Lone Target (2014) s01e01 Episode Script
De-classified Special
1 Narrator: Every country has a force specifically designed to protect their homeland by hunting and capturing terrorists and criminals.
Let's find this high-value target.
[ All yell .]
We'll go out and get the [Bleep.]
Narrator: On this show, an ex-U.
S.
Navy seal will take on some of the most elite tracking units in the world.
Man: We are going to catch him.
Narrator: Each of these hunter force agency's readiness is going to be tested over a period of up to 48 hours He started to piss me off.
Narrator: When they face one of their toughest challenges Joel lambert Let's go.
Come on.
Narrator: A former Navy seal and escape and evasion expert.
This is my turf, and I'm still in charge of this.
Narrator: Joel is among the most highly trained and skilled infiltrators these hunter forces have ever faced.
Son of a [Bleep.]
Narrator: Joel's mission is to travel around the world and evade each country's elite tracking unit as they try to physically capture him [ Radio chatter .]
I don't know how I'm gonna make it.
Narrator: In some of the most hostile and wild environments across the globe.
Do not turn around.
They'll see you as prey.
Narrator: If he can make it to his extraction point without being caught, he has won.
Lambert: Failure is not an option.
Man: Let's go! Narrator: The hunt is real The danger is imminent Lambert: Almost home free! Narrator: And the outcome unknown.
There is my extract.
Narrator: This Lambert: Hunter forces in bound.
Narrator: Is Lambert: I am at extract.
Narrator: "Lone target.
" My name's Joel lambert.
I'm a former U.
S.
Navy seal.
I have 10 years combat experience.
When I was 22 I started feeling very restless.
I needed something To drive my life.
I joined the seal teams because it terrified me to the core of my being and I wasn't sure that I could do it.
So I sold everything I had and ran off and joined the Navy.
Being a seal for 10 years changed the foundations of who I am.
It was the most intense, completely all-consuming existence that you can imagine, and I miss that.
And maybe this show is a way to get some of that back.
For me to put myself in foreign environments and be hunted by the best their country has to offer -- those are impossible odds, and that scares me.
That's exactly why I have to do it.
The show is my fantasy job from when I was probably 11 years old.
Joel's an ex-Navy seal with 10 years of combat experience.
He's been in the [Bleep.]
Johnson: And he has an insane drive for competition, success, and winning.
Narrator: As a Navy seal, Joel is trained to insert and survive behind enemy lines.
He is an escape and evasion expert trained in munitions Lambert: The trigger will catch on the basket and pull this off the grenade.
Narrator: Survival Lambert: I'm gonna be all right tonight.
Narrator: Deception Lambert: I'm gonna put these coverings on my boots.
It's gonna look like somebody else entirely.
Narrator: And escape.
Lambert: We got to use this and got to go off the edge.
[ Men shouting in native language .]
There is significant pride.
I mean, I'm going in as a former team guy -- as a Navy seal.
Doing a combat mission with your seal platoon, where you have this team, is so much different than one guy.
I don't have anybody to help me out out there.
He is a badass.
There's a lot of ex-Navy seals out there that wanted to do this show.
Knappmiller: You need someone that has the right training, the right physicality, and the right mental disposition, and there's no one, I think, better equipped for that than Joel.
Barbini: He's not gonna quit.
He's not gonna quit in real life, and he's definitely not gonna quit on a television show.
[ Grunts .]
Narrator: To face off against some of the toughest units the world has to offer requires not just years of past combat and operational experience but intensive preparation.
Lambert: There is no possible way to stay in seal condition outside of the seal teams, and I've been out for five years.
The environments I'm gonna be going in and the situations I'm gonna be in are gonna be beyond brutal.
I'm going to war.
Narrator: Joel not only had to train physically, but he spent hours studying each hunter force to be as mentally prepared as possible.
Lambert: I want to know everything I can about these guys that I'm going up against.
I want to know what their assets are.
I've also got maps of all the areas that I'm gonna be.
I need to plan my routes.
And all of this information is going to help me come up with the best plan possible.
And it's also gonna provide me with all the knowledge I'm gonna need when that plan goes to [Bleep.]
'Cause it will.
Being in the seal teams you're issued so much operational gear.
A balaclava.
You just never know when you need to be the masked man.
That's probably for bagging somebody's head.
My rhodesian vest.
It's still full of dirt.
That's Afghanistan right there.
I'm gonna be traveling fast, and I'm gonna be traveling light, so I'm gonna choose only the things that I know I'm gonna need.
What I take with me might be the difference between winning or losing.
So I'm gonna get some of the things I need to get the things I need.
[ Chuckles .]
Some of my blades, tools that I'm gonna be using.
Tomahawk.
So I'm laying out a lot of the gear that I'm gonna need out in the field.
A long fixed blade is one of the essential things that you have in a survival situation.
This -- a bontoc -- it's a weapon, it's a tool, a lever.
It's just a beautiful blade.
And my favorite is the sayoc winkler hawk.
Aside from combat uses, this beak is perfect for skinning animals if I were to need to kill something for food in a survival situation.
I can use this as an improvised grappling hook.
This -- good monofilament fishing wire -- this is good for trip wires, for setting booby traps.
I don't know how it's gonna turn out, but there's only one way to find out.
I'm gonna give them all I got.
Narrator: But preparing to evade the tracking units was just the beginning.
Making this a TV show brought incredible challenges for all.
Lambert: I wasn't sure what I'd be up against.
I'm thinking, "oh, man.
"I'm sure these guys are good at making TV, "but we're gonna be doing some stuff that they have no idea what they're getting into.
" Barbini: This show is unique in a lot of ways.
It takes a survival show -- an action/adventure show -- and it combines it into one entity.
Johnson: We know where the game's starting and we know where the game's finishing, but we have no idea what's gonna happen in between.
We give a start point to Joel lambert, and he starts off on his journey.
And his job is to escape and evade capture by some of the best hunter forces on the globe Get down! Get down! [Bleep.]
There they are.
Johnson: As they chase behind him using all their assets, all their technology, and all their experiences in being able to track down an individual.
Joel lambert -- he's a one-man infiltration unit, and his mission is to test any security weaknesses in the targets that we go out and film.
He believes that nobody can catch him.
Narrator: Once Joel infiltrates his hunters' territory, he will have between 36 and 48 hours to evade capture and escape.
There he is.
And none of the hunter forces know where his extraction point will be.
Man: This guy's trying to confuse me.
He's very smart.
Narrator: To try and physically capture Joel, they can use any assets they would in a real-world hunt.
Joel has only what he can carry Lambert: This is a good place to put in a booby trap.
Narrator: Or find off the land.
I'm gonna use this garbage as an early-warning system.
Narrator: If Joel makes it to extraction, he has won.
I can hear them right behind us.
Narrator: But if he surrenders or the hunter forces lay their hands on him, it's game over.
This show is the most dangerous show and the most difficult show that I have ever had to produce in 25 years of producing television.
It's going to be very tough.
Everybody in this room will suffer a little bit.
This is gonna be a real-time, real-life mission, so anything's gonna be possible.
We're dealing with military and police organizations that are unpredictable, that have different attitudes.
[ Yelling .]
These guys are high-tension, high-alert, high-speed, high-trained, and a big problem for Joel.
So, not only is Joel gonna be getting chased by these guys, but then he's got the environment, which is just full of thorns and prickly things and deadly things.
Narrator: Coming up Joel finds out just how serious the hunter forces take their mission [ Gunfire .]
and just how harsh these environments can be.
The jungle got to me.
[ Grunts .]
I'm coming into somebody's backyard, and I'm ringing the doorbell and then lighting the dog [Bleep.]
[Chuckles.]
on fire on their front porch.
And these guys are hunting me, and they really want to get me.
I get my ass kicked.
[ Chuckles .]
Narrator: The hunter forces Joel will face are able to use any assets available to them in a real-world manhunt.
Man: Phantom recon, go forward.
Narrator: He is going up against drones that can read a license plate from a mile in the air.
Man: Keep your eyes out.
Lambert: They know exactly where I'm at, and they're on my tail.
Narrator: Urban technology Lambert: They've got cameras everywhere.
Narrator: Mobile units Holy [Bleep.]
get down! Get down! Narrator: Air assets Helicopter.
Come on.
Come on.
[ Man speaking Spanish .]
Narrator: Watercraft.
The way this show is structured is to handicap me in every way possible and help the hunter force.
I do my best [Chuckles.]
But sometimes those odds are just pretty crazy.
Narrator: No matter the country he inserts or the technology he battles, Joel's training and tactics are all he has to rely on.
Like in the lowveld region of South Africa, home to one of the country's largest animal reserves.
Well, South Africa I was being hunted by the international anti-poaching foundation, which is a anti-encounter poaching force that is headed by a former commando, so someone who is very similar to me in skill sets.
[ Australian accent .]
Be ready to move, guys, as soon as we find those tracks.
Narrator: Ex-Australian special forces Damien mander leads his team of native trackers and ex-poachers with the added advantage of knowing Joel's training.
Mander: Tracking and intelligence are two of the best tools we've got with anti-poaching.
These are African trackers.
This is something that goes back thousands of years with these guys -- tens of thousands of years.
The challenge was off the charts.
Narrator: But the trackers aren't the only enemies Joel has to contend with.
[ Hyena howling .]
[Bleep.]
Look.
It's a hyena.
She's huge! You can't turn your back on these animals.
Their jaws -- they're like 2,000 pounds per square inch of bite pressure.
She might have a den.
Even worse, she might have young.
Last thing we want to do is get in between an animal and her young, so we've got to be very, very careful moving by.
She's looking right at me.
Look at those black eyes, just staring at me.
[ Chuckles lightly .]
Narrator: Facing trackers with skills that have been honed over hundreds of years was little help when preparing to evade a unit with 21st-century technology.
South Korea's jeju island.
This urban environment posed a whole new challenge for Joel -- counter tracking in a densely populated city.
Man: [ Korean accent .]
Outside the door! Outside the door! Narrator: Tracking Joel is the Korean national police, who combine the tactics of a SWAT team with high-tech capabilities of the FBI.
They're a tier-one, high-end, extremely well-funded SWAT team.
Go! Go! Go! Go! Lambert: There's 5,000 closed-circuit television cameras.
Almost every inch is covered with these cameras.
Narrator: Dealing with surveillance and tactics he's never faced before, all bets were off when it came to his evasion plans.
[ Sirens wailing .]
I was forced to improvise the things that I needed.
Narrator: Joel's missions also sent him to regions where troops are actively tracking and capturing criminals, like when he inserts into the remote jungle of Panama's San Jose island.
In Panama, I was going against senafront, which is their counterdrug task force.
Narrator: Tracking Joel is captain oriel de gracia and the senafront, who are engaged in daily combat in the war against drugs, and last year alone were responsible for the seizure of over 5 1/2 tons of cocaine from neighboring countries.
This island chain that we were on actually has been a staging ground for drug runners in the past.
This may be the hardest mission I have.
Narrator: Joel carries no food, so to survive, he must scavenge whatever presents itself no matter how deadly it is.
Lambert: It's a boa.
This is the stuff you've got to watch out for in the jungle.
[ Snake hisses .]
They will bite.
It's got backwards-facing teeth that it uses to latch on to its prey and feed it down its gullet.
Look at that guy.
See those teeth? They're like needles.
I can feel the squeeze happening already wrapping around my arm.
He's just one big muscle.
All right, buddy.
I'm sorry to do this, but you're just too good to pass up.
You're on the menu tonight.
Narrator: In the deserts of Arizona, Joel found himself evading the full might of the U.
S.
army's phantom recon, who had the world's most advanced tracking methods at their disposal.
Grid is 5-7-7-1-5.
The assets in Arizona were significant.
Man: Phantom recon, Roger.
Lambert: I mean, I'm dealing with the U.
S.
army.
Man: The individual's moving in a southeastern direction.
But to have the U.
S.
army allocate our high-end drones I can see it.
There it is.
that's almost an insurmountable obstacle.
Man: That's the guy we want.
Hot doggy, we got him.
Narrator: Faced with the U.
S.
army's extensive array of assets and technology, Joel is forced to change his tactics to give himself any chance of escape.
You can turn a defensive situation into an offensive situation, so there are times when I may be the mouse to these guys, but as they follow my trail, all of a sudden they're gonna find that I've turned into a dog.
I'm gonna wedge this grenade in this log attached to a trip wire through a choke point so I can hang on to it.
I want to disturb the ground as little as possible as I'm doing this.
And I'm gonna run it.
If they just think they're chasing a fuzzy little bunny, well, they can just charge along at the speed they want.
But if they think a wolf might be up there, they're gonna go a lot more cautious.
One false move and boom.
Narrator: Sometimes Joel not only battles the hunter force, but nature itself.
The mount Santa Rita region of the Philippines.
This dense jungle is patrolled by the army scout rangers, an anti-terrorist combat unit, who are considered one of the world's best jungle-tracking teams Man: We are in position.
Narrator: That rely solely on their highly tuned tracking skills.
Lambert: The jungle was so thick, I was forced to chop my way through that huge hedge.
It gave them a highway to follow.
What people tell you are some of the best intelligence that you can get, but it's also some of the most unreliable.
If I go in and then conspicuously leave in a deceptive direction, when the hunter force comes through, they're gonna ask around, and they're gonna point them exactly the way I want them to think I went.
Hi.
Good morning.
Oh, here we go! Hi.
Hi.
[ Children yelling .]
Narrator: As the hunter force arrived at the village, the unpredictable nature of human intelligence instantly worked in Joel's favor.
Joel's use of deception pays off and helps him gain distance and slip back into the jungle.
No matter which country Joel inserted, their special forces were relentless in their pursuit of capturing him.
And nowhere more so than in Poland, where catching this former seal was considered a matter of national pride.
He's smart.
He's good.
I think we are better.
Narrator: The bieszczady region of Poland is a major gateway to Western Europe for human traffickers and smugglers.
[ Engine turns over .]
And charged with protecting it is the straz graniczna.
Lambert: The straz granicz had motorcycles, helicopters and hogs and atvs.
Crazy assets.
Keep moving! Come on! There were some situations that I found myself in that were extremely close calls.
[ Panting .]
[ Speaking Polish .]
Oh, no.
No! No! No! God! [Bleep.]
[ Speaks Polish .]
Lambert: This is way too high to free climb.
I'll fall to my death.
[ Grunting .]
I'm gonna try to use this tree here as an improvised ladder.
[ Man speaking Polish .]
[ Grunting .]
[ Dog barking .]
Come on! And I was forced to do some things that were possibly not very smart.
[ Yells .]
Stupid [Bleep.]
[ Gasping .]
Narrator: Coming up We know there's lions in the area.
Narrator: .
Joel finds himself face-to-face with something more unpredictable then any hunter force Lambert: She sees me.
Narrator: While the crew fights battles of their own.
This is a camera man's worst nightmare.
[Bleep.]
I am always in awe by the world that we live in.
Narrator: "Lone target" visits some of the most intense environments on our planet, from the great African bush to the lush green forests and fields of Poland.
And from the sprawling deserts of Arizona to the gorgeous beaches of Panama.
We got to see parts of the world that nobody would ever get to see In a very unique way.
It's an incredible experience.
It's once in a lifetime.
But underneath all this beauty, it was [Bleep.]
hell Because you really don't have control.
There's not a time where you go out there and you go, "we know exactly what's gonna happen.
" We really don't.
Narrator: There are real dangers out there, like hypothermia [ Coughing .]
Narrator: Serious cuts Definitely delivering our pound of flesh to the jungle.
Narrator: And severe injury.
[ Grunting .]
And perhaps the one place that was the most inhospitable to shoot was the Philippines jungle.
Lambert: When the sun gets in, it sets the grove crazy.
It was the worst jungle I've ever been in.
Vines and hedges and bamboo and just crap.
It is, in some ways, harder than anything I did in the seal teams.
[Bleep.]
The jungle.
I [Bleep.]
Hate this place.
That was a "heart of darkness" experience for me.
The jungle got to me.
But as tough as it was on me, the crew definitely had it worse.
Narrator: While the jungle is hard to operate in, it's almost impossible to shoot a TV show in.
Mcpherson: I've been in thick [Bleep.]
I've been in thick, super thick jungle, and there's been times to where you got caught on a vine or your face ripped off by some plants, and all you want to do is scream and curse the person that put you in here.
This is [Bleep.]
crazy.
I've almost broke my ankle like three times.
This is no joke by far.
The heat index was over 115 degrees.
I've been in jungles around the world.
This is by far the hottest [ Breathes deeply .]
and hardest to shoot.
You'd step outside and instantly you'd be sweating like crazy.
It felt like you were standing in a sauna wrapped in like a plastic bag.
That was the Philippines.
It destroyed our crew.
Man: Oh, geez! Barbini: It destroyed our cameras.
Man: Uh-oh.
And my lcd screen is fried.
I can't see anything through it.
We were an hour into the shoot, and we had already lost our first camera.
They're pulling out back-up cameras.
That's probably not gonna last too long.
By noon we had lost three.
This is a camera man's worst nightmare.
Ninth camera just went down.
We've got it wrapped in rain gear.
We've cut up umbrellas.
We've tried everything to keep these cameras dry.
If your cameras aren't working, you can't shoot a TV show.
The heat and humidity, the rain, it's just killing us.
This is impossible.
Every single episode had producers, camera guys, sound guys either quitting, going down Getting airlifted out, animal attacks, hospitalizations -- life-threatening stuff every single episode.
Narrator: And no location proved more life threatening to the crew than Panama.
While documenting the anti-drug military unit, senafront, on a remote island 60 Miles off the coast, the hunter force and their camera crew unknowingly stumbled into a potentially deadly situation.
[ Man screaming .]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Narrator: Co-executive producer mark Allen Johnson is swarmed by hundreds of africanized killer bees.
You all right? [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Filming? Are you [Bleep.]
Kidding me?! Aah! It's still getting me.
[ Bees buzzing .]
Get the bees off me.
Get them off me.
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[ Men speaking Spanish .]
Narrator: Killer bees are incredibly territorial and aggressive.
Johnson: Oh! Aah! Man: Let's go! Let's go! Man #2: Go! Go! Go! Go! Narrator: The killer bees now see everyone as a potential target.
[ Bees buzzing and men grunting .]
The only one left with a camera, Ian, is now also swarmed by the killer bees.
Ian: Get away from me! Hey, let's go! Ivámanos! Let's go! Man: Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! [Bleep.]
Holy [Bleep.]
Go! Go! [Bleep.]
Aah! [ Buzzing continues .]
Narrator: Once these bees sting their target, it releases a pheromone that they can track for up to two Miles from their hive.
Man: They're following us! Aah! [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[ Buzzing and shouting continue .]
Aah! [ Thunder rumbles .]
The only saving grace is that a rainfall came and the rain was so extreme that the bees just can't fly.
My d.
P.
Was looking up at me, and it looked like he was gonna cry.
He's puking in a bucket, and they are pulling bee stingers out of his head.
You all right, bud? Barbini: If you dropped a normal person into this environment, they'd last about five minutes.
That's it.
[ Sighs .]
Barbini: I mean, I've seen the toughest guys go down on this show -- guys that I've worked with for 25 years.
We have a little bit of a situation here.
When we started off the hunt, we had an incredibly steep incline that was almost impossible to film.
Mark rushed ahead to make sure that he got the content for the show, and I think it wore him out.
We have a couple of potential heat-exhaustion casualties.
Narrator: Mark is suffering from heat exhaustion, which could lead to heat stroke or possibly death.
On the side of this Mountain, no help can get to him.
[ Johnson retches .]
Stomach cramp.
Narrator: He'll have to hike a mile and a half up to a road where I vehicle can rush him to the hospital.
All right.
You ready to go? After you, buddy.
Okay.
We're starting to get out of this place and tripping over vines, and it was tough getting out here.
It's gonna be even tougher getting back.
I can't tell you how hard this is.
Heat index is 109 And us being a little light-headed.
This is by far the toughest hunt we've had to do.
We made it.
Out of the jungle, dude.
I could literally [Bleep.]
myself right now, and I could care less.
I could just keep going while I [Bleep.]
myself, [ speaks indistinctly .]
[ Chuckles .]
Poetry.
Man: Our producer mark is in pretty bad state.
We need to get him to the hospital so he can get a proper check over.
Johnson: I drank six gallons of water in eight hours, and I still ended up in the hospital, I still got four bags of I.
V.
, and I still could have died.
That's how bad the environment was in the Philippines.
Lambert: This show is hard on all of us.
It's incredibly hard on me, and this is what I do.
Barbini: This show was like going to war.
You go in with 100 guys, you're gonna come back with 50.
It takes a really special person to go out there in the jungles and live out there for 48 hours and not stop shooting.
Man: I'm gonna go down with him.
Barbini: These people have to be in incredible shape.
They have to be mentally in shape because they're literally going through exactly what your host is going through.
And your host is an ex-Navy seal.
Narrator: Coming up If this happens again I'm [Bleep.]
done.
Narrator: The extreme conditions have Joel and the crew at odds.
My ass is on the line.
This is my job too, Joel.
And a producer cheats death.
Man: We have to operate.
Surgery? Woman: Yeah, surgery.
Narrator: Joel travels with a camera man and producer [ Indistinct conversation .]
who are both trained in tactics and evasion, but shooting a television show while not getting caught can be extremely challenging.
Lambert: Don't load this up with too much weight.
It's a little shaky.
I have a producer and a camera guy with me.
Man: Here.
Grab the camera.
No.
Wait.
I got it on my neck.
Oh [Bleep.]
So, as well as doing everything I'm doing, I have three sets of footprints that I have to deal with, three guys pushing through these scenarios.
[ Panting .]
The end of the day, Joel wants to win.
Lambert: Come on.
Keep up.
Stay tight.
As producers, we need to get a television show.
Just give us a slap.
So it's this balance.
It's one thing if Joel gets caught.
It's another thing if me, as the camera guy, gets caught.
How do you stay tactical, tell a good story, get it all on camera, and at the same time, how does our camera man stay tactical? It's almost impossible.
Doing the exact same as Joel would be doing.
Barbini: And that's where problems can arise between Joel and the crew.
Lambert: Watch out for this mud.
Don't leave any footprints.
[Bleep.]
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Follow in my footsteps.
Don't knock [Bleep.]
over.
There are times when I'm seeing the hunter force up there, and I'm kind of freaking out, and I'm trying to get a visual without exposing myself Stay with me.
Don't move out in front of me.
Right with me.
and the camera guy's right over my shoulder, and his lens is giving a big sun flash in the direction of the guys that are hunting me.
Stay with me! Come on! How do I balance that? How do we make a TV show? If you see them, they've seen you.
So stay back and shoot with me.
There are two different worlds that are colliding in this.
[ Chuckles .]
We're gonna get out of here, all right? Follow me.
Quiet.
Man: I mean, so this is pretty much -- shh! You're talking too loud.
Stop.
Stop! When I stop you, that doesn't mean get a different camera angle.
It means "stop.
" Joel's putting pressure on the camera men to stay tactical.
Priority number one is not getting caught.
These guys can make their own [Bleep.]
show.
Barbini: And what's that gonna do? It's gonna create conflict.
I'm [Bleep.]
done.
This is [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Barbini: And that conflict is eventually gonna blow up, and they're gonna butt heads.
When this [Bleep.]
gets up, you guys are gonna climb this [Bleep.]
Every [Bleep.]
time I come in here to try and produce something -- no, I'm not gonna calm down.
This is [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Zip it.
It's okay.
We're all in this together, man.
Barbini: Harsh conditions, extreme exhaustion, and not wanting to get caught -- all those things are gonna come to a head at some point.
Number one priority is not getting caught.
No, it's making a TV show.
Shh! No.
It's not getting caught because my ass is gonna be on TV for life.
My ass is on the line.
This is my job too, Joel! [ Shushing .]
Don't act like you're the only guy here.
And you now what? They're gonna go at it, and they're gonna come out better friends, or they're gonna become bitter enemies.
And honestly, I don't give a [Bleep.]
If they come out bitter enemies.
It's about shooting a [Bleep.]
show with this.
I know.
I know.
Ryan, I'm totally hearing you, and I'm sorry.
I value you so much as a part of this team, and I'm taking all the blame for that, and I'm not gonna do that anymore.
It's all raw emotion.
Put it behind you, and move forward.
Narrator: While being part of Joel's camera crew is technically and tactically challenging, it's also proven to be incredibly dangerous.
Never more so than when Joel was evading an anti-poaching squad in the South African bush.
Mander: I don't really give a [Bleep.]
who this guy is or where he's from.
If I can catch him by lunch time, be set up having a cold beer, then I'll be happy.
Narrator: Joel and his camera crew were in the wilderness With no protection against some of the planet's most dangerous animals [ Growls .]
like lions Elephants And buffalo.
Lambert: Wild animals everywhere.
I really feel naked right now.
I want all eyes looking for crocodiles, okay? I know that this is a [Bleep.]
TV show, but I don't want anyone taken by a croc.
Place is full of them, okay? There's no faking in this environment.
Joel walked close to 25 kilometers, and so did the crew, across one of the most dangerous animal reserves in the world.
We did it, and we were scared [Bleep.]
the whole time.
Narrator: And no one on the crew could have possibly predicted the danger they were about to walk into.
Tracks.
I think this is female.
This is confirmed adult lioness.
It's big.
This is quite an issue now.
'Cause we know there's lions in the area.
Johnson: I was laid up in the ambush position in the river with the iapf when we got the call that there was a pride of lions in the area.
Narrator: Unfortunately, Joel had become separated from his producer, and with no working communications devices, was unaware he was headed straight towards the lions' den.
We need to find him for safety purposes.
Yeah.
It became very real very fast, and that's South Africa.
[ Distant shouting .]
Go, go, go.
[ Panting .]
Stop! [ Gunfire .]
All the rangers, because of safety, stop.
Joel made a split-second decision to take off on his own with his camera man.
He's sprinting through the bush, okay.
That's like rolling a ball of string in front of a cat.
He's an instant target.
We've got most of the team.
Man: He's still running alone.
There was no way for us to communicate with him.
Man: We need to find him with great urgency.
Over.
I may be seriously concerned.
[ Chuckles .]
Narrator: With no way to get in touch with him, the situation had become potentially deadly.
We have an incredibly tense situation right now.
Hey, mark.
Hold on.
Mark, I can't hold on.
Do you hear me? Joel is out there with his camera man running, which is the worst possible thing he could do.
Let's just get all our resources together so that we stay on this, and we get to Joel and the camera man safely.
[ Whistle blows .]
This way.
Come this way.
Joel! [ Distant shouting .]
You must stop! Did he say they're lions in the area? How stupid does he think I am? That's the oldest trick in the book.
He's trying to get me to come in.
If there are lions, it doesn't matter.
We're gonna finish this thing anyway.
We're almost there.
Man: Nothing? This is critical now.
This is life and death.
They're probably just cutting around ahead of me with the roads and vehicles.
No point in chasing me.
They know where I'm going.
So Head north to the fence.
I smell something dead.
She sees me.
I only see one, but they've got a fresh kill.
There's probably a pride around here.
You got to stay big And back out.
Man is a super predator and on the top of the food chain.
Well, tell me that after you're 30 meters away from a female lion feeding, and she looks up and she locks on you, and you see the tail flick and you feel like a cat toy.
Tell me you're top of the food chain then.
Mark, can you here me? Mark, can you hear me? I can't hear you.
Mark? One of our biggest problems we always run into is being able to communicate.
It's important that we all know where each other are at any given time.
This will track me globally, so we know where I'm at.
We've got this, which is a local phone for Poland because it can get me on certain cellphone towers.
I got this, which can get me on the Ukrainian network, which is only 100 meters away.
And then in the worst case, we got the world phone, which is the sat.
Phone, so I can talk to you from anywhere.
And then on top of that I got a walkie talkie that bounces around off of repeater towers.
And with all that said, half the time I can't [Bleep.]
talk to anyone.
Narrator: As a Navy seal, Joel has had to put his life on the line countless times, but little did the crew know they'd be battling a one-in-a-million freak injury just to capture this show.
Knappmiller: I don't think we ever expected to have the types of injuries we had, but there are some things that I just don't think you could ever possibly plan for.
Test.
Test.
Test.
Audio test one, two, three.
Narrator: The crew, led by executive producer Brian knappmiller, is documenting Joel as he travels between islands at night Lambert: Excellent.
All right.
Come on, guys.
Narrator: When a school of needle-nosed flying fish caught the crew off guard.
Lambert: We hear this noise, then -- bam! -- Chaos happens in the boat.
Narrator: Unseen by the crew, it appears Brian was struck in the neck by a fish.
It just felt like a fish jumped out of the water, hit me in the back of the neck, I got a little whiplash, and that was that.
Man: Yeah, okay.
Narrator: Discovery producers were forced to put the hunt on hold for half an hour to get emergency personnel to Joel and Brian's location.
No, I don't feel sick, but I would love to get to shore.
Please, just have the medics stood by at the production office.
Narrator: By all appearances, Brian was cut on the neck by a fin, but the true extent of his injuries were not yet known.
[ Engine turns over .]
[ Chuckling .]
Oh, my God, dude.
Are you all right? You got hit by a flying fish? Knappmiller: The cut is here.
Hit me in the back of the neck.
Unbelievable.
What else could happen? This whiplash [Bleep.]
hurts.
I'm sure it does.
Narrator: The on-set medic is able to stop the bleeding And patch up Brian for the time being.
Man: It's the freakiest accident I've ever seen.
I mean, it happened right past my head.
Bizarre is what this is.
Bizarre.
Narrator: Brian is sewn up, but has found a lump that indicates something is lodged in his neck.
Man: You have to operate.
Do you need surgery? Woman: Yeah, surgery.
Narrator: What initially appeared to be just a gash was actually the entry point of a stab wound.
Knappmiller: I wasn't just hit by a fish, but I was actually stabbed fives inches completely through the back of my neck.
Narrator: Brian needs immediate medical care.
That other island has an official landing zone, and it's 15 minutes away by boat.
Narrator: Getting Brian off the island and to a hospital has become a four-hour ordeal.
So, we're gonna take Brian onto the beach and to the next island that's 20 minutes away from here, and there's an airport there with lights, and there's a flight from Saint Anne coming in right now to pick him up.
The rough sea poses a serious threat to Brian's neck, but the raft is his only way off the island.
I don't think anybody realized how serious it was.
Narrator: It was later determined that Brian had been stabbed in the neck by a ballyhoo fish, and a two-inch Barb had broken off in his neck centimeters from his spinal cord.
Knappmiller: It hit me almost more after the fact how this spike that basically went completely through my neck from one side to the other.
Had it even just nicked my spinal cord or just nicked a main vein or artery, life would be a lot different now.
This show has been just one issue after another.
Every island, every location has caused us some problem.
It's just unbelievable.
It just doesn't stop.
It just doesn't stop.
I think there's a lot about this show that's gonna surprise What the [Bleep.]
is that?! it's gonna entertain.
We cannot find the tracks.
I think he can fly.
Lambert: We are pushing each other to our limits.
Because of that, I don't always get away.
These dogs are on my ass.
[ Panting .]
You're gonna see some pretty cool stuff.
How much stuff can you take? Oh, man, you're gonna see some good [Bleep.]
You're gonna see some dynamic escapes [ Man yells .]
some crazy takedowns.
Stop! Stop! I don't think the public has ever seen anything like this.
[ Man speaking Polish .]
Lambert: What we're doing out there is real.
It is their fondest wish to catch me in the name of national pride.
[ Indistinct shouting .]
And there's nothing like this out there.
[ Shouting continues .]
-- Captions by vitac -- captions paid for by discovery communications
Let's find this high-value target.
[ All yell .]
We'll go out and get the [Bleep.]
Narrator: On this show, an ex-U.
S.
Navy seal will take on some of the most elite tracking units in the world.
Man: We are going to catch him.
Narrator: Each of these hunter force agency's readiness is going to be tested over a period of up to 48 hours He started to piss me off.
Narrator: When they face one of their toughest challenges Joel lambert Let's go.
Come on.
Narrator: A former Navy seal and escape and evasion expert.
This is my turf, and I'm still in charge of this.
Narrator: Joel is among the most highly trained and skilled infiltrators these hunter forces have ever faced.
Son of a [Bleep.]
Narrator: Joel's mission is to travel around the world and evade each country's elite tracking unit as they try to physically capture him [ Radio chatter .]
I don't know how I'm gonna make it.
Narrator: In some of the most hostile and wild environments across the globe.
Do not turn around.
They'll see you as prey.
Narrator: If he can make it to his extraction point without being caught, he has won.
Lambert: Failure is not an option.
Man: Let's go! Narrator: The hunt is real The danger is imminent Lambert: Almost home free! Narrator: And the outcome unknown.
There is my extract.
Narrator: This Lambert: Hunter forces in bound.
Narrator: Is Lambert: I am at extract.
Narrator: "Lone target.
" My name's Joel lambert.
I'm a former U.
S.
Navy seal.
I have 10 years combat experience.
When I was 22 I started feeling very restless.
I needed something To drive my life.
I joined the seal teams because it terrified me to the core of my being and I wasn't sure that I could do it.
So I sold everything I had and ran off and joined the Navy.
Being a seal for 10 years changed the foundations of who I am.
It was the most intense, completely all-consuming existence that you can imagine, and I miss that.
And maybe this show is a way to get some of that back.
For me to put myself in foreign environments and be hunted by the best their country has to offer -- those are impossible odds, and that scares me.
That's exactly why I have to do it.
The show is my fantasy job from when I was probably 11 years old.
Joel's an ex-Navy seal with 10 years of combat experience.
He's been in the [Bleep.]
Johnson: And he has an insane drive for competition, success, and winning.
Narrator: As a Navy seal, Joel is trained to insert and survive behind enemy lines.
He is an escape and evasion expert trained in munitions Lambert: The trigger will catch on the basket and pull this off the grenade.
Narrator: Survival Lambert: I'm gonna be all right tonight.
Narrator: Deception Lambert: I'm gonna put these coverings on my boots.
It's gonna look like somebody else entirely.
Narrator: And escape.
Lambert: We got to use this and got to go off the edge.
[ Men shouting in native language .]
There is significant pride.
I mean, I'm going in as a former team guy -- as a Navy seal.
Doing a combat mission with your seal platoon, where you have this team, is so much different than one guy.
I don't have anybody to help me out out there.
He is a badass.
There's a lot of ex-Navy seals out there that wanted to do this show.
Knappmiller: You need someone that has the right training, the right physicality, and the right mental disposition, and there's no one, I think, better equipped for that than Joel.
Barbini: He's not gonna quit.
He's not gonna quit in real life, and he's definitely not gonna quit on a television show.
[ Grunts .]
Narrator: To face off against some of the toughest units the world has to offer requires not just years of past combat and operational experience but intensive preparation.
Lambert: There is no possible way to stay in seal condition outside of the seal teams, and I've been out for five years.
The environments I'm gonna be going in and the situations I'm gonna be in are gonna be beyond brutal.
I'm going to war.
Narrator: Joel not only had to train physically, but he spent hours studying each hunter force to be as mentally prepared as possible.
Lambert: I want to know everything I can about these guys that I'm going up against.
I want to know what their assets are.
I've also got maps of all the areas that I'm gonna be.
I need to plan my routes.
And all of this information is going to help me come up with the best plan possible.
And it's also gonna provide me with all the knowledge I'm gonna need when that plan goes to [Bleep.]
'Cause it will.
Being in the seal teams you're issued so much operational gear.
A balaclava.
You just never know when you need to be the masked man.
That's probably for bagging somebody's head.
My rhodesian vest.
It's still full of dirt.
That's Afghanistan right there.
I'm gonna be traveling fast, and I'm gonna be traveling light, so I'm gonna choose only the things that I know I'm gonna need.
What I take with me might be the difference between winning or losing.
So I'm gonna get some of the things I need to get the things I need.
[ Chuckles .]
Some of my blades, tools that I'm gonna be using.
Tomahawk.
So I'm laying out a lot of the gear that I'm gonna need out in the field.
A long fixed blade is one of the essential things that you have in a survival situation.
This -- a bontoc -- it's a weapon, it's a tool, a lever.
It's just a beautiful blade.
And my favorite is the sayoc winkler hawk.
Aside from combat uses, this beak is perfect for skinning animals if I were to need to kill something for food in a survival situation.
I can use this as an improvised grappling hook.
This -- good monofilament fishing wire -- this is good for trip wires, for setting booby traps.
I don't know how it's gonna turn out, but there's only one way to find out.
I'm gonna give them all I got.
Narrator: But preparing to evade the tracking units was just the beginning.
Making this a TV show brought incredible challenges for all.
Lambert: I wasn't sure what I'd be up against.
I'm thinking, "oh, man.
"I'm sure these guys are good at making TV, "but we're gonna be doing some stuff that they have no idea what they're getting into.
" Barbini: This show is unique in a lot of ways.
It takes a survival show -- an action/adventure show -- and it combines it into one entity.
Johnson: We know where the game's starting and we know where the game's finishing, but we have no idea what's gonna happen in between.
We give a start point to Joel lambert, and he starts off on his journey.
And his job is to escape and evade capture by some of the best hunter forces on the globe Get down! Get down! [Bleep.]
There they are.
Johnson: As they chase behind him using all their assets, all their technology, and all their experiences in being able to track down an individual.
Joel lambert -- he's a one-man infiltration unit, and his mission is to test any security weaknesses in the targets that we go out and film.
He believes that nobody can catch him.
Narrator: Once Joel infiltrates his hunters' territory, he will have between 36 and 48 hours to evade capture and escape.
There he is.
And none of the hunter forces know where his extraction point will be.
Man: This guy's trying to confuse me.
He's very smart.
Narrator: To try and physically capture Joel, they can use any assets they would in a real-world hunt.
Joel has only what he can carry Lambert: This is a good place to put in a booby trap.
Narrator: Or find off the land.
I'm gonna use this garbage as an early-warning system.
Narrator: If Joel makes it to extraction, he has won.
I can hear them right behind us.
Narrator: But if he surrenders or the hunter forces lay their hands on him, it's game over.
This show is the most dangerous show and the most difficult show that I have ever had to produce in 25 years of producing television.
It's going to be very tough.
Everybody in this room will suffer a little bit.
This is gonna be a real-time, real-life mission, so anything's gonna be possible.
We're dealing with military and police organizations that are unpredictable, that have different attitudes.
[ Yelling .]
These guys are high-tension, high-alert, high-speed, high-trained, and a big problem for Joel.
So, not only is Joel gonna be getting chased by these guys, but then he's got the environment, which is just full of thorns and prickly things and deadly things.
Narrator: Coming up Joel finds out just how serious the hunter forces take their mission [ Gunfire .]
and just how harsh these environments can be.
The jungle got to me.
[ Grunts .]
I'm coming into somebody's backyard, and I'm ringing the doorbell and then lighting the dog [Bleep.]
[Chuckles.]
on fire on their front porch.
And these guys are hunting me, and they really want to get me.
I get my ass kicked.
[ Chuckles .]
Narrator: The hunter forces Joel will face are able to use any assets available to them in a real-world manhunt.
Man: Phantom recon, go forward.
Narrator: He is going up against drones that can read a license plate from a mile in the air.
Man: Keep your eyes out.
Lambert: They know exactly where I'm at, and they're on my tail.
Narrator: Urban technology Lambert: They've got cameras everywhere.
Narrator: Mobile units Holy [Bleep.]
get down! Get down! Narrator: Air assets Helicopter.
Come on.
Come on.
[ Man speaking Spanish .]
Narrator: Watercraft.
The way this show is structured is to handicap me in every way possible and help the hunter force.
I do my best [Chuckles.]
But sometimes those odds are just pretty crazy.
Narrator: No matter the country he inserts or the technology he battles, Joel's training and tactics are all he has to rely on.
Like in the lowveld region of South Africa, home to one of the country's largest animal reserves.
Well, South Africa I was being hunted by the international anti-poaching foundation, which is a anti-encounter poaching force that is headed by a former commando, so someone who is very similar to me in skill sets.
[ Australian accent .]
Be ready to move, guys, as soon as we find those tracks.
Narrator: Ex-Australian special forces Damien mander leads his team of native trackers and ex-poachers with the added advantage of knowing Joel's training.
Mander: Tracking and intelligence are two of the best tools we've got with anti-poaching.
These are African trackers.
This is something that goes back thousands of years with these guys -- tens of thousands of years.
The challenge was off the charts.
Narrator: But the trackers aren't the only enemies Joel has to contend with.
[ Hyena howling .]
[Bleep.]
Look.
It's a hyena.
She's huge! You can't turn your back on these animals.
Their jaws -- they're like 2,000 pounds per square inch of bite pressure.
She might have a den.
Even worse, she might have young.
Last thing we want to do is get in between an animal and her young, so we've got to be very, very careful moving by.
She's looking right at me.
Look at those black eyes, just staring at me.
[ Chuckles lightly .]
Narrator: Facing trackers with skills that have been honed over hundreds of years was little help when preparing to evade a unit with 21st-century technology.
South Korea's jeju island.
This urban environment posed a whole new challenge for Joel -- counter tracking in a densely populated city.
Man: [ Korean accent .]
Outside the door! Outside the door! Narrator: Tracking Joel is the Korean national police, who combine the tactics of a SWAT team with high-tech capabilities of the FBI.
They're a tier-one, high-end, extremely well-funded SWAT team.
Go! Go! Go! Go! Lambert: There's 5,000 closed-circuit television cameras.
Almost every inch is covered with these cameras.
Narrator: Dealing with surveillance and tactics he's never faced before, all bets were off when it came to his evasion plans.
[ Sirens wailing .]
I was forced to improvise the things that I needed.
Narrator: Joel's missions also sent him to regions where troops are actively tracking and capturing criminals, like when he inserts into the remote jungle of Panama's San Jose island.
In Panama, I was going against senafront, which is their counterdrug task force.
Narrator: Tracking Joel is captain oriel de gracia and the senafront, who are engaged in daily combat in the war against drugs, and last year alone were responsible for the seizure of over 5 1/2 tons of cocaine from neighboring countries.
This island chain that we were on actually has been a staging ground for drug runners in the past.
This may be the hardest mission I have.
Narrator: Joel carries no food, so to survive, he must scavenge whatever presents itself no matter how deadly it is.
Lambert: It's a boa.
This is the stuff you've got to watch out for in the jungle.
[ Snake hisses .]
They will bite.
It's got backwards-facing teeth that it uses to latch on to its prey and feed it down its gullet.
Look at that guy.
See those teeth? They're like needles.
I can feel the squeeze happening already wrapping around my arm.
He's just one big muscle.
All right, buddy.
I'm sorry to do this, but you're just too good to pass up.
You're on the menu tonight.
Narrator: In the deserts of Arizona, Joel found himself evading the full might of the U.
S.
army's phantom recon, who had the world's most advanced tracking methods at their disposal.
Grid is 5-7-7-1-5.
The assets in Arizona were significant.
Man: Phantom recon, Roger.
Lambert: I mean, I'm dealing with the U.
S.
army.
Man: The individual's moving in a southeastern direction.
But to have the U.
S.
army allocate our high-end drones I can see it.
There it is.
that's almost an insurmountable obstacle.
Man: That's the guy we want.
Hot doggy, we got him.
Narrator: Faced with the U.
S.
army's extensive array of assets and technology, Joel is forced to change his tactics to give himself any chance of escape.
You can turn a defensive situation into an offensive situation, so there are times when I may be the mouse to these guys, but as they follow my trail, all of a sudden they're gonna find that I've turned into a dog.
I'm gonna wedge this grenade in this log attached to a trip wire through a choke point so I can hang on to it.
I want to disturb the ground as little as possible as I'm doing this.
And I'm gonna run it.
If they just think they're chasing a fuzzy little bunny, well, they can just charge along at the speed they want.
But if they think a wolf might be up there, they're gonna go a lot more cautious.
One false move and boom.
Narrator: Sometimes Joel not only battles the hunter force, but nature itself.
The mount Santa Rita region of the Philippines.
This dense jungle is patrolled by the army scout rangers, an anti-terrorist combat unit, who are considered one of the world's best jungle-tracking teams Man: We are in position.
Narrator: That rely solely on their highly tuned tracking skills.
Lambert: The jungle was so thick, I was forced to chop my way through that huge hedge.
It gave them a highway to follow.
What people tell you are some of the best intelligence that you can get, but it's also some of the most unreliable.
If I go in and then conspicuously leave in a deceptive direction, when the hunter force comes through, they're gonna ask around, and they're gonna point them exactly the way I want them to think I went.
Hi.
Good morning.
Oh, here we go! Hi.
Hi.
[ Children yelling .]
Narrator: As the hunter force arrived at the village, the unpredictable nature of human intelligence instantly worked in Joel's favor.
Joel's use of deception pays off and helps him gain distance and slip back into the jungle.
No matter which country Joel inserted, their special forces were relentless in their pursuit of capturing him.
And nowhere more so than in Poland, where catching this former seal was considered a matter of national pride.
He's smart.
He's good.
I think we are better.
Narrator: The bieszczady region of Poland is a major gateway to Western Europe for human traffickers and smugglers.
[ Engine turns over .]
And charged with protecting it is the straz graniczna.
Lambert: The straz granicz had motorcycles, helicopters and hogs and atvs.
Crazy assets.
Keep moving! Come on! There were some situations that I found myself in that were extremely close calls.
[ Panting .]
[ Speaking Polish .]
Oh, no.
No! No! No! God! [Bleep.]
[ Speaks Polish .]
Lambert: This is way too high to free climb.
I'll fall to my death.
[ Grunting .]
I'm gonna try to use this tree here as an improvised ladder.
[ Man speaking Polish .]
[ Grunting .]
[ Dog barking .]
Come on! And I was forced to do some things that were possibly not very smart.
[ Yells .]
Stupid [Bleep.]
[ Gasping .]
Narrator: Coming up We know there's lions in the area.
Narrator: .
Joel finds himself face-to-face with something more unpredictable then any hunter force Lambert: She sees me.
Narrator: While the crew fights battles of their own.
This is a camera man's worst nightmare.
[Bleep.]
I am always in awe by the world that we live in.
Narrator: "Lone target" visits some of the most intense environments on our planet, from the great African bush to the lush green forests and fields of Poland.
And from the sprawling deserts of Arizona to the gorgeous beaches of Panama.
We got to see parts of the world that nobody would ever get to see In a very unique way.
It's an incredible experience.
It's once in a lifetime.
But underneath all this beauty, it was [Bleep.]
hell Because you really don't have control.
There's not a time where you go out there and you go, "we know exactly what's gonna happen.
" We really don't.
Narrator: There are real dangers out there, like hypothermia [ Coughing .]
Narrator: Serious cuts Definitely delivering our pound of flesh to the jungle.
Narrator: And severe injury.
[ Grunting .]
And perhaps the one place that was the most inhospitable to shoot was the Philippines jungle.
Lambert: When the sun gets in, it sets the grove crazy.
It was the worst jungle I've ever been in.
Vines and hedges and bamboo and just crap.
It is, in some ways, harder than anything I did in the seal teams.
[Bleep.]
The jungle.
I [Bleep.]
Hate this place.
That was a "heart of darkness" experience for me.
The jungle got to me.
But as tough as it was on me, the crew definitely had it worse.
Narrator: While the jungle is hard to operate in, it's almost impossible to shoot a TV show in.
Mcpherson: I've been in thick [Bleep.]
I've been in thick, super thick jungle, and there's been times to where you got caught on a vine or your face ripped off by some plants, and all you want to do is scream and curse the person that put you in here.
This is [Bleep.]
crazy.
I've almost broke my ankle like three times.
This is no joke by far.
The heat index was over 115 degrees.
I've been in jungles around the world.
This is by far the hottest [ Breathes deeply .]
and hardest to shoot.
You'd step outside and instantly you'd be sweating like crazy.
It felt like you were standing in a sauna wrapped in like a plastic bag.
That was the Philippines.
It destroyed our crew.
Man: Oh, geez! Barbini: It destroyed our cameras.
Man: Uh-oh.
And my lcd screen is fried.
I can't see anything through it.
We were an hour into the shoot, and we had already lost our first camera.
They're pulling out back-up cameras.
That's probably not gonna last too long.
By noon we had lost three.
This is a camera man's worst nightmare.
Ninth camera just went down.
We've got it wrapped in rain gear.
We've cut up umbrellas.
We've tried everything to keep these cameras dry.
If your cameras aren't working, you can't shoot a TV show.
The heat and humidity, the rain, it's just killing us.
This is impossible.
Every single episode had producers, camera guys, sound guys either quitting, going down Getting airlifted out, animal attacks, hospitalizations -- life-threatening stuff every single episode.
Narrator: And no location proved more life threatening to the crew than Panama.
While documenting the anti-drug military unit, senafront, on a remote island 60 Miles off the coast, the hunter force and their camera crew unknowingly stumbled into a potentially deadly situation.
[ Man screaming .]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Narrator: Co-executive producer mark Allen Johnson is swarmed by hundreds of africanized killer bees.
You all right? [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Filming? Are you [Bleep.]
Kidding me?! Aah! It's still getting me.
[ Bees buzzing .]
Get the bees off me.
Get them off me.
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[ Men speaking Spanish .]
Narrator: Killer bees are incredibly territorial and aggressive.
Johnson: Oh! Aah! Man: Let's go! Let's go! Man #2: Go! Go! Go! Go! Narrator: The killer bees now see everyone as a potential target.
[ Bees buzzing and men grunting .]
The only one left with a camera, Ian, is now also swarmed by the killer bees.
Ian: Get away from me! Hey, let's go! Ivámanos! Let's go! Man: Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! [Bleep.]
Holy [Bleep.]
Go! Go! [Bleep.]
Aah! [ Buzzing continues .]
Narrator: Once these bees sting their target, it releases a pheromone that they can track for up to two Miles from their hive.
Man: They're following us! Aah! [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[ Buzzing and shouting continue .]
Aah! [ Thunder rumbles .]
The only saving grace is that a rainfall came and the rain was so extreme that the bees just can't fly.
My d.
P.
Was looking up at me, and it looked like he was gonna cry.
He's puking in a bucket, and they are pulling bee stingers out of his head.
You all right, bud? Barbini: If you dropped a normal person into this environment, they'd last about five minutes.
That's it.
[ Sighs .]
Barbini: I mean, I've seen the toughest guys go down on this show -- guys that I've worked with for 25 years.
We have a little bit of a situation here.
When we started off the hunt, we had an incredibly steep incline that was almost impossible to film.
Mark rushed ahead to make sure that he got the content for the show, and I think it wore him out.
We have a couple of potential heat-exhaustion casualties.
Narrator: Mark is suffering from heat exhaustion, which could lead to heat stroke or possibly death.
On the side of this Mountain, no help can get to him.
[ Johnson retches .]
Stomach cramp.
Narrator: He'll have to hike a mile and a half up to a road where I vehicle can rush him to the hospital.
All right.
You ready to go? After you, buddy.
Okay.
We're starting to get out of this place and tripping over vines, and it was tough getting out here.
It's gonna be even tougher getting back.
I can't tell you how hard this is.
Heat index is 109 And us being a little light-headed.
This is by far the toughest hunt we've had to do.
We made it.
Out of the jungle, dude.
I could literally [Bleep.]
myself right now, and I could care less.
I could just keep going while I [Bleep.]
myself, [ speaks indistinctly .]
[ Chuckles .]
Poetry.
Man: Our producer mark is in pretty bad state.
We need to get him to the hospital so he can get a proper check over.
Johnson: I drank six gallons of water in eight hours, and I still ended up in the hospital, I still got four bags of I.
V.
, and I still could have died.
That's how bad the environment was in the Philippines.
Lambert: This show is hard on all of us.
It's incredibly hard on me, and this is what I do.
Barbini: This show was like going to war.
You go in with 100 guys, you're gonna come back with 50.
It takes a really special person to go out there in the jungles and live out there for 48 hours and not stop shooting.
Man: I'm gonna go down with him.
Barbini: These people have to be in incredible shape.
They have to be mentally in shape because they're literally going through exactly what your host is going through.
And your host is an ex-Navy seal.
Narrator: Coming up If this happens again I'm [Bleep.]
done.
Narrator: The extreme conditions have Joel and the crew at odds.
My ass is on the line.
This is my job too, Joel.
And a producer cheats death.
Man: We have to operate.
Surgery? Woman: Yeah, surgery.
Narrator: Joel travels with a camera man and producer [ Indistinct conversation .]
who are both trained in tactics and evasion, but shooting a television show while not getting caught can be extremely challenging.
Lambert: Don't load this up with too much weight.
It's a little shaky.
I have a producer and a camera guy with me.
Man: Here.
Grab the camera.
No.
Wait.
I got it on my neck.
Oh [Bleep.]
So, as well as doing everything I'm doing, I have three sets of footprints that I have to deal with, three guys pushing through these scenarios.
[ Panting .]
The end of the day, Joel wants to win.
Lambert: Come on.
Keep up.
Stay tight.
As producers, we need to get a television show.
Just give us a slap.
So it's this balance.
It's one thing if Joel gets caught.
It's another thing if me, as the camera guy, gets caught.
How do you stay tactical, tell a good story, get it all on camera, and at the same time, how does our camera man stay tactical? It's almost impossible.
Doing the exact same as Joel would be doing.
Barbini: And that's where problems can arise between Joel and the crew.
Lambert: Watch out for this mud.
Don't leave any footprints.
[Bleep.]
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Follow in my footsteps.
Don't knock [Bleep.]
over.
There are times when I'm seeing the hunter force up there, and I'm kind of freaking out, and I'm trying to get a visual without exposing myself Stay with me.
Don't move out in front of me.
Right with me.
and the camera guy's right over my shoulder, and his lens is giving a big sun flash in the direction of the guys that are hunting me.
Stay with me! Come on! How do I balance that? How do we make a TV show? If you see them, they've seen you.
So stay back and shoot with me.
There are two different worlds that are colliding in this.
[ Chuckles .]
We're gonna get out of here, all right? Follow me.
Quiet.
Man: I mean, so this is pretty much -- shh! You're talking too loud.
Stop.
Stop! When I stop you, that doesn't mean get a different camera angle.
It means "stop.
" Joel's putting pressure on the camera men to stay tactical.
Priority number one is not getting caught.
These guys can make their own [Bleep.]
show.
Barbini: And what's that gonna do? It's gonna create conflict.
I'm [Bleep.]
done.
This is [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Barbini: And that conflict is eventually gonna blow up, and they're gonna butt heads.
When this [Bleep.]
gets up, you guys are gonna climb this [Bleep.]
Every [Bleep.]
time I come in here to try and produce something -- no, I'm not gonna calm down.
This is [Bleep.]
bull[Bleep.]
Zip it.
It's okay.
We're all in this together, man.
Barbini: Harsh conditions, extreme exhaustion, and not wanting to get caught -- all those things are gonna come to a head at some point.
Number one priority is not getting caught.
No, it's making a TV show.
Shh! No.
It's not getting caught because my ass is gonna be on TV for life.
My ass is on the line.
This is my job too, Joel! [ Shushing .]
Don't act like you're the only guy here.
And you now what? They're gonna go at it, and they're gonna come out better friends, or they're gonna become bitter enemies.
And honestly, I don't give a [Bleep.]
If they come out bitter enemies.
It's about shooting a [Bleep.]
show with this.
I know.
I know.
Ryan, I'm totally hearing you, and I'm sorry.
I value you so much as a part of this team, and I'm taking all the blame for that, and I'm not gonna do that anymore.
It's all raw emotion.
Put it behind you, and move forward.
Narrator: While being part of Joel's camera crew is technically and tactically challenging, it's also proven to be incredibly dangerous.
Never more so than when Joel was evading an anti-poaching squad in the South African bush.
Mander: I don't really give a [Bleep.]
who this guy is or where he's from.
If I can catch him by lunch time, be set up having a cold beer, then I'll be happy.
Narrator: Joel and his camera crew were in the wilderness With no protection against some of the planet's most dangerous animals [ Growls .]
like lions Elephants And buffalo.
Lambert: Wild animals everywhere.
I really feel naked right now.
I want all eyes looking for crocodiles, okay? I know that this is a [Bleep.]
TV show, but I don't want anyone taken by a croc.
Place is full of them, okay? There's no faking in this environment.
Joel walked close to 25 kilometers, and so did the crew, across one of the most dangerous animal reserves in the world.
We did it, and we were scared [Bleep.]
the whole time.
Narrator: And no one on the crew could have possibly predicted the danger they were about to walk into.
Tracks.
I think this is female.
This is confirmed adult lioness.
It's big.
This is quite an issue now.
'Cause we know there's lions in the area.
Johnson: I was laid up in the ambush position in the river with the iapf when we got the call that there was a pride of lions in the area.
Narrator: Unfortunately, Joel had become separated from his producer, and with no working communications devices, was unaware he was headed straight towards the lions' den.
We need to find him for safety purposes.
Yeah.
It became very real very fast, and that's South Africa.
[ Distant shouting .]
Go, go, go.
[ Panting .]
Stop! [ Gunfire .]
All the rangers, because of safety, stop.
Joel made a split-second decision to take off on his own with his camera man.
He's sprinting through the bush, okay.
That's like rolling a ball of string in front of a cat.
He's an instant target.
We've got most of the team.
Man: He's still running alone.
There was no way for us to communicate with him.
Man: We need to find him with great urgency.
Over.
I may be seriously concerned.
[ Chuckles .]
Narrator: With no way to get in touch with him, the situation had become potentially deadly.
We have an incredibly tense situation right now.
Hey, mark.
Hold on.
Mark, I can't hold on.
Do you hear me? Joel is out there with his camera man running, which is the worst possible thing he could do.
Let's just get all our resources together so that we stay on this, and we get to Joel and the camera man safely.
[ Whistle blows .]
This way.
Come this way.
Joel! [ Distant shouting .]
You must stop! Did he say they're lions in the area? How stupid does he think I am? That's the oldest trick in the book.
He's trying to get me to come in.
If there are lions, it doesn't matter.
We're gonna finish this thing anyway.
We're almost there.
Man: Nothing? This is critical now.
This is life and death.
They're probably just cutting around ahead of me with the roads and vehicles.
No point in chasing me.
They know where I'm going.
So Head north to the fence.
I smell something dead.
She sees me.
I only see one, but they've got a fresh kill.
There's probably a pride around here.
You got to stay big And back out.
Man is a super predator and on the top of the food chain.
Well, tell me that after you're 30 meters away from a female lion feeding, and she looks up and she locks on you, and you see the tail flick and you feel like a cat toy.
Tell me you're top of the food chain then.
Mark, can you here me? Mark, can you hear me? I can't hear you.
Mark? One of our biggest problems we always run into is being able to communicate.
It's important that we all know where each other are at any given time.
This will track me globally, so we know where I'm at.
We've got this, which is a local phone for Poland because it can get me on certain cellphone towers.
I got this, which can get me on the Ukrainian network, which is only 100 meters away.
And then in the worst case, we got the world phone, which is the sat.
Phone, so I can talk to you from anywhere.
And then on top of that I got a walkie talkie that bounces around off of repeater towers.
And with all that said, half the time I can't [Bleep.]
talk to anyone.
Narrator: As a Navy seal, Joel has had to put his life on the line countless times, but little did the crew know they'd be battling a one-in-a-million freak injury just to capture this show.
Knappmiller: I don't think we ever expected to have the types of injuries we had, but there are some things that I just don't think you could ever possibly plan for.
Test.
Test.
Test.
Audio test one, two, three.
Narrator: The crew, led by executive producer Brian knappmiller, is documenting Joel as he travels between islands at night Lambert: Excellent.
All right.
Come on, guys.
Narrator: When a school of needle-nosed flying fish caught the crew off guard.
Lambert: We hear this noise, then -- bam! -- Chaos happens in the boat.
Narrator: Unseen by the crew, it appears Brian was struck in the neck by a fish.
It just felt like a fish jumped out of the water, hit me in the back of the neck, I got a little whiplash, and that was that.
Man: Yeah, okay.
Narrator: Discovery producers were forced to put the hunt on hold for half an hour to get emergency personnel to Joel and Brian's location.
No, I don't feel sick, but I would love to get to shore.
Please, just have the medics stood by at the production office.
Narrator: By all appearances, Brian was cut on the neck by a fin, but the true extent of his injuries were not yet known.
[ Engine turns over .]
[ Chuckling .]
Oh, my God, dude.
Are you all right? You got hit by a flying fish? Knappmiller: The cut is here.
Hit me in the back of the neck.
Unbelievable.
What else could happen? This whiplash [Bleep.]
hurts.
I'm sure it does.
Narrator: The on-set medic is able to stop the bleeding And patch up Brian for the time being.
Man: It's the freakiest accident I've ever seen.
I mean, it happened right past my head.
Bizarre is what this is.
Bizarre.
Narrator: Brian is sewn up, but has found a lump that indicates something is lodged in his neck.
Man: You have to operate.
Do you need surgery? Woman: Yeah, surgery.
Narrator: What initially appeared to be just a gash was actually the entry point of a stab wound.
Knappmiller: I wasn't just hit by a fish, but I was actually stabbed fives inches completely through the back of my neck.
Narrator: Brian needs immediate medical care.
That other island has an official landing zone, and it's 15 minutes away by boat.
Narrator: Getting Brian off the island and to a hospital has become a four-hour ordeal.
So, we're gonna take Brian onto the beach and to the next island that's 20 minutes away from here, and there's an airport there with lights, and there's a flight from Saint Anne coming in right now to pick him up.
The rough sea poses a serious threat to Brian's neck, but the raft is his only way off the island.
I don't think anybody realized how serious it was.
Narrator: It was later determined that Brian had been stabbed in the neck by a ballyhoo fish, and a two-inch Barb had broken off in his neck centimeters from his spinal cord.
Knappmiller: It hit me almost more after the fact how this spike that basically went completely through my neck from one side to the other.
Had it even just nicked my spinal cord or just nicked a main vein or artery, life would be a lot different now.
This show has been just one issue after another.
Every island, every location has caused us some problem.
It's just unbelievable.
It just doesn't stop.
It just doesn't stop.
I think there's a lot about this show that's gonna surprise What the [Bleep.]
is that?! it's gonna entertain.
We cannot find the tracks.
I think he can fly.
Lambert: We are pushing each other to our limits.
Because of that, I don't always get away.
These dogs are on my ass.
[ Panting .]
You're gonna see some pretty cool stuff.
How much stuff can you take? Oh, man, you're gonna see some good [Bleep.]
You're gonna see some dynamic escapes [ Man yells .]
some crazy takedowns.
Stop! Stop! I don't think the public has ever seen anything like this.
[ Man speaking Polish .]
Lambert: What we're doing out there is real.
It is their fondest wish to catch me in the name of national pride.
[ Indistinct shouting .]
And there's nothing like this out there.
[ Shouting continues .]
-- Captions by vitac -- captions paid for by discovery communications