Naked and Afraid features its first-ever transgender woman: 37-year-old who has breasts and male genitalia makes history on nude survival show that saw her paired with a 'conservative' farmer
Naked and Afraid featured its first ever transgender woman in Sunday nights episode - who competed on the series with breasts and male genitalia.
The Discovery Channel survival show - which is in the midst of its 13th season - features two strangers, usually a man and a woman, stranded together in the wild with no food, water, supplies, or clothes.
Each episode follows their adventure as they try to make shelter, start fire, find stuff to eat and drink, keep warm, fend off animals, and survive the conditions for 21-days - all while being completely naked.
A woman named Terra, 37, from Florida, made history in its newest episode when she became the first transgender woman to compete on the show.
Terra was assigned the male gender at birth, but began transitioning to female four years ago.
'People like me don't get chosen for things like this,' she said on the show. 'I am trans and I don't care who knows it. What defines me is not how I look or how I act it's what I do in my life. The things I do in my life are f**king epic.'
Terra - who has been a bow hunter for her entire life and served in the Air Force for 12-years - said she was 'absolutely prepared for this' since she had spent weeks alone in the wilderness with just a knife in the past.
Terra has undergone 'top' surgery (also known as breast augmentation or implants), but has yet to undergo 'bottom' surgery (penile inversion vaginoplasty) - which is the creation of a vagina by inverting penile skin.
She said transitioning has been the 'hardest thing' she has ever done, but added that it is already 'so worth it.'
'I was born male but in my mind, growing up, I've always been female,' she explained.
'Transitioning is the hardest thing I've ever done, but so worth it. The one thing I am aware of for my partner is that he or she is going to see a different or more unique body than they've probably ever seen.
'Things on the outside aren't what they are supposed to be at this point in my transgender transition. I do have breasts and I do have the male genitalia still.'
She was teamed up with a South African farmer and professional hunter named Shaun - who described himself as 'a little bit conservative' - and together, they were stranded in Pia Manzi in Zambia, Africa.
Terra had reservations about her partner and what his reaction might be to her body, but Shaun met her with open arms.
'When it comes to my partner, they're either gonna accept everything or they're gonna go off the deep end and we're gonna see some bad s**t,' she said before they came face to face.
As they both walked up to each other, fully naked, Shaun looked completely stunned at first. Right away, Terra asked him if he had any questions.
'Not at the moment,' he responded.
'Obviously, you can see that I'm not the same as every other girl that's been on this show,' Terra told him. 'What are your thoughts on this?'
'Yeah, you're unique,' said Shaun. 'It is a bit of a shock to me but we're all unique and special. I'm open-minded and we're going to do this together. Don't worry, I've got your back.'
Terra instantly let out a sigh of relief.
'Thank God,' she said. 'I appreciate that. And I've got your back too. Hearing that is a big thing to me. We're gonna do this, we're gonna be OK.'
Privately to the camera, she added, 'I'm a hell of a lot more surprised than I thought I would be. He looked at me like I was a normal person, that was exactly what I needed. A great surprise and I'm pretty happy so far.'
Shaun also told the camera, 'Terra is awesome. Someone as unique as that, to have the courage to come out, she's a hero in my eyes already.'
Unfortunately, three days into the show, Shaun fell and sustained a concussion so he was forced to leave for medical reasons.
Terra then completed the rest of the 18-days completely alone, despite suffering from a lacerated nipple and not being able to find much food.
'I'm not a gender, I'm not a label, I'm just a human,' she said at one point during her journey.
'It's empowering. I'm going through my own transitional journey. And I know now that if I just stick with it there's nothing I cannot do in this world.'
Terra is the second transgender person to participate in the series, with the first being a trans man in 2019.
Quince Mountain, from Illinois, competed on the show during season 10, and was left in the Honduran jungle with a police officer from Florida named Teresa Owens. He and Teresa were able to complete the adventure.
When they first met, Quince - who was fully transitioned - decided to tell Teresa he was transgender.
'It’s not something I usually share the second I meet somebody, but in this case, it would’ve been weird not to,' he later told Mel magazine, while reflecting on the experience.
'Because I didn’t want it to be artificial. Plus, when you’re meeting someone on the show for the first time, you’re meeting them naked.
'It’s an intimate situation. You’re going to be partnered together for 21 days. So I wanted to have the balls to come out to my partner, but also to hopefully demonstrate to people that self-disclosing doesn’t always have to be such a big deal.'
While chatting with the magazine, Quince wanted people to know that Discovery Channel was no 'promoting an agenda' by casting him.
'The reality is the production company didn’t even know I was trans when I was selected to be on the show,' he said.
'They were initially interested in my wife and me. So to say that I got on the show because I’m trans, it’s like, “F**k you! I also have the survival skills and experience.”
'Even when the executive producers found out, they were like, “You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.” But I told them, “No, I think I would like to talk about it.”'
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