Man Vs. Wild

[Frank Perkins]

Anyone check out Discovery channel’s new show Man vs. Wild? http://www.discovery.com/manvswild

I thought it was pretty much garbage. At least Les Stroud from Survivorman films his own trip. Some of the highlights or lows were:
– jumping off cliffs the first 5 minutes into the show. Somehow I don’t think this is the best strategy for being lost in the desert. It was kinda amusing that every other shot had him jumping from something. I would think a sprain ankle, broken leg is the first thing you want to avoid.
– peeing on his head towel to keep cool
– Climbing straight up a chasm

I guess they’re looking for ratings rather than realism.

[Doug Johnson]

I would agree that there was some very questionable stuff. Climbing up cliffs to find raven’s eggs when he had zip for water resources seemed strange too- seems to me you’d need to stay focusd on water.

But I did learn some things- such as the compass cactus and making a straw. Diving under the brush jam in the slot- that was pretty wild too.
Knowing slots, I wonder if staying up above would have been smarter.

But I’m excited to see it again- MUCH better than Friends!

[J R]

This isnt the first steaming pile from “Bear”.

He had a show on a while back. I seem to have blocked most of it from memory, but I remember him *thinking* a grizzly was after him, *running* away from the phantom grizz, then *jumping* off a cliff into a white water river. While bobbing up and down in the water, you could clearly see he was wearing some sort of low-pro life preserver under his sweater. All the while, his camera crew managed to keep their cool and record everything from the dry bank.

Id call it a yawner if it wasn’t so damn ridiculous.

[Moe Dog]

I saw that same episode – pretty lame to see the outline of a floatation device under his sweater as he’s proclaiming to do this in a ‘survival’ setting. The first clue was watching him bob up and down the river with both head AND shoulders well above the surface – impossible without a floatation device.

The pissing on a bandana to keep cool was not only questionable merit-wise, but gross and undoubtably for shock value.

[mark henley]

Back at the turn of the century, more than one young lad died from drinking through a hollow “straw” they picked that turned out to be a poison Hemlock plant.

[Brandon Taitano]

How many shaded spots did he pass up before he even reached the slot canyon? Not to mention the shades he was standing in front of when he peed on his shirt. I also can’t figure out the shirt thing; why he’d tear up a perfectly good shirt when he could have made the turban from the shirt with out doing that is quite beyond me. He also seems to have kept the sweatshirt on when the should have worn the lighter shirt instead.
Also: NEVER dive into standing water with dead animals in it; NEVER dive under a log jam larger than one sapling; NEVER travel in the heat of the afternoon unless you have no other options; your priorities in the desert situation are (1) Shelter, (2)Water, (3)Fire – the first two can switch depending on time of year, time of day, weather and location.

[Frank Perkins]

So this time Bear [that’s his name] is stranded in the Costa Rican jungle. He decides to follow a river down to civilization, which makes sense to me, but he actually hikes *in* the river it self. Of course, he has to repel down a waterfall and then he realized he needs the help of a milk tree, so he reples *UP* the waterfall LOL

I have to admit that climbing a tree to the top of the forest’s canopy was pretty scary. I’m not sure how he got down, cause it didn’t look like it was going to be that easy. Of course, the camera guy was up there too so something didn’t seem right.

There is another new show on about a group’s jouney up MT Everest. That’s actually pretty good [so far] and isn’t as sensational as Man vs Wild.

[Scott Peterson]

I agree that this show is pretty hokey. In a later portion of the show, he claims to climb through the mangroves looking for solid ground for 3 hours…before turning around to get back on his balsa raft. There is no way he was doing that for 6 hours total.

I also agree that the reality show about the group going up Everest is worth watching. Maybe the most real of any of the reality shows…and pretty appealing to the adventure minded.

[J R]

The only really useful bit of information that was on this Costa Rican episode was showing how to properly use a knife to cut down a tree. With a baton! Of course, He did use a rock to beat against the serrated edge of his knife, so thats a point against him.

More points against him? He chugged JUNGLE water! I dont care how “careful” you are, jungle water is NEVER EVER EVER EVER safe to drink raw. Especially not if your a white boy from England. Dont do it! If you do do it, dont be surprised when your emptying your intestines from both end all night long.

He wasnt just hiking down the river. He was bounding in great leaps from one pool to another, not having a clue what the ground was like under that brown water. But what is amazing is that he had the ENERGY to do all that jumping around after having such an intestinally challenging night. And this is AFTER he decided to climb UP a waterfall, Go find that milk tree, Lick it till he got splinters in his tounge (it wasn’t exactly a gusher of a tree), THEN go back for his leaping from pool to pool trick… and oh yeah, he hadnt had a meal he could keep down in two days at this point.

Then there is the whole mangrove thing. Your right, he absolutly did NOT go climbing around the mangroves for 6 hours when he had a perfectly good raft just sitting there – NOT tied to anything but amazingly still there after his half a day journey.

This show is a joke. I wont be watching it anymore. It gives me hives.

[Frank Perkins]

LOL, I totally forgot to mention the mangrove part. I also like how one minute he is paddling down a stream and the next he’s in the middle of the ocean. When they showed him on shore again, you would think a river inlet would be visible. Well, that’s assuming 5% of the show is legit.

Incidentally, I went to Les’ website [aka Survivorman] and they’re working on renewing for another season.

[Greyson Howard]

The show is definitly stunt-driven, seeing as how two episodes started with skydiving, but I have learned a thing or two.
In the alps the drag rope technique was cool, as were his ice-fishing techniques and his Gollem impression.

[Frank Perkins]

So he parachutes out onto the French alps to simulate the 100’s of hikers/skiers that get lost in the alps. However, he uses his parachute as part of the gear to survive on. I never realized how many people parachute into the alps!

The scene where he simulates hanging over a ledge with his knotted rope has to be totally fake. That and the scene where he catches a trout.

I’m not sure why I watch the stupid show. I must be a gluten for torture.

[mark henley]

Did you catch the Sierra Nevada show???

Wow … making fire with sticks and no knife, wonder how that nice notch got cut in the fireboard?

Or … how did he gut the Rabbit?

My wife and I love the show …. we love to sit and yell "IDIOT" at the TV. Should be entitled … how to Die in the Great Outdoors.

It's funnier than Saturday Night Live.

[J R]

Well, you don't NEED a knife to gut a rabbit. The "squeeze and fling" technique does work… though its not at all for the squeamish.

I'd love to have some snarky thing t say about the episode, but I didnt watch it (note, I didnt say I missed the show. I miss nothing about it)

[Frank Perkins]

To his credit, he does say at the start of every episode that he always has a knife, flint and his water canteen.

What I don't like about the show is that he parachutes into an area, but then he uses the parachute to survive. I don't know too many hikers that parachute into their hiking spots.

I almost puked when he ripped the head off the snake and it's wriggly body.

[J R]

Its a grand ol' time to log in to the MvW forum on the Discovery Channel website.

It looks like the people who cant stand the show are all fairly knowledgeable outdoors people, who level some serious critique about technique and obvious faux pas. The ones who love the show tend to post things like "Bears a Hottie" and "I love his watch".

Discovery channel seems to have really stepped on its credibility crank on this one.

[Anonymous]

Time to rename the show: MAN vs. REALITY!

Truly the biggest waste of time for anyone interested in the subject of survival.

[paul johnson]

Discovery channel began its descent into just being "popular" TV sometime in the mid-to-late 90's, IIRC. How the mighty have fallen. Discovery Channel is sort of like "Casey at the bat" and just like Casey, DC has struck out – again. I rarely watch anything on it anymore.

[Scott Robertson]

I have watched both Survivorman and Man vs. Wild. Bear can go break his neck for all I care. Les (Survivorman) has more credibility in his little finger. What really makes me sick about Man vs. Wild is when Bear stops to rest and talks to the camera (as the music swells) about how much he misses his wife and kid and how lonely he is. He has an entire camera crew right there! Like the sound guy is going to sit munching on a Snickers while Bear starves or eats insects… RIGHT.

Discovery Channel is going the way of TLC (The Learning Channel). TLC used to be packed with awesome documentaries and host-guided nature shows. What do you see on TLC now? Nothing but design shows. Fix your house and let's trade houses and let's build this. No more documentaries, no more nature shows. Discovery Channel used to be my favorite network, but with the addition of shows like Monster Garage, It Takes a Thief, and American Chopper- I just don't watch it anymore. I have reverted back to watching PBS for shows like Wide Angle and Nature.

[Derek H]

Obviously there are some flaws in his show, and obviously some of the things he does are more hollywood than reality. You may not agree with his techniques, and some of the things he does may be considered "dangerous", but give the guy some credit where it is deserved. He definitely knows his stuff, and he has done some pretty extreme and physically demanding things. He is NOT just some actor who is pretending.

Anyways, I would rather watch Man Vs Wild than pretty much anything else on TV these days.

[Zack Karas]

Here is what I don't get: how is it he always jumps out of the plane seemingly randomly, but always lands 10 feet from a cameraman? Seems like his route is 100% planned from the beginning.

[You Suck]

I can tell that most of you people have not been in the military. All you know how to do is freakin' wine and cry about a guy who is showing people how to survive. Look, how many of you climbed Mt Everest? yeah, i bet none of your sorry butts! I bet this guy could survive longer then any of you. The military teaches you skills that regular ordinary people like youselves would have no clue of even thinking of. This guy goes into every type of environment and shows people vital skills they need to survive. I know buy reading this forum that many of you have learned new things that you didn't know of from him. Most of you have not even a single clue of how hard it is in these conditions to survive.The reason you don't know…you have no experience in the military like Bear has nor do you posess the skills. The camera crew has to be with him. How else is he going to film the damm show people!? Yes, i'm sure the camera crew has their own food that they brought with them but this show isn't about the camera crew surviving its about one man surviving. I really don't think he would bite into a raw fish the way he did if he wasn't really hungry or squeeze elephant dung to get water out of it. The show is "Man vs. Wild" not "Man and camera crew vs Wild." I don't care if the camera crew are eating a freakin' baked ham! It doesn't matter because it's Bear that is surviving. I hope all of you read this and PLEASE post replys back so i can laugh my butt off! I bet you guys don't even know how to make a fire! BWAHAHAHAHA!!

[James Pitts]

My kids love the show and it's fun to watch with them.

[Shawn Basil]

Partner, I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps and worked in arctic, mountain, desert, jungle, and temperate environments with formal training in most of them, and experience in all of them, especially arctic and mountain environments. I've augmented this since with a tremendous mount of experience in the civilian guiding sector. I feel perfectly qualified to say Bear is a show-off who is going to get a novice killed by showing some cool, entertaining TV without the novice having any real knowledge to see themselves through some of the obviously staged settings Bear shows up in. I'm not saying Bear doesn't have the background, but the format of his show is pretty dangerously limited in terms of passing on comprehensive knowledge. Don't besmirch the Corps by defending this sellout who is cashing in on a bunch of sensationalism.

[Greyson Howard]

People like the above "you suck" pop up on forums like this from time to time, generally pre-pubescet boys with nothing to do but troll the internet. Guys like this got the goats of a lot of posters on outdoorreview.com a while ago, so its best to ignore them.

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