View Poll Results: Who is the better survivor?

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  • Les Stroud

    263 85.11%
  • Bear Grylls

    46 14.89%
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Thread: Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

  1. #1

    Default Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

    My husband and kids love to watch these shows. Do you think they have anything to actually teach people about surviving in on "have-to" basis?


  2. #2

    Default

    I enjoy watching the shows, but they're just shows.

    Both show good survival tips, but Man vs Wild (Bear Gryllis) often shows suicidal behavior, ice climbing, cliff jumping, extended river floats, climbing waterfalls, desert hiking midday, drinking untreated jungle water, the Moab Utah episode showed Bear swimming UNDER a deadfall in a slot canyon, a behavior the locals judge to be flat out stupid.

    Watch the shows, but take them with a grain of salt, they are made for entertainment first, survival second.

  3. #3

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    I have seen Man vs. Wild and enjoyed it. But I have not seen Survivorman yet. I don't even know when it airs in our area? I will have to look for it because I think it sounds interesting.

  4. #4

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    Survivorman is more realistic. Man vs. Wild is mostly staged and you know he's not really out there trying to survive.

    The only thing about Survivorman though, because it IS real, is it can be boring. There isn't always an animal in the trap, things don't always work, and there is a lot of just sitting there waiting, or walking, walking, walking.

  5. #5

    Default

    I agree, Chris. Survivorman is more realistic. I've only watched a couple of Man vs Wild and I felt the presence of the camera crew behind the lense where as with Les, he had me wondering at times if he was taping his upcoming death. A show where he was cast out to sea in a couple of rafts and living off what he could scrounge from the island had a sense of realness to it. Les looks tired a lot, too. When you are surviving, you don't get much rest and it shows in Les' face. He had me feeling sorry for him when he walked home through the jungle. He got so hot, he laid down in a stream to cool off. Here in Mississippi, I've done the same things many times when I overheated from playing too hard in the woods.

    When Bear jumped off into the freezing cold river water on last week's show, I'm thinking a little sarcastically, "Oh, yeah. Right. Sure you do that when surviving. You jump off into rapid water that's going to kill you within fifteen minutes from hypothermia or a broken hip like in the movie Deliverance from back in the 1970s with Burt Reynolds. The only way you are getting me into water like that is with a gun held on me with the hammer back or a huge grizzly is breathing down my neck. I would be thinking I'm dead either way, so why not die slow and cold. It will give me a chance to pray my last prayer.

    I'm not downing Bear's show, but it's more for the kinds of people (young ones less than thirty-five years old) who'll do the things he does because they don't know any better or are forced to. Walk in the desert in the middle of the day, swim under floating and jabbing sticks, and drink questionable water are things I wouldn't do. Take the long way around and stay alive. But, I'm the kind of woman that walked fifteen miles home down the Natchez Trace in the middle of the night of 20 degrees Fahrenheit back in December 1986 and wouldn't accept rides from strangers. The engine blew in my car and I wasn't about to stay with it. There are just as many outlaws on the Natchez Trace in Mississippi today as there were in the 1700s. I'd rather get home tired, cold, and hungry than not get home at all. Besides, I had my survival Alice pack in the trunk and it had everything I needed for a cold night in the woods plus my .22 magnum pistol which came in handy halfway through my long, slow walk homeward. I kept a navy pea coat in the trunk, too. When you have an old car, you have to have a survival pack, if you are smart. Especially when you lived like I did way out in the boondocks in Mississippi.

    I guess if the Border Patrol or a raping, murdering biker gang were after me, I might do those things Bear did in last week's show where he was dropped off in the desert in the middle of the day, but that would be the only way.

    For those that don't know this, be extremely careful when heating stones that are near a body of water like Bear did in last week's show after he got out of the river. Stones will soak up water into small, deep crevices and will explode if heated too fast. I mean shards of stone coming at you with the force to take an eye clean out of the skull. I put stones for such purposes in hot ashes first to drive the water out slowly. Maybe preheat the stones slowly for a couple of hours, if you can afford the time. Even then be careful and get away from them while they are heating in the event they do explode, if you can afford the loss of heat. Heat the stones slowly and then bury them in dry material. That sand looked wet when Bear was burying them to lie on them after they heated the soil. The stones will radiate their heat longer if placed in a dry soil or sand. Been there and done that, and got the small scar on my lip from an exploding stone shard.
    Last edited by Bowcatz; 02-28-2007 at 09:23 AM.
    With Christ, all things are possible.

  6. #6
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    Default

    Bowcatz...I know just where you mean...I went from Vicksburg to Jackson to Hattiesburg to the coast during Hurricane Katrina clean up!

    As far as a real survival situation goes...speaking from both training and experience...those shows are more like adventure vacations than being really lost or broke down in a remote area.

    First of all, you don't see them freaking out, hyperventilating, getting shouting mad and/or crying after figuring out they are really lost and alone...and believe me, you will do them all.

    Then, after that...doubt, pity and a heavy emotional tiredness sets in...and if you don't keep your mind busy and keep a positive attitude...depression, detachment, and even lethargy can follow.

    Those guys all have such positive attitudes and are so cock-sure...I think it is equal parts training, acting and knowledge they won't die making a TV show.

    In the real world you are just trying to remember your survival priorities...taking stock of "just how bad am I buggered here?"

    After a little bit you settle down, and start to do what you need to (water, shelter, temperature control, situational review)...and with each small success you get more hope and confidence...but the reality is that sometimes one mistake will kill you.

    Then you decide, should I stay or should I go...tough call...expect that you will second and third guess yourself, even years after surviving.

  7. #7

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    I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that Bear Grylls stuff is a little over the top. Some of the things he does, I'm thinking are staged. Besides, you know his crew isn't starving, they have provisions. He'll have SOMETHING to eat.

    Oh, that time he bit the head off that little snake, I noticed he never swallowed. LOL

  8. #8

    Default

    Mamab, if you are in Mississippi, have you noticed how the violent crimes have risen exponentially since Katrina passed through back in August 2005? More armed robberies, more murders, and more bank robberies.

    Some outlaws went and killed a young man a couple of weeks ago by suffocation and then burned him up somewhere in downtown Jackson, MS behind a school. Pupils and a teacher found the body still smoldering. That particular crime got me into Surplus City in Clinton, MS buying fresh .357 ammo for my mom's and mine's pistols. I mean, if the outlaws are that vicious now, what is up next? In the years I've lived in Mississippi, I've had several unsuccessful carjacking attempts (so far unsuccessful and keeping everything crossed for good luck), but now the outlaws go up and shoot the driver and take them forcibly from the car and then steal the car and drive off and leave the victim in the road bleeding. What the heck is going on in Mississippi since Katrina?

    Also, I guess you've heard that our mayor Frank Melton has a warrant for his arrest for violating a judge's order for being out after midnight at a local juke joint. He checked himself into a local hospital for chest pains to avoid arrest. He's looking at six months in the slammer.

    If any of you are driving through Jackson, MS, keep your windows rolled up, your doors locked, and stay on the interstate if possible. One old man got shot last week by another guy at a local gas station simply because the old man refused to let the other guy pump his gas for him. I mean, that's just flat out crazy.
    Last edited by Bowcatz; 03-03-2007 at 09:55 PM.
    With Christ, all things are possible.

  9. #9

    Default

    We're not in MS, but in AL. Thanks for the warning, though. I'm sure things are still crazy down on the gulf. It might take a while for things to get back to "normal," if they ever do.

  10. #10

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    i really enjoy man vs wild because like donny h said he puts himself in postions that make the show worth being called man vs wild and i also like how he showed you in the moab to wedge yourself up i think i saw every episode but pacific ocean one

  11. #11

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    The thing that bugs me is the fact that they never bring up stuff like, what to use in lieu of toilet paper. Or, how to live for a few days without destroying your surroundings; for those who want to backpack in and don't want to kill everything around them. In short, people in urban areas are watching these shows on how to survive, and using these same techniques when camping. Few things raise my hackles like seeing a new trail blazed through the woods. There are other methods, and these people are either lazy or ignorant. Possibly both. Sorry, I know not everyone comes in to destroy, but it bothers me none-the-less.
    Ciao,
    BSM

  12. #12
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    Default

    Man vs Wild was a rip off survivorman just tried to make it cooler by Ooo "throwing a stick and snap a rabbits neck" and rat droppings like that.

  13. #13

    Default Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

    which one do you like better? i like man vs wild because i didnt see much survivorman

  14. #14
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    Heres the deal. . . Man vs Wild pretty much shows you what not to do. survivorman shows you what he would do. every situation is diffrent but the goal is to get found and not get hurt witch i think is displayed more in survivorman. the dude in man vs wild showed us that you should climb a 40 foot tree in the jungle to get a better look around, real smart, that show is a joke. atleast survivorman is believable and solo.if they got in a fight against one another survivor man would beat him senseless and live of his corpse for weeks. someone is going or allready did get hurt taking advice from man vs bloated entertainment industry.. . . . . .oh sorry . . . .wild
    leave it like you found

  15. #15
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    Default

    And to think he found that stranded fish in that puddle. . . . .yeah right. . . .they put it there so he could Woo the croud with him chompin into it raw. the fish was a trout. . . .it would die in hours without flowing water. i still watch the show though, because it gives me a reason to yell at my t.v.
    leave it like you found

  16. #16
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    Default

    well if you dislike the show then just change the channel you aren't being forced to watch it

  17. #17

    Thumbs up Just a few tidbits

    I enjoy both Survivorman and Man vs Wild, but while watching Man vs Wild I fully understand it's a joke. He puts himself in positions where people do get lost but he shows the wrong way to get found, rather he DOES show you the right way to get yourself screwed over. Not everything he says is bad but most of it won't help you much. The Moab Utah episode was completely nuts, no true expert would swim that far underwater, and even worse, under a deadfall of branches which is not very sturdy, and which could fall and could drown you.

    I do enjoy survivorman very much, he does put himself out in the wilderness alone, where he has to try to catch rodents, birds, and whatever he can to survive, and notice, the realistic part, he rarely catches anything, he tries and tries and gets lucky sometimes, I jsut saw one episode last night where he set several rock traps to catch rodents, adn the first 3-4 were empty, and fianlly the last one he tried was a scrawny little squirrel. Throughtout the show he gives valuable advice of what to do and what not to do. When I first started "getting lost" I would stay for a night or two in a small cave opening, never realizing by heating the rock above me too quickly it could break and kill me in the night, I learned that through Survivorman, I was impressed when he brought up the 5W's of sruvival also. The last two things I shall say, are that I love how he tests something new out msot episodes, a magnesium stike stick for fires, whihc I have one and it does work extremely well, I never go camping without it, and other such multitool and other helpful items, I also never go camping without my Wave Leatherman, its my prized posession for survival. Finally to BSM, I understand your concern for the wilderness, everyone should, that is why I also like SUrvivorman, Les does show you how to survive without destroying the landscape and the natural envorioment around. Destorying trees is not sometihng I think Man vs Chipmunk would think twice about. Les does mention when he has a bundle of bark that he stripped it from several trees as to not hurt them. So if you want to watch BOTH shows, just remember not to do what MAn vs Wild does, and think before you jump 20 ft into a Marine Roll, you jsut might break both your legs...

  18. #18
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    Thumbs down

    Quote Originally Posted by WildGoth View Post
    well if you dislike the show then just change the channel you aren't being forced to watch it
    i said i like to watch to yell at the t.v. which i think is entertaining in it self. but its just that entertaining ,not educational.
    leave it like you found

  19. #19
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    Default

    Survivorman wins hands down. He makes mistakes and has to deal with it. The other show is too fake. I recently saw a Survivorman Urban survival show on hurricanes/floods and it was basic but excellent. I would recommend it to anyone. I think it was called Urban Survival.

  20. #20

    Default

    I saw Urban Survival too, i think. Wasn't that the one when he talked to the Katrina survivor? If so, that was very good. I also like Survivorman and Man vs. Wild. Know, I don't know much about nothing, but I do realize that most of the things Bear does on Man vs. Wild aren't neccesarily the right things to do but I do find it more entertaining than Survivorman.

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