LEXINGTON, Ky. — A central Kentucky man is testing his survival skills on a hit reality show premiering later this month.
Andrew Shayde of Lexington is one of nine cast members hoping to survive Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid Castaways.
Shayde has been writing comics since 2014, and he loves creating his own adventures and stories.
“I wrote all of these; my publisher hires the artist and I can make up the story and what happens and develop the creatures and characters,” Shayde said.
He says his love for superheroes and adventure started as a kid with action figures. For him, comics are an escape from the real world.
“One of the coolest things about writing comics is the day you get it back as a writer from the artist and you get to like actually hold it in your hands and see what you saw in your brain come to life,” Shayde said.
It’s a fun side hustle he does besides his 20-plus year career in nonprofit work. Recently, he’s working with Arbor Youth Services and at-risk youth in Lexington. Before that, Shayde supported people living with HIV and AIDS.
“I can’t be a superhero like we see in the comic books. But being in a nonprofit, I kind of feel like I can help others, and that’s my way to be a superhero.”
Shayde also loves a real life adventure. So much so, he’s stripping down to nothing as a cast member in Discovery’s Naked and Afraid Castaways.
“It’s like, could you survive on this deserted island with absolutely nothing? The struggles that we faced out there started from the second we hit the water. There was a saltwater crocodile in our area, and I even ended up with an injury from an animal in the first 10 minutes of being thrown off of a boat in the Pacific Ocean,” Shayde said.
Shayde said it’s his toughest survival challenge yet.
“The only thing that we could use to survive on was things that we could scavenge, that we could find on this deserted island. A lot of that was just trash that washed up on the beaches. So we had to really try to be as ingenious as possible to use everything we could find to survive,” Shayde said.
He got his start in reality television 20 years ago on The Amazing Race and is now a three-time cast member on various versions of Naked and Afraid.
“I love the danger. I love the excitement. And I’m the kind of person that anytime someone calls me and says, ‘Hey, do you want to have an adventure?’ I’m going to say yes every single time,” Shayde said.
Shayde says he’s been scared many times on the show, but his biggest fear is not living life to its fullest.
Naked and Afraid Castaways premieres July 30 on the Discovery Channel. It will also stream on Discovery + and MAX.