Fox
Ashley Tyler never imagined she'd wake up one day stripped of comfort, dropped into the remote Canadian wilderness with nothing but a rain jacket and a canteen. Yet, there she was — miles from civilization, bracing against the cold, while two of the most important men in her life, her fiancé Austin Metheny and his father Scott Metheny, watched her every move from a control room.
This wasn’t just survival. It was “Extracted,” Fox’s latest reality competition that airs on Feb. 10 at 8 p.m., where the contestants weren’t the ones deciding when to quit. That choice belonged to the people they trusted most.
That’s right — while Ashley fought to endure the brutal landscape alone, Austin and Scott had front-row seats at headquarters (HQ), monitoring her every move through a live feed. Their job? To decide how long she could stay in the game before they hit the ominous ‘Extract’ button.
Ashley, by her own admission, was the least experienced outdoorswoman among the trio. Her survival resume? A handful of hikes and a crash course in tying knots. But if reality TV thrives on transformation, “Extracted” was determined to test every limit she had.
“We were put out there with literally nothing,” Ashley recalled. “I had a bag with a rain jacket and a canteen of water, and that was it. We had to find our own survival zone and just… survive.”
If that sounds extreme, it was. This wasn’t a test of expert survivalists — it was about dropping everyday people into the unknown and seeing what happened next. And it wasn’t just about braving the elements; it was about trust. No matter how much Ashley struggled, it wasn’t up to her to tap out. Only Austin and Scott could make that call.
Image courtesy of Fox
Novice survivalist Ashley Tyler graces the promo poster for the new Fox reality series "Extracted."
For Austin, the experience brought an unexpected set of emotions. “Being engaged, getting married soon… it made me look at things differently,” he said. “Watching her out there, knowing she was going through all that — I was proud, but I was also processing emotions I didn’t even know I had.”
But what was it actually like, surviving in the Canadian wilderness? For Ashley, the biggest challenge was simple: the unknown. “You have to prioritize — ‘do I build my shelter first or find food?’ Every step takes energy, and out there, calories are everything.”
Ashley says she learned to forage, relying on wild blueberries and — when desperation hit — pine needles. She remembered a trip to Oklahoma where she foraged for mushrooms for the first time. That seemed so long ago. Now, it was real.
While Ashley battled the elements, Austin and Scott had their own strategic game to play at HQ. “We had to decide what supplies she got, what moves we made, and we had to be careful,” Austin explained. “There were alliances, drama… you don’t want to make a call that helps someone else while hurting your own.”
The experience left its mark. Ashley came home with a new perspective, not just on survival, but on life itself.
“It cuts out the nonsense,” she says. “I don’t have patience for unnecessary drama anymore. I know what I can handle now. I went to Canada, got dropped in the wilderness, and survived. That changes you.”
And it’s not just about what she endured — it’s about what’s next. “We’re all in on the adventure life now,” Austin says. “Camping, hiking, hunting… I took her duck hunting recently. She learned how to noodle.”
For the uninitiated, noodling is the art of catching catfish with your bare hands. “You stick your hand in a hole underwater, the fish bites it, and you pull it out,” Ashley explained. “It’s wild.”
Would they do Extracted again? “In a heartbeat,” they both said. Ashley, who never met the other contestants, craves a reunion. But more than that, she and Austin are hungry for another adventure—one that pushes them even further. They aren’t done testing their limits just yet. And for anyone thinking about signing up for something like this? Ashley has simple advice: “Do it. It’s addicting. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.”
