Sunny Malik Explains How He's Changed Since Snowflake Mountain

Though Sunny Malik unfortunately didn’t take hope the grand prize, he certainly gained some insight on how he’s continuing to stay courageous even after the show has ended.

“I’m willing to do a lot more stuff that I would’ve not have done or I would’ve not [shown] up for,” he said in our full exclusive interview. “Climbing the tree, if that was something a friend suggested, I’d be like, “No, I’m not going to do it.” It was so scary, but it did give you that crazy adrenaline boost. Skinning the deer, as graphic as that was, it really made me willing [to be] open to new things. I’m open to everything. I say yes to any opportunity I get now. I have pretty bad anxiety. Who doesn’t? I feel good now. I’m more willing to venture out into new things [and] put myself out there.”

Discussing the challenges he faced while on the show, Malik says, “As weird as it sounds, skinning the deer with Cat [another featured survival instructor] was, in my head, my turning point, because that’s so beyond outside my comfort zone that once I did that, that was what opened the door to me being willing to do [adventure challenges] like climbing the tree, climbing the mountain. That was only possible because I was able to [skin] the deer. I actually was ready to leave, but [when] Devon left [that challenge], I was like, ‘I can’t leave too.’ That forced me into it, but it was for the best. I’m glad I did. I don’t want to say [it was] triggering, but [it was], for lack of a better term. That was such a high. Getting over that hump made everything else honestly smooth sailing in comparison.”

Snowflake Mountain is now streaming on Netflix.