Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

[Justin Case]

How can anyone call them Phonies ? It is what it is,, There is no doubt that they are doing what you see them do ? So what if he didnt actually sleep out in the bush,, I wouldn't either,,If I didnt have too.. He DOES show himself eating some disgusting stuff,, cant take that away from him,, I have learned a lot of stuff watching both those shows,,

[Sarge47]

How can anyone call them Phonies ? It is what it is,, There is no doubt that they are doing what you see them do ? So what if he didnt actually sleep out in the bush,, I wouldn't either,,If I didnt have too.. He DOES show himself eating some disgusting stuff,, cant take that away from him,, I have learned a lot of stuff watching both those shows,,

I ususlly call them phonies when they tell lies as a rule. Just sayin'...

[mule100]

i agree he eats stuff that would make a Billy goat puke but theres more to survivle than eating grap, jumping off cliffs and running round like a mad man!
its better to take your time and think about what your doing NOT show boating in front of the cameras
do you see Les Hiddins, Ray Mears, les Stroud or anyone else acting like him NO! its so easy for things to go wrong why risk making thing worse! Bear fell and broke his shoulder and got air lifted out if it was a real survivle situation he'd would of died...!!!

Ian

[Justin Case]

i agree he eats stuff that would make a Billy goat puke but theres more to survivle than eating grap, jumping off cliffs and running round like a mad man!
its better to take your time and think about what your doing NOT show boating in front of the cameras
do you see Les Hiddins, Ray Mears, les Stroud or anyone else acting like him NO! its so easy for things to go wrong why risk making thing worse! Bear fell and broke his shoulder and got air lifted out if it was a real survivle situation he'd would of died...!!!

Ian

Because it keeps him on TV ,, Simple,, BTW,, Man vs Wild is NOT a REAL Situation ,, Of course he got airlifted out, He is a Celebrity, Its A TV Show

[crashdive123]

How can anyone call them Phonies ? It is what it is,, There is no doubt that they are doing what you see them do ? So what if he didnt actually sleep out in the bush,, I wouldn't either,,If I didnt have too.. He DOES show himself eating some disgusting stuff,, cant take that away from him,, I have learned a lot of stuff watching both those shows,,

Here's one for you that is IMO something that qualifies as phony and exceedingly dangerous to the viewer that may attempt it some day because they saw Bear do it.

Jumping in the water with a small day pack for floation and traversing rapids. It turns out that he was wearing a floation jacket beneath his clothing. He did not disclose this.

What say you?

[Rick]

Check out YouTube for Bears escapade into the lava fields. You'll see he was right off the highway.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

The question was who is the better survivor. Analizing this strictly from the skills exhibited I voted for Bear Grylles. He would not do that stuff if he were not getting paid to do it. Just giving the people what they want.

[Justin Case]

Here's one for you that is IMO something that qualifies as phony and exceedingly dangerous to the viewer that may attempt it some day because they saw Bear do it.

Jumping in the water with a small day pack for floation and traversing rapids. It turns out that he was wearing a floation jacket beneath his clothing. He did not disclose this.

What say you?

Oh, well thats not good,, I do think there should be a better disclosure at the beginning of every show,, There is too much sensationalism ,, But he does keep me entertained,,

[Justin Case]

The question was who is the better survivor. Analizing this strictly from the skills exhibited I voted for Bear Grylles. He would not do that stuff if he were not getting paid to do it. Just giving the people what they want.

I am going with Les Stroud,, Mainly Because he did this,, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4_fteTJQ_Q

[wareagle69]

i have stayed out of this debate thus far but after the evnts of this week something occured to me.
Les often says that he is doing this show to help the ordinary man, and thats what he claims to be just a guy in the bush, but yet this week at least two ontario survival instructors claimed to have trained les, what they should be saying is that les trained with them for a time, les has trained with allen also and with many many local survival consultants, how many of us can do that when travelling,? spend 48 hrs or so with a local expert to help out trip.
what any show does is the interesting stuff, to get ratings, yes i know better than to just jump off of a cliff, but some may not, but still i have taken useful info from bear and from les even if someone was proven to be a fake and total liar but had good info on the show, would you just discount that technique because of it?
I am sure all the haters on here have watched every episode of both boys and critiqued the show, i know i have, but still i have learned from both, both of them have gotten rich off of fools like us and so will the next guy to come along(watch for my show airing this fall)
WE

[lucznik]

...two ontario survival instructors claimed to have trained les, what they should be saying is that les trained with them for a time...

Les did a "behind the scenes" special about 2 years (?) back where he openly showed exactly what you are describing.

According to the episode, Les would go in a few days before his shoot to scout out an appropriate location and to train with local experts so as to know what things he might show when out on his own.

I don't have a problem with that. I wouldn't have a problem with Bear doing it either. There really is no possible way one man is going to know enough to deal with every possible environment on earth without some expert instruction. The difference is that, after being given some local knowledge, Les went out alone and tried what he had learned. Sometimes he failed, and he showed that too. As long as the skills being shown are real, are shown without trick angles, with no hidden safety nets, and are basically honest in their portrayal (i.e don't present a scenario that the host is staying the night in the wild when in reality he is in a hotel sucking down mini-bottles; don't claim he is wading through miles of sewers trying to "find a way back to civilization" when he's never been more than a football field away from a busy thoroughfare, etc.) I'm O.K. with the realities inherent with making and producing a TV show.

[billdawg]

http://www.backpacker.com/suvivorman...aily_dirt/1691

Interesting. The guy seemed to have some decent tools with him, apparently, he didn't do soemthign right. Too bad, but, just watching a couple shows, doesn't make you ready.

[lucznik]

http://www.backpacker.com/suvivorman...aily_dirt/1691

Interesting. The guy seemed to have some decent tools with him, apparently, he didn't do soemthign right. Too bad, but, just watching a couple shows, doesn't make you ready.

That really is too bad. I'm sorry this happened to him.

However, although anecdotal and not statistically valid, this event does help illustrate the danger of "training" for survival by watching videos and/or reading books - regardless of who produces/publishes them.

Although I know this represents a bit of "preaching to the choir" I thought I would just add the thought here that anyone who is really serious about developing true "wilderness survival" skills needs to:

1. "Perfect" skills at home and on short trips in the Summer months when the weather isn't so deadly before venturing out into the true wilderness. However, even then, one needs to realize that when they are actually "in the field" things will be very different than they were at home.
2. Always travel with an experienced companion until such time as they can readily demonstrate their abilities before ever soloing - especially in the winter.
3. Practice with the safety net of a full camp setup readily available, again until they can readily demonstrate their abilities before trying to venture out on a true minimalist survival camp.

Crawl before walking. Walk before running.

[Theluciddreamers]

first off i'm new here so hi to everyone, 2nd heres 2 links read them and then if anyones still in dout how big a fraud Bear is explane why he stays in a hotel at the end of a days filming also he should of shown us how to survive with a busted shoulder.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7304617.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008...lls-antarctica
i did my survivle with the british forces and they teach you not to take any risks if you hurt yourself it is harder to live! the stuff bear does is just for show! and why does he have to talk like that?

Ian

Just wondering if you did any research on Les Stroud? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorman Les has a whole crew right near him at all times. It's TV!!!! You think that discovery lets either of them go out without safety nets? I can see the headlines now. "Discovery channel sued by the stroud family for not saving Les Stroud's life when attacked by mountain lions" I've seen Les get bailed out more than once due to weather or lack of water. I like Stroud better because he had a survival school that he taught for like 20 years, and he made many different movies/doc about wilderness survival. Bear is well trained too, but makes a show for pure entertainment. I know for sure I wouldn't be doing random backflips in an abandon city! (Man vs. Wild Urban Survival)

For other members who have posted things( I started reading the threads, but its like 40 pages long) about how they both suck, or one sucks. I have to wonder if some of you are a little pissed that these dudes found away to make money doing something they love? I know that the shows aren't very realistic, but it's TV! I would rather watch those two dudes than sex in the city.

[Sarge47]

I don't care that they found a way to make money, but I think telling people that it's okay to drink urine straight from the bladder is just plain dangerous.

[Ken]

You forgot to mention gross.

[Rick]

and then there's that whole elephant poo .... ah, never mind.

[Theluciddreamers]

Yeah, but see people on jackass drink pee and eat poo, and others are still going to do as they do. We can't stop everyone from being stupid!

[Sarge47]

Yeah, but see people on jackass drink pee and eat poo, and others are still going to do as they do. We can't stop everyone from being stupid!

Stopping? No! Warning? Yes! I also agree with you that Grylls is a Jackass!

[Batch]

The reason that I know that Lea Stroud has a safety crew in the area is because he has shown it on the show several times. He fully disclosed and explains that it is just too dangerous to attempt some of the things for them to allow him to do it without the safety crew.

I watched the episode adrift at sea or something. He had two radios and a safety boat that was supposed to be following him. He lost sight of the boat and tried both of the radios. He couldn't contact them for hours and explained that he did not like that at all. If he experience a life threatening incident he could not get help like he was supposed to. They also did cut that episode short.

But, they fully disclosed everything. He probably is restricted in saying certain things. As the show requires you to believe he is all alone. They probably don't want to emphasis that they have greatly cut down any risk and put their stars safety as priority number two. Advertiser dollars always get first consideration. LOL