Hmmmmm......you are wrong. I DVR'd the "jungle episode", and thought I had heard him make some kind of "this IS how to survive" type of comments. I just went back and checked - here's a quote by Bear from the beginning, just before he parachutes in
"I'm going to show you the skills you need to survive out here"
Skills to survive, like -
1. Climbing a 100 foot tree by the vines around it, to find out that it's just jungle all around you.
2. Using a vine to rappel down a waterfall rather than walk around it
Those are the two that I thought were kind of dumb. But I did like the way he described how he was starting the fire, and the 1st shelter. The raft seemed to work better than I thought it would, also.
But yes.....I do agree that it's mainly entertainment, but he certainly did claim that this was educational - he was going to "show you the skills you need to survive out here". I think some of the skills would help you survive, some would probably get you killed or seriously injured..........just hope that you pick the right ones I guess!
SHOW is NOT the same as Teach. Show is not Educate.
You only heard what you wanted to hear simply for the sake of arguement.
He SHOWED us climbing above the canopy to survey. He SHOWED us rapelling using jungle vines. he SHOWED us building a shelter. he showed us building fire, catching food, etc. He didn't say he would teach us how to do each skill, it would be a 50 hour show if that were the case!
Let's be reasonable for a moment.
It's like a Karate champ SHOWING you his kick.
It's like a Big Game Hunter on OLN, SHOWING you what it's like to take down Big Game.
1. Climbing a 100 foot tree by the vines around it, to find out that it's just jungle all around you.
Have you ever been in a jungle? I have. You can't see farther than 25 yards, make that 25 feet, in most places. They were most gracious with their filming, those more open spaces are few and far between.
Without a compass, You MUST climb, or somehow figure out whether you will be going, UP, down or sideways. You need to replay your DVR. You obviously didn't hear him talk about people/tourists wandering around and dying becuase they didn't know which way to go, or worse, went in circles. Very easy to do, Been there, done that.
How would you determine your initial direction of travel without a compass?? Please enlighten us.
I can assure you, moss doesn't grow on the North side near the equator.
What he showed us, was, you have to figure out where you are, and try to spot a depression where there would a stream or rive, and follow it downstream. In the MOAB he climbed to a high point, surveyed, same idea.
That TEACHES me something! Let me spell it out for you, No matter what the terrain, get to a high spot to survey. Without finding water, you are going to die, anyway, so it serves a dual pupose, it gets you to a water source, and provides a path to follow.
if you want more Education than that, read the Army survival manual. geeesh.
2. Using a vine to rappel down a waterfall rather than walk around it
You don't just walk around a jungle escarpment, (or any escarpment) there is more cliff than just where the water is falling, it goes on for many miles in either direction, thick and overgrown. In the jungle it can take an hour to go 30 yards (that's with a machete). Replay that DVR again, he says it could take him many hours to go around, and night was coming quickly.
Climbing down the waterfall is by far the easiest place, because it's the only open place, clear of dense vegetation, to do so.
He SHOWED us a skill that
could come in handy. Did you know which vine to use as rope before this show aired?
It's very easy to sit back and make off-hand criticism on this stuff.
Think about what it is truly like, it's no cake walk. You are breathing in insects, into your lungs, coughing them out, they fly into your ears, nose and eyes.
It is friggin miserable. You are sweating more than in a suana room.
Go into a wet suana, fully clothed. OK, now, it's worse than that.
You feel like you can never catch a breathe.
Your arms and legs get cut to shreds, your BDUs become ventilated from all the sharp plants, but that is actually welcome at times. Bugs are crawling on you at all times.
Unlike Les, in SurvivorMan, Bear parachutes in!! into a friggin Jungle???
Pardon me, but that feat alone is so damm impressive he gets a free pass the next 59 minutes.
My comment, having been in fairly dense jungle (Panama) is , if anything, he made it look way too damn easy. That guy has almost super-human physical endurance. The heat and humidity of the tropics can put good men down , in under and hour.
Hmmmmm.....come to think of it, I don't appreciate you judging me, and telling me how wrong I am.
Again, you are still assuming it's a "HOW TO" show. It is not.
It's an adventure show. period. Sit back , relax, and watch.
The jungle is 100x worse than what they portrayed. Don't take it from me, Just ask a VietNam vet.
Now the desert, I can't really say. I've been in the Mojave, but not more than 100 yards from a vehicle and cool drinking water.
115°F air temp, felt like an oven. Heat comes up into your shoes in less than 5 minutes. Being out in a place like that, with no water, that is just plain scary.
I live on Vancouver Island and although Man Vs Wild has been advertised it has never actually been on....is it on the normal Discovery channel?
