Now that I’ve seen every MythBusters, Brother Troy turned me on to Discovery’s “Man vs. Wild,” a show where a former special forces British guy named Bear Grylls is dropped into the middle of nowhere and has to find his way back to civilization. I’ve seen episodes in the Everglades, the Scottish Highlands, Costa Rican rain forest, a deserted island in the Pacific, the Rockies, and the Sierra Nevadas. The guy is nuts and a complete survival machine, eating all sorts of nasty stuff and making shelters and rafts out of jungle junk.
It’s good entertainment and you can pick up a few good survival tips, like how to figure out the cardinal directions if you have no compass. Most of the show is stuff you should not do unless you’re a trained professional and would likely get you killed. For instance, Bear routinely soaks himself to the bone by jumping in rivers. In most climates, this is a ticket to hypothermia. He does some crazy tree and rock climbing that would be the end of most viewers finding themselves in the same situation. Like most things, it looks easy—but that’s because you’re watching a professional.
Good show though.
Man vs. Wild light. We’re heading up to a backcountry cabin in the Porcupine Mountains for the weekend, this time on Lake Superior. Which means no posts for the next couple days. Survive, if you can…
Current Mood: Excited | 
9 Comments
I too am a Bear Grylls fan, esp. the one in the northern Rockies where he went hustling in the dark to get away from what he thought was a bear (although I can’t remember if he had a camera crew with him at that point). It seems odd that the best advice for most people when lost is often to stay put, and he (BG) just keeps on moving. I do like the numerous ways he gets his bearings though.
Survivorman is far less star-worthy, but doesn’t (didn’t) work with a camera crew. Survivorman provides the GPS coordinates, and one in Utah was but 1/2 mile from I-70.
Other good episodes of Man v. Wild are Iceland, Hawaii, Alaska and So. Utah.
With Bear Grylls, I think he’s worth too much at this point to have an increasing level of risk though, and thus am leery that the show will become more production, less reality.
Oh..I love this show too…but just recently I read there is some scandal as it appears Grylls has ducking into motels when he’s supposedly toughing it out in the wild…
The network is promising closer scrutinty of his activites.
Midori
A while back I caught part of a special where Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame — another really great show — hosted a bunch of TDC parody videos send in by viewers. There were some hilarious Man Versus Wild and Survivorman epidodes in like a New Jersey mall…
Between TDC and TLC, there is much love: Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, American Chopper, American Hot Rod (to a lesser extent).
And then one has to add History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers, narrated by the guy who did like Season One of Deadliest Catch.
And let’s not forget Cash Cab, which has moved from day- to nighttime.
Dr. Phil
Test. Will attempting to post send me to fbi.gov?
Test result: nope.
Okay, I still can’t post the copy I was trying to the other night. (It’s a comment about a ’survival in the wild’ TV show.) Trying to post the comment sends my browser to fbi.gov rather than posting. Was it a bad word? I took the bad word out. Still happens.
Trent? What gives?
Hi Midori! The link to the news report on Bear Grylls staying in hotels and having his raft made for him is here:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=3412744&page=1 (thanks for the link Ellen!)
Yeah PT, I think his star quality is big enough to survive this knock. I found some message boards comparing Les vs. Bear and the fans were heavily tilted toward Les because he does all of his own stunts, so to speak.
Phil, I think Mike Rowe does the voice for Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, doesn’t he? I really like him too. I tend to watch “Dirty Jobs” when we visit the in-laws since Discovery seems to be on 24/7.
John, you’ve been victimized by some overly-aggressive spam blocking. I disabled the blocker so you should be able to post now. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Mike Rowe does Season 2 and 3 of Deadliest Catch. There’s another voice for Season 1 and Ice Road Truckers. I think.
Dr. Phil
Most of the TV I watch is caught in 10 minute segments while eating lunch in the break room at 3 am. I think I saw about ten minutes of this show in that context. The guy was trying to get through some part of the Australian outback to the ocean.
Just as I was finishing eating, he decided that in order to conserve water, he would drink his own urine. So he voided in his canteen and drank it, making faces.
All I could think was, “This is fucking nuts! You’ve got a whole camera crew there with you. They’re in the same place you are, they’re going through exactly what you are — don’t tell me they’re drinking their own urine, too? You can bring a camera crew with you, but you can’t get a couple of extra guys to lug water? Right.”
So, it seemed like a Fear Factor stunt, done not for any rational reason, but solely to gross the audience out. At that point I decided show == phony and dumb.
Anyone remember G. Gordon Liddy buring his hand with a candle to prove how macho he was? Anyone? Phil? *cries*