Survivorman or Man vs Wild??

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Sorry, but I disagree. I finally watched a full episode of Survivorman and while I can appreciate what Les does and there is plenty that is educational about the show, it was just downright boring. The lack of a camera crew made me feel like I was watching someone's home video's. The production value and the charisma of the host on MvW is simply better.
 
Man Vs Wild

I do watch the show but must question how wise he is at times, the 1st rule in survival in the wild is "STAY SAFE" and he places himself in situations that can be avoided.
Making the choice to climb down a waterfall is not a wise one, you are getting wet and risking injury; wet in the wild can = death.
I do enjoy watching the show most times but see him as more of a Glory Hound.
I enjoy Les more and find him more grounded.
 
It's showbiz, folks...

Have watched both shows and enjoyed them both for different reasons. Having said that, if push came to shove, I'd rather be entertertained by Bear than educated by Les. The fact that a camera crew follows Bear means that the footage is a lot visually interesting than Les's admirable but ultimately flat self-shot visual style. And the Mrs (who I'll assume represents "the general, non-hiking viewer") is bored by Survivorman but avidly watches Man Vs Wild. I think that fact, together with heavy publicity Bear gets (he's been on Oprah, Letterman and Kimmel + large billboards along I-95 in CT) explains how Bear gets great ratings and Survivorman wasn't renewed.

Of course, it could also be his wonderful English accent.... :)
 
Even better news, I am watching Discovery Channel tonite,and the promo said it starts August 10!!
 
More Bear info

Just happened to see this. BBC channel 4 wants to look at Bear a little closer. Some allegations about his activity. In particular about his previous show.

Also about the horses I thought I remember hearing that the "wild horses" he was trying to capture you can see that they have shoes on. I haven't actually verified that myself though. Just don't have the interest.

The broadcaster said Grylls carried out his own stunts and did place himself in perilous situations, "though he does so within clearly-observed health and safety guidelines required on productions of this kind".
Click to expand...
Just like real survival situations. Of course during the course of the show no one seems to mention that they had scouted out the waterfall he jumps from ahead of time to make sure its safe, etc.


BBC news article

Yes, I understand its entertainment. I just wish they would stop touting it as a survival show.

By the way, for a mere $720 you can now get "Bear Grylls'" knife.

Bear Grylls Knife

I hope he has several since I have seen him baton his old knife with a rock. :rolleyes: Most of us mere mortals baton with another piece of wood. Of course we realize that if we snap the blade no one is going to hand us another knife in a survival situation. :p

Keith
 
Keith -

I think some of the points made in the article (the construction of the raft, the 'wild' horses) were from the one and only show I watched, which was filmed a bit north of where I live. It might be good entertainment, but it's not reality. I knew it was suspect as soon as he gave the viewers instructions to travel West, rather than East, in order to reach 'civilization' quickly.

Kevin
 
Survivorman Rocks

My wife and I got a chance to watch two episodes from both shows. The bottom line is: Survivorman wins hands down. Les totally rocks, especially in the episode where he was in Northern Canada (Ontario?) by Hudson Bay in early fall.

Looking forward to seeing future episodes of both shows, but especially Survivorman :D

Marty
 
I saw a similar story about this guy, Bear, on the NYT's website. Same charges; a bit more story perhaps than the Post. Not surprising. I have friends who work on reality shows. Much of what you see is contrived or created in editing, not exactly "real" as we think of the term.

I've watched American Chopper, but don't think I can build motorcyles. Why anyone would watch these shows and think they can do what these guys do, fake or not, is beyond me. Anyone remember Flight of the Phoenix? Didn't see the remake, but in the original, the survivors of a plane wreck build a new plane from the pieces and fly off to civilization. Try that one, survival guys.
 
I watched a bunch of episodes of Survivorman this weekend while I was under the weather. I gotta say, it was pretty interesting to watch. But, it really revolved around him starting fires every night and usually building a similar shelter each night. I really didn't feel like I was learning something new each episode like Man Vs Wild. He did a lot of repetitive practices. He also did a lot of just lying around and starting fires and keeping fires going each episode, he never seemed to move too much or change locations. I think in about 75% of the episodes he just waited for his camera crew to fly in to where ever he was and pick him up. I have to wonder, if someone did not know his precise location in each of the scenarios, would he have survived any of the predicaments?

I did find his show and environments interesting to watch, but I found myself asking why he would do a lot of things like eating snow on several occasions and lowering his core body temp instead of just melting snow or ice in a pan to make it water. I am sure he has some sort of survival credentials, but in none of the episodes did it mention his training or his past experiences. He just kept saying that he is Canadian and tough. So I enjoyed his show, just not as much as that other show that a lot of people seem to hate.
 
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