Surviorman, Season 2, Ep 4: S. Africa

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MG_Saldivar

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Feb 5, 2005
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I missed the first showing of tonight's ep but I'm about to catch the second showing... I did want to get the thread started, though. :D
 
I fell asleep and missed the first 9 minutes. I'll have the catch the re-runs.

Speaking if the runs:D, as he drank some muddy water from a hole that he dug in a mostly dried up pond he said something like, "That should clean me out." I wonder if he loads up on Pepto-Bismol before he goes on these forays.;)
 
I was surprised to see him with that Rambo-esque looking knife that he tied to the end of that stick.
 
We are starting to see the same thing over and over, and the show will eventually run its course.

That being said, I just got the season 1 dvd set, and its still my favorite on tv.

right on
 
The big "Rambo" knife lashed to the stick just didn't make sense to me. Not only was it dangerous to have an unsheathed blade wandering around his head, it just did not seem to fit Les' personality. I wonder if that was something they did for ratings. Anyway, like someone else said, alot of the stuff he did we had seen before. The chemicals he used to start the fires was something pretty cool. I also like the fact that he seems to be employing more edged tools this season. Overall, to me, it is still my favorite hour of T.V. every week.


Chad
 
That big knife on the stick thing seemed impractical to me. It would be too easy to break the blade, or lose it. I think there is some Hollywood going on here. He described it as a 'Big ol belt knife'. He should have said what kind of knife it was instead.
 
don't get me wrong i like les and the show but i think the shows name should be-starvingman .
 
dulledge2 said:
don't get me wrong i like les and the show but i think the shows name should be-starvingman .
Click to expand...

I agree, I don't understand why these survivor guys, Les and Bear, need to travel so much. I for one would like to see a show where the host finds a good spot and hunkers down for a week hunting and foraging. The place Les was with the clear running stream seemed perfect. Chris
 
I've never had a first aid kit with potassium permaganate and glycerin in it. Seemed kind of contrived to me. I would keep those two chemicals apart not next to each other in a first aid kit.

Some episodes he stresses boiling water, this time he drinks muddy puddle water in Africa?

If you are going to make a spear kill something with it, and stop eating ants
 
The spear seemed to be the best thing available to defend against large mean things. I don't know what more he could have done, with what he had available.
 
dulledge2 said:
don't get me wrong i like les and the show but i think the shows name should be-starvingman .
Click to expand...

Ha ha ha. Yes; Mostly, he goes from hungry to famished. On one or two episodes he gets lucky and kills a snake or rodent. But if he is teaching by example, I guess we can expect to starve by the Stroud method.

The knife he used as a spearpoint looked like a Jimmy Lile "Rambo" survival knife or one of the cheapy knockoffs. I couldn't tell if it had a hollow handle or not. And he certainly never used the sawteeth on camera.

The "panga" he carried looked like Cold Steel's "Heavy Machete" model. It seemed very effective at fashioning his throwing stick.
 
Well, I saw the whole ep at 11p Mountain and then promptly fell asleep while reading SM Stirling's Dies the Fire (the combo makes for some freaky dreams...)

Random thoughts:

1. I want to fit a liquid propane hot air balloon burner in my PSK. Still working on that, though.

2. Although Eddie G has foolishly drunk un-boiled water at least once (in the Costa Rica rainforest ep), I have to give him credit for carrying a "boiling receptacle" (canteen cup) on all his trips. I've long thought that Les' lackadaisical attitude towards potable water was a SERIOUSLY bad idea. However, Les does demonstrate that in the 'natural world' potable water is rare, and you are in a very tough position if you don't carry something that allows you to boil water and/or carry water with you.

3. This season, he seems to be carrying a hell of a lot of gear compared to S1. I wonder if this is (one of) his attempts to differentiate himself from Eddie?

4. LOL at "Starvingman..." On the one hand, it's nice he doesn't "find" dead zebra and sheep and whatnot while moving around but I find it difficult to believe he NEVER comes across larger game. He expresses such angst the few times he's harvested small game that I wonder if he or the producers just don't want to go "there" and so he spends time eating (or not eating) wild edibles and insects.
 
For those that are interested, they are running the first 4 episodes of season 2 of Survivorman Sunday night from 6-10 central time as a mini-marathon on Discovery Channel.
 
When I was a kid in the '50s, I was a pyro-maniac. ;) Like most of my friends, I liked to blow things up. For a school project, I made a volcano out of potassium permangante and glycerine. I worked very well. It forms a cone of green-grey ash with sparks and flames shooting out the top. I also made small fire bombs by putting.......never mind. ;)

BTW: potassium permanganate solution was used as a foot bath in gyms to prevent foot fungus from spreading. I don't know if it's still used for that.
 
Last night was the first night I saw Survivorman. The hot air balloon with all those supplies and yet he drank un-treated water from a stream?! I mean, he had a lighter and knife and... tons of stuff. He said something like "clear water in a sandy stream" and proceeded to fill his bottle and drink from it. Man o man was that DUMB!!! This was the first time I watched Survivorman and also the last! What a stupid thing to do and even more so, what bad information he might have given someone.
 
Interest is waning. I've learned how long he can go without eating (a week), why it's OK to drink filth (it's only for a week), and how to fear bumps in the night (every night for a week). Most of us can just hang knowing we'll be picked up (in a week). I sure hope he picks up the pace (next week).:). ss.
 
One thing we don't always see is that he goes ahead of time and meets with local survival experts. They could have told him what constitutes clean water in that area.
 
Personally, I think the show is starting to get drab. I want to see a show where a guy carries his survival kit in with him, survives with that for a while after he runs out of food, loses the kit and his gear (even if they have to fake it), lose their knife, whatever. In other words I want them to go hiking like normal people. Let's face it. What dimwits go out into the middle of nowhere with nothing? If I am going to take a nice drive through the mountains then I bring my day pack (with food, kits, knives, etc.). Unfortunately the dimwits are out there and probably aren't watching the show. I know it's entertainment, but Les and Bear are getting dull. When they first started they were pretty good, but they're doing things now that are plain stupid. I don't understand the knife spear Les made. Why not sharpen and harden the end of a stick. That would have been safer to carry. Plus, missing a good chance for food because he left his throwing stick on his pack. Walking through LION TERRITORY? If I can avoid a heavy bear territory, then I avoid it. I wouldn't be poking around and throwing rocks at black mamba pits either. I would've picked another location to sleep. Yet, Les slept right next to a possible snake pit stating that the snake could possibly come back.
 
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