Naked And Afraid: What happened to Cole and Shell in the African wilderness?

Naked and Afraid received rave reviews from fans for the season 17 opener with survivalists Cole and Shell. While Cole is a hunter from Austin, Texas, Shell grew up in a small town in Florida. The two strangers were dropped in the African bushes with no clothes in episode 1, where they had to brave the brutality of nature for 21 days.

Dealing the wrath of the African wilderness, the pair consistently grappled with the lack of food and water, and Shell even lost consciousness at one point. Taking dangerous risks in pursuit of survival, a major highlight occurred when Cole crawled in shallow waters to catch a crocodile with bare hands.

Ultimately, their struggle paid off.

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Did Cole and Shell survive for 21 days on Naked and Afraid season 17?

The format of the show forces survivalists to rely on each other’s skills, and fans appreciated Cole and Shell’s cordial banter. The hunter labelled his partner “level-headed” and “down-to-earth” but the only issue concerning him was Shell’s thin physique.

"She (Shell) works on a farm so I know that her work ethic gotta be strong but she's definitely on the thin side and it worries me because fatigue is I think gonna come for her a lot sooner than it will be for me which means I need to try to keep her fed and healthy," Cole said in a confessional.

For Shell, pairing up with Cole was like “hitting a jackpot” because she knew his hunting skills would be a boon for them in the wild.

“I was hoping my partner would be a bow hunter and he is. He's very experienced and we definitely complement each other's strengths and weaknesses which is exactly what I wanted," she said.

The initial days were bearable for the duo with the crocodile meat making most of their primary diet. However, after day 9, Shell admitted that the mornings begun to appear “colder and colder” to her. On the other hand, the hunter found sleeping to be the toughest part of the journey.

“Sleeping is actually the suckiest part of all of this. It doesn't matter what you lay down on, it's sandpaper to your a**, like baking on one side and freezing on the other, " he explained in a confessional.

By day 10, Naked and Afraid's Cole and Shell had exhausted their stock of crocodile meat, and the hunter attempted to use his bow and arrow skills to fetch food but often failed. Cold weather and sleep depravity gripped him for the worse, leading to starvation. That’s when Shell’s knowledge of fishing came to their rescue. She set up a bait near a pond and caught two small catfish.

Shell brought it back to their camp. However, Cole insisted she eat them both owing to her declining health, which caused her to fumble and lose control of her footing. Hunger became their greatest enemy on Naked and Afraid, but Cole was later able to hunt an antelope.

Though the pair wasn’t able to bring the entire animal to their campsite, they cut down enough meat portions for themselves. Eventually, Cole and Shell were able to get through the end of 21 days in the African wilderness.

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Episode 2 of the show, titled There Will Be Blood, released on Sunday, February 25, introduced viewers to an international batch of survivalists including Ken, Britt, Chad, and Sara. Britt’s coping with menstruation became one of the major talking points of the episode.

Naked and Afraid will return with episode 3, titled Colombian Cave Woman, on Sunday, March 25, on Discovery Channel.