Australian outdoor survivalist and stuntwoman Ky Furneaux reminisces about her stay in Louisiana on Naked and Afraid

An Australian survivalist and famous stuntwoman has revealed all about her three-week sojourn naked in a swamp infested with alligators and deadly snakes, revealing the hardest part was not having a sheet to sleep on.

Ky Furneaux, 49, has spent 16 years as a stuntwoman in blockbuster films such as X-Man 3, The Avengers, Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean and as the look-alike of Hollywood stars Sharon Stone, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Garner.

But nothing could prepare her for the first season of 2013’s Naked and Afraid, a Discovery Channel reality series in which the contestants survive 21 days without food or clothing in one of the most remote places on earth.

While other Season 1 contestants were stationed in exotic locations and scenic beaches, Ms. Furneaux was sent to the swampy wilderness of southern Louisiana in the midst of alligator-reptile mating season.

Ky Furneaux spent 21 days in the Louisiana swamp wilderness in 2013 without food or clothing

The Australian outdoor survivalist (pictured) starred in 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 because I had been doing stunts for 15 years at that point.

“I thought if I could get through the next 21 days, I could do anything.”

Ms Furneaux and US self-survival artist Billy Berger were only told where they were going a week before filming began.

“We were in episode seven and there was a promo before that with the six couples in front of us in exotic African locations and beautiful white sand beaches, so I was like ‘we’re going to make it,'” she said.

“We definitely got the short end of the stick!”

The pair were swept from their shelter by storms as they kept a constant watch for venomous cottonmouths while trying to avoid alligators.

Their diet consisted of insects and cottonmouth snakes.

“We had to be careful where we walked while looking all around us,” Ms Furneaux said.

“There was a point during the last extraction point that we were in the water where, ‘I thought we were in trouble here.’

‘Our head [food] Staples were snakes, as they were everywhere. They were delicious.’

“I had just finished writing a book (Girl’s Own Survival Guide) at the time, so it was an opportunity to put those skills to the test.”

Ky was sent to the swamp wilderness of Louisiana during alligator and reptile mating season, where the only thing she missed was having a sheet to cover herself with at night

Naked and Afraid veteran Ky Furneaux (pictured with partner Calem O’Grady) has a few projects cooking at the moment

One thing Mrs. Furneaux missed the most.

“I like having a blanket over me, like a sheet, when I sleep,” she said

“Having nothing on me was tough. But other than that I didn’t miss anything, not even the food.”

Going all nude was difficult at first, knowing millions would be watching on TV, but that concern was quickly pushed into the background.

‘ I’m in a canoe and they’re like, ‘Now get undressed and then all you have to do is step into waist-deep swamp water,’ she told the ABC podcast.

“The alligator experts just said, ‘If you see bubbles, just stop, because it could be an alligator.’ The second I’m naked in that water, all I can think is, ‘Where are the alligators?’ I’m not really like, ‘Oh my god, my boobs are out.’

There was also a memorable duck meal that she would rather forget, but it ended up being a turning point in her fight for survival.

“The ducks’ glands produced a different secretion than normal. And on one of the days we accidentally boiled down one of her glands with the snake meat and we didn’t realize it until we started eating it,” she told ABC’s podcast Conversations.

“It tasted so bad we had to throw away the snake we cooked which was just so sad.

“But from that moment I could smell where the snakes were in the swamp, like a Spider-Man feel.”

Ms Furneaux later starred in three more seasons of Naked and Afraid, including Shark Week

Ms Furneaux met fellow survivor Mr Berger recently during a US tour to promote a new book.

“We’ve kept in touch but it was the first time we’ve seen each other in ten years,” she told the Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Furneaux has since starred in three more seasons of Naked and Afraid.

It included a shark week Notable in 2018 in Australia, where five survivalists stranded on a remote island lived on what they could get from an area of ​​sea home to more than 40 species of sharks.

She also survived a solo sojourn in the Amazon rainforest, where swarms of mosquitoes, bloodthirsty piranhas and aggressive cougars drove her to the edge – an experience she found just as extreme and challenging as Louisiana.

She also co-hosted Hike for Survival, a 100-mile trek through the sweltering mountains of the Sierra Nevada armed only with a pocket knife.

Ky spent three weeks in the swamp wilderness in 2013 with her self-survivalist Billy Berger, whom she was able to meet with LA 12 months later

Ky (left) and Billy Berger (right) remain in touch and recently met for the first time in 10 years

She was involved in the latest series Naked and Afraid XL: Frozen, set in the Rocky Mountains of Montana.

“It would have to be an interesting subject for me to do the show again and one that involves clothing,” Ms. Furneaux said.

“I’ve got a couple of new books out and some other projects are cooking right now.”

A horrific car accident that broke her back at age 19 inspired her to push new boundaries after doctors told her the injury would limit her physical activities.

Ms Furneaux advises others on becoming more self-reliant and runs Bushrangers Survival with former British chef Calum O’Grady.

The couple had just started dating in early 2020 when they decided to weather the Covid-19 pandemic on a remote sheep station in South Australia, with their experience being aired on the documentary series Outback Lockdown.

The former celebrity stuntwoman advises others to become more self-reliant

Ky Furneaux (pictured) is no doomsday prepper, but said developing skills to live off Earth is something everyone should be excited about