Rippn' on Bear Grylls

B

Bowie Mike

Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
118
I'm sorry, but I just can't hold this one back.

I just saw part of an episode where Bear hacks off several pieces of neck meat from a dead zebra and chokes them down raw. The rest of the carcass was picked clean so, who knows what killed it and how long it has been there. I believe I just joined the group of you that think this guy is an Fn' idiot.

I've read previous threads that ripped on this guy, and, to be honest, I thought his shows were entertaining and I generally picked up at least one tip from each show. But come on ... he builds at least two or three fires during each episode. Are you telling me that he can't take three minutes to build a fire with his fire steel and the half a ton (per square foot) of dry tender in the African savana to build a fire and cook the meat?

I am willing to admit that I am no expert, but maybe I do know more than a little about primitive living skills/wilderness survival. No dought there are others on this form that know more than I do, and there are others that know less - and this is all fine and good. But it is obvious to me that:

1) His camera crew is there to save his ass,
2) The camera crew includes a doctor/medic,
3) He has had every shot and a truck load of antibiotics available to keep him from getting sick, and
4) This guy is full of crap!

What really chaps me is that people who are perhaps not too well educated in this area (and watched this episode) will now believe that you can walk up on a dead animal and start chowing down.

I'm guessing that most of us would have a maximum of about 24 hours before we were puking or crapping our guts out from some type of anaerobic bacteria.

Later in the same episode he half runs, half falls down a steep rocky slope. Just begging to turn an ankle or rip open a palm on the rocks. Not the best move when you are in a survival mode.

There is no dought that he is an expert, but he is providing some really bad information in a somewhat hyped up, macho format that just makes me want to kick his ass.

Sorry for my ranting - I'll try to change the subject and give Payton Manning my best wishes for Sunday. He is a young guy that is about to live a dream for some of of us. I hope he wins, simpling for that reason.

Thanks for listening.
 
I like watching his show, but admit that he does do a lot of things that shouldn't be done if you were really in "survival mode." I have learned some things from the show, and seen some things that make me cringe! Anyways, I understand your post and agree with it, but still enjoy watching the show.
 
There is no dought that he is an expert, but he is providing some really bad information in a somewhat hyped up, macho format that just makes me want to kick his ass.

Yessir.

Doubt, btw, normally I wouldn't care, but you spelled it wrong twice, so maybe you don't know how it's spelled...


I don't think there will ever be a better survival show than Les Stroud's (sp?) Survivorman.
 
diceman said:
I like watching his show, but admit that he does do a lot of things that shouldn't be done if you were really in "survival mode." I have learned some things from the show, and seen some things that make me cringe! Anyways, I understand your post and agree with it, but still enjoy watching the show.
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And yeah, it is still a pretty entertaining show either way, but it sort of loses it's value when the stuff isn't exactly useful.
 
_habit_ said:
There is no dought that he is an expert, but he is providing some really bad information in a somewhat hyped up, macho format that just makes me want to kick his ass.

Yessir.

Doubt, btw, normally I wouldn't care, but you spelled it wrong twice, so maybe you don't know how it's spelled...


I don't think there will ever be a better survival show than Les Stroud's (sp?) Survivorman.
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Doh! - thanks for the spelling lesson.
 
If you've got the common sense to pick and choose what is good advice, then I still find it useful. Did you see the one where he poisoned those fish w/ the plant juice? Not that I'd ever use it, but I did read about it in the Army Survival Manual and it was cool to see it actually done. He does eat a lot of things raw for no reason... and doesn't always purify his water... and jumps of ridiculous things... I've got mixed feelings.
 
We don't eat raw chickens, pigs, or cows because they are livestock and pick up nasty stuff in their captivity and at the slaughterhouse.

I'm guessing most people in the western world aren't going to eat "horse" meat (zebra) even if it were cooked, unless they were truly starving to death.
I'm not worried about anyone whipping out their SAK and cutting a hunk of raw zebra to eat due to the fact they saw it on TV show.

I remember the zebra scene, didn't he say something about being able to tell it was a fairly fresh kill? I don't know how long it takes for wild game meat to go "bad" , so, i can't really say one way or the other.

Humans were scavengers for millenia, and we ate plenty of raw meat, it's not necessarily a death sentence.

My biggest problem with any of these shows is that they don't have the time to explain the various scenarios, they are rushing through it, to condesne it into a 1 hour show.

using the Zebra eating as an example, they should explain:

-dangers of eating raw meat.
-when it's safe and not.
-Fresh kill vs. old kill.
-difference between raw beef, pork and Zebra.
-Why it's dumb to start a fire to cook the meat when there are lions and hyenas in the weeds waiting to eat not only the carcass but You too.
-Why carrying raw meat to another site to cook it would be paramount to you being lion bait/chum.

Same goes for eating the raw egg. salmonella, Yuck. But at least they should explain the "survival" theory, that, if you really were starving, or dehydrating so badly, that there is a time WHEN and WHEN NOT to eat raw meat or drink questionable water.

So my knock on Bear and Les's shows are not on them personally, but on the fact that the whole production doesn't allow for any deeper explanation.

I still think each 1 hour show could be broken into 3 to 5 shows and they could tackle some of the items in more detail, without totally boring the audience to death.
 
Yeah, you gotta remember too, the animals out in the wild arnt contaminated, like if you were to shoot someones cow and eat it raw. If I were in the foot hills, Not a person around for miles and miles and shot a deer for survival and need food, I would eat some raw. Thouse type of things dont bother me. Havn't you ever seen someone eat a Steak with blood in it, as in running out?

I agree that he is just on tv, to be on tv, but the zebra part wasnt the worst, though I'm not sayin to go out and eat raw meat. Hes just moving too fast, as if someones chasing him, in a normal survival situation thats not happening, but it can in some.
And yes, someone getting into the who survival "scene" could take his show as the info to end all, and thats bad.

So thumbs up to les!
 
Quote:........

-dangers of eating raw meat.
-when it's safe and not.
-Fresh kill vs. old kill.
-difference between raw beef, pork and Zebra.
-Why it's dumb to start a fire to cook the meat when there are lions and hyenas in the weeds waiting to eat not only the carcass but You too.
-Why carrying raw meat to another site to cook it would be paramount to you being lion bait/chum.

Skunk - I agree, this is kind of my point - it leads people with less experience to make potentially huge mistakes. You summed it up better.

I admit that I will continue to watch his shows because they are intertaining and informative. I guess the carion chow was a little too much.:barf: I like my steaks medium, so the blood doesn't bother me, but I think we have all been brought down by the "runs" at least once. Can't imagine adding that to a survival situation.
 
then again, cooking the meat will bring the blood out some, but in a survival situation there wouldn't be too too bad, but ya wouldnt like too, at all.
 
here in nyc fancy folks pay good money to eat raw food they call them raw bars .I ate some raw duck while in paris it was pretty good, Bear seemed to state that the lack of maggots seemed to ndicate that the kill was fresh....and yeah I'm sure he's got a good support team but it doesn't mean he isn't a bad a**, after all true survial isn't about taking un nec. risks in my opinon it's about getting the job done with the use of the rescources around you. In this case it means a trained medical staff an a camera crew
 
I am going with Fonly and Skunk on this, :D

While eating raw zebra may seem dangerous and foreign to some of us this was a reasonable survival tactic given his situation. he explained that the kill seemed fresh and expained something about the isects, and starting a fire to cook meat in tall grass in lion country is pretty much suicide, as would carrying meat very far.:thumbup:


Running douwn the hillside is commonly referred to as "Scramble running" is tought by many as the safest way to decend loose gravel hills since most injuries occur when people attempt to stop themselves from sliding rather than working with the momentum of the terrain. :thumbup:


:eek: I do believe that Bear is a screaming raving nut job and often climbs and jumps when walking would probably be best, but my critique would be more the fact that time isnt taken to expain the whys of some of the things he does. A "directors cut" with comentary would probably make more sense.

:jerkit: Also anyone who would take waching this show as a survival course would be a likley candidate for the Darwin Awards.
 
_habit_ said:
.. I don't think there will ever be a better survival show than Les Stroud's (sp?) Survivorman.
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I totally agree. Look at the two shows side by side and Lester's show far out shines Bear's in regard to realism and authenticity. Bear reminds me of a guy that is mostly just concerned with showing off his toughness and athletic ability to the general public.. Les on the other hand seems to genuinely want to teach the general public and doesn't edit out his mistakes, which for me keeps it real!:thumbup:
 
I watched my first episode the other day on youtube (no cable) it was the episode in alaska, and when he came to the part where he said "ok I am going to show you how to scale down a melted glacier waterfall" I shook my head in disbelief. Then he ate a salmon raw (not a bad thing, up here inuit eat raw meat all the time) but the ridiculous theatrics while he ravenously tore into it.
I can't believe there are people that rag out les stroud for doing dangerous stuff, but at least his show isn't just another reality tv crapfest.
 
I like Bear's show for its comedy. He does have some useful things on there, but mostly it's just funny.

I agree with Skunkwerx: I aint worried about the lady who spilled hot McDonalds coffee on herself and I aint worried about someone pulling off some stupid Bear Gryll's trick because they saw him do it on the Discovery channel.

I vow to not let Bear Grylls' defeat my common sense. And if someone else has no common sense, I vow to not worry about them too much other than the normal pity we have for people who hurt themselves doing something dumb.
 
So far I have seen one of les's shows (georgia swamp) and one of bears shows (the african one mentioned here). I don't see why anyone complains about them, although I may change my mind the more I see. The only problem I have with either show is that Bear is an ex Spec-ops guy and I believe that leads him to do things that an average person would not. Climbing cliffs w/ and w/o ropes, climbing waterfalls...
Some things mentioned are perfectly normal, for example he did explain the Zebra was a fresh kill and that he ate it raw because there were still lions in the area. He did not drink from contaminated water sources and he did explain how to tell the difference.He did drink some unpurified water from a local watering hole but in a real survival situation you may not have a way to boil or otherwise purify water so you will have to take your chances. These guys are simulating real situations in which all you may have on you is your knife. Take it and learn from it.
Some things need to be done for camera purposes to teach people. For example...Standing in front of lions, hippos, rhinos, snakes and elephants just to educate us on the dangers of it. also, running down a soft cliff is the appropriate way to navigate it, however I do question his need to go down there but again it may just have been to educate us. Some times the best way to learn is from others mistakes.
As far as having a full support crew, I dont blame him. He is out to make money, not die. If I were to film a survival video I would want a full support crew as well. Survival / primative living is fun to experiment with but it's not worth dying over.
I am downloading the complete series of both shows and looking foreward to watching them.
 
Thats just it, a tv show, and thats all these whos will ever be. But thats what makes them soo good :D
 
coyotesniper69 said:
As far as having a full support crew, I dont blame him. He is out to make money, not die. If I were to film a survival video I would want a full support crew as well.
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Sure would be more authentic though if these guys went out into the wild with a small camera/tripod setup and just did it on their own.
 
Guyon said:
Sure would be more authentic though if these guys went out into the wild with a small camera/tripod setup and just did it on their own.
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Guyon,
Isn't that exactly what Les Stroud does on Survivorman??. Or am I missing somthing here?
 
sunnyd said:
Guyon,
Isn't that exactly what Les Stroud does on Survivorman??. Or am I missing somthing here?
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I don't know either show, so I was reacting to coyote's post. If that's the case with Les Stroud, I'd certainly be more inclined to watch his show.

Having just looked at his website, I see what you mean. Unfortunately, I don't get the Science Channel.
 
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