Summary
- Naked and Afraid season 17 revisits cringey scenes, highlighting awkward first meetings and unfortunate accidents in nature.
- Season 6's "Melt Down Under" showcases intense tension between contestants, resulting in a forced tap out due to escalating threats.
- The reality series features scenes like a wasp sting mishap and a broken breast implant, adding awkward and cringe-inducing moments.
Naked and Afraid season 17 unfolds, it's time to revisit the cringe moments.
While Discovery Channel's American reality survival series Naked And Afraid has no shortage of cringey scenes throughout its 14 seasons and 120 episodes, ten scenes might be the most cringe-inducing, packed with uncomfortable tension, embarrassing accidents, and awkward first meetings. Even though Naked and Afraid is one of the faker Discovery Channel shows, these ten scenes are still awkward to watch.
"No Safety In Numbers" - First Meetings
Naked And Afraid Season 10
Season 10 includes an episode titled "No Safety in Numbers," where two duos, two men and two women paired together, later meet up as a group. This episode has one of the cringiest first meeting scenes in the reality TV series, as the "No Safety in Numbers" contestants were thrown off guard after receiving a partner of the same gender rather than what they expected. The show's banter and small talk are some of the most awkward as the duos try to make friendly conversation to distract away from their obvious confusion.
"Category 5 Survival" - Wasp Sting
Naked And Afraid Season 9
The season 9 episode titled "Category 5 Survival" is not only an example of how dangerous Naked And Afraid can be after contestants are pulled due to a hurricane coming through Florida at the time of filming, but it also contains a scene that involves a yellow jacket wasp sting in the worst possible place.
Being completely naked to the elements means unfortunate injuries may happen. In this episode, Duke is the unlucky contestant that gets the awkward and uncomfortable damage when he steps on a yellow jacket wasp nest and gets a sting in probably the worst spot imaginable.
"Threesome" - First Meeting
Naked And Afraid Season 10
The episode titled "Threesome" in season 10 of Naked And Afraid introduces a group of three made up of two women and one man. This episode contains a scene that is a prime example of the awkward first meetings Naked And Afraid is known for, but this scene is one of the cringiest due to the surprise of meeting two strangers naked rather than just one. The contestants were also surprised, making that meeting excruciatingly uncomfortable to watch.
"Two Tarzans, One Jane" - Uncomfortable Emotions
Naked And Afraid Season 11
The episode "Two Tarzans, One Jane" in season 11 introduces another group of three, this time with two men and one woman. The first meeting is awkward, but this episode's scene is even more cringe. This is when one of the men, Daniel, breaks down and cries because he likes the woman, Alexandra, but he feels like she likes the other man, Michael, better than him, leading Daniel to feel insecure. While it is entirely understandable for emotions to boil over when trying to survive completely naked with strangers in nature, this was particularly awkward because it happened on day one.
"Melt Down Under" - Forced To Tap Out
Naked And Afraid Season 6
The season 6 episode "Melt Down Under" showed uncomfortable tension between the contestants. When Nicklas gave Laura only menial tasks and did all the heavy lifting himself, an argument ensued, and Nicklas tried to take some of the coals from the fire so he could try to survive without her.
The cringe came when Laura started throwing logs from her fire into the river to keep Nicklas from stealing them, but by doing so, she left herself with no fire. The duo was forced to tap out when the producers decided that Laura's verbal threat toward Nicklas put them both in danger. This scene is also an example of how controversial a reality TV show Naked And Afraid is due to the dangerous conditions the contestants are put in. While the tension between contestants is not uncommon, this scene is more extreme and ends with the duo being forced to leave, landing it as one of the cringiest scenes.
"23 Days" - Lily Straw
Naked And Afraid Season 6
The season 6 finale, "23 Days," included Don, who went through two partners due to how soon his first partner, Holly, tapped out. On the first day, Holly drank directly from a lilypad bulb, claiming the lily filtered it. Despite Don's warning that the lily straw might not work as she thinks it will, she drank through it and left the next day due to her stomach irritation. This scene is so cringe-inducing because of how quickly she tapped out as a direct result of her first survival decision while on the show.
"23 Days" - Partner Number 2
Naked And Afraid Season 6
The season 6 finale of Naked And Afraid had another scene that was uncomfortable to watch. After Don's first partner, Holly, left, Don was given a new partner after producers decided day two was too early to leave Don alone to survive. Amber is Don's new partner, and there is a bit of tension between the two.
While one of the arguments between the two over Amber's excrement being in the camp was pretty cringey, the scene that tops it is when Amber discovers that she popped her breast implant in her sleep, and Don tries to brush her off when she tells him. The conversation was uncomfortable as Amber tried to tell Don that her pain tolerance was pretty high, but the rupture hurt, all while the two avoided eye .
"Double Jeopardy" - Sunbathing
Naked And Afraid Special Episode
"Double Jeopardy" was a special episode between seasons 1 and 2. This episode had two duos meet up to work as a group of four. One of the group's women, Cassie, had a very relaxed personality that did not match up with the other three, who were all doing their part to survive while Cassie was just along for the ride.
The scene in this episode that is perhaps the most uncomfortable is where Cassie is supposed to be making a basket trap to catch fish, but she decides to dip in the water and sunbathe to dry off in the middle of making the basket. Another person from her group made a basket trap half the time Cassie made hers, and Cassie's was not used due to how poorly constructed it was. This scene is one of the cringiest due to how oblivious Cassie was to how little she was doing compared to her teammates.
"Hearts of Darkness" - Naked Cuddle
Naked And Afraid Season 3
The season 3 episode "Hearts of Darkness" had another duo that did not get along, and their personalities clashed. While much of this episode contained uncomfortable tension and arguments, one of the cringiest scenes was when the woman, Carrie, tried to huddle with the man, Tom, at night to stay warm. Still, Tom got up and sat by the fire because he felt weird cuddling with a woman that is not his wife. Tom's exit to sit by the fire made this scene incredibly awkward.
"Hearts of Darkness" - Left Behind
Naked And Afraid Season 3
"Hearts of Darkness" had another scene that was quite awkward to witness. The other location in question was when Carrie took the map and set off to find the extraction point without Tom, and she instead attempted to leave him behind. This Naked and Afraid scene is cringe because Carrie went a couple of miles in the wrong direction despite having the map, and Tom caught up to her, so her plan completely backfired.

- Seasons
- 18
- Franchise
- Naked and Afraid
Naked And Afraid season 17 airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on the Discovery Channel.
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