“Naked and Afraid” star comes home to Libby

Naked the middle of the Amazon Forest, sleeping on the ground, eating without silverware or plates, cooking food caught with a spear over an open flame while being bitten by who-knows-what insects carrying who-knows-what diseases.

That’s the scene that Libby’s Amber Hargrove lived in for 40 days while starred in the television show, “Naked and Afraid XL.”

This isn’t the first time Hargrove has been in this situation, being in two episodes of “Naked and Afraid” before on Season 4, Episode 1 in the Everglades and  Season 5, Episode 13 in  Namibia.

“Naked and Afraid” is a reality series that aires on the Discovery Channel. Each episode chronicles the lives of one female and one male survivalists who meet for the first time and are given the task of surviving a stay in the wilderness, naked, for 21 days. They are alone besides the camera crew, who are not allowed to intervene unless there’s a medical emergency or when it’s absolutely necessary. 

Each survivalist is allowed to bring one helpful item, such as a hatchet or a fire starter. 

Hargrove moved to Libby around four months ago, and as she was getting settled into her new home, The Discovery Channel asked her to come back.

Given only a two-week notice, she was told that this time, she would go for almost double the the amount of days as before, for the show’s installment of “Naked and Afraid XL”

Brushing against danger twice before, she wanted to have time to consider. So, after a few days, she called to tell them she was ready.

The Discovery Channel was overjoyed, but telling her family was different story.

Her daughter rolled her eyes and her husband was a little upset, both afraid she was going to get hurt. 

“I get hurt just walking down the street,” Hargrove said jokingly. “I’m just that person.”

However, Hargrove didn’t go into the show without any survival experience. 

While being a veteran of the television show, she is also an Army veteran, serving as a U.S. Army Instructor with 11 years in Active Duty U.S. Army with two deployments to Iraq under her belt. 

Prior to that, Hargrove was born and raised in Oroville, Calif. and spent every summer camping, hunting and fishing with her family.

“She’s a beast,” her sister, Summer Hargrove, said without hesitation.

A “beast,” that’s also wrestled with beasts. For her Everglades episode, Hargrove prepared by wrestling alligators at an alligator farm in Colorado.

Despite her training and experiencing combat, Hargrove admits her time in the Amazon was difficult.

“I’ve been shot at, I’ve shot at people, but [Naked and Afraid XL] was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” Hargrove said.

The danger was real. During the Everglades episode she had to be taken out early after contracting two different types of parasites in her intestines and stomach. This type of struggle isn’t uncommon for people on the television show. Some experience food poisoning, dehydration, physical injuries and fungal infections.

Viewers can tune in to her show to see if she survived the 40-day challenge.

After coming back home, she faced a new challenge that few face in their lifetime: relearning how to use silverware.

“I remember eating dinner with my family and picking up the food with my hands,” Hargrove laughed. “After I took a bite I would hand it over and offer it to my husband, because that’s what we did on the show, we would share everything.”

Her husband, she said, wasn’t very appitized by the gesture.

Despite the difficult and sometimes painful journey, Hargrove said she would do it all again if she could.