Grylls or Mears?

[Skittish Prepper]

i'm a ray mears fan myself. he's much more down-to-earth

[percmo]

I always try to look beyond DC's attempts at ratings when finding a show I deem to be worthy of my viewing time. Both are active and knowledgeable in their fields. I do tend to lean more towards the "bushcraft" style of survival however and therefore feel Mears is better prepared for that arena. With that said.... either man, is better prepared to deal with a true "survival" type scenario than the majority of folks who today inhabit our spoiled rotten, me first, entitlement ridden world.

[Thx]

I've watched most of the survivor shows, and one thing that occurs to me is many seem to just "suffer through it" and if they had to survive for much longer than their appointed time, on many occasions they would starve.

Are they just "surviving" on the body fat they accumulate between shows, are they just barely "surviving" as opposed to "thriving"?

Also, Bear Grylls does seem to take some awful risks, Les Stroud is more likely to just "tough it out" than take risky moves.

But I do feel a lot can be learned and they certainly are entertaining.

What I'm waiting for is a full-blown "homeless" survival show, lol.

Thx

[BushTech]

Here's why I like Ray Mears: HE DOESN'T PUT HIMSELF IN HARMS WAY for ratings. He is purely educational. He understands that it's not necessary for him to be in a 'survival situation' in order to teach. Makes it seem more genuine and heart-felt to me - plus a better learning experience. Take Bear.... His running around in the woods, taking massive leaps, drinking urine, doing flips... WHATEVER... it can all be very distracting to the viewer and can work against what the show is trying to teach.

That being said, I do respect Grylls and I believe he was doing what he was told by the TV networks, and he IS a very well educated and successful man.

Without a doubt I'd choose Mears over ALL the TV survivors, even over Cody Lundin. But if I could pick from ANYONE, it would be John & Geri McPherson hands down. And hopefully we would go visit Angus Baptiste in our travels.

[onehikes]

I like to watch both shows each has their strong points. Les Shroud is the best. Not much of a fan of Cody though except for humor. He needs to man up and put on big boy underwear.

[Kudos]

Personally I prefer Mears as he has a better approach to presenting Survival Techniques and overall seems to be more sound in what he does.

However, my favorite has to be Dave Canterbury and I feel it was a shame that he was dropped from Dual Survivor. Dave has inspired me to learn and practice new techniques and his "Common Man" videos bring things down to a practical and affordable level.

[Rick]

I am a student of the Hunter63 School of Primitive Beauty. I sorta favor Ruth England. Sadly, she and I alone on a deserted island would lead quickly to my death at her hands. I'll let your imagination conjure up the reason for my demise.

[Kudos]

Best advice Rick....drink plenty of water and eat lots of protein and you may just survive the experience.

There is also a Joke in there about your Last words....but this is a family show LOL

[hunter63]

Ruth is HOT......

[crashdive123]

Ruth is HOT......

Careful now. You're still recuperating.

[Kabong01]

Ray Mears. However, Lofty Wiseman is my personal preference.

Lofty Wiseman was asked who he preferred. He didn't rate either BG or Ray Mears.

[crashdive123]

Lofty Wiseman was asked who he preferred. He didn't rate either BG or Ray Mears.

Are you going to keep it a secret as to who he picked?

[Kabong01]

He picked neither one. There a clip of him answering the question on Youtube called John 'LOFTY' Wiseman on RAY MEARS and BEAR GRYLLS

[WhiteHorse3340]

I decided quite some time ago that BG had to have been some kind of crazy, or smoking something to be that hyped up while doing survival shows. I stopped watching him, and have digested every other bit of survival shows I can get my eyeballs on...be it Les Stroud, Ruth and Mykel Hawke, or Dave Canterbury (You can still catch a lot of Dave's stuff on Youtube) Cody Lundin and Joe Teti.

Back when I used to watch BG, I was like...WHAT is this dude running through that forest from? HOW fast do you REALLY need to get up that cliff? And yes, He is REALLY going to eat/drink THAT?

And Thx, I agree strongly with what you said...so many times it feels like they are just trying to make it to that last day...and homeless, or...NOT knowing when they are going to be rescued would be good, too. I often find myself saying something to the effect of "yeah, but what if you weren't being rescued tomorrow."

The "Naked and Afraid" series is a little more realistic, but I just can't get into it, and I have watched it about four or five times, with different people starring, but I just can't get into it.

[Lamewolf]

Well, I've never read or seen anything of Mear's so I can't comment on him. But I have watched Grylls a few times and was somewhat shocked at what I saw and thought this guy is trying to teach folks how to kill themselves ! On the few of his shows I did watch, I saw him build a shelter on the banks of a fast moving stream that showed evidence of flash flooding where he could get washed away if a storm came thorugh. Then he went back into the woods to find dry fuel to build a fire then burnt his hands after he built the fire and tried to carry it back to camp - whats wrond with taking the dry fuel to camp and then build the fire ? Also heard him say, "I can't positively identify this mushroom as non poisonous but I'm so hungry I'm going to eat it anyway" ? First, mushrooms don't have much food value to begin with and some of them can kill in minutes, so is it worth the risk ? I think not ! Then on one show I see him squeezing water from elephant dung - folks, parasites can cause a slow painful death and I'm sure there would be parasites in elephant dung ! All of his shows should start with a warning "Do not try this at home, in camp, in the wilderness, or anywhere else - doing so can cause sickness, injury, and or death" ! Gotta use common sense !

[alexpeacock200]

Les stroud.

[Sluggo]

Dragging up an older post,but this has always been a thorn in my side.1st I like watching survival shows,but I betcha not for the same reasons as the majority do.I could care less about the shock value,I could care less about the humor ratings and really could care less about the drama required to keep the show up and running.If I had to pick one it would be Ray Mears,but only for the fact that the shows he did were educationally motivated,at least they ended up that way.As far as BG,he appears drama motivated,LS,seems nice enough,but some things he attempted were obviously non practiced,he fumbled way to often on simple task that should have been easy in the given situation.DC,this dude is way to excitable,and ego driven,he is the fellow that would try all the double dog dares,not good,.maybe all of them could be valuable if you need drama,comic relief,folksy,I can do anything you can do better type of person.Yep I'll just take them all,that way when a huge bear attacks,BG can dramatize it,LS can confuse it,DC can challenge it,RM can educate it, all I gotta do is outrun the slow one

[Lil K]

I haven't watched a whole lot of Mears, but Grylls isn't that great either. My brother likes to say they are "fake". In a way this is very true, but you gotta go further than just surviving in the wilderness. It's about what Grylls does that is amazing... even if his camera crew is there to help

[Walter2]

I'm taking Grylls, why? Because his military training should have thought him to get home at any cost.

[Lamewolf]

I'm taking Grylls, why? Because his military training should have thought him to get home at any cost.

Yeah, that's right. But he might get home in a body bag too !