'Naked and Afraid' Introduces First Transgender Female Contestant

On Sunday night, the Discovery Channel's "Naked and Afraid" introduced its first transgender woman to compete on the survivalist show, reported the Daily Mail.

The Discovery Channel survival show�– which is in the midst of its 13th season – features two strangers, usually a man and a woman, stranded together in the wild with no food, water, supplies, or clothes for 21 days.

The latest pairing, revealed on Sunday night, featured a cis, white South African man named Shaun and a trans woman from Florida named Terra.

"Terra was assigned the male gender at birth, but began transitioning to female four years ago," wrote the Daily Mail.

" 'People like me don't get chosen for things like this,' she said on the show. 'I am trans and I don't care who knows it. What defines me is not how I look or how I act, it's what I do in my life. The things I do in my life are f**king epic.' "

Terra is the second trans person to appear in the series. In 2019 a trans man, Quince Mountain, from Illinois, competed on the show during season 10, and was left in the Honduran jungle with a police officer from Florida named Teresa Owens. He and Teresa were able to complete the adventure.

Terra "has been a bow hunter for her entire life and served in the Air Force for 12 years," the Daily Mail detailed. She said she was "absolutely prepared for this," having experienced similar wilderness tests.

She added transitioning has been the "hardest thing" she has ever done, but added that it is already "so worth it."

"I was born male, but in my mind, growing up, I've always been female," she explained.

"Transitioning is the hardest thing I've ever done, but so worth it. The one thing I am aware of for my partner is that he or she is going to see a different or more unique body than they've probably ever seen."

"She alluded to the fact that she has a penis, having undergone 'top' surgery (also known as breast augmentation or implants), but has yet to undergo 'bottom' surgery (penile inversion vaginoplasty) – which is the�creation of a vagina by inverting penile skin," added the Daily Mail.

"Things on the outside aren't what they are supposed to be at this point in my transgender transition. I do have breasts, and I do have the male genitalia still."

Her teammate is a South African farmer and professional hunter named Shaun – who described himself as "a little bit conservative" – and they were left together to fend for themselves in Pia Manzi, located in the African country Zambia.

She feared that he might respond negatively to her. " 'When it comes to my partner, they're either gonna accept everything or they're gonna go off the deep end, and we're gonna see some bad s**t,' she said before they came face to face."

Shaun did looked stunned upon their meeting when he was virtually speechless. Asked by Terra if he had any questions, he responded: "Not at the moment."

Terra continued: "Obviously, you can see that I'm not the same as every other girl that's been on this show. What are your thoughts on this?"

"Yeah, you're unique," said Shaun. "It is a bit of a shock to me but we're all unique and special. I'm open-minded and we're going to do this together. Don't worry, I've got your back."

This was a relief for Tara, the Daily Mail recounted.

"Thank God," she said. "I appreciate that. And I've got your back too. Hearing that is a big thing to me. We're gonna do this, we're gonna be OK."

"They then hugged it out before beginning their adventure together," the article described.�

After meeting, Terra said in a private interview. "I'm a hell of a lot more surprised than I thought I would be. He looked at me like I was a normal person, that was exactly what I needed. A great surprise and I'm pretty happy so far."

Shaun joined in speaking privately to the camera. "Terra is awesome. Someone as unique as that, to have the courage to come out, she's a hero in my eyes already."

Circumstances kept them from completing their journey together. "Unfortunately, three days into the show, Shaun fell and sustained a concussion so he was forced to leave for medical reasons," wrote the Daily Mail.

"Terra then completed the rest of the 18 days completely alone, despite suffering from a lacerated nipple and not being able to find much food," the Daily Mail said.

"I'm not a gender, I'm not a label, I'm just a human," Tara commented during the adventure.

"It's empowering. I'm going through my own transitional journey. And I know now that if I just stick with it there's nothing I cannot do in this world."