How many of us have watched a survival reality show from the comfort of our air-conditioned living rooms and thought, I could do that?
Denver native Rose Hyak recently had the chance to put that notion to the ultimate test on the survival reality show Extracted. The series challenges 12 untrained contestants to survive the brutal Canadian wilderness, where they must endure extreme conditions, scarce resources, and the isolation that comes with being miles away from civilization for the chance at $250,000.
Meanwhile, their family members watch their every move from a secluded headquarters via a 24/7 live feed. But survival isn’t just in the hands of the contestants—each competitor’s fate is controlled by their loved ones back at HQ, who hold the power to pull them from the game at any moment they decide their loved one is in danger.
Hyak, 30, is a former college track athlete and a registered dietitian. As she battled through scarce resources, extreme mental and physical fatigue, her cousin Kelsey Nicholes, and aunt, Laura Foster, watched their loved one with the specific instructions not to extract Hyak. Unfortunately, her journey came to an end recently after four episodes.
While disappointed, Hyak views her experience on Extracted as a transformative journey that pushed her beyond her perceived limits. The physical and mental challenges she faced—starvation, exhaustion, and the relentless unpredictability of the wilderness—forced her to dig deep and discover a new level of resilience. Reflecting on her time in the wild, she spoke with M&F on the experience making her stronger both physically and mentally, deepening her appreciation for perseverance under extreme conditions and helping her prepare for her next challenge.
Entering the Unknown
When Hyak made the decision to become a contestant, she approached the challenge with the mindset of a competitor. There wasn’t a guide map of prior seasons to gain insights on, and details on what awaited her were kept hushed. With her track and field background and a commitment to functional fitness, she spent the lead-up to the show focusing on strength, endurance, and explosiveness—expecting a physical, head-to-head showdown with the other 11 contestants. “I was like, we’re going to compete against each other. I’m not sure if you’ve seen The Challenge, but I didn’t know if I was going to lay out people in the Hall Brawls,” Hyak admits. “I was ready for all that s***.”
But once she arrived in the brutal Canadian wilderness, it became clear that brute force and gym training weren’t the keys to survival.
Instead of high-intensity feats, sprints, or even wrestling, Extracted required a skill set Hyak hadn’t even considered preparing for. “I should have done more survival tactics, like lighting a fire and making a stove,” she reflected. “I’ve now seen people make stoves and I’m like, ‘Well, damn. I didn’t even think about that.’” As one of the first wave of contestants to take on this brand-new survival format, Hyak acknowledges that much of her prep was based on assumptions. “With the first season of a new show, it’s based on what we interpreted—and I was pretty wrong, clearly,” Hyak confessed.
Adding another layer of pressure to an already grueling challenge, Hyak had to entrust her fate to her family. Unlike other survival shows where contestants rely solely on their own instincts or work together as a team, Extracted forced her to surrender control to her cousin Kelsey and aunt Laura, who had the power to pull her from the competition at any moment. But for Hyak, there was never any doubt—before the show even began, they made a pact that no matter how tough things got, she would stay in.
“My family is very competitive, and we agreed before the show that they would never pull me—that was my call,” Hyak says. “Kelsey even joked that she’d let a bear eat my head before extracting me. That was terrifying once I realized how hard everything was. I started wondering, ‘Would they even pull me if I needed it? And if they did, would they be mad?’ We have a tough-love dynamic—we love each other, but there was a mix of trust and fear in knowing they controlled my fate.”
Ultimately, Hyak’s journey came to an end after four grueling episodes. Despite her mental and physical grit, the relentless conditions took their toll, and her time in the wilderness was cut short. Though she didn’t walk away with the $250,000 that will be awarded to the last one left standing, she gained something far more valuable—an unshakable sense of belief in herself, a deeper understanding of her own limits, and a renewed hunger to push herself even further in future challenges.
How Rose Hyak Would’ve Approached ‘Extracted’ Differently
As a track and field athlete at the University of Texas, Hyak had a great foundation of endurance. Strength wasn’t a focal part of the training regimen at the time, and over the years, she’s shifted her focus to more strength training, recognizing its role in her overall fitness. Activities like boxing, rock climbing, and strength-based exercises are part of her normal routine leading into the show, and this helped her for the physical toll of the challenges on the show.
In reflecting on her time, Hyak acknowledges there were a few things she would have done differently to better prepare for Extracted. Perhaps her biggest realization was the importance her weight had in competing. As a dietitian, she knows what foods to intake to maintain her metabolism and how to avoid shocking her system with a sudden lack of fuel. But, in hindsight, she admits that packing on some extra weight would have been a great strategy.
“I probably should have put on a lot more weight for the show,” she reflects. “Performance nutrition is all about fueling for activity in the moment, but Extracted was different. There was no way to truly prepare for starvation, exhaustion, and extreme cold.”
She gained a new perspective on how extreme hunger impacted her decision-making, saying that even the simplest tasks became impossible to think through. Watching the show back, she can now see her own missteps—like jumping into a freezing lake with her shoes on—but at the time, she thought she was making rational choices.
Mastering Mind Over Matter: Rose is Ready for Next Challenge
For those considering Extracted as a battleground to test their limits, Rose Hyak stresses that it’s not just about brute strength or athleticism—it’s about mastering your mind. While future contestants will have the advantage of knowing what to expect, Hyak believes that the true key to succeeding through each obstacle lies in mental preparation. “For me, it’s finding your inner peace before you go,” Hyak explains. “Work on meditation, finding that happy place in your brain because it’s going to get difficult.”
Despite enduring days with little food, extreme exhaustion, and the relentless challenges of the harsh and unforgiving wilderness, Hyak remains undeterred. She embraces adversity as a proving ground and says she would jump at the chance to test her limits again. With a newfound understanding of the mental and physical resilience required, she’s more confident than ever that she could push herself even further in a future competition.
“I hope I get the opportunity to do something again,” she said. “Ideally, I’d be able to use social skills as well as physical skills to see what I can do with that. I would try to survive again. I think I would do better than I did. I’ve always been an athlete, and I just want to challenge myself against other people.
“I just want to keep competing. I’ve had so many different life experiences with sports, being gay, and the coming-out process. I had an eating disorder when I was an athlete. Now, I work with athletes who have eating disorders, and it’s the most rewarding thing. I’m in a very competitive point in my life because I know myself and I feel really confident. So any opportunities, I would like to give it my best shot, and I would win. I would do much better than I did in Extracted.”
You can follow Rose on Instagram @hyakrose and you can catch Extracted on Monday’s at 8/7 CT on FOX and the next day on Hulu!
