What is it withreality televisionand the wilderness? This genre just loves to put strangers into intense forests and barren beaches and challenge them to survive, with the latest iteration of this intense kind of competition beingFox’snew realityshow,Extracted. The program offers the usual thrills that fans of the medium love; it follows a group of 12 people stuck in the harsh wildernesswho must fend for themselves against dangers like starvation and hypothermia.But this series offers a shocking twist: it’s a family affair. Because while the 12 wannabe survivalists tough it out in the forest, two of their family members are back in “Headquarters” watching their every struggle. It is ultimately this pair’s choice whether to save their loved one by ‘extracting’ them, costing their whole group the chance at a $250,000 prizebut potentially saving the person from whatever dangers the wilderness has in store.
It’s already clear thatExtractedis one of the toughest reality shows today, something that the first eliminated group, theBanksfamily, knows well. The trio entered the competition confident; fatherAnthony Sr.and motherYolandaassured audiences that their status as divorcees didn’t stop them from providing their son,Anthony Jr., with all the care and wisdom he needed to take on this challenge. They offered a cooland collected approach as Anthony Jr. took off into the forest…making it that much more shocking when day two saw the boy frustrated over getting “disorganized” resources, start to complain loudly about not having what he needed (despite having received more than anyone else),and angrily cursing at his parents to extract him NOW. It was a shocking end that Collider was lucky to break down with the family and learn what led to them being this new series' first ever eliminated contestants.
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So when you heard about this concept, what did you expect from the show?
Yolanda: We were told it was going to be something in the wild, [but no other] intricate details in terms of what to expect. It was kind of mysterious, but we knew that we were competing as a family and one of us would be in the wild.
Anthony Sr.: We were just looking forward to competing as a family. My son’s 18 now, creating his own life, and for parents that can be hard. We like to think we’re a good team, and we were excited to show that to America — our “Broken Family Team."
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“For us it was a pretty easy decision.”
As you said, you have a history of competing — with your wide experience in football and other sports, did you have any advice for your son as he went into the Wild?
Anthony Sr.: I tried to get him to understand that it was going to be harder than he thought. He thought he was really ready for it, and I wanted him to be a little more cautious.
I think that your family’s experience was that of many on this show, which is coming in expecting one thing and realizing how much harder it is. Yolanda, one scene that really stuck out was in that first episode when you were the only person who slept in the Headquarters to verify you could hear your son. What drove you to do that?
Yolanda: I personally knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. So I’m like, “If I’m not sleeping in bed, I might as well just make myself a pallet and camp out to feel what he’s experiencing!” But it was pretty traumatic because his teeth were chattering…he was super cold, and he didn’t have all the layers we thought he’d have out there. Hearing him go through it…I thought I’d experience it with him.
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Anthony Jr., can you remember the moment out there when you just thought, “I can’t do this. I’m done.”
Anthony Jr.:The first night I probably went to sleep about seven different times. I laid down when the sun was still up because I knew it was going to be terrifying when it got dark, so I tried to fall asleep before I was scared and peeing my pants — it didn’t work. It was just painfully cold; I kept trying to do pushups and stuff, moving around [to warm up] and nothing was working. It really is just a helpless feeling because there’s nothing you can do to get warmer.
Now, it was the “Hit the f**king button,” heard around the world! You were pretty passionate about getting taken out on the second day, what were you feeling in those moments?
Anthony Jr.:I mean, there’s not really much I can say to it besides I had enough and there wasn’t much more I wanted to do out there.
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Jeff has evolved alongside the show.
Yolanda, you were prepared to let him stay out there for some time, while Anthony Sr., you really wanted to take him out once he started asking for it. What were both of you thinking that led you to those decisions?
Anthony Sr.:I think of all of us as a team. [Anthony Jr.] was very adamant before the show that we were not going to tap him, that he was going to outlast everybody. But it became pretty clear, that…after not too long, you know, that we weren’t going to be the winning team. I’ll take a bullet for my son, and if we weren’t going to be winning, then what was the point of letting America see him unravel. My mode was protection and trying to protect him from himself.
Yolanda:Anthony was adamant before we got out there that under no circumstance [do we pull him]. After that first night, [Anthony Sr. and I] were saying that if we couldn’t get him any resources that we would pull him. You hear me saying “Let him suffer,” but he wasn’t suffering after we got him supplies, he had everything he needed. So I thought that he’d make it and I’d let him fight through the fear coming up, because clearly that was what was driving that enraged emotion.
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Looking at that response you had, Anthony, if you could go back, is there anything you’d change?
Anthony Jr.: I…definitely would not have spoken to my parents the way that I did. That’s like, the number one thing. Looking back on it, I could have stayed another night, probably even more than that. I don’t think I would have won, but I definitely could have gone further if I really tried and wanted it more. Thinking about it, there’s not really much that can prepare you for that. Like, you may think you’ve done all the preparation in the world, but when you’re actually out there, alone, in the dark…it’s very different.
I just want to thank you all for speaking with me today. Last question: when you decided to extract, there was mention of conversations to be had about Anthony Jr.’s behavior. Did those happen?
Yolanda:I want to make it clear: our disappointment was not because he wanted to be extracted, it was his behavior. He was exemplifying a lack of gratitude for the [resources]…we loaded him up with more than other people had! It wasn’t that we were disappointed that he wanted to be extracted. His behavior, in our mind, was deplorable, and we were not expecting that.
Anthony Sr.:Both of us were a little disappointed. We expected more out of our trio, and, I mean…my son is not those few minutes where you see him melt down. We all have things we need to work on and his emotions sometimes do get the best of him, but he is a very thoughtful, very good young man. We’ve been you know, mostly proud of him [for the] almost19 years that he’s been our son, right? And we thought taking him out into that environment, we could show America that just because [Yolanda and I] are not married anymore, we’re still a family.
