‘Naked and Afraid’ Contestant Finds Ticks on Penis

There’s a big downside to sleeping naked in the jungle, and these “Naked and Afraid” contestants are experiencing it firsthand … ticks absolutely love genitals!!!

The painful lesson unfolds on the upcoming episode of Discovery’s “Naked And Afraid: Castaways” … when one castaway wakes up to find a handful of ticks attached to his penis!!!

Ya gotta see the video, obtained by TMZ … Andrew Shayde is just waking up when he discovers the unwanted visitors making camp on his dong … and he counts them off, one at a time.

Andrew’s clearly rattled … he says he’s super worried about his “little castaway” and is freaking out.

For Andrew, it’s the latest painful encounter with ticks … in a past challenge, the parasites got in his butt crack.

Sounds like fellow contestant Patrick French dodged a bullet … he says ticks embedded between his legs, but they avoided the “prime real estate.”

This season follows the castaways as they try to survive 3 weeks on a remote tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean … and something tells us they would gladly trade ticks for bedbugs.