survival tv

I prefer Ray Mears... entertainment in real demonstrations of solid survival & bushcraft knowledge and skills.
 
So repeling down a water fall, and drinking elephant shit is what you'd do in a survival situation?


Well gee, if bear is into all that, I guess this is just a little survival snack.


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He is former Brittish SAS and an avid adventurer, I'd take more stock in what he has to say and what he has done survival wise then anyone else in these forums. The arm chair survivalists will have their say though.

He was an SAS "reservist" for a very short time and saw no action and got very little training due to injury. But SAS sure looks good on paper dont it.:rolleyes:

Pure hollywood tosser.

Mears is twice the man Grylls will ever be.

Skam
 
He was an SAS "reservist" for a very short time and saw no action and got very little training due to injury.

Why does this not surprise me? Let me guess, he fell and broke every bone in his body two or three times.
 
You echoed my sentimates about ed the ''bear'', but I take stock in Les, he shows intelligence if you wach long enough. The being all alone thing ( I imagine) can take a toll, even in a camping situation, and I think the cameras weigh fiftytwo lbs? Where both are enjoyabe, only survivorman I can stand repeat veiwing.
 
The first time I watched Bear Grylls (a jungle episode), he used a large rock to baton his survival blade through a piece of wood. How many people with any shred of common sense would risk breaking their survival blade by using a rock as a baton?

The next time I saw him (a Sierras episode), he was practically running down a rather steep shoulder of a mountain, citing how dangerous it is to be on a mountain with a storm approaching. Risky body-surfing down a mountain seems ill-advised to me.

I appreciate that some 'drama' helps sell the episodes, but some of it borders on ridiculous.
 
I appreciate that some 'drama' helps sell the episodes, but some of it borders on ridiculous.

Yep, just like he doesn't WANT you to survive. One thing we have not been able to see is the size of his crew, the amount of supplies, GPS navigation or anything else. They even may have a pre-determined route he takes with supplies at certain spots, "just for the crew". But thankfully bear taught me one important thing if you want to learn how to survive in the wild, and that is to don't do what he does.
 
what do you guys think of him leading a team to parafly (forgot the exact word) over Mt. Everest? It seems like the high winds would make that phyiscally impossible.
 
Why does this not surprise me? Let me guess, he fell and broke every bone in his body two or three times.

Broke his back in a skydiving accident apparently and healed enough to climb everest but not continue with the SAS :jerkit: .

Skam
 
I have a sneaky suspicion that Bear has a rich daddy and seldom worked a day in his life. Not too many folks can afford to spend their 20's traipsing around mountain tops and stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just the impression I get. The constant SAS references are pretty annoying when you find out he barely served.

Bear is more fun to watch, Les makes more sense but I wish he'd cheer up some. They're two very different guys, that's all.

Both are still among my favorite shows on TV, which isn't exactly high praise but it's something the family can watch together and talk over.
 
Broke his back in a skydiving accident apparently and healed enough to climb everest but not continue with the SAS

I'm not defending the guy but my roommate in college broke his back in NROTC and was promptly dropped from the military rolls even though he healed up just fine. Some injuries are just like that and I imagine it's even stricter for elite units.
 
That's a fair point, mugwump867. As I understand it, Bear blew up his back skydiving while in the service, certainly that's nothing to be ashamed of.
 
I think that the main point of viewing any of these programs, is to do it criticly. Not necessarily in the sense of putting someone down, but putting yourself in the scenario and thinking for yourself. Personaly, out of the three titles I like "I shouldn't be alive" because there's no spoon feeding from a survivalist, just ordinary schmoes trying to work out very bad situations. I can then try to use the information that this site (all of you) and other sites have passed on to me. Sure some of these shows pass on some tips, but come on, it's TV, and TV shows live or die through ratings so they tend to dramatize and show boat. I just want to do my own thinking. Our own minds are likely the most valuable tool in a survival situation.
 
That's a fair point, mugwump867. As I understand it, Bear blew up his back skydiving while in the service, certainly that's nothing to be ashamed of.

No, that's nothing to be ashamed. Reservist or not. Regardless of whether or not he spent weeks or months in the reserves.

What he should be ashamed of is rapelling with grapevines, drinking shit, trying to lasso a wild horse and ride it, drinking stagnant water, sleeping in lions dens, ending up sick every freakin show and all the other utterly ignorant things that he does. He should be ashamed of that.
 
I totally see what you're sayin nemoaz, that's kind of why I think Bear's a bit spoiled... he acts like he can do all that stupid stuff and someone will save him. Les Stroud acts like he's got no one or nothing to back him up, and is a lot more cautious because of it. I think everytime I've seen him catch meat, he overcooks it, to make sure of killing the nasties that might be in it, for instance. Bear likes to eat snakes raw; someone in another thread pointed out how many really dibiltating bugs you can get from doing that. Not too bright. I don't think we'll see Les jump off any cliffs, and that's helluva lot more realistic for true survival.

I gotta say, I was SO waiting for that horse to kick Bear's teeth out in that one episode! No way in heck would I try to climb on a wild animal. But as others said, it makes for exciting TV; our kids loved that scene and it sparked a good discussion among us.

In both shows they have a mandate to travel x-miles in y-time... again that's more interesting to watch, keeps things moving along for the typical viewer's 3-minute attention-span. But if I was truly lost and surely if I was hurt, I would think long and hard about sitting tight and building a heavy shelter and BIG signal fire. Doubt that would get high ratings on TV, though.
 
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