Naked and Afraid’s Jeff Zausch lasted almost a year in wild – now he’s back for $100k
For the past decade, Jeff Zausch has sacked off the idea of clothes and opted for a life of survival. The Discovery Channel star kicked off his reality TV career appearing on Naked After Dark and Naked And Afraid in 2014. Nowadays, Jeff is competing in Naked And Afraid: Last One Standing. Of all his […]
For the past decade, Jeff Zausch has sacked off the idea of clothes and opted for a life of survival. The Discovery Channel star kicked off his reality TV career appearing on Naked After Dark and Naked And Afraid in 2014.
Nowadays, Jeff is competing in Naked And Afraid: Last One Standing. Of all his co-stars, his track record shows he’s got the ability to last for almost a year in the wild. Jeff’s achievements are seriously impressive but it doesn’t mean his survival experiences haven’t come without some super tough experiences.
Jeff lasted almost a year in the wild
Sunday, July 14 sees an all-new Naked And Afraid season begin on Discovery Channel.
Fourteen all-stars go head-to-head during the show which sees them put their survival skills to use in Africa’s Munzwa Valley.
Of all the cast members, Jeff has lasted the longest, 245 days survived, per Showbiz CheatSheet. He competed in seven challenges previously.
Over the years he’s been taking part in Naked And Afraid, Jeff has proved he’s super dedicated to the show. Speaking to the East Idaho News, Jeff explained how he prepared for one season of the show by walking barefoot for six weeks and eating as much as he could.
Jeff went to “fast food and pizza joints” to pile on some pounds before heading into the wild. He said he gained 45 lbs in six weeks to prepare: “Your body needs fat and muscle to burn on those days that you don’t catch anything out there and so I put on 46 lbs before I went out… I ended up losing 56 lbs.”
One time Jeff was truly ‘afraid’
Speaking to the East Idaho News, Jeff explained some of his scariest moments on the series.
He detailed being located in a cave near the South China Sea in the middle of summer during Naked And Afraid XL.
“We got hit by a super typhoon on day three.”
Aside from crazy weather conditions, there were many more times he felt his life was in danger.
He recounted: “One night my partner, Laura, got bitten by a venomous centipede, one that the locals had told us was deadly within hours of being bit. The evacuation team is five miles away and they’re not going to be able to get to her and get to a hospital in less than two hours. I literally thought my partner might die that night. That was the first time ever on Naked And Afraid I’ve ever been truly afraid.”
Thankfully the centipede wasn’t a venomous one and Laura was OK.
Something he said was “scarier” than 60 days in the jungle came once the show finished. He dealt with bacterial meningitis and Leptospirosis and was hospitalized for several weeks.
Jeff is now competing for a $100,000 prize on Last One Standing.