Men Women Wild reality show

If they were wisely equipped there would be no drama and no show. That show has been on the air for 5 years. You must have been outside and missed it. :)

Auto "races" could be held to see who got the highest mileage. And the number of people who'd watch people drive Priuses (Prii?) around a track for hours on end at 43 mph wouldn't be large. People come to see the crashes. Watching a bunch of competent backpacking go about their day? That's pretty boring, unless they are doing as many drugs, carrying as much weight, having as much sex, and getting as pregnant as Cheryl ("Strayed") Nyland. But, yeah, I have the same reactions to many of these "survival" shows, whether they are simply Man vs. Wild or if there are guns or zombies involved or not.

TV plus Nature plus Humans equals Entertainment and Cash. While somebody gets gratification from these shows (and millions of dollars), others pick up some very poor advice. Other than the pure entertainment value, in some ways these TV survival shows teach terrible lessons—and the participants do things no backpacker would ever consider like free solo climbs (think Bear Grylls), and high leaps off rocks into water pools and rivers (just to get from point A to point B?). But the worst in my opinion is on the Ultimate Survival Alaska with Marty and Dallas and other participants. These guys do things no solo backpacker should ever do—Crossing ice cold rivers and getting soaked, pack rafting and flipping over and getting themselves and all their gear soaked. It's not a show about survival, it's a show about competitive racing and an hour of entertainment highlighting what not to do on a backpacking trip in Alaska. The first rule of solo backpacking: Never get all your gear soaked. They do it routinely. You'd learn more by switching the channel and watching Dash Girls. They should instead have an Alaskan survival show about a race to keep all your gear dry no matter the cost. Point is, newb idiot Americans watch these shows and then hit the woods with jack ass knowledge and end up dead or hurt. Then again, television has never been a tool for education, it's the zombie box (what Russians call television) for entertainment only and so survival shows are pure entertainment for the lethargic American couch potatoes who make up 99.99% of the viewing audience. They'll sit and watch wide eyed between bites of cheese puffies and laugh hysterically at a guy submerged in 38F water and then put on their designer down jackets to walk 30 feet out of the house to their car in November to drive to the Nickle Store to get a bag of pork rinds and a couple liters of sugar soda. And then on the off chance that one of these Americans goes out hiking or backpacking and sees a swollen river or a high rock waterfall he'll remember a scene and end up face down on a rock or in a lake. Somewhere close by a bear will be happy and full on pork rinds and cheese puffios. Just my opinion.

And the number of people who'd watch people drive Priuses (Prii?) Prius is Latin for "prior" (coming before, if you like) so the plural should be priora. However, there is already a Priora car and, of all brands, it is a Lada. Toyota obviously ignored the Latin roots and Ladas* and opted for Prii. I will,from now on, refer to a bunch of Corollas "corellas"* Ladas is not the correct plural for Lada but I don't know Russian. (Lada from ladya, kind of a Viking long boat) A bunch of corellas is a "delinquency of corellas" (I am not kidding…)

Back to the regular programme… I am with Tipi here. Just as some believe that Rambo is real (well you get that impression reading some comments about Isis and that) some end up thinking that they can do the "survival" stuff. (without a camera crew on tow)

I agree with the comments here that these shows are idiotic (see this note on my website for an example: https://sites.google.com/site/backpackthesierra/home/stories-and-fun/favorite-nits-to-pick ) But this? "Point is, newb idiot Americans watch these shows and then hit the woods with jack ass knowledge and end up dead or hurt. Then again, television has never been a tool for education, it's the zombie box (what Russians call television) for entertainment only and so survival shows are pure entertainment for the lethargic American couch potatoes who make up 99.99% of the viewing audience." I'm not sure newbs do this. I think most of the people who watch these shows never get out into the woods. And those that do have at least a shred of common sense when they look down from the top of that waterfall…

Rare, but it happens: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE0DC1E30F931A1575BC0A9669D8B63 From the article: "In an extreme instance in April, two young men from Las Vegas were killed in Zion National Park in Utah while trying to float a hand-built log raft down the Virgin River. A park investigation found that the men ''did not have whitewater rafting experience, and had limited camping experience, little food and no overnight gear.'' ''They told their father that they intended to record their entire trip on video camera as an entry into the 'Man vs. Wild'competition'' on television, investigators wrote."

Epic sells. A pleasant jaunt does not. https://youtu.be/TfBSPyCPVsE And something I wrote recently… http://www.pmags.com/my-epic-journey-of-self

You generally need conflict to make a good story. It's not at all necessary for a good trip, but for a movie/TV show/story it is. Les Stroud (Survivorman) recently had a contest to take a fan with him to film an episode of Survivorman. He intentionally did not pick someone with survival training because "that would just be a camping trip". It doesn't have to be epic, Survivorman has had good ratings and it certainly not overdone. But he does sometimes do the exact opposite of what he thinks the correct thing to do is. This makes for a more interesting show, and he typically picks a mistake that is common. He points this all out in the show. And it does make it more interesting. And more useful. We learn more from our mistakes. ;^)

The thing I don't understand about Survivorman is this: If he can take a harmonica out with him, why not a 36 sq foot Hilleberg tent?

"The thing I don't understand about Survivorman is this: If he can take a harmonica out with him, why not a 36 sq foot Hilleberg tent?" Because: "that would just be a camping trip".

Yes, but the personal desire for a harmonica is no different than the personal desire for a tent. I guess the naked and afraid folks have spoiled me. Only two items allowed? How about a soprano saxophone and a bongo drum??

You are correct, but one will help make the show more interesting, the other won't. Naked and Stupid isn't the same kind of show. That one has a production crew and some "scripting" to make it more dramatic.

Les spells out the theoretical situation in the begging of the show and what he will have to work with. The harmonica easily fits in a pocket. A bomber shelter does not.

How about a cuben tarp in his pocket??

"You generally need conflict to make a good story." That's the formula in 95% of TV shows. The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewifes of Atlanta, The Real Housewives of XXXX, shows about real estate agents, shows of real estate flippers, Alaska survival shows, gold mining shows, Survivor (except that's more about strategy and psychology), yacht crewing,… The GOP presidential race : ) Someone gets offended about some perceived slight, and then they escalate retaliation My only question is, are they actually scripted? Do they get paid for the exaggerated drama so if they're more dramatic they'll get paid more or the show will go on longer?

Semantics as the show is a product to make money foremost

Of all the survival shows, NAA is probably the most realistic. Sure, there's a camera crew and they can get medical attention if they need it, but that show is the least staged. The couple is given a map which usually includes a water source, and that's it. I'm always interested to see which 2 items they choose. 3 items are really needed (knife, firestarter, cook pot) however they could forgo the pot if a clean water source is nearby. Sometimes I think a bug net or emergency blanket might be a better choice.

I think they are given a list of allowable items. No Coleman family tent, no Bic lighter (??), no 15×15 walmart tarp etc. There's probably a list somewhere of items permitted. I like N&A just to see two people generally slide into hate and heated exchanges but lo and behold at the end they're best of friends . . . usually. Sometimes one of them bails early, very early.

>"My only question is, are they actually scripted?" A friend who was in a reality show about the Iditarod (as a human-interest back-of-the-packer), said at one point, "I could die out here." (actually, more like "if I don't track my blood sugar levels and adjust my insulin pump accordingly, I could die out there.") unscripted and then regretted it because they ran that sound bite many times in every episode. They obviously loved that he'd said that line, but he got no more money for it. I gotta think many of the "actors" know that if they don't create some drama, they'll be off the air. Like in "Alaska: The Last Frontier" – you can't swing a salmon here on the Kenai Peninsula without hitting a Kilcher, but the vast majority of them put food on the table just fine without deciding at the last minute to burn 50 gallons of gasoline in twin Mercs trying to catch a king salmon "or they'll starve". $150 of gas money could buy a lot of frozen pizza at the Safeway down the street, just like in your town.

"Of all the survival shows, NAA is probably the most realistic. Sure, there's a camera crew and they can get medical attention if they need it, but that show is the least staged. The couple is given a map which usually includes a water source, and that's it." Ah, no. If one of the participants states that they are afraid of something you are GUARANTEED that they will encounter it. They aren't following a written script, but they aren't on their own just surviving either. Les is on his own surviving (except the few shows he took someone with him ;^) ). He is the ONLY one.

"…regretted it because they ran that sound bite many times in every episode." Yeah, I bet they loved that!