Survivorman is far, far more impressive. The thing about hiking 20+ miles a day is that even a 3-5 pound increase in weight is very noticeable over time. I was an idiot who hauled a huge plastic box full of medical supplies when a plastic bag a few pounds lighter would have worked. I didn’t notice it for a while, but after 10+ miles, it was getting annoying, and on mile 15 I was cursing at myself. I was lucky I only had to hike a few days like that.
Hauling around camera gear is hard enough for the weight alone, but adding in the effort to make good shots makes the whole thing extremely difficult. That element alone makes Survivorman better than Man vs Wild. Adding in stuff like a bicycle and Fritos is realistic, and having a rescue crew on hand is common sense.
I’m a sucker for shows like this, being somewhat of an outdoors person myself. And I gotta admit, Bear really does some gross stuff.
But really only one of the episodes I’ve seen annoyed me. He parachuted into the French Alps and was going to survive on the things a normal tourist might have. What are they, a knife and a water bottle, right?
I may be missing something. Well, every survival situation he got into, he used stuff from the parachute for survival. Not that how he used the parachute wasn’t cool, but not exactly what the average, lost tourist would have.
Anyway, the show is still cool, but it’s gross watching him eat some of that stuff!
They had a marathoon the other day and I DVR’d all of them. I have watched most of them and they follow the same pattern every time.
Parachute out of a plane or helicopter I am not sure why this is?
Climb something extremly difficult
Entertaining but I am not sure how this helps your average person for survival I know I could not climb up a 200ft tree in the rain forest
make some sort of sheltar and make a fire out of something
Obviously going to be in any survivor type show
eat/drink something nasty and hardcore
I heard an interview with him on a radio show where he said the water from the fresh elephant dung wasn’t to bad untell some of the dung fell into his mouth, hardcore.
[quote]Higher Game wrote:
Survivorman is far, far more impressive. The thing about hiking 20+ miles a day is that even a 3-5 pound increase in weight is very noticeable over time. I was an idiot who hauled a huge plastic box full of medical supplies when a plastic bag a few pounds lighter would have worked. I didn’t notice it for a while, but after 10+ miles, it was getting annoying, and on mile 15 I was cursing at myself. I was lucky I only had to hike a few days like that.
Hauling around camera gear is hard enough for the weight alone, but adding in the effort to make good shots makes the whole thing extremely difficult. That element alone makes Survivorman better than Man vs Wild. Adding in stuff like a bicycle and Fritos is realistic, and having a rescue crew on hand is common sense.[/quote]
Not to knock your experience, but you’ve obviously never been in the military. I’m sure Bear has hauled his share of ammo or mortar plates, which always take the place of food in a ruck.
This show kicks balls. I sat through the entire marathon last week, I just couldn’t pull myself away. Grylls is a serious dude, munching on a dead zebra while a pack of lions are nearby? Whoa.
I hope this show stays on for a while, I can’t get enough of it.
That guy is beyond impressive. Most of the shit he does are things that would be impossible to be “camera tricks.”
Did you see him climb, by extending his legs out and pushing himself up bit by bit, that crevasse between the two smooth rock walls, while soaking wet from being in the water below, no less?? Ok, so a camera crew was there with him. If he’d fallen from up there, which could’ve happened at any second, he would’ve died. PERIOD.
He grabs raw fish and eats them. Like “sushi.” He eats spiders, raw snakes, scorpions, maggots, etc. on camera – no tricks there.
He jumped into the rapids of the Colorado River using only his pants as a flotation device.
Yes, one has to imagine that if he got horribly injured or ill his camera crew would try to save his life. But there unfortunately is no way to set up a TV show (meaning it has to be filmed – requiring a camera) without some sort of camera crew there.
Would they save his ass if he were near death? I’m sure they’d try. Could they save him from death with regard to all the stunts he does? Hell no. Climbing up that crevasse, or climbing a huge tree like he once did, or jumping into the rapids of the Colorado, he could’ve died in the blink of an eye, and no one would’ve been able to save him.
Plus, as was mentioned already, his background speaks for itself.
The guy was told he would be paralyzed and never walk again after his chute canopy shredded and he free fell for 16,000 feet in a combat jump…then he became the youngest person ever to summit Everest. How can you not like this guy?
I think the vast majority of the naysayers are missing the point of this show…it is not to help you survive. It is for entertainment. The show is about, as its title implies, “Man vs. Wild”.
It is not advisable to put ones-self in the situations that he portrays because it is highly dangerous–I can’t imagine how much insurance must cost the producers of this show.
Considering the way insurance works he probably always has to be accompanied with a crew lest he be in default of his policy. These are thoughts to consider when decrying Bear’s lack of “hardcoreness” because he has a “crew” following him. It doesn’t make the show any less valid or entertaining.
I am not formally trained in survival tactics though my father who is a retired USAF SERE instructor (survival, evasion, resistance, escape) has always told me–“Don’t drink piss.” Wise words.
I don’t think drinking urine is advisable because it just makes the kidneys work doubly hard to reprocess bodily contaminants–no matter how “sterile” someone tells you it is.
But yea, Bear is my #2 “man-crush” behind Henry Rollins.
[quote]Brant_Drake wrote:
I was watching the show one night and my girlfriend was over. After about 10 minutes she turned to me and asked “Does wild ever win?”
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
I think the vast majority of the naysayers are missing the point of this show…it is not to help you survive. It is for entertainment. The show is about, as its title implies, “Man vs. Wild”.
It is not advisable to put ones-self in the situations that he portrays because it is highly dangerous–I can’t imagine how much insurance must cost the producers of this show.
Considering the way insurance works he probably always has to be accompanied with a crew lest he be in default of his policy. These are thoughts to consider when decrying Bear’s lack of “hardcoreness” because he has a “crew” following him. It doesn’t make the show any less valid or entertaining.
I am not formally trained in survival tactics though my father who is a retired USAF SERE instructor (survival, evasion, resistance, escape) has always told me–“Don’t drink piss.” Wise words.
I don’t think drinking urine is advisable because it just makes the kidneys work doubly hard to reprocess bodily contaminants–no matter how “sterile” someone tells you it is.
But yea, Bear is my #2 “man-crush” behind Henry Rollins.[/quote]
I think I would avoid drinking urine or water out squeezed out of elephant dung if I could help it, I would also avoid the climbing he does. That man loves to climb way too much if you ask me. I prefer to follow a single contour line around the ridge and try to find the easy way down. That’s just me though.
Did you see him climb, by extending his legs out and pushing himself up bit by bit, that crevasse between the two smooth rock walls, while soaking wet from being in the water below, no less?? Ok, so a camera crew was there with him. If he’d fallen from up there, which could’ve happened at any second, he would’ve died. PERIOD.
[/quote]
Yea, that was pretty cool. Then he wedged his fist in a crevice to pull himself up at the top. I probably would never have thought of that, and would try grabbing at the edge, would slip and fall most likely.
Did you see him climb, by extending his legs out and pushing himself up bit by bit, that crevasse between the two smooth rock walls, while soaking wet from being in the water below, no less?? Ok, so a camera crew was there with him. If he’d fallen from up there, which could’ve happened at any second, he would’ve died. PERIOD.
Yea, that was pretty cool. Then he wedged his fist in a crevice to pull himself up at the top. I probably would never have thought of that, and would try grabbing at the edge, would slip and fall most likely. [/quote]
You should really consider getting into rock climbing, its a really fun and challenging activity.
Alot of the scenes have been staged, well at least a few. it is entertaining but they make certain things look too easy. which is a little annoying to watch from the prespective of someone who has done similar things.
props to him for having an awsome life. regardless of cheating or not. his technical survival skills are just a little rough. especially in the friction fire category. but hey. its fun to watch.
I haven’t seen the show (don’t get it here… might check out a torrent later) but very little of what is shown on TV is not staged or scripted. A show might make you believe that it’s all live and real, but it’s very unlikely.
By the way, since when is drinking urine (especially one’s own) a noteworthy stunt deserving of respect?