Nine challengers are abandoned at a remote tropical island, with no maps or tools, miles away from civilization. In teams of three, they must swim to different ecosystems on the same island - sun-scorched beach, twisted mangrove swamp and dense jungle - to begin their distinct survival journeys. They must use only their navigational skills and fashion everything they need to survive from wreckage and debris strewn across the island, including a shipwreck, an abandoned military jeep and a crashed airplane. Without knives, pots, and fire starters, challengers will need to scavenge the area to find what they need to create those items from scratch, using only their ingenuity and will to survive.

In a Naked and Afraid franchise first, remaining survivalists will need to travel to the same extraction point on Day 21 and signal a boat for rescue.