The Truth About Matt Wright From Naked And Afraid XL
Going on a reality show is a daunting experience, but going on a Discovery reality show like Naked and Afraid is truly adventurous. As for people like survivalist Matt Wright, who has appeared on multiple iterations and spinoffs of the show? Well, he might be out of his mind. Or just really good at what he does, of course. Matt has been a fixture on Naked and Afraid since 2016, and as of 2021, had been in six episodes, per IMDb. He has also appeared on the spinoffs, like Naked and Afraid: Savage, and in 2021, he strips down on the spinoff Naked and Afraid: XL for the fourth time. This guy really loves being naked in the woods (and surviving).
Fans of the show know how serious Matt takes survival, too. The Colorado native is also the owner of Extreme Instinct LLC, where he teaches survival classes and makes custom knives and gear for survival. He grew up loving to hunt and his passion led to him "harvesting" his first elk at just 12 years old. His Discovery bio says that, after playing baseball in college, he joined the Air Force, where he served until he suffered an injury that led him to go back to Colorado as a civilian, hunting, climbing, and generally just loving the great outdoors. But there's more to him than just that.
Matt Wright has been through it all
In addition to being a survivalist and supreme hunter, Matt Wright is also married to Brooke Benham and they appeared on Naked and Afraid Season 10 together, proving that the couple that hunts and gathers together, stays together. He told People of their time on the show, "Each day would pass and I'd get no news — and I knew that was a good thing. I knew she was killing it out there." They made history as one of the first married couples to appear on the show together. And he made history again in 2018 when he became the first Naked and Afraid: XL contestant to go on a solo hunting mission and kill a wild boar for the whole gang, via Westword.
Not all of his time on the show has been pleasant, though. Per the same outlet Matt caught a flesh eating bug back when he was on the Naked and Afraid spinoff, Naked and Afraid: XL, back in 2017 and had to be rushed to the hospital. He said of the experience, "The feeling of losing my stronghold on the jungle and having to leave all of my survivalists, it was just the worst feeling I could have imagined, besides the fact that I thought I might lose my foot, leg or life. If I were to have broken my leg, I would have stayed and dealt with it when I got home."
Hopefully Matt will fare a little better during his next go around on the show.