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View Full Version : Anybody watch "SurviverMan" on tv



Terry7
02-02-2008, 14:41
I have not started a thread in a while so here it goes. I like this show alot and have learned a few things. How about you?

peanuts
02-02-2008, 14:50
terry7 there is another surviverman thread:D

Kirby
02-02-2008, 16:49
That's a great show. Much better than Man Vs. Wild.

Kirby

jnohs
02-02-2008, 18:39
they r both good. they r both the major contributing factors in my sudden intrest of hiking last year. My wife and I allways watched the show and one day we just decided to go to the catskills. It has been a lot of fun so far. I feel bad for less he has got a lot of camera gear. but bear is definalty a profesional outdoors man. it seem more like less is actually slowly dieing out there rather than survioing. In most of his showes he barily eats anything and I dout that in most of the presented situations he would not of survioved much longer.

spittinpigeon
02-02-2008, 19:51
they r both good. they r both the major contributing factors in my sudden intrest of hiking last year. My wife and I allways watched the show and one day we just decided to go to the catskills. It has been a lot of fun so far. I feel bad for less he has got a lot of camera gear. but bear is definalty a profesional outdoors man. it seem more like less is actually slowly dieing out there rather than survioing. In most of his showes he barily eats anything and I dout that in most of the presented situations he would not of survioved much longer.


You haven't taken into account that Bear has a crew WITH him, while Less has a crew that is on standby miles away.

jnohs
02-02-2008, 20:28
yes i know but bear really tackles some amazing rock climb that seem pretty technical to me. less seems a llot more of a self taught while bear seems trained. yes bear has a crew with him but I think less would never try some of those climbs. The 2 shows are really good though. At first I liked les more but then bear kind of grew on me. les's program is more of a documentry and beaars is more like a guide.

Tennessee Viking
02-02-2008, 20:58
Survivorman is my hero.

But I am not crazy enough to go out and do what he does.

I do like how he can start fires without a match, make shelters out of brush. And adapt broken gear and litter into tools.

spittinpigeon
02-02-2008, 21:06
yes i know but bear really tackles some amazing rock climb that seem pretty technical to me. less seems a llot more of a self taught while bear seems trained. yes bear has a crew with him but I think less would never try some of those climbs. The 2 shows are really good though. At first I liked les more but then bear kind of grew on me. les's program is more of a documentry and beaars is more like a guide.

That's like saying Britney Spears is a better singer than someone like Eva Cassidy, just because Brit is flashier and exposes more skin.
Bear climbs those wet rocks for the ratings. And frankly, it's stupid. People at home aren't going to try that, and if they do, they'll fall to their death, and we'll see Bear in the courts.
I'm not denying that Bear is a skilled man, I'm just questioning the validity of his show.

Bearpaw
02-02-2008, 22:27
yes i know but bear really tackles some amazing rock climb that seem pretty technical to me. less seems a llot more of a self taught while bear seems trained. yes bear has a crew with him but I think less would never try some of those climbs. The 2 shows are really good though. At first I liked les more but then bear kind of grew on me. les's program is more of a documentry and beaars is more like a guide.

The whole point of surviving is to AVOID situations like that. Man vs Wild is a show designed for entertainment where Bear Grylls had tremendous support and often went to a hotel at night instead of spending the night out after he jumped off a ledge into freezing water. It's good TV, but if a novice follows his example, his surviving family members will almost certainly sue the show.

Les Stroud would never do that because he knows that he, and any one else who does so, alone and unsupported, is very likely to die of exposure in the night to follow. That's pretty much the antithesis of surviving.

JAK
02-02-2008, 22:31
I am my own survivorman and man vs wild. Way more entertaining.
I also sing to myself in the shower and thought Brittany spears were something thrown at Romans.

Jim Adams
02-03-2008, 00:36
they r both good. they r both the major contributing factors in my sudden intrest of hiking last year. My wife and I allways watched the show and one day we just decided to go to the catskills. It has been a lot of fun so far. I feel bad for less he has got a lot of camera gear. but bear is definalty a profesional outdoors man. it seem more like less is actually slowly dieing out there rather than survioing. In most of his showes he barily eats anything and I dout that in most of the presented situations he would not of survioved much longer.

Survivor Man is a documentary type teaching show....
....Man vs Wild is the Gong Show!:(

geek

ubersmack
02-03-2008, 00:47
The whole point of surviving is to AVOID situations like that. Man vs Wild is a show designed for entertainment where Bear Grylls had tremendous support and often went to a hotel at night instead of spending the night out after he jumped off a ledge into freezing water. It's good TV, but if a novice follows his example, his surviving family members will almost certainly sue the show.

I completely agree, I feel Man vs. Wild is more of a show about what NOT to do while you are trying to survive, have you seen some of the stupid stuff he does? "well im out in the middle of nowhere on top of this cold windy mountain, i could continue down the mountain below the treeline and get some better protection.. but wait! I'll jump into this ice cold glacial stream!" Just asking for instant hypothermia. Most of his shows make me cringe when I watch them, running down glaciers and such, good way to conserve energy and not break your leg.

Less teaches and demonstrates skills that anyone could do in a safe manner, and warns of the biggest dangers when in a survival situation, and how to try and avoid them. He does suck at fishing though..

I have taken several survival courses myself so I do judge stuff like this.

mkmangold
02-03-2008, 01:44
I am my own survivorman and man vs wild. Way more entertaining.
I also sing to myself in the shower and thought Brittany spears were something thrown at Romans.

Too funny Jak. And those would be the spears thrown by the Celts in northern France.

I like both TV shows because I figure I can learn anything from anyone (once I get over THAT attitude, just shoot me). My wife likes Bear better because he's cuter.

JAK
02-03-2008, 01:53
Yes, except those sufficiently well covered throw menhirs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelix

double d
02-03-2008, 03:19
Les is a great guy, and I love when he gets a little depressed on his show from time to time. He also does alot less running around, climbing rocks and jumping into cold rivers then does Bear. To me, Les is someone who i learn about respecting the great outdoors, while I do enjoy watching Bear gag on water extracted from animal dung, but really, how does that apply to outdoor survival????

Tennessee Viking
02-03-2008, 03:59
As Les has said, he has to hike everything almost twice. Once to travel down a way and set up his cameras, head back up and back down to get the shot, then repack everything. Bear is alll show. While Les lives it.

baxter
02-03-2008, 09:21
Les is the man.......

margo
02-06-2008, 00:01
I like them both ok for different reasons. I think the man vs wild show doesn't really market itself for survival or reality, it's mostly entertainment. Like a strange fantacy or something.

I've seen some bad infomation come out of survivorman though and it's portrayed as good advice. For instance eating when one has no water to drink. There are others but I can't think of them now. I think once he camped on a beach beside a river and got flooded.

I like the shoe "I should not be alive". It's reenactments of folks that have gotten into life and death situations. They frequently don't come out of it very well if at all. A lot of times, maybe all the time, some little thing is overlooked and chaoes ensues. A lot of the people don't have all their limbs. I frequently squeal and hide my eyes. It's that bad (or good).

woodsy
03-04-2010, 09:45
Anybody watch "SurvivorMan" on tv ?
A fan of the show attempting a survival trip of his own dies from hypothermia
in the Muskoka wilderness, Ontario .
Lets not be too hard on the deceased.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/774517--survivorman-fan-found-dead-in-muskoka-wilderness?bn=1

Lone Wolf
03-04-2010, 09:48
don't they say " don't try this at home"?

JustaTouron
03-04-2010, 10:51
don't they say " don't try this at home"?

Which is a lot like telling a 15 year old not to do something.

flemdawg1
03-04-2010, 11:00
A fan of the show attempting a survival trip of his own dies from hypothermia
in the Muskoka wilderness, Ontario .
Lets not be too hard on the deceased.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/774517--survivorman-fan-found-dead-in-muskoka-wilderness?bn=1

Looks like the poor dude probably froze to death.

Nevermind
03-04-2010, 11:03
don't they say " don't try this at home"?

Yea. That's why you go out into the middle of the jungle/desert/wilderness to try it. duhh


And while Les Stroud is clearly better... his goals are different. The point of his show is: I'm going to go survive in ________ wilderness for 7 days.

Bear Grylls has a completely different goal in his show. It is not to survive, it is to demonstrate extreme survival techniques, that you most likely will not have to come across. But, while flashy as all, if you find yourself stuck at the top of an arctic cliff and need to rappel down using a rope and a #2 pencil (with Will Ferrell)... Bear's show will have shown you that incredibly unlikely technique.

Both shows are entertainment. Les's covers more realistic survival situations. Bear's covers extreme techniques (that he can put himself into because he has a support crew nearby) that you're not very likely to run into.

Anyone see where Les almost got eaten by a jaguar? THAT was entertainment.

Don't some of the elite military forces have a survival test where they're dropped off in the middle of nowhere with a knife and a map, told to get to point X within a week or something? How's that for survivorman?

JohnnyB
03-04-2010, 11:07
Just like in hiking, when it comes to outdoor shows -- Les is more.

eric j
03-04-2010, 11:34
Survivor Man is a documentary type teaching show....
....Man vs Wild is the Gong Show!:(

geek
Bingo...........

woodsy
03-04-2010, 12:03
The following is a post from someone who lives in east central Ontario:
Looks like he got caught up in a heavy wet winter storm.


We had one of the heaviest, wettest snowfalls I've ever seen last Thursday and into Friday, we took two days off from cutting wood because we just couldn't move around the piles and everything was sliding all over. There would probably have been more snow in that area, not overly cold but pretty well impossible to move around out in the bush like that without snowshoes and impossible to stay dry for long. Lots of wet firewood around too.

Sumone86
03-04-2010, 12:26
i made a shirt for a bunch of my friends around here. Front reads: What Would Les Stroud Do? Back Reads: WWLSD? its got a bunch of good laughs if you understand the underline joke.

fredmugs
03-04-2010, 13:00
Granted I watched the show maybe two times and the reason I don't watch it is the guy comes across as a drama whore.

Buzz_Lightfoot
03-04-2010, 13:54
don't they say " don't try this at home"?

I made a hand made torch from birch bark and pine pitch. I got it going with a flint and tinder. I then went into the deepest, darkest of the ceawlspace under my house. Darn near died when it set my house on fire. I'll never try that at home again!

Marta
03-05-2010, 08:36
They sound like they're vying for Darwin awards.