Confession: "Man vs. Wild" has been a guilty pleasure its entire run. As implausable as a lot of it is I still got a huge kick out of it and occasionally learned a thing or two, despite myself.
Whatever you believe, just don't think you've seen the last of him. Soon we'll see him touting a rejuvenating sports drink based on wild animal urine on an infomercial after midnight.
And when all else fails, he'll fill the shoes of the late Billy Mays, huckstering oxiclean. So goes celebridom.
Maybe that means Les Stroud can gain the time slot?! Stroud's the real deal.
I wish he would do some more Survivorman. From what I understand, he stopped because it was taking too much of a physical toll. He said it would sometimes take weeks to fully recover after some of the more physically taxing adventures.
But yeah, Les is the genuine article. All the others (Bear, Dual Survival, Man Woman Wild) have camera crews and cushy base camps.
Yes. Stroud was the real deal and he put his own life on the line for each episode he made. But the irony is that most viewers seem to prefer the phony guys who stay in hotels and, even if they have real survival skills, run around and act like grinning idiots on camera.
Stroud was the real deal and he put his own life on the line for each episode he made.
From what little I saw of Grylls, he put his life on the line for his show as well. Albiet, under contrived and sometimes ridiculous circumstances, and all for the sake of entertainment. Maybe that is the bottom line; entertainment (and money).
Les is doing more Survivorman, and this time he will be out for 12 days, not 7. You can read about it on his site.
Bear did some incredibly stupid things on his show but the man knows his stuff. You cannot take that away from him if you are being intellectually honest and have seen all of the episodes of Man vs Wild.
Bear did some incredibly stupid things on his show ... You cannot take that away from him if you are being intellectually honest and have seen all of the episodes of Man vs Wild.
My thoughts exactly. And anyone who does incredibly stupid things in the wilderness as an example to others...
Well, I think MOST the stupid things are stupid because he does not NEED to do them.
It is not impossible for the situation to arise where one might need to do SOME of the stupid things I have seen him do. IF one were to be in those situations, one would know that action is possible if they saw someone else do it first.
Keep in mind that one of the main things about how Bear tackled survival was to cover as much ground as possible, as quickly as possible, making it necessary to take more chances than one would normally need to take.
...how Bear tackled survival was to cover as much ground as possible, as quickly as possible, making it necessary to take more chances than one would normally need to take.
But covering "as much ground as possible as quickly as possible" is not, in itself, a valid survival tactic. It only would apply in cases where staying in place, or moving more slowly and deliberately is inherently more risky than covering ground as fast as you can. This is almost never going to be the case, unless maybe you are an escaped convict.
On the other hand, taking more risks than one would normally need to take is, in itself, exactly the opposite of maximizing one's chances for survival.
And as has been pointed out, that is rarely, if ever, the case. Unfortunately, sitting down and waiting out the situation just doesn't make for very exciting TV, while doing dumb,improbable things does.
This is not a trivial matter. While I am no longer involved, I spent a good amount of time in SAR work in southern Arizona, dealing with the often highly unfortunate (i.e., fatal) consequences of precipitous action by people who got in over their heads. Our unit also spent a fair amount of time on public education, especially with school children. His lousy examples don't do anything at all to help people behave more safely when outdoors. Two people drowned in Zion NP a couple of years ago, trying to produce footage similar to his, and I'll bet there are other situations like that.
Have you ever seen Bear,or any of the other "experts", when faced with an obstacle, pull out their map and determine that they could backtrack, follow another route, and reach safety in a much less hazardous manner? Of course not! Something that sensible and mundane will never boost ratings, and hence, will never be shown. Higher ratings is the name of the game, not educating the public.
Doing all that stupid stuff within eyeshot of roads on which he traveled back to his hotel room didn't make me think of Bear in positive ways. Lies that pretend to be truths and to educate are dangerous.
The episode where he was in the sierra - yeah, that creek was right next to a forest service road. Sure. Survival of the dumbbell with a jeep.
Actually, yes I have seen Bear backtrack on the show. Also, multiple times he would warn viewers to not try what he was about to do. You can watch Bear tell the camera crew that he is going back to find an alternate route fairly often.
Like I said, I used to poo-poo Bear with the best of 'em until I sat down and watched every episode of every season.
Les Stroud takes the path of least resistance nearly 100% of the time.
Dual Survival is somewhere in between.
I haven't a clue about Man Woman Wild because that dude is irritating and I refuse to watch it.
Like I said, I used to poo-poo Bear with the best of 'em until I sat down and watched every episode of every season.
Great choice of words
If the premise is how to survive it seems to me that he really missed the mark on that one one. He never even suggested trying to find the source of what the bear was eating. Pretty sure he said it was "Apples and fruit".
But who knows what gets left on the "cutting room floor."
I think the point of going through the bear scat was that there might be something there nutritionally worth eating. That dude will put dang near anything in his mouth and give it a bite....
I will not say that Bear is a shining example of how everyday Joe Blow should act in the woods, but the things he does on the show nearly always work.
I will say it was funny as heck watching a tree break while he was in it, sending him straight down on his back. He did manage to roll downhill after landing, but it was still pretty funny.
