| Manu Toigo | |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Occupation: | Survivalist |
Manu Toigo is a survivalist from Queensland, Australia, who was featured on Discovery Channel's TV show Naked and Afraid and Curiosity.[1]
Manu was born in Queensland and lived on her parents' farm.[2] At the age of 17 she joined the Infantry Reserve Unit in the Australian Army and served for eight years until she sustained an injury.[3] In 1998 Manu moved to Seattle, where she graduated college.
Manu appeared on the Discovery Channel series Curiosity during the "I, Caveman" episode which aired on October 2, 2011.[4]
In 2013, Manu was featured on the second season of Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid for a special double episode titled "Double Jeopardy" which took place in the Panama Jungle. The episode premiered on December 10, 2013, and attracted 2.4 million viewers.[5] Manu made it through the 21 day challenge but contracted dengue fever from a mosquito bite and went to the hospital three days after she finished the challenge.[6] Manu said that she got to the hospital just in time — any later and she might have died.[7] Manu spent a total of two weeks in the hospital and several months in physical therapy. She finished with a Primitive Survival Rating (PSR) of 8.0.[8]
In 2019, Manu returned to the Naked Afraid series as she was cast with 14 other survivalists for Naked and Afraid XL.[9] For this challenge the survivalists had to survive 40 days in the Palawan in the Philippines.[10] Manu was partnered in a group with Rylie Parlett and Christina McQueen, but tapped out on Day 7 due to her brother receiving treatments for jaw cancer.[11]
Manu appeared on National Geographic's show Mygrations in 2016.[12] The National Geographic team originally contacted Manu via Twitter and asked her if she would like to be featured in the show.[13] Manu said she enjoyed being on the show, but commented on the show's large production, which took much of the wilderness experience away from her.
Manu currently runs a wilderness camp in California to educate youth about the environment called camp Manu.[14] She also runs an organization called Walk-about that gives survival tips and tells people how to respect the environment.[15] The organization is partnered with Leave No Trace and Women Owned. On November 9, 2019, Manu released a song titled "Plastic Solution" with Two Roads Plastic Project. 100% of the song profits will go to efforts in fighting against plastic pollution.[16]