A former Naked and Afraid contestant has been awarded $175,000 in a settlement after alleging that her supervisor accessed and downloaded intimate photographs and videos from her private account.
Danielle Beauchemin, who worked for Kennebec County in Maine, claimed that Arthur True viewed dozens of explicit images recorded during her appearances on the reality show using her office computer.
The settlement was paid by the county’s publicly funded insurer. Beauchemin received $20,000 for lost wages and $84,595 in alleged damages, while $70,405 was paid to her lawyers.
Beauchemin alleged that the files were connected to her Google account on her work computer through an old personal mobile phone. She said she discovered in April 2023, about four months after joining the county, that True had viewed and downloaded the material.
She also claimed that True later admitted accessing the photographs and videos to law enforcement. The allegations were reported to Augusta police, and True resigned as the county’s emergency management director the following day.
An administrative investigation allegedly found that surveillance footage near Beauchemin’s office had been deleted. The legal complaint also alleged that two spy cameras had been delivered to the building and that tools and a torch had been placed in the ceiling above her office.
Beauchemin said county officials appeared to minimise her concerns when she reported the alleged access to human resources staff. She further alleged that officials retaliated by withdrawing permission for her service dog to attend work, belittling her, altering her responsibilities and dismissing her while she was on unpaid medical leave.
She claimed the events had caused lasting damage to her mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
The settlement was agreed on August 16, with payments issued on September 29. The case was closed in the US District Court in Bangor on October 16.
The agreement does not include an admission of liability. It also prevents both sides from making disparaging remarks about each other and requires them to say only that Beauchemin left her employment with the county on mutually agreed terms.
Peter Marchesi, a lawyer representing the county, described Beauchemin’s allegations when the lawsuit was filed as “an exercise in creative, sensationalist writing” that had “little relation to the true facts surrounding the events at issue”.
Criminal case against Arthur True remains pending
True is facing charges of stalking, criminal invasion of computer privacy and aggravated criminal invasion of computer privacy in connection with the alleged obtaining of Beauchemin’s photographs and videos. He pleaded not guilty in July 2024.
His criminal case was later moved out of Kennebec County after his lawyer argued that a conflict of interest was possible because of where True had worked. The case is now in Lincoln County and is listed for a docket call in January.
Beauchemin appeared in three episodes of Naked and Afraid between 2014 and 2021 and in nearly 20 episodes of the show’s spin-offs. The Discovery Channel programme features contestants attempting to survive in the wilderness without clothes, food, water or supplies.
