[quote]Eleni wrote:
Has anyone seen Surviorman? It somehow seems more realistic to me than Man vs Wild.[/quote]
Yep. Survivor man is the best survivor show. With the exception of his raft at sea being tied to a boat i honestly think he is on his own. I wouldn’t doubt he has a means of emergency communication that a real stranded person may not have, but i think we are actually seeing him survive on berries and worms as he sleeps under sticks and leaves.
Wow! It’s a shame that some of it is contrived; I really do like the show. He still does some undeniably impressive stuff and teaches some useful things, but to have the “wild” horses brought in just to film that scene? Wow.
Nevertheless, there are times when he seems to be truly, legitimately in real danger, like in the tropical island episode when he’s on the raft and the thing is surrounded by big friggin’ TIGER SHARKS. Can anyone deny the danger in that situation . . . ?
As for claiming to be ex-SAS, I have no idea how one does or doesn’t verify that. With regard to the U.S. Army, if you’re ex-Delta Force (basically analagous to Britain’s SAS) and you want to publicly claim or “prove” you were in the unit, even if you actually were I think you’re out of luck. The Army just won’t talk about who is or was in the unit (I believe).
But I believe Grylls did get some sort of British military (naval, maybe?) commendation medal, as per his bio. And he did really climb Everest at 23. So he’s no pussy. Maybe partially a fake, but no pussy.
I’ve seen the show before but just watched the marathon yesterday. 3-4 hrs! It’s more of a teaching show than anything, although I would have never thought he stayed at motels. They must show a section of lanscape near the motel that looks like the jungle, he lays down in the moss, the sun goes down and then they say “it’s a wrap”. Pan left and there’s the Comfort Inn, lol…
Pretty much everyone I talked to agreed that Survivorman kicked much more ass.
[quote]Damici wrote:
Wow! It’s a shame that some of it is contrived; I really do like the show. He still does some undeniably impressive stuff and teaches some useful things, but to have the “wild” horses brought in just to film that scene? Wow.
Nevertheless, there are times when he seems to be truly, legitimately in real danger, like in the tropical island episode when he’s on the raft and the thing is surrounded by big friggin’ TIGER SHARKS. Can anyone deny the danger in that situation . . . ?
As for claiming to be ex-SAS, I have no idea how one does or doesn’t verify that. With regard to the U.S. Army, if you’re ex-Delta Force (basically analagous to Britain’s SAS) and you want to publicly claim or “prove” you were in the unit, even if you actually were I think you’re out of luck. The Army just won’t talk about who is or was in the unit (I believe).
But I believe Grylls did get some sort of British military (naval, maybe?) commendation medal, as per his bio. And he did really climb Everest at 23. So he’s no pussy. Maybe partially a fake, but no pussy.[/quote]
yeah I think he holds an honourary commission in the royal naval reserve. thing thing is, the sas aint a big organisation so if someone claims to have been in the regement alot of serving or ex guys will know weather he is bullshitting.
but liek everyone said it’s a good program if you realise it’s just a bit of fun and entertainment and dont take it too seriously.
I didn’t realize it was SUPPOSED to be real.
In fact he often does unnecessary stuff just to demonstrate what you WOULD need to do.
For instance, he jumped into a frozen lake purposely so that he could then show what you’d need to do.
He also jumped into quick sand purposely to show how to get out.
His show was always different than Survivorman so I don’t see the scandal…
[quote]BJ* wrote:
I didn’t realize it was SUPPOSED to be real.
In fact he often does unnecessary stuff just to demonstrate what you WOULD need to do.
For instance, he jumped into a frozen lake purposely so that he could then show what you’d need to do.
He also jumped into quick sand purposely to show how to get out.
His show was always different than Survivorman so I don’t see the scandal…[/quote]
The scandal is that he acted like he was actually sleeping out in the wilderness, making comments about how cold, lonely etc it is and how he needs to get rest to be ready for the next day when in reality he was at the local hotel after filming.
His show was not what he led watchers to believe.
The fact it is different than survivorman doesn’t make any difference.
he’s still crazy ass hell. i dont think any of you guys would squeeze elephant shit and drink it.
No. But I would take bites out of a dead zebra.
This is true. 
[quote]richardson23 wrote:
he’s still crazy ass hell. i dont think any of you guys would squeeze elephant shit and drink it.[/quote]
I really don’t see what the big deal is. I view the show as entertainment with some cool survival skills thrown in here and there. I’ve learned a lot actually watching the show.
If I really wanted to learn how to survive in the wild, I would take a survival skills course or something. I wouldn’t watch a tv show.
Nowhere in the show does Bear ever say “my crew isn’t helping me out.” The first season included the tag line that his cameramen would only assist him in a life-and-death situation, and as far as the media has revealed, that was true for those episodes. But the second season doesn’t have that disclaimer. So if you were watching the show for the appeal of him truly being in dire straits, you’re just naive.
At least Bear shows you how to get out of a situation. So what if he slept at a motel - the point of the show is how to get out of the wilderness and rescue yourself. All Survivorman does is sit around, eat berries, and complain about how he has to film himself. Hey S, its your fucking show - don’t complain about the concept on film.
Bear actually does something more than merely subsist. Bear gets moving. Survivorman just sits around hoping that someone will find him before he gives up. Bear is entertaining and informative. Survivorman is neither.
I don’t understand what the big deal is, either.
It’s a show for fuck’s sake. If I were him I would negotiate the best paycheck I could and then structure the show so that it provided meaningful information and entertainment value.
Risking dying or getting fucked up in the process would not be on my list of things to accomplish.
He sounds intelligent to me.
[quote]joshuaforty wrote:
Nowhere in the show does Bear ever say “my crew isn’t helping me out.” The first season included the tag line that his cameramen would only assist him in a life-and-death situation, and as far as the media has revealed, that was true for those episodes. But the second season doesn’t have that disclaimer. So if you were watching the show for the appeal of him truly being in dire straits, you’re just naive.
At least Bear shows you how to get out of a situation. So what if he slept at a motel - the point of the show is how to get out of the wilderness and rescue yourself. [b]All Survivorman does is sit around, eat berries, and complain about how he has to film himself. Hey S, its your fucking show - don’t complain about the concept on film.
Bear actually does something more than merely subsist. Bear gets moving. Survivorman just sits around hoping that someone will find him before he gives up. Bear is entertaining and informative. Survivorman is neither.[/b]
[/quote]
Watching Survivorman is like watching paint dry.
Bear Grylls’s show is pretty far down on my list of favorite shows, but he’s more far more entertaining than Survivorman.
And entertainment is what I’m looking for in a TV show, staged or not.
[quote]joshuaforty wrote:
Nowhere in the show does Bear ever say “my crew isn’t helping me out.”
[/quote]
That’s actually one of the very first things he says in the introduction to every show.
Here’s the script for the next, er… every show.
[quote]Damici wrote:
As for claiming to be ex-SAS, I have no idea how one does or doesn’t verify that. With regard to the U.S. Army, if you’re ex-Delta Force (basically analagous to Britain’s SAS) and you want to publicly claim or “prove” you were in the unit, even if you actually were I think you’re out of luck. The Army just won’t talk about who is or was in the unit (I believe).
[/quote]
Well it is illegal in the US to claim to have served in the military if you did not. You can go to jail for telling some chick in a bar that you were a SEAL, when in fact you were just in the regular navy. So if some guy had a TV show in the states, and claimed to be in DELTA force, and he wasn’t, his ass would go to jail.
I don’t know anything about the laws in Britain.
I like the chop a tree using a knife and heavy stick thing. That looks pretty usefull.
The find a stream, follow the stream to a river, ride the river to a road thing is getting kind of stale.
At this point the show seems to have become “camping without a tent”. There are only so many ways you can repackage the same old stuff.
So one news article is enough proof to discredit the man? Television shows are designed to entertain, Man vs. Wild does this very well in my opinion. Does he sleep in hotels on his trips? Probably not… most episodes have him in the wilderness for no more than 3 days, some men might grow their beards slow.
Is he 100% the real deal? Of course not but do you have the balls to jump into a frozen lake? I like him and I’ll keep watching him, his advice is sound and his methods are good.
100% True survival techniques?
Les Stroud’s “Survivor Man”
Entertaining (80% true) Bear Grylls’ “Man vs. Wild”
Jeremiah Johnson might be a fake movie but damn do I still love watching it. The same holds true for Bear.
I still enjoy the show even knowing that it is fake. I like programs about the wilderness, and Bear is fun to watch. But I knew from the first time I saw Man vs. Wild that it had to be set up- reserached, planned, rehearsed, and facilitated. His shit is just too over the top.
There is no way that anyone could realistically know that much about so many different environments, and there is no way that he could be so skillful at so many odd and incredibly difficult things that he could not realistically practice on a regular basis. I’m pretty sure they don’t teach you how to build stepladders out of bamboo in the British Royal Army.
Plus there are little things that you can pick out if you pay attention. Where the hell does he always pull that little tin cup out from when he wants to boil water? He sure as hell doesn’t carry it in his pocket. Just stuff like that will tip off any discerning viewer.