery Channel Science Channel and Velocity said that Naked and Afraid quotholds the record for the most watched series premiere on Discovery Channel everquot and attracted over 4 million viewers last summer during its first seasonAmong the interesting facts revealed during the QampampA with the show39s producers and four people who have appeared on it two of whom Justin Bullard and Dani Julien are pictured above is that the male participants would prefer that the pixilation used to blur out their naughty bits be somewhat bigger than that which is shown on screenAlso the survivalists as the participants are known prepare for their time in the jungle areas where most episodes of Naked are filmed by gaining weight so they can live off their body fat at least for a while and walking around barefoot to toughen up the bottoms of their feetAs it happens the men and women selected to undergo the ordeal of being made to fend for themselves and travel to a specific destination over a period of twentyone days without benefit of food clothing or shelter amp8211 while cameras document their every move from every angle amp8211 already have honed certain physical and survival skills Some journalists in the room myself included naively thought that the folks who participate in the show are just everyday people who are willingly thrown into extraordinary situations That39s not the casequotWe are casting the best of the bestquot said executive producer David Garfinkle quotThese people are all survival experts If they are not experts they don39t get on the show There39s no recklessness that wayquotThe first priority noted Steven Rankin another executive producer of the show is determining that the survivalists quotcan actually survive 21 days in the location amp8230 because if they can39t do it then they fail and we don39t want people to fail on the showquot There are other questions that must be answered he said quotHave they got the mental strength Have they got the emotional fortitude to deal with it Have they got the physical strength and physical capabilities of getting through the 21 days of deprivation All of those standards we rigorously apply through our casting process final vetting and selectionquotThe surprises about Naked and Afraid kept on coming For example Garfinkle informed TCA members that it is a popular family show quotWe never intended this to be an exploitive showquot he asserted quotThis is a family show Families all around the country all around the world are watching this show because it39s not about the nudity It39s about the survival and it39s really a relationship show between a man and a womanquotquotI think that if we were to focus on the nudity and take that approach this show would be very short lived and I think it would have a very narrow viewership This show we are hoping will last a long long time because of the authenticity of the experience and the journey that we are trying and the stories we are trying to tellquotAsked the question participants on this show are most often asked quotWhy do you do itquot amp8211 Naked veteran Jeff Zausch replied quotThis is who we are Some people were made to be race car drivers Some people were made to be CEOs of companies We were made to push the limits of what39s humanly possible This is what we do in our everyday lives and so to be on a show like this one was just naturalquotThere is no reward cash or otherwise for completing the challenge at hand on this show but that doesn39t seem to deter the participants quotThe number one reward of this show was the pride that we got from completing the challengequot Zausch said quotIt was the feeling on Day 21 when we were rescued it was absolutely the best day of our lives That39s why we did this challengequotThe Naked panel was a tough act to follow but Discovery Communications continued its morning with panels that proved similarly popular One was for Animal Planet39s heartfelt and fascinating Pitbulls ampamp Parolees which is about to begin its ninth season about a heroic woman named Tia Torres who insisted she is not a quotheroquot who has devoted her life to rescuing and caring for unwanted pit bulls and to giving jobs to parolees who are trying to get their lives back on trackAnother standout was a session for the truecrime based miniseries Heartbreakers that will debut in August on Investigation Discovery Television stars from yesteryear including Kevin Sorbo Hercules Christopher Knight The Brady Bunch and Tracey Gold Growing Pains star in dramas that reenact true stories of murder and other criminal behavior produced in a style that is deliberately campy Watching clips from these programs I realized that never in 25 years of TCA tours have I heard reporters and critics laughing at programs about reallife murders I think that was the response ID executives had been hoping to receive

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Discovery Reveals the Bare Facts About "Naked and Afraid" - Ed Martin

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