Jeff Zausch of ‘Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing’ Accuses Other Cast Members of Playing for a ‘Participation Trophy’
Jeff Zausch may not have won Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing. But that hasn’t stopped him from criticizing the other cast members on the Discovery Channel reality series. The Idaho survivalist feels that many of the other people on the Naked and Afraid spinoff didn’t approach the game with the right mindset, which ruined the competition.
Jeff Zausch was playing to win on the ‘Naked and Afraid’ spinoff
Jeff entered the first-ever true Naked and Afraid competition with one goal in mind: to triumph over the other players and take home the $100,000 prize. So when he arrived in South Africa’s punishing Oribi Gorge for the 45-day challenge, he was stunned to discover that the rest of the cast had a different attitude.
Jeff focused on gathering as many of the producer-planted caches as he could so he could keep them out of the hands of the other players. But the rest of the cast embraced a more collaborative approach to survival, as if they were on a traditional Naked and Afraid challenge.
“Interesting to see the others choosing to team up as one big group instead of treating this like the competition that it is,” Jeff wrote in a May 18 Instagram post. “Can somebody please remind them that this throne only has room for ONE?!”
“I’ll never understand it, but going to just keep my foot on that gas pedal,” he added in a follow-up comment.
Jeff isn’t apologizing for alienating the rest of the ‘Last One Standing’ cast with his style of play
Jeff wanted to be the last one standing, and he didn’t care who he stepped on to get there. His braggadocious attitude and outrageous behavior – such as screaming “I’m stealing all your sh*t” when he located a cache and contemplating throwing away another team’s cooking pot – soon made him an outcast among the rest of the cast. But Jeff was, and continues to be, unapologetic for the way he played the game.
“From the day I showed up in Africa, I was honest, I told people how I was playing the game,” he said during an appearance on Reality After Show the day after the finale aired. “I was a little crass. I thumped my chest a little bit. But this is a competition … I came to destroy everybody there. That’s my job.”
Like any good reality TV antagonist, Jeff wasn’t on the show to make friends. But the rest of the cast buddied up. That frustrated him, as he signed on for this version of Naked and Afraid expecting a serious competition.
“I saw 11 other people show up to leave with a participation trophy,” he told podcast host (and Survivor alum) Jonny Fairplay. “That’s what I saw. I didn’t see any determination or will or people taking risks in order to win this challenge. To me, that was a disappointment.”
He hopes to return for ‘Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing’ Season 2
Jeff’s time on Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing didn’t end how he hoped. After failing a tough fire-starting challenge, he ended up not advancing to the final stage of the competition with Dan Link and Waz Addy. Waz ultimately took home the top prize.
However, Jeff might still have a shot at redemption. Discovery has renewed Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing for season 2. While there’s no official word yet on the cast, he’s eager to return. And if he does, he plans to be even more ruthless than he was in season 1.
“If there’s a season 2, I’m going all in … Season 2, when it comes around, you are going to see scorched earth,” Jeff said. “Like, no one is going to have a shelter because they’re all going to be on fire. I’m done. They’ve mistreated me and now I’m pissed. I guarantee you, season 2, the best man will win. That is my commitment to the viewers.”
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