I registered on this site just to add my comments to this thread. I spent 20 years in the bush in NZ as a hunter for a living and I find nothing extreme at all about man v wild other than sucking on elephant dung...
In fact I thought it was pretty tame to be honest. If you're in really rough terrain... and I mean REALLY rough... then it is not at all unusual to get trapped in gorges, on clifftops, down scree slopes and under or above waterfalls. I've been in those situations many, many times when carrying out live goat capture... and a lot worse besides. So has any other old school NZ bushman or trapper. rough terrain IS extreme. Period.
I found the show to be underdone rather than overdone. I've been in far more dangerous situations (in terms of terrain) than I've ever seen on that show. I've been alone in the bush for as long as nine months without seeing another human being and so has many other oldtimer NZ deer cullers. It's standard to sleep under a log and live off the bush. I don't really see what all the fuss is about.
If you think I'm kidding then come down to NZ and check out the Raukumara Ranges or up the Whanganui River. You can be in a dangerous extreme situation several times a day in far steeper country than anything I've seen on that show.
I actually assumed that the SAS dude was deliberately "dumbing" it down and just showing the easy stuff that any average joe could do. I think it's a great show that packs as many survival tips as possible into a fast paced entertainment show. Like anything else in life you can pick and choose what you might find useful and what you might totally not do. The dude doesn't try to pretend that he doesn't have a TV crew with him and he even interacts with them sometimes. I watched one episode where they had to rescue him off a cliff face.
I think you all miss the point. In a true survival situation then it is a true life and death situation where anything goes and often only a very, very extreme action will keep you alive. I've been in those situations so I know what that feels like. I've been trapped on slip faces and trapped in gorges with only a waterfall as an escape route.
It's 100% true that you risk a broken leg or broken neck (certain death is more realistic in NZ bush) if you screw up but if the alternative is to starve to death trapped in a gorge or stay pinned to a cliff face till your strength fails and you fall.... well like I say I find man v wild to be pretty tame other than the nasty stuff he eats. I'd try to snare a larger animal if it was me. Traps and snares are easy to make.
Just my opinion.
regards
m0ng00se
