Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

[SARKY]

Yeah at the beginning of the man vs. wild show it says something about it being pretty fake( I forget what it says). I even read an article about him and his crew sleeping in a hotel during a survival week. But you do have to give it to him for eating a nut out of bear feces and drinking his own urine.

So Bear is a turd burglar the ham burglar will be so happy that he doesn't have any competition

[hoosierarcher]

The information Bear Gryls provides is real and he is a better hunter/trapper/fisherman than Les at least they show more killing. Les, in fact most survival instructors claim eating is lowest on the hierarchy of needs. Howev er how often does Les complain about how hard it is to do everything he is doing(filming as well as surviving) with low blood sugar and an empty stomach. I know Les grew up hunting. But even on the one show he had a rifle with him he couldn't kill even a rabbit. On Man v Wild what the disclaimer says is that undeer the worst conditions Bear often doesn't spend the night out in the bush in the shelters he makes. But that was after the grizzly bear scare in Sierras when he was in a debris shelter. I think it was forced on him by the producers and insurance company. He was in The British Special Forces. Both have their good points. BUT I'd have to give Les the edge simply because he doesn't do the stuntman bit and take unacceptable risks to accomplish things.

[Tony uk]

The information Bear Gryls provides is real and he is a better hunter/trapper/fisherman than Les at least they show more killing. Les, in fact most survival instructors claim eating is lowest on the hierarchy of needs. Howev er how often does Les complain about how hard it is to do everything he is doing(filming as well as surviving) with low blood sugar and an empty stomach. I know Les grew up hunting. But even on the one show he had a rifle with him he couldn't kill even a rabbit. On Man v Wild what the disclaimer says is that undeer the worst conditions Bear often doesn't spend the night out in the bush in the shelters he makes. But that was after the grizzly bear scare in Sierras when he was in a debris shelter. I think it was forced on him by the producers and insurance company. He was in The British Special Forces. Both have their good points. BUT I'd have to give Les the edge simply because he doesn't do the stuntman bit and take unacceptable risks to accomplish things.

Just my thoughts, He was (at least im sure) a soldier is the TA SAS, while this is special forces, the soldiers do not recieve any alrge ammount of survival training, more of just an intraduction to combat survival. This would bring them into line with most of the british regular army. This is what led me to always belive that he is just useing this tag for advertiseing reasons, instead of a really reason why he claims to know survival skills.

source:- A mate of mine who currently serves in the armed forces.

[endurance]

Everytime I've seen Bear eating meat from anything larger than a rat it was something he "found" dead in the wild that he miraculously needs just 10 minutes later. I've been hiking for decades and can't remember the last time I came across something freshly dead that I'd be willing to eat from it. It's clearly staged.

I still enjoy it, but it's more as appreciation of his stunts than thinking I could actually learn something useful like I frequently did with Les.

[crashdive123]

Regardless of where you fall in the love em, hate em camp - the network is getting exactly what they want - people are always talking about it.

[lucznik]

The information Bear Gryls provides is real... On Man v Wild what the disclaimer says is that undeer the worst conditions Bear often doesn't spend the night out in the bush in the shelters he makes. But that was after the grizzly bear scare in Sierras when he was in a debris shelter. I think it was forced on him by the producers and insurance company. He was in The British Special Forces. Both have their good points. BUT I'd have to give Les the edge simply because he doesn't do the stuntman bit and take unacceptable risks to accomplish things.

This is not what the disclaimer states. There was no "grizzly bear scare" (see below), and Edward has only ever claimed that he was "forced by the producers" to wear a life vest while floating down a set of white-water rapids, after which incident he claims he subsequently insisted on doing all stunts without such gear and "on [his] own terms." Some of his "fishing" has been accomplished by planting farm-bred fish into pools for him to catch and many of the animals he has "hunted" were provided for him and staged to make it look like his hunting had been successful. As to the information being "real..." Well, you must have a different definition of the word "real" than I.

Man vs. Wild / Born Survivor has been criticized by outdoor enthusiasts for fabricating some of the situations Bear finds himself in. They contend that Bear misleads his viewers and gives the impression that he is alone in the wild, when this has never been the case. Critics allege that Bear rarely puts himself in excessive harm's way, and that he is occasionally assisted by members of the production crew if needed.

In 2006 it was revealed that Born Survivor misled viewers into believing that Grylls was stranded in the wild alone when he was not and Channel 4 temporarily suspended the show for a few weeks. Discovery and Channel 4 then aired reedited episodes, removing elements that were too planned, with a fresh voice-over and a preceding announcement pointing out that some situations are 'presented to Bear to show the viewer how to survive'. Discovery and Channel 4 have continued to broadcast the program.

Grylls was shown trying to ride "wild" horses that were clearly well brushed and appeared to have horseshoes. In another episode Bear claims to be crossing an unstable lava bridge, when in reality the area is part of a national park and is within some distance of a road. Similarly, it was revealed that Grylls stayed at a crew base-camp in the Costa Rican jungle, while giving viewers the impression that he was alone. There have been several other incidents, including the impression Grylls built a raft "in a matter of hours with no tools". According to the adviser, the raft was actually in part built by a show stunt consultant. This episode implied it was filmed on a small South Pacific island, which Channel 4 admitted was actually a peninsula in Hawaii, the scene of Hollywood movie shoots. These incidents were confirmed by Channel 4, who argued that it was not a documentary, but a "how-to" guide to survival, implying that staged scenes were acceptable in that context

In one episode filmed in California's Sierra Nevada mountains he was shown biting off the head of a snake for breakfast and boasting that he was living on 'just a water bottle, a cup and a flint for making fire'. Viewers were not told that he was actually spending some nights in the Pines Resort hotel at Bass Lake, where the rooms have Internet access and is advertised as 'a cosy getaway for families' complete with blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

In another episode when Grylls declared he was a 'real life Robinson Crusoe' stuck on a desert island, he was actually on an outlying part of the Hawaiian archipelago and retired to a motel at nightfall.

Mark Weinert, a survival consultant brought in for the programme, said one show also wrongly gave the impression that the adventurer built a Polynesian- style raft using only materials around him, including bamboo and palm leaves for a sail. Mr Weinert had in fact led a team that built the raft, which was then dismantled so that Grylls could be shown constructing it on camera.

In another episode, Grylls was filmed attempting to lasso 'wild' mustang in the Sierra Nevada, when the horses were actually tame and had been brought in by trailer from a nearby trekking station.

'If you really believe everything happens the way it is shown on TV, you are being a little bit naive,' Mr Weinert told the Sunday Times.

Grylls has stated numerous times on camera that he is not to receive any assistance unless his life is in danger. However, in July 2007 it was reported in the mainstream media that at least portions of some episodes were staged and that Bear did not always survive without help. One of the more serious allegations is that while Grylls claimed to be sleeping outdoors, he was allegedly sleeping in hotels (although on Jimmy Kimmel Live, before the accusations came out, Bear stated that only the cameramen were flown out at night). The Discovery Channel said that future airings would be edited to reflect such things.

Other reported instances of outside influence or staged situations include the following:

Grylls admitted wearing a flotation device in the pilot episode to ride down a river in a staged shot, citing safety reasons. He claimed that he was displeased with the decision, which came from Discovery producers, and has since been able to avoid the use of such devices.

The director of the Desert Island episode, Graham Strong, noted that a diver was at hand who checked for sharks while Bear was adrift (he did not spot the tigers, only reef sharks), and that “we” beat on the raft to scare the tiger sharks away. Also, in the Copper Canyon, Mexico episode, director Scott Tankard says that the local Indian tribe, the Rarámuri Indians, acted as their guides.

According to the survival consultant for the show’s Sierra Nevada and Desert Island episodes, Mark Wienart of Lifesong Adventures, the “wild” horses in the Sierra Nevada episode were shipped in for a choreographed feature.

The Desert Island raft was not made by Bear; it was made by a team of people over a week and a half, using rope, and was dissembled for Bear to put together on camera.

Crew members simulated molten lava by using smoke machines and hot coals. The smoke machines were used to simulate poisonous sulphur dioxide, though Grylls was not in fact facing real danger.

Grylls gives the impression of being lost when he is only a few yards from tourist locations and areas of relatively heavy traffic.
Hiring a man in a bear suit because they could not get a tame bear, running the show with a “script” (with scheduled scenes such as “Scene 10 - Grizzly Attacks Camp”), pretending that a snake found dead on the side of a road was alive, eating steak inside a badger skin, and hoisting Bear into a tree to make it look like his parachute “snagged”

[lucznik]

Don't know if this has been reported here yet but I found this on Backpacker Magazine's website: http://www.backpacker.com/blogs/daily_dirt/562

Survivorman Calls It Quits
Les stroud plans to end successful Discovery Channel show after forthcoming third season

Somewhere, perhaps in a four-star hotel while eating chocolate cherries and sipping champagne, Bear Grylls is breathing a sigh of relief: His primary media rival, Les Stroud of the Discovery Channel's popular Survivorman series, has announced he plans to hang up his cameras and end the show after the upcoming third season.

"It takes a lot out of me as I really do what I do for real, with no camera crew, no nights in hotels like others do, and it takes a toll on my body," Stroud told Reuters.

"You can only do seven days surviving without food a certain number of times a year. I'm pleased with what I have done, I've been copied around the world, but 25 times I've not eaten anything for a week while sleeping on rocks. I need to move on."

Sad news for TV survival junkies, to be sure, but all is not lost: Stroud plans to return with a series where he follows in the footsteps of famous explorers.

[sgtdraino]

Don't know if this has been reported here yet but I found this on Backpacker Magazine's website: http://www.backpacker.com/blogs/daily_dirt/562

Oh yeah. His final episode already aired, and Les looked really miserable the whole time. He had the squirts all that week.

[lucznik]

I picked up a copy of Men's Journal today at the grocery store because it has a feature article about Edward. The article is mostly fluff, trying to make Edward appear as "larger than life" as possible by listing some of his accomplishments - even ones that are under suspicion as being falsified - for example his claim to have "flown a motorized parasail as high as Everest's summit," a feat that cannot be validated because his altimeter mysteriously stopped working during the flight.

The article mentions that his program "reaches a million viewers in the United States," which seems kind of low to me. I would have expected it to be quite a bit higher. It also mentions that he is "tailed in the bush by a cameraman and sound engineer." Oddly though, it fails to mention the 6-9 other guys that are with him throughout his adventures - which can be seen on the "behind the scenes" exerpts available on Discovery Channels website. That seems like a strange ommision to me.

He talks briefly about the controversy surrounding his shows authenticity and states, "Since the controversy, if I ever have any safety protection, I now have to acknowledge it. I think it's crap always having to say it, so I am actually doing more free climbs." I actually agree with him that, under normal circumstances, he shouldh't have to mention safety gear everytime it's used. The problem is that it was his own choice to mislead viewers, not by simply not acknowledging safety precautions that were taken, but by literally trying to hide them so as to present an image that they were never used in the first place. Now he has to pay the price. Actually, if he (figuratively speaking) had done "more free climbs" from the beginning, it might never have become a problem.

I think the article sums up Edward quite well when it says "what's truly remarkable about Grylls isn't his 'bushcraft,' but the way he has used the series as a vehicle to take all these amazing trips. He has improvised an insanely great life for himself." I think they're right. Like him or hate him, you've got to admire the fact that the guy does for a (very well-paid) living the kinds of things most of us slave away every year at work to be able to afford to merely approximate during our brief "vacations."

[Sarge47]

Okay folks, at last count this thread had 689 posts & over 59,250 views! So here's the results in a nutshell!

Les good, Bear Bad! Bear drinks pee; eats poo! Les does not! Bear has a cute tush for a soldier...I mean that in a "nice" way! Les plays a "mean Harp!" Les takes lots of gear & carries all of his own camera gear while Bear only carries a canteen full of pee & a $700 autographed knife you can buy from Bailey's in England. His Cameraman, sound man, Key Grip, and stage hands carry a lot more...but Les doesn't need it 'cuz the Ramada Inn has everything! Les shows you how to Survive while Bear shows you how to "fake it 'till you make it!" Finally the poll at the top of the page shows Les wins by 90% to 10%...even a cute tush couldn't save Grylli's hiney!

[lucznik]

Les plays a "mean Harp!"

Doesn't he play a harmonica? I think a harp would be a real b!+(# to try to pack around. They're heavy!!

[Sarge47]

Doesn't he play a harmonica? I think a harp would be a real b!+(# to try to pack around. They're heavy!!

1st, I didn't say he took it along with him, just that he played one, however there is a difference between a harmonica & a "Blues Harp". Go down to your local music store owner & have them explain the difference to you!

[crashdive123]

Ummmm, mouth harp.....yeah, harmonica

[lucznik]

1st, I didn't say he took it along with him, just that he played one, however there is a difference between a harmonica & a "Blues Harp". Go down to your local music store owner & have them explain the difference to you!

There isn't a "local" music store for more than 150 miles from me. I'll just take your word for it.

[Rick]

I usually play air harp. If you want something tough to pack along, try a Macy's Organ. Now, there's a BIG instrument.

Lucznik - The next block, 150 miles. It's all relative.

[Okwaho]

Bear Grylls knows just as much what he's doing as Les Stroud does. I like both shows for different reasons. Survivorman is more realistic and enjoying. Man vs. Wild is more educational and easier to understand. Both are great shows.

[Sarge47]

Bear Grylls knows just as much what he's doing as Les Stroud does. I like both shows for different reasons. Survivorman is more realistic and enjoying. Man vs. Wild is more educational and easier to understand. Both are great shows.

So you think it's Ok to drink urine right out of the bladder? Hey, I've got a watch I want to sell you!

[Rick]

Man vs. Wild is more educational and easier to understand.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

[wizardslovak]

i like to watch both but i think Les Strout is showing more "reall" stuff which can be used

[Kemperor]

I didn't read all of the replies on this thread, but you all should check out Les's book, "Survive!" It's a good read. Kind of left out what to do in a tornado, though, but I doubt he's had too much experience there.