Weekly MvW thread - 7/6/07

Just amazing coincidences. One week he 'happens' on a frozen goat to eat where there is no food, the next week it 'happens' to rain in the desert just when he needs water. Really showing people how to survive - just be really lucky.

Not sure which was worse the pee or the elephant dung drink. Really over the top.

Still I enjoy the side show.
 
As many of us have observed over and over, Bear does some crazy $#&% sometimes, but he has historically been careful to say "You shouldn't do this unless you had absolutely no choice" and then he jumps off the cliff, wades across the croc-infested river, or whatever.

Today, I was amazed that he blithely said water that comes up out of the ground is ALWAYS safe to drink. I won't pretend to be a survival expert but I always figured the first rule of survival is to not assume ANYTHING. I wouldn't drink anything except rain* (caught by looking up) unless I was laying on the ground with two broken legs.



*Um, assuming I'm not in a polluted place like Tokyo or Mexico City... :o
 
Besides the urine drinking ( which I question if he really was drinking it all the times they showed it ), dropping out of the fig tree instead of climbing down, and drinking untreated water, I thought it was one of his least stupid shows. Are there any "pee drinking" experts here? That microphone must have been really close to the canteen.

Quote from the nine-year-old during the show, "Let the entertainers do the entertaining, and let the survival experts show us how to survive."
 
I saw an MD on a news show once state, as Bear did, that urine (from a healthy person) is sterile when, uh, fresh. I know camels drink their own urine as a matter of course.

I'm sure if I was REALLY in dire straights I would do anything, including drinking my own pee, to survive, but I know from having grown up in south Texas (I'll bet money that the heat and humidity are in the ballpark of north-central Australia) that you simply don't have to urinate as much when you're getting dehydrated (a whole other problem).

The over-the-topness today was not that he demonstrated pee drinking, it's that the whole segment (from peeing into canteen to building shelter in rainstorm) was ABOUT pee drinking. I counted at least six references to it and at least four shots of him doing it.

Um, once was enough... Message received... :eek:
 
One thing that I always wanted to know about is what he tells the people who rescues hime e.g. When he saw a boat and signalled it to turn around or when he just walks into someones cabin.
 
I couldn't believe the one I saw today. Bear was in Iceland and tied some knots in a rope which was then attached to his waist. He said the purpose of the knots was that they would grab onto the jagged sides of a crevasse in case he was to fall into one. Well, the next thing you know he wildly jumps into a what appears to be a bottomless crevasse to test his theory. I was actually hoping that the rope wouldn't hold. This show is getting too wacky for me!
 
I know what you guys mean. I just hate it when wildly succesful physically young man actually goes out into the woods and does stuff. It is much better to sit in front of the TV and judge him and then sit in front of the computer and critcise him. While we're at it lets attack his charities, his climbing Everest and also crossing the Arctic Ocean. Bear's time in the SAS means nothing and recovering from a parachute accident is easy.

Pass the cheetoes and beer mates. Oh, and lets all find some more faults.
 
hell yeah im all with ya 2dogs. seriously this guy has a show cause he knows what he is talking about, and of course its going to be over the top!!!! Its freakin tv, us sitting here right now arguing over weither the show is good or now is proof that it is good and entertaining otherwise no one would give 2 hoots about and not write anything about it. Bear FTW!
 
2dogs said:
I know what you guys mean. I just hate it when wildly succesful physically young man actually goes out into the woods and does stuff. It is much better to sit in front of the TV and judge him and then sit in front of the computer and critcise him. While we're at it lets attack his charities, his climbing Everest and also crossing the Arctic Ocean. Bear's time in the SAS means nothing and recovering from a parachute accident is easy.

Pass the cheetoes and beer mates. Oh, and lets all find some more faults.
Click to expand...

I've been waiting for someone to say this for awhile now. I might have tried it myself, but no way could I have done it as eloquently as 2dogs. :thumbup:

This reminds me of Howard Stern. His show can be so over the top that people hate it, but they can't stop tuning in. I wouldn't be surprised if Bear's biggest critics were the ones tuning into MvsW the most often.

Just don't forget it's television and meant to be entertainment for the most part.
 
Man vs. Wild episodes are $20 for each episode on DVD. Not in a season set. Sounds like someones making a lot of money for it.
 
i agree with 2dogs but some people really go out of their way to criticise him. Theres someone that posts on every single MvW vid on youtube criticising him - and constantly refers to the Wikipedia page that points out faults.
But somethings he does is a little "eccentric" but some points are very good - he did point out once that these methods he shows is when theres no hope so might as well die trying that just waiting to die.
 
2dogs,
I completely disagree, I do not respect Eddie for anything he has done and am not impressed at all. SAS reserve for a few months, so what, recovering from his parachute injury? lay on your ass and let it heal. As far as Everest and sailing around the world, when I was 20 something if I had a big pile of cash I would give it a try too, and again, with enough money, don't see why I couldn't succeed.

Eddie is a good showman and had a good idea to make some more money in line with his world wide, jet set, adventurer lifestyle and reputation. Other than the last sentence he is a complete fraud, that is headed for his own stringray. Chris
 
MG_Saldivar said:
I saw an MD on a news show once state, as Bear did, that urine (from a healthy person) is sterile when, uh, fresh.
Click to expand...

According to military survival training, fresh urine is considered sterile for flushing wounds, but the general concensus is one should never consider drinking it. Once it ages for a very short while it turns bad. I can only imagine what it's like after a few hours in a 100 degree canteen....not to mention all the sloshing.
Although there are those who do drink their own urine for "medicinal" purposes, they do it in the safety of their homes, and I'm sure they have a decent chaser....they aren't in a situation as depicted on TV.
I'm by no means an expert, but from what I remember drinking urine for survival does more harm than good. Kinda like survival at sea; you should never drink sea water. "Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink."
 
runningboar said:
2dogs,
I completely disagree, I do not respect Eddie for anything he has done and am not impressed at all. SAS reserve for a few months, so what, recovering from his parachute injury? lay on your ass and let it heal. As far as Everest and sailing around the world, when I was 20 something if I had a big pile of cash I would give it a try too, and again, with enough money, don't see why I couldn't succeed.

Eddie is a good showman and had a good idea to make some more money in line with his world wide, jet set, adventurer lifestyle and reputation. Other than the last sentence he is a complete fraud, that is headed for his on stringray. Chris
Click to expand...

Let me say up front, Chris, that I have seen your posts, and I respect you. I see you in a good light.

On the other hand, your criticism of Bear seems, and I emphasize the word seems, to reek of jealousy. I have seen what someone has to go through wrt physical rehab for a cracked/broken arm. Months of work and pain once the bone heals. Bear broke his back. He wasn't, I'm sure, just laying on his ass. He rehabbed back from what could have put him in a wheel chair for the rest of his life, and to prove it he became the youngest person to climb Mount Everest.

Or so the story goes. If it's true then it is a pretty courageous story. There is no getting around that, no matter how much money he does or does not have. Clearly the man has to push himself. Clearly he is an unusual guy. I wouldn't mind having him for a friend, except that he'd probably talk me into doing a lot more stupid stuff than I already do. He's extremely lucky, and I am only average lucky. I'd probably die from drinking the elephant poop juice.

Now, I have never parachuted. I have never broken my back. I have never climbed Mount Everest. Anybody who has can say he has bigger balls than me, and I would shut up. Then I would ask him if he can solve an ordinary differential equation, or something like that. Big deal. We all have our "thing" that we do pretty well. But I find the whole thing fascinating anyway. Bear's "thing" is pushing his luck. I like people like that. I find them kind of inspirational, but in Bear's case I'd bet his calculus is a bit rusty. That's the impression I get, but the man has brass ones, so it all evens out.

I don't think you have to respect someone to find his show to be head and shoulders more interesting than anything else on the boob tube. I don't see how any of that makes him a "fraud" unless, and this is a big UNLESS, you can disprove any of his claims about his past. And if you can, you owe it to the rest of us to spill the beans. Otherwise, I'd say calling him a fraud is a wee bit harsh. - Harry
 
Jealous? Not quite.

My biggest problem with eddie grylls is him, or anyone else, using their "military" service to promote their TV show, especially not reserve service. As a soldier for the last 17 years working very closely with special ops, eddie grylls is not the image we want portrayed. I work hand in hand with the real deal and he ain't it.

He is a fraud, plain and simple, he is no survival expert, he goes into his "survival" situations with an entire crew, camera and support, tents, food, fresh water and instant evac, including a true survival expert, "Bear" is a fraud. Playing himself up to be something he is not means he is a liar.

You can think what ever you wish of me and I do watch MvW, it is like a train wreck I can't help myself, but in my feeble opinion Eddie "Bear" Grylls is a liar, a con man, and a disgrace to the SAS. Chris

EDIT: This is the last post I will make concerning this subject.
 
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