Naked Castaway on Discovery Channel

I liked the show, yes he should of had some clothes, even tom hanks had clothes LOL!
 
I liked it and only 3 episodes which I also like,
Its either that or all those NCIS,Forensic,sitcom junk.
 
Caught up on all three episodes last night. I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It could simply be that the show did a better job of hiding the strings than Man vs. Wild or Dual Survival, but I appreciated the greater realism. The self-shot aspect is a nice touch. I've always respected Les Stroud a little more than the other hosts since he does the same, though Les' narration can be a little overwrought at times.

Regarding the goats, many of the Pacific islands were seeded with goats or pigs by sailors or locals over the years, a sort of precautionary measure. In fact, these transplanted feral livestock have often displaced indigenous species and can become quite a nuisance. In any case, it certainly didn't seem as staged as many of the other shows. I will admit that the goat getting trapped in vines is more than a little suspect, but considering Ed was honest in showing the times he used antibiotics and even called in the rescue team in the midst of his stomach cramps (events that more or less violated the show's premise), I'm willing to suspend my disbelief.
 
Enjoyed it - he did good. I found it interesting to think that a good break is all you need to turn things around. In his case, I'd say he had three breaks, two man-made (antibiotics from his support crew). The third was the goat getting tangled. The meat windfall just turned things around for him.
 
Why did they have to make the dude naked? That is just wrong! They could have given him some clothes and still made a show out of it.
 
I enjoyed the show. But it seemed to be staged because he really seemed to get his priorities mixed up. He could have made a thatched doorway and a bed for his cave and spent more time in search of food. There were a couple of more 'artistic license' for the sake of suspense detractions from the show but overall entertaining. I rate Les Strouds' show higher as it is usually a little more believable.
 
Smithhammer said:
I was glad to see that they finally adopted one of my ideas for a survival show.

However, I had suggested Kate Upton for the starring role, not another ex-military dude.

Leave it to the Discovery Channel to ruin a great idea....:rolleyes:
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Hahaha one of these days they'll get it right
 
To those posting only to post about the fact that he was nude. Get over it! He even told you "avert your eyes", if you're squeamish about seeing "naked buttocks". Did you miss the point of the title of the show?

WTH? None of you went to H.S.? None of you took showers at your gym?

We discuss more gross things on here in varied types of first aid and you moan about a dude with no clothes.
 
Bo T said:
I enjoyed the show. But it seemed to be staged because he really seemed to get his priorities mixed up. He could have made a thatched doorway and a bed for his cave and spent more time in search of food. There were a couple of more 'artistic license' for the sake of suspense detractions from the show but overall entertaining. I rate Les Strouds' show higher as it is usually a little more believable.
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I've stopped questioning whether these types of shows are staged. They're on T.V. for entertainment, firstly. Secondly, go get dropped off at an island butt-naked and see if you will be thinking rationally all the time and doing everything the way it's "supposed to be".

I rate this show higher than Strouds'.
 
I know there are a lot of guys on here with many years of experience, but I wonder how those who criticize Ed would do given the same situation. I know I would have been calling for momma after a week, if that long.

Also, I believe the whole idea behind him being naked was so that he could not make cordage from his clothing. Also? It is just a dudes ass. No, I dont enjoy being showed some guys ass on TV, but are we really that sensitive?

I thought it was a great program. I would have liked for it to be a little longer, but I know there were many days worth of footage of him weaving, chopping trees, and other mundane tasks. That doesnt make for good TV.
 
Sufler said:
To those posting only to post about the fact that he was nude. Get over it! He even told you "avert your eyes", if you're squeamish about seeing "naked buttocks". Did you miss the point of the title of the show?

WTH? None of you went to H.S.? None of you took showers at your gym?

We discuss more gross things on here in varied types of first aid and you moan about a dude with no clothes.
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I think the issue is that it was unnecessary. The show would have been just as good if he had a pair of shorts on. Naked guys don't bother me but that doesn't mean I want to stare at them for an hour. YMMV :D
 
The best thing I took away from the show: even if you've got a lot going for you (more than the average skills/knowledge) you can still fail. Without the intervention of modern medicine at day 11 and day 50something for Ed, seems like it might have spelled a bad ending for someone in a similar but real situation. Even if it didn't kill him outright, it might have put him in a vicious spiral that would have ended there eventually. Sure, maybe he took "too much" risk in eating crap, or crap not cooked enough, but I don't know I could have done any better in his lack-of-shoes to avoid it.

Nudity attention-grabber aside, I think the show did something these sort of shows rarely do; it demonstrated the fact that no matter how experienced or somewhat knowledgeable you may be...sometimes nature just doesn't fall the right way for you. I haven't watched many of these things, but maybe the only glimpse of that "reality" I've seen elsewhere was in that one episode where Les Stroud tried to start a friction fire somewhere and just could not get it going after hours and hours of trying. I don't know if I would have banged my head against that particular wall for so long, but regardless, it's a sobering check on all the 'oh, I'd just do that, and voila, it'd work and I'd "win" '.

On a non-philosophical note, I did notice Ed seemed to spend way too much time working in the middle of the day. As a hawaiian, I grew up knowing one doesn't work in the heat of the midday if one doesn't have to. Dawn and dusk are times for work; the middle of the day is when you get the hell out of the sun and chill out.

I think he did quite a few nice improvisational tricks though. Setting up his gutter water collection system was probably my favorite (even down to how he cut the pipe).

ETA: I don't quite understand why he opted for the lean-to instead of an A-frame, or was the goal to eventually construct the other side?
 
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I watched all three episodes this evening. I liked it. It was pretty real. To think, he is placed there with NOTHING, no knives, no rope, no shelter, no food, and no water. He had to figure out how to survive for 60 days by himself.

He really didn't seem to have any special knowledge of what was eatable. He had to figure it out on his own. I would have tried to spear a fish after I located a water source even though it was a poor one. But he had no way to sharpen a spear at first except perhaps using the fire.

The goats seemed plausible to me. I was surprised he didn't try to build a corral and herd them into it.
 
It was a fun series to watch and I hope to see him do another like it, with very minimal equipment, on a lonely part of the west coast of BC or on of the San Juan Islands. In October.
Let's say...Mora, one hefty trashbag, 14 feet of jute twine and 3 matches.
 
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