Naked And Afraid survivalist Bulent Gurcan has been a frequent challenger on the show. He most recently appeared on Naked And Afraid: Last One Standing.
"In that regular challenge, it's you, your skills against nature. This one uses your skills against all the other veterans out there," Gurcan told The Hour.
The survivalist compared being on the show to going to war. "It's like almost going to a war," Gurcan said. "Yes, you train, but you have no idea what's going to happen in the battlefield. So what you train is the adaptability of your mind in difficult situations because you can't comprehend what might happen in a battlefield."
In fact, he said surviving in nature isn't too different from being in the Army. The Naked And Afraid survivalist is depending on the skills he picked up there to help him in the wilderness.
"The biggest skill I learned in the Army was to adapt and overcome whatever you are facing, you just shut up and deal with it," he said. "That helps a lot."
'Naked And Afraid' Survivalist Talks Experience
He said that he learned a lot of survival skills in the Army that's helped him."As far as survival, yes, we took a lot of survival skills in the Army; however, this is something so outside of the box," he said. "I don't think you can prepare for this."
Gurcan's appearance on Naked And Afraid comes after a period of uncertainty for the survivalist. Coming back from the Armed Forces, he said that he struggled to adjust to things. "I struggled quite a bit after the war trying to get back to normal and the way I found peace was constantly challenging myself," he said. "What else can I do? What else can I learn — what else can I push my boundaries with?"
Coming from the military, Gurcan said he learned to push himself.
"Quite frankly, it really doesn't matter what you take because like I said, the environment that you are thrown into, that you have no idea about," he said. "One of the things we military personnel, we tend to push ourselves too much. That's one of the concerns that I had, if I push myself too much, which I did, I end up injuring my lower back with the first challenge."
