Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

I like both but I find Man vs Wild to be more adventurous and educational and Bear has a very articulated speaking voice.

Both hosts have back-up help so there is no sense in arguing about it. Bear has a film crew and Les Stroud has people that know where he is that can come help him. It wouldn't be on television if the star had absolutely no way of getting medical attention.

And neither mans methods will "get you killed". Oh, except if you fail to do them without killing yourself. That's right, you are responsible for doing things in a correct manner to keep YOURSELF alive. If Bear climbs down a rock face and lives and you do it and die then it is your fault. If Les Stroud cooks a venomous snake and you repeat it but forget about removing the head and die, YOUR FAULT.

Surviving is all about knowing what you are doing. It isn't about simply repeating things exactly as you see it. The idea of the shows are to accumulate knowledge that can help. They certainly don't put in the disclaimer that you should reenact the scenarios seen on television to the letter. Every situation is different.

I'm a little surprised to see how seriously some people take these two shows. They are both fine and semi-educational. Neither one is the damn Holy Bible of Survival.

Realistically I think that a lot of people have issues with the show because it is their main source of information for survival.

It is a good idea to do research outside of television. Like books or actual hands-on training from a survival school or the military.

Everyone does things according to what they know and how they believe they can best remedy a situation. Both Les and Bear have payed consequences for doing things that clearly didn't go over well with their bodies. IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES.

for man vs wild.

most of the time he does stupid things because people are stupid, he shows you what to do if you do something stupid, when he throws himself into a river he shows you what to do to prevent hypothermia. but i think bear himself doesn't realize some of the things he does, the average man cant climb cliffs like he does, or fly down tree's or climb up them, he does most things people without huge psychical training cannot do.

he does do alot of stupid things, when i saw him squeeze the elephant dung for water...you're just asking to kill yourself, i dont care how thirsty i am for water, the sheer amount of bacteria and parasites he got from that must've been numerous, and eating a fish raw? common sense, cook everything and anything you can, even if its okay to eat it raw, past like wild berries or something i'd cook everything in sight.

i also dont like his sheer affection for constantly trying to be in a rush wherever he goes, if you notice he's always trying to gain alot of ground fast, in very dangerous ways, holding onto logs while going down rapids just to save yourself 15 minutes of walking is just sheer insanity, he knows he'll be out of there in a day or two(thats how often his shows span, never seen him go past two days really) and he's always just overexerting himself, he doesn't know how to conserve energy at all, which brings me to my next point.


For survivorman

the first thing survivor man tries to teach you is the best thing to do is often sit still and wait for help, but as he said, the psychology of people thinking they can get out themselves is always powerful, one that he himself falls to.

les never runs, he never does daring things, he stays calm, takes his time and keeps his cool. He cooks ALOT of things and he shows what works and what doesn't work, he shows you the real hardships of survival, using his last pieces of food only to have empty traps and lost bait, trying out survival methods he's heard of but never tried, and doing methods he's known but never tried himself.

another thing i love is the psychology of the show, you see when Les is down, you see when loneliness effects him (and he breaks out his harmonica to bring his spirits up). one thing you must see is that a #1 factor in surviving is all about attitude, you always see bear happy and smiling and hoping around, why? he has a camera crew to talk to when the camera's off, heck he even talks to them when its filming and dont you find it weird he's always so energetic? it makes me wonder if the camera crew is slipping him some energy bars in the off hours.

and les, you see him tired DESPITE always taking the path of least resistance and keeping calm and taking things slowly, he's out there for 7 days all the time,i doubt bear is out there that long but you notice the difference as to how it is when people are around and when they are not, if you've ever seen les with his family, he's alot more energetic and happy (watch off the grid or when he's doing shows or promos with a camera crew, its nice when people are around and you dont have to haul 50 lbs of camera equipment).

as for credentials, i wonder how many know that Les and his wife, in their first year of marriage decided to live out in the woods for a whole year, no metal, no plastic, nothing. it was titled snowshoes and solitude, i suggest you check it out when the DVD comes out for it. basically they Travel by canoe and in the winter by snowshoe, Les and his wife were attempting to replicate life in North America 500 years ago, before Europeans first set foot on the continent. They created fire without matches. They built a shelter with a stone axe. They survived on only what they could survive, if that isn't credentials for knowing how to survive in the bush i dont know what is, a whole year, blows bears training by a mile and a half.

yes, Stroud is a musician also, his work is in film and music, but his passion is the outdoors, if you want to see what he has done check this out

http://www.lesstroudonline.com/tv.html

thats just his publicated stuff, you'll see a thing titled Stranded there too, that was basically the inspiration for the show he's now known for which is obviously survivorman.


basically when it comes down to it, if i had to pick anyone to teach me survival or to have a partner to deal with the bush, it would be the calm jolly Canadian musician who takes his time and is careful on top of having lived in the bush for a whole year with his wife over the gun hoe British guy with military training who has hurt himself more times then i can count and is always in a rush to get from point A to B despite being in a survival situation where safety and conservation is top priority.

Bear Grylls Is a Soldier through and through, he has great strength, great endurance, and he's highly mobile, he gets props for doing Everest as well as being a nice guy (he's a motivational speaker despite his survival career).

Les Stroud is a Musician/film maker who has made outdoors a integral part of his life, its what he and his family loves, its what they do for fun and as part of their lives, For bear its training, for Les its life itself, he may not show his strength in displays like bear does, but you think hauling around 50-80 lbs of camera equipment and filming all that by yourself is an easy thing? he has a even harder time as when he's walking and filming himself, you think that stationary camera is going to follow him? nope, he walks back and grabs it, he gets credit because he does everything himself.

It is my understanding that Ron Hood was the expert on bears show for a short while and he indicates tha reality is a little weak there.
I find that bear shows me how not to act in a survival situation, and takes to many chances. I have sen him rappel with a 5/8ths rope he said was salvaged from his paraschute (the new 550 I guess). Maybe it is his military training that makes him take so many chances(escape & evade is priorty in much of the training) Botom line its intertaing but poorly stage and less than honest.

The thing that ****s me about Man vs Wild is the fact that he IS SELLING it as an educational show! That's the way they pitch it. He always says "...and I'm going to show YOU how to do it". Yeah, good one Bear, show everyone how to completely f*** themselves up and catch a million different types of water and flesh born diseases!
I know you'd have to be an idiot to take the guy seriously but let's face it:
America (no offence) has some of the most naive people in the world and they're probably the biggest audience for this show.

You can't go on tv and say that you can do 'this and that' in order to survive, when it's all f***ing staged and safe. Bear is rarely in any real danger because he has an emergancy crew at hand. Some retard American kid is going to see Man vs Wild, think that it's real and use the advice in real life...because the show is promoted as being educational and above all else: REAL.
It is niether. It's just one stupid numpty who knows nothing about surviving in the wild who does stupid **** for the cameras and passes it all off as being legit.

...and don't give me this "oh he was in the SAS" **** either please kids. He was only in the reservist unit as far as I'm aware.

who posted that?

Survivorman with a capitol S

One of my teachers in life once told me that I had to make up my mind every day what kind of example I was going to set. I wanted to argue with her about it, but she countered with, "How do you know someone isn't watching your every move? You decide what kind of example you're going to give them by your actions. You're an example, you get to decide whether good or bad." Made sense. When you see someone doing something totally s###headed, don' t do it! Some of the stunts I hear about this guy pulling, I don't think anyone in their right mind is going to try. Education complete, lol!

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Originally Posted by Xplosive22

I'm a little surprised to see how seriously some people take these two shows. They are both fine and semi-educational. Neither one is the damn Holy Bible of Survival.

Realistically I think that a lot of people have issues with the show because it is their main source of information for survival.

It is a good idea to do research outside of television. Like books or actual hands-on training from a survival school or the military.

Everyone does things according to what they know and how they believe they can best remedy a situation. Both Les and Bear have payed consequences for doing things that clearly didn't go over well with their bodies. IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES.

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These two programs are presented as LEGITAMATE survival shows.:mad: Also, there's no way you can convince me that the majority of "the Wolf Pack" doesn't study other sources outside of these two shows, a good reading of all the posts on this site proves that!:p

ooh okay. this is going to be weird. lol

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Originally Posted by Sarge47

Bottom line here folks, never stray far from home without some form of survival kit on your person. I have built about seven of them, from a small, pocket-sized one all the way up to a large one complete with an AR-7 .22cal. survival rifle. I would like to see both shows stressing the importance of carrying survival items on your person at all times.

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Spot on my friend. Not to sound like an armchair survivalist wacko, but at a bare minimum, I have on my person at all times the following (also keep in mind I live pretty much "in the woods", and have often had to chase my dog into the woods to retrieve him): my edc Strider folding knife kept in RFP; a backup folder kept in BRP; a Leatherman Charge Ti kept in LFP; my wallet with creds etc in left front cargo pocket; a "Light My Fire" firesteel flint also in left front cargo; cell phone, pepper spray, and a can of Kodiak in right front cargo pocket; and finally a locking carabiner with a couple yards of 550 cord wrapped around it on my belt. I guess what makes alot of this possible is the type of clothing I wear (i.e., stuff that has alot of pockets ;-). Sarge, I also have a black AR-7 Henry US Survival rifle- amongst a few others- great little survival gun......and it floats when stored in the self-containing unit.

Here are my opinions on both shows and their hosts.

- Bear : Very entertaining, and does have some useful tactics and skills you can use to survive. He is in my top favorite people on the discovery channel.

- Les : Les is very knowledgeable in wilderness survival. He knows to inform you that he is not perfect, and he does make mistakes. He is safe, and shows you how to be aswell. Also in the top 5 favorite people on Discovery.

- Man VS Wild : Very good show. I watched every episode in one sitting. The thing that people don't understand is that every survival show doesn't have to be without camera men. Bear chooses to have camera men, and that doesn't make his show any more fake. He isn't there to show you that he can survive in the wild by himself, but to teach you how to.

- Survivor Man : My all time favorite show. It truely captivates the real essence of survival. The host does an excelent job of showing you what to do in survival situations all over the world, and the fact that he doesn't have a camera crew makes it even more exciting. There is nothing wrong with this show at all.

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Originally Posted by Cwolfx

Here are my opinions on both shows and their hosts.

- Bear : Very entertaining, and does have some useful tactics and skills you can use to survive. He is in my top favorite people on the discovery channel.

- Les : Les is very knowledgeable in wilderness survival. He knows to inform you that he is not perfect, and he does make mistakes. He is safe, and shows you how to be aswell. Also in the top 5 favorite people on Discovery.

- Man VS Wild : Very good show. I watched every episode in one sitting. The thing that people don't understand is that every survival show doesn't have to be without camera men. Bear chooses to have camera men, and that doesn't make his show any more fake. He isn't there to show you that he can survive in the wild by himself, but to teach you how to.

- Survivor Man : My all time favorite show. It truely captivates the real essence of survival. The host does an excelent job of showing you what to do in survival situations all over the world, and the fact that he doesn't have a camera crew makes it even more exciting. There is nothing wrong with this show at all.

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No offense Dawg, we're not talking "camera personel" here, we're talking deliberate mis-leading of the public on a "self-proclaimed" educational network.:p

Well technically, they do provide acurate information. The way we choose to enterpret this information is our choice.

The information provided by bear seems to lean more towards specific situations. Although I do admit that his tactics could be risky for the average person.

With Les, he doesn't take many dangerous risks, and he shows the necessitys of survival. I will argue that Les provides nothing but true, factual means of survival. He has made mistakes before on his show, and openly admits it.

Dawg ;)

- And you guys are talking about Camera crews. Heres proof.

he has a camera crew to talk to when the camera's off, heck he even talks to them when its filming and dont you find it weird he's always so energetic? it makes me wonder if the camera crew is slipping him some energy bars in the off hours.

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Originally Posted by survivorman.

who posted that?

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I'm Your evil twin!

its scary couse when I see Survivorman and I know I diddnt post it, its kinda weird. lol

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Originally Posted by Xplosive22

It is a good idea to do research outside of television.

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Nope, sorry....too much work, might have to think. Can't do it, uh-uh. I go out into the wilds and the TV comes with me, I plug it into a currant bush:D :D :D

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Originally Posted by Survivorman

I'm Your evil twin!

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I am soooo jealous, I wanna be someone's evil twin! Anyone??? Please?? LOL

Man, with all that SIP (stuff in pockets) you better hang onto that AR7 if you FIW (fall in water) or you're gonna SLR (sink like rock)

Just kiddin' dude, welcome to the wolfpack!

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Originally Posted by trax

Man, with all that SIP (stuff in pockets) you better hang onto that AR7 if you FIW (fall in water) or you're gonna SLR (sink like rock)

Just kiddin' dude, welcome to the wolfpack!

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Thanks for the welcome, trax. Believe it or not, the total weight is actually not that bad......it's nothing compared to the gear I wear on my duty belt at work, perhaps that is why I don't even really notice it- everything's relative I guess. Take care, bro.