Quote of the Day
The best of ideas is hurt by uncritical acceptance and thrives on critical examination.
— George Polya, mathematician
Post Updated 3-June-2018
Figure 1: Locations of 2-Person Naked and Afraid Episodes.
I have been receiving quite a few questions about my database of Naked and Afraid information. I only track the shows with 2-person teams – I am not a big fan of the XL episodes. There recently has been a number of shows where women have been particularly strong leaders and finishers, and some big, tough-looking men struggled right from the start and failed to complete the challenge. In response to some of the recent shows, a number of people have asked: "Who taps out more – men or women?" So I have updated my Excel Workbook with the data from recent episodes and went to work. I have also updated Figure 1, which shows where the episodes were filmed.
I filtered my database for episodes where a woman finished and a man did not, or vice versa. This process generated a list of solo finishers and the number of days they were solo (Figure 2). Twenty people finished the challenge alone, 9 men and 11 women.
Figure 3 shows the summary statistics for the solo finishers. While there have been some strong female solo finishers lately, overall men and women have had similar solo performances, at least with respect to the average days solo and the number of solo finishers.
Figure 2: List of Solo Finishers and the Number of Days Solo.
Figure 3: Summary Statistics of Solo Finishers.
I am seeing a pattern in how men tap out that I do want to explore, but I am not certain how to obtain the data to prove it. It seems that the big, muscular men do not do as well as the smaller, wiry men. I do not have data on the size of the men, so I cannot perform this analysis right now – I am thinking about how to gather that data. For now, I am gathering qualitative data on men's overall build: small (thin and lanky), medium (average height, average to above average weight), large (above average height and or overweight).
I loved.finding your blog. Super interesting. Thanks so much for sharing.
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When will u update again.I'd like 2 know how many so far this year.
I will update the files in the next week or two. As I have been mentioning in some posts, I am building a house and large garage in northern MN. This has reduced my blogging time.
mark
I have two posts out there on N&A. I have just updated the database on this post. I will update this post in the next couple of days.
mark
Today is April 3, 2018. I too an interested in how many omen have finished their challenges alone on Naked and Afraid? Hopefully you have updated your research.
I will be updating it in the next week or so. I am still doing construction work on my garage.
Thanks for leaving me a note.
mark
You don't like the Naked and Afraid xl episodes because, all the women do is sit around on their asses collecting firewood, bitching and moaning...work for 2 days building a shelter and depend on the men to take care of them for 40 days...or at least that's how it's went so far...
I do not like the XL episodes because watching factions form reminds me too much of what I have to deal with as a director. I do not watch Survivor for the same reason. I prefer to watch two people working hard to solve problems.
mark
Interesting! I would also love to see the comparison of tapping out updated for this year. I've watched N&A marathons over the past couple of weekends and have seen four female solo finishers and no men. This was enough of an interesting phenomenon that I had to Google to see if anyone had run the numbers of men vs women, which lead me to your blog. I have no idea which seasons are being run on this marathon, so it's possible this data is already included in your statistics. Thanks for your work!
I have just finished updating my database and will be posting the update in the next few days. I also am quite interested in the number of men who are dropping out early. One theory I want to test is whether body type is significant (men only). I am just starting to add this characteristic to the database. Once I get enough data, I will perform a standard statistical analysis.
Thanks for writing.
mark
This post was made up-to-date on 3-Jun-2018.
mark
Hi there I like what u said
Thank you for the analysis. I agree that many of the larger men state how much food they need at home so it appears they suffer from the lack of food more than the women.
It also appears to me that many women seem to suffer from the mosquito bites more than the men. Cause them to tap. I also appreciate how horrible it must be to have day after day of non stop rain.
Of course some tap due to illness or injury. I give them all credit to survive such harse conditions. and I enjoy how they solve problems.
Thank uou again
Insects are a serious problem in the bush – I live in Minnesota where we have a large and aggressive mosquito population. They eat me alive when I am out bushwacking. I cannot imagine being in a jungle with no protection of any sort.
Thanks for writing. I will be preparing more posts on N&A once I get my database more complete on body types, military service, etc.
mark
I am also from Minnesota but I live in the rainforest in Panama. A friend of mine just went missing for 3 days and was found at the bottom of a cliff near the river. She had some water, but no food for 3 days. She didn't seem to mind the hunger, but was very thirsty. Anyway, I also agree with you that it seems like the larger, more muscular men seem to last the shortest amount of time. I have a few issues with the show since I live in the rainforest. The fer de lance snake is so deadly and hardly any hospital in Central America carries the anti venom, so I hope that the crew does. It is fatal to almost everyone it bites and can still bite after you cut off it's head. Also, I think putting people where there are tons of biting insects is worse than torture. If you have ever canoed in northern Minnesota, you will know what I am talking about. Please let us know what you find out about body types. I mean, Ghandi went 21 days several times without food, so maybe the little guys are better equipped? Thanks.
It will take me a few months, but I will be reviewing quite a few of the old episodes for body types. Once I get the men characterized, I will put out a couple of posts on the topic. I agree with you that the mosquitoes in northern Minnesota are tough, and I cannot imagine being out in the woods without some protection.
Thanks for writing. I am always amazed at how far afield Minnesota people end up. Panama is about as different from Minnesota as I can think of.
mark
Thanks for the analysis! I am curious the number of tap outs due to choice (mental strength) vs physical illness or injury?
Great suggestion! I will start to track that.
mark
Man, I'm a Brazilian political scientist and a fan of the show, I was setting up a database to do some analysis, but you spared my job. Thank you very much and congratulations for the initiative.
The female soloists survived a total of 28 days longer than the male soloists. It wasn't even close. Conveniently omitted in explanation of data.
Here here! Thanks for pointing that out. Seems like I see so many episodes where there is a solo woman left. So this explains it!
It seems that the anyone who is “gonna make the jungle my bitch” cries then taps out.
Shouldn't the quote by the mathematician (not an English major) be:
The best of ideas ARE hurt by uncritical acceptance and THRIVE on critical examination.
Was curious about these statistics and found your blog. Thanks for sharing!
I don't have the stats but it seems that the big, tough guys who tap out are ex-military. Take away their boots, gear and bug juice and they're lost. Btw, I'm ex-military.
I miss the ethnicity column.. Who is better in that "show".. Whites or Blacks?
I have to admit that I never thought of that as a variable.
biegert
I like your notes, I'm watching naked and afraid now and I noticed more men leaving,
I dropped my cable service a few years ago, so I cannot watch N&A anymore. I have had quite a few people ask about gathering more data. I will be trying to crowd-source data on the recent shows so we can do a more complete analysis.
Thanks for writing.
mark
watch for discovery+ discounts. I've been watching it for 99 cents a month.
I started watching an episode many years ago and it bothers me I dont know how it ended. I think the guy was a fan and his first female partner tapped out, they replaced her and I think the second tapped. I think he was a fan with no experience. Does anyone recall an episode like this, what season maybe.