Tonight’s season 3 premiere of Naked And Afraid is titled “Naked And Afraid: Primal Fear” and the two survivalists are a mountain man named Luke and a homeschooling mother named Lindsey. Read on for the facts on Lindsey and Luke as well as some info on their journey together.
1. Lindsey ‘Is Not a Naked Person’
Being naked is not a natural feeling for Lucy, so she is very anxious about this experience, unlike mountain man Luke. Luke is a scruffy, easy-going, mountain man who has no issues with being naked at all. Lindsey is a married woman and mother, while Luke has a girlfriend who’s a roller-derby player.
Luke says that his interest in survival comes from his desire to connect with nature, which is very similar to Lindsey’s passions, so perhaps this is a bond that can be embraced by the two of them.
2. Luke McLaughlin Has His Own Holistic Survival School
The life of a survivalist is what Luke McLaughlin thrives on … He eventually opened his own Holistic Survival School in order to embrace his passions and help others. His HSS bio reads:
Luke McLaughlin is a teacher, mentor, and naturalist. Luke currently works as a Wilderness Therapy guide in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has committed his life to mastering and teaching indigenous living skills and is especially interested in brain tanning and primitive fire. Luke combines his non-judgmental approach with his humor to create a place where everyone can learn regardless of their skill level.
As far as Luke goes, the turning point in his life came at age 25.
Finally, after 25 years of living for others I decided to live for myself, drop out of grad school, move out West, and become a mountain man. Although my journey and vision for myself has changed over time, I still strive to find a way to be more connected to nature, myself, and others everyday. In my journey toward wholeness, I have combined my love for teaching and nature to start the Holistic Survival School (HSS).
Luke appears extremely happy with his lifestyle choices and there’s no doubt he’s equipped to take on Naked And Afraid.
3. Lindsey Lets Luke Chop Off Her Hair With a Hatchet
While Luke dons dreadlocks, Lindsey has beautiful, long brown hair. With the weather conditions so hot, Lindsey may have just been wanting to rid herself of all the extra hair … Nope. That was not the case. Lindsey sacrifices her hair in order to have cordage for a bow drill as she and Luke become desperate for fire.
4. Lindsey Is Actually a Chef
When not appearing on Naked And Afraid, Lindsey is a chef, which explains why her skills on the show are listed as plant identification, animal classification, and water sourcing. Lindsey’s Discovery bio reads:
Her love of animals and nature began at a young age, with Steve Irwin being a huge role model and influence on schooling. In college, Lindsey studied biology with an emphasis on marine biology.
Despite her love of nature, Lindsey realized she wanted to get involved in the culinary arts and studied at Le Cordon Bleu. She’s also maintained a great fitness regime and stays in shape, which definitely helps her on Naked And Afraid.
In addition to teaching cooking classes, Lindsey teaches fitness and homeschools her two children. She moved to the mountains and currently enjoys sharing her love of the outdoors with her family: going hiking, tracking animals, building forts, growing their own vegetables, mountain biking, competing in triathlons, and learning about natural habitats.
5. The Two Are Trying to Survive in Namibia
On Naked and Afraid’s Primal Fear episode, Luke and Lindsey are trying to survive in the thorny landscape and high temperatures of Namibia. Namibia is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean and, just a couple days ago, the oldest animal-built reef was actually discovered in the wild there. Wikipedia describes the conditions as this:
Being situated between the Namib and the Kalahari deserts, Namibia is the country with the least rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa … The Namibian landscape consists generally of five geographical areas: The Central Plateau is home to the highest point in Namibia, The Namib Desert is a broad expanse of hyper-arid gravel plains and dunes that stretches along Namibia’s entire coastline, The Great Escarpment is rocky with poorly developed soils, The Bushveld is generally flat and the soils sandy, limiting their ability to retain water, and The Kalahari Desert has a variety of localised environments, including some verdant and technically non-desert areas.