An Australian survivalist and celebrity stuntwoman has bared all about her three week stint naked in a swamp infested with alligators and deadly snakes, and revealed the hardest part was not having a sheet to sleep under.
Ky Furneaux, 49, has spent 16 years as a stuntwoman in movie blockbusters such as X-Man 3, The Avengers, Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean and doubling as Hollywood stars Sharon Stone, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Garner.
But nothing could prepare her in 2013 for season one of Naked and Afraid, a Discovery Channel reality series where contestants survive for 21 days without food, water or clothes in one of the world’s most remote locations.
While other season one contestants did their stints in exotic locations and on scenic beaches, Ms Furneaux was sent to the swamp wilderness of Louisiana in the southern US – in the middle of alligator and reptile mating season.
Ky Furneaux spent 21 days in the Louisiana swamp wilderness without food or clothing in 2013
The Aussie outdoor survivalist (pictured) starred on the first season of Naked and Afraid
‘It was a real shock to the system,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It was one of the most extreme things I’ve ever done in my life.’
‘Bear Grylls called his time in the Louisiana swamp wilderness hell on Earth. Only we couldn’t get out!’
‘But I wasn’t scared as I’d done stunts for 15 years at this stage.
‘I thought if I can get make it through the next 21 days, I can do anything.’
Ms Furneaux and US self-survivalist Billy Berger were only told a week before filming started just where they were going.
‘We were in episode seven and there was a promo beforehand of the six couples before us in exotic African locations and beautiful white sandy beaches so I thought ‘we’ll be fine,” she said.
‘We definitely got the short end of the stick!’
The pair were washed out of their shelter by storms as they kept a constant lookout for venomous cottonmouth snakes while trying to avoid alligators at the same time.
Their diet consisted of insects and cottonmouth snakes.
‘We had to watch where we were putting at foot while looking everywhere around us,’ Ms Furneaux said.
‘There was a point during the final extraction point where we were in the water where ‘I thought we’re in trouble here.’
‘Our main [food] staple were snakes as they were everywhere. They were delicious.’
‘I had just written a book (Girl’s Own Survival Guide) at the time so it was a chance to put those skills to the test.’
Ky was sent to the swamp wilderness of Louisiana during alligator and reptile mating season where having a sheet to cover with at night was the only thing she missed
Naked and Afraid veteran Ky Furneaux (pictured with partner Calem O’Grady) currently has a few projects on the boil
There was one thing Ms Furneaux missed the most.
‘I like having a covering over on top of me such as a sheet when I sleep,’ she said
‘Not having anything on top of me was hard. But other than that, I didn’t miss anything else, not even the food.’
Initially it was difficult doing it all naked, knowing millions would be watching on TV, but that concern was quickly put to the back of her mind.
‘ I’m in a canoe, and they’re like, ‘Take your clothes off now and you have to then just get into waist-deep swamp-water,’ she told the ABC podcast.
‘The alligator experts just said, ‘If you see bubbles, just stop because it might be an alligator.’ So the second I’m naked and in that water, all I’m thinking about is: ‘Where are the alligators?’ I’m not actually thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, my breasts are out.’
There was also a memorable duck meal she would rather forget but it ended up being a turning point in their fight for survival.
‘The ducks’ glands were producing a different secretion to normal. And one of the days we accidentally boiled one of their glands in with the snake meat and we didn’t realise until we started eating it,’ she told ABC’s Conversations podcast.
‘It tasted so bad we had to throw out the snake that we’d cooked, which was just so sad.
‘But from that moment on, I could smell where the snakes were in the swamp, like a Spider-Man sense.’
Ms Furneaux later starred on another three seasons of Naked and Afraid, including Shark Week
Ms Furneaux met and caught up with her fellow survivalist Mr Berger during a recent US tour to promote a new book.
‘We ‘ve kept in touch but it was the first time we’d seen each other in ten years,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
Ms Furneaux has since starred on another three seasons of Naked and Afraid.
It included a Shark Week special in 2018 in Australia where five survivalists stranded a remote island had live off what they can obtain from an ocean area with more than 40 shark species.
She also survived a stint in the Amazon rainforest on her own where swarms of mosquitoes, bloodthirsty piranhas, and aggressive pumas pushed her to the edge – an experience she found just as extreme and challenging as Louisiana.
She was also co-host of Hike for Survival, a 160km trek across the blistering hot Sierra Nevada mountains carrying only a pocket knife.
Ky spent three weeks in the swamp wilderness with fellow self-survivalist Billy Berger in 2013, whom she could met up with LA 12 months later
Ky (left) and Billy Berger (right) keep in touch and recently met up for the first time in 10 years
She was involved in the latest series Naked and Afraid XL: Frozen which took place in the Rocky Mountains in Montana.
‘It would have to be an interesting topic for me to do the show again and one that involved clothing,’ Ms Furneaux said.
‘I have a few new books out and some other projects on the boil at the moment.’
A horrific car crash which broke her back at age 19 inspired her to push herself to new limits after doctors told her the injury would curtail her physical activities.
Ms Furneaux advises others on becoming more self sufficient and runs Bushrangers Survival with former British chef Calum O’Grady.
The pair had just starting dating in early 2020 when they decided to ride out the Covid-19 pandemic on a remote sheep station in South Australia with their experience aired on documentary series Outback Lockdown.
The couple are still going strong three years later.
The former celebrity stuntwoman advises others on becoming more self sufficient
Ky Furneaux (pictured) is not a doomsday prepper but said developing skills to live off the land is something everybody should get excited about
