Mauro Prosperi

[3] In an interview with Netflix in 2019, Pagliara noted that she admired Prosperi's positivity and enthusiasm towards overcoming challenges and obstacles at the event.

[3] However, in a 2014 interview with BBC News, Prosperi noted that his marriage with Pagliara had ended, largely due to the nature of his lifestyle.

[4] Prosperi was first informed of the Marathon Des Sables by a friend of seven years and fellow running enthusiast Giovanni Manzo, who entertained the idea that they compete in the 251-kilometer-long (156 mi) race together.

[3] Keen to challenge himself and drawn towards a new environment of the Sahara, Prosperi began preparing by running 40 kilometers (25 mi) daily and reducing his drinking water intake in aims to acclimatise his body to the feeling of dehydration.

[4] Starting in Foum Zguid, Morocco on 10 April 1994, 38-year-old Prosperi set off with Manzo, amongst eighty other runners, to compete in the ultramarathon, his first desert event.

[3] During the first three days of the marathon, Prosperi and Manzo covered 96 kilometers (60 mi) of terrain composed of salt beds, rock surfaces and sand dunes.

[3] However, stronger gusts of air began to lift the smaller dunes, clouding Prosperi's vision and amounting to a severe sandstorm.

In fear of being submerged by the sand if he remained stationary, Prosperi continued to run for the entirety of the storm, which lasted eight hours, determined he was able to see the marathon trail.

[6] However, following a climb to the summit of a tall dune, Prosperi was unable to identify any other participants, and furthermore realised that all signs and landmarks indicating the race trail had disappeared following the storm.

Remembering a war tale from his grandfather's experience as a soldier, Prosperi began recycling his fluids by urinating in his spare water bottle.

The following day, he began walking in search of shade and water, as he estimated that remaining stationary under the desert sun would endanger him to facing heat stroke.

He also attempted to maintain hydration by sucking upon wet wipes from his pack, licking dew off of rocks during the morning and continuing to drink his urine.

[7] He further drew upon bird eggs, beetles and lizards he found near the shrine as food, absorbing any moisture from these animals by cooking the flesh.

I thought if I died out in the desert no-one would find me, and my wife wouldn't get the police pension—in Italy, if someone goes missing you have to wait 10 years before they can be declared dead.

[7] Due to the shallow depth of the incisions he cut and his high level of dehydration, the blood within his veins had clotted instead of freely flowing, ensuring his survival.

[5] Continually moving towards the direction of mountains he noted in the distance, Prosperi maintained his survival by squeezing liquid from plant roots and hunting for beetles, snakes and lizards as food.

[8] After being tended to by a group of Tuareg women who served him mint tea and a cup of goat's milk, Prosperi was offered food, yet he was unable to digest it and threw up.

[1] Prosperi had wandered 291 kilometers (181 miles) off-course from the marathon track, traversing the Jebel Bani Mountain range and unknowingly across the Moroccan border into Algeria.

[2] During his disappearance, Prosperi's brother and brother-in-law had flown from Italy to join marathon organisers, the Moroccan Military and Bedouin trackers in search of him.

[1] Coordinators of the Marathon des Sables were dispatched to search the race trail with Land Rovers, while pilots conducted a fly-over in an ultralight craft.

[2] Following his return to Italy, Prosperi was celebrated widely as the man who had come back from the dead, and was named "the Robinson Crusoe of the Sahara".

[8][2] Despite this, several sports physiologists have questioned the medical viability of his account, with some saying Prosperi exacerbated or staged the occurrence for fame.

"[2] Following the publications of these stories, Prosperi considered a lawsuit against Bauer that would have claimed, among other concerns, that the marathon trail was poorly marked, but ultimately never filed the suit, believing the dispute to be a personal rather than legal matter.

[2] The filming crew located the Marabout shrine in which Prosperi rested and discovered some of his possessions, along with several bat skeletons.

[2] In 2004, Prosperi's survival story was depicted on the National Geographic Channel in a documentary titled Expeditions to the Edge: Sahara Nightmare, and within episode 5 ("Lost in the Desert") of the 2019 Netflix series Losers.

[12] Prosperi's story of endurance was also broadcast in a promotional campaign by 20th Century Fox in December 2015 in support of the American drama film The Revenant, released the same year.

[13] The campaign was promoted on the film studio's YouTube channel and entitled "The Revenant | Shouldn't Be Alive: Mauro Prosperi".

[13] In May 2020, Prosperi published his book, written in Italian, alongside his former wife and co-author Cinzia Pagliara, entitled Quei 10 Giorni Oltre la Vita ("Those 10 Days Beyond Life").