Lots to learn from Naked Castaway on Discovery Channel

Naked Castaway on Discovery Channel continues, as the 60 day countdown for explorer Ed Stafford, whose challenge to stay alive on an uninhabited island with no clothes, no food, no water and no survival tools, picks up with the second episode on Sunday, April 21 at 10pm ET/PT.

Ed Stafford in Naked Castaway on Discovery ChannelStafford is an ex-British Army captain who holds the honor of being the only person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River. Living for 60 days on the remote Pacific island of Olorua, located 200 miles from Fiji, is a massive challenge most people would never think of attempting, let alone want to — yet, Stafford’s on a mission to document just exactly what it takes. Armed with literally nothing but a camera to document his experiences, Naked Castaway is part Tom Hanks’ Cast Away and part a hands-on survival instructional.

The second episode picks up at Day 13, where Stafford admits: “Staying alive is a constant struggle both physically and mentally.” It took 12 days on the island before he was able to make fire, so food and water options look more promising and certainly provide some renewed energy in this episode. While Stafford is the first Westerner to ever live on the island, he’s taking advantage of some of the modern day waste the daily tide brings in, collecting plastic soda bottles and other debris in his daily canvassing of the beach.

For Stafford, however, the challenge of not going “nutty bonkers” really gets tested as fatigue, dehydration and malnutrition takes its toll on him. As Shark Week has provided valuable survival skills over the years, so does Naked Castaway — intentionally or not. A few takeaways to absorb in the second episode include:
• Protection from the sun. Stafford lathers his body with a muddy sediment he collected in a gully.
• Collect rainwater in whatever makeshift container you can find. Seek out other fresh-water sources in the ground – your high school geography classes will help you here.
• Routines are important for mental stability. Setting goals helps Stafford through this.
• Shelter is a necessity. Cutting, weaving and thatching tips featured.
• When scavenging for food turn over rocks along waterways.
• You can use the charcoal from the embers of a fire as toothpaste. “It’s abrasive enough to use on teeth without damaging,” Stafford schools.
• Human companionship is completely underrated.

Follow Stafford through his emotional highs and lows in his 60-day attempt to create a sustainable life on an uninhabited island in Naked Castaway on Discovery Channel.