‘Naked and Afraid’ Contestant Accidentally Died From Huffing Cleaning Products
She inhaled a lethal amount of compressed air from cleaning product, an autopsy found.
Discovery Channel
Melanie Rauscher, a contestant on Naked and Afraid in 2013 and its spinoff XL in 2015, was dog-sitting when the owners returned home from vacation to find her dead on the bed in the guest room near cans of dust cleaner. An autopsy found her official cause of death to be difluoroethane toxicity, or “huffing”—inhaling fumes from household cleaning products. TMZ obtained the report from the Yavapai County Medical Examiner in Arizona, which says that Rauscher inhaled a lethal amount of compressed air on July 17 and died at age 35. According to the report, her death was accidental.
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