Eva Rupert was cold, hungry and dehydrated, with only lizards for food and a partner bent on Mother Nature’s destruction.

And she was naked the entire time.

But miraculously, Rupert, a Bethel native, managed to survive her experience on Discovery’s Channel’s hit reality show, “Naked and Afraid.”

The program, which airs Sundays at 9 p.m., chronicles the lives of two survivalists — a man and a woman — who meet for the first time and are tasked with surviving a stay in the wilderness for 21 days. They aren’t given any of their own food and water. Rupert’s episode debuted last Sunday but will be aired again on Sunday, March 30.

On Rupert’s episode, the eerily titled “Damned in Africa,” the 33-year-old tattoo artist braved 21 days in the harsh desert of Madagascar’s Massif D’Isalo. She was joined by Jeff Zausch, a 27-year-old devout Mormon with a contempt for nature and a mild crazy streak. Thankfully, he was also a great partner with a strong work ethic, Rupert told the Associated Press.

With nothing much more than the wilderness and a camera around, Rupert and her partner used  brain and brawn to survive and overcome their own weaknesses. In a Q&A interview with Hearst Connecticut Media, Rupert explained how she wound up on the show and what it was like.

Rupert said she already had some survival skills under her belt before embarking on this unique adventure. Among them were lessons in animal tracking and friction fire building. That’s because outdoor education is among her passions.  Over the years she has taught several primitive and survival skill programs. She shared this photo below, in which she’s practicing a survival skill. Can you guess what it is?

Rupert is also a licensed art teacher who enjoys yoga. Here is another photo she shared.

And here’s what the Bethel High School  grad had to say about her reality show experience:

Q:  How did you find out about the show?

A: They called me out of the blue one day!

Q: How did you audition or apply to be on it?

A: After being sought out for the show, they flew me to LA for some interviews and screen testing.

Q: Why do you think you were chosen?

A: I’ve done so much work teaching primitive skills and survival all over the country… local to Connecticut with my women’s empowerment program that I developed in 2004 and ran through 2010, called the Goddess Program for Amazing Young Women in the Wilderness.  I also developed programs and taught at Great Hollow Wilderness School in New Fairfield for over a decade.

Q: What do you do for a living these days?

A: I currently work as a tattoo artist and wilderness guide in Flagstaff, Ariz., and run an awesome new nonprofit called Tiny Bikes: Big Change (tinybikesbigchange.org)

Q: Let it not be said that we don’t ask the questions everyone is wondering about: When “Naked and Afraid” was being filmed, what was the situation with “visiting the bathroom?”

A: (Laughs) You just find a private area behind the rocks. You don’t eat that much so you don’t poop that much. Peeing is a non-issue. The camera is not following you.

Q: What inspired you to be such an outdoorsy person and to want to master survival skills?

A: It’s been a lifelong process. As a kid you play outside. We’d go out around 7 a.m. All the kids would rally and play all day. In my teens I fell out of it, but that wild woman way of being caught up with me in my early 20s when I walked into Great Hollow Wilderness Center and began working there. It re-lit a spark in me.

My involvement in that programming got me back into it, and into pursuing the idea of survival. … I realized in order to be connected to the Earth you don’t need a backpack full of crap. You don’t need a list of supplies. People have been living with the Earth as opposed to insulating ourselves from it for a very long time.

Q: What was most challenging on the show?

A: It’s called ‘Naked and Afraid’ but you’re never afraid; you don’t have time for that. … The biggest challenge was just staying hydrated. In the beginning we boiled our water. Then we found a spring.

Q: How could you sleep at night? If it were me, I’d be afraid of poisonous spiders or snakes.

A: Risk management is the first thing; you just have to have a high level of awareness.

Q: I can tell you’re very happy you had a chance to be on this show. Looking back on your experience, aside from that joy and sense of accomplishment, what are your thoughts?

A: Being on “Naked and Afraid” is not for everyone, but the idea of it, of seeking out an experience that pushes you to your limits, is something I hope everyone experiences in their life. For a journalist it might be writing the best story, or for someone else it might be being the best brain surgeon or the best tattoo artist. Everyone has something; you want to seek out your own Mt. Everest.

I hope everyone in their lifetime has an opportunity to experience something as amazing as what I’ve experienced. I hope everyone watching this at home has an opportunity to live their life to the fullest.

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Rupert shows off some buckskin in the photo below. Perhaps this is a good fashion option for goddesses in the wilderness!

Additional details on her experience appear under this picture.

Here’s more from the AP story:

The nudity was awkward for less than five minutes, said Rupert, who grew up in Connecticut. After that, she and Zausch were too busy surviving to worry about it. In fact, Rupert said the nudity was just another element of exposure, an added challenge. The extreme heat of Madagascar’s desert environment was countered with extreme cold at night that had Rupert longing for a blanket.

While the team had no clothes, the show does allow each participant to bring one personal item. For Rupert, it was a knife. Zausch brought a fire starter.

The first thing they did was find shelter, then secure water.

“It takes a long time to starve, so food is way down the list,” said Rupert, who now lives in Flagstaff, Ariz.

While driving to the drop-off point, Rupert had spotted a cave in nearby cliffs that proved crucial to their survival. The cave offered shelter and had water seeping out of the walls.

With shelter and water accounted for, their focus turned to food. What did they eat?

“Not much,” Rupert said. The desert provided them with minimal nutrition. Their diet of small berries was occasionally augmented with lizard.

Rupert didn’t win any prize money for surviving “Naked and Afraid.” What she got from the experience couldn’t be measured in dollars.

“It was one of those experiences that remind you who you are and what’s most important,” she told the AP. “At the end of the day it’s not all the stuff. What’s really essential is who we are at the core of our being.”

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