i was watching the first 5 minutes of survivorman on discovery channel tuesday (nov. 27) and he made in my opinoion a stupid comment that made me turn off the show. the setting was to simulate surviving a plane crash in the mountian snow and trying to start a fire with a car style battery. the comment that angered me was, he dosen't seek advice or practice his survival methods and just gose in and makes it all up on the fly like he's to mocho for that. don't get me wrong, part of surviving is useing your mind and working out problems but that statement rubbed me the wrong way. is he impling that seeking advice and training is the wimp way and all you need to do is watch his show and you'll be o.k. if so why do militarys train thier troops, why is there such groups like boy scouts who teach such skills, and what's the reason for his show if people should not worry or prepare untill something happens and think on the fly. IMO i'm pretty sure it was a slander on his competition Bear Gryills (s/p) cause he admits to seeking advice and practice of technque before filming. also IMO not doing so is a good way to die out or come back messed up, it was a foolish statement and an attemp for sman to sound cool.

(sorry in advance, this topic really buggs me. In fact, I may delete a lot of my comments on this one later. I just see too many people who never lift a finger to learn self defense or survival and it gets to me when they complain about someone who is trying to help others)

You make it sound like the guy is some uneducated ghetto junkie just camping in the woods.

Have you ever camped in the woods at all? Have you ever even been canoeing? If you have ever even been slightly placed in a survival situation you would have know exactly why he would have made a comment like that.

Its because most people have no clue about anything survival oriented and have no preparations whatsoever for ever being in a survival situation. I bet most people don’t even own a pocket knife, let alone carry one. Do most people have a concealed weapons license and carry a gun? Probably not. Does anyone you know have a first aid kit in thier car? I doubt it. Does anyone you know even have a map of their area? Can they even read a map, let alone a compass?

I bet if I put most people through a simple survival test they would fail miserably. I bet most people couldn’t hunt or trap an animal to save thier life, literally.

Even if the show is staged completely, what they are broadcasting might save someone’s life. Watching most television shows woln't teach you something important.

Could they do a better job? Of course. But most people don’t have the first damn clue about what they are talking about anyway. Most of their shows go completely over most peoples head. There is little point to going into more depth. The attention span of the TV public is short. You’d be lucky to have most people remember just one important piece of information that they have covered in one of those shows. If they made them more in depth, then most people would just change the channel.

(a lot of my comments have been edited out)

[edit on 29-11-2007 by Hot_Wings]

[edit on 29-11-2007 by Hot_Wings]

edited previous comments not to be so pointed.

If you watched the 'Making of Survivorman' you'll realize how Les does it.

It's interesting and I didn't exactly realize that he was doing it that way.

I have actually heard him say, on more then one occasion, that he researches everything ahead of time. For instance before he marooned himself on a deserted island he looked into all the edible plants he might find. What he isn't planing on is where he is going to make camp, or how he is going to camp/build shelter/etc. He is trying to stimulate a survival situation for an average person (read: not survivalist). So yes he is prepared (he thoroughly researches his environment), but no he doesn't plan (doesn't go into survival mode until he gets there).

Surviorman is cool because he goes in alone and his crew sets up a basecamp a few days hike away. Yes he does have a crew that can help, but they are a long way off. Man v. Wild has a crew with him the whole time filming and preparing things. Survivior Man has to go and hike up and down, back and forth over and over, to get all his good shots of himself doing something or other (leave a camera at the bottom of a glacier and hike up; then come back and get the camera and hike back up).

He (Survival Man) does say that he doesn't bring any special survival gear with him, becasue he wants to simulate what the average person in his scenerio would have on hand.

Originally posted by whargoul He (Survival Man) does say that he doesn't bring any special survival gear with him, becasue he wants to simulate what the average person in his scenerio would have on hand.

Two cases of camera lenses would be quite handy for starting a fire.

Ok I'll definitely give you the fact that Survivorman is a LOT better than Bear Grylls.

I was trying to find the link to the Les VS Bear vid.. But I can't remember if it was on Youtube or Google vid.
Worth a look though. lol

Hot wings, I’d kind of like to know who your comment was to also. If toward me you greatly misinterpreted my statement. I have nothing against people who prepare or train for disaster/survival, they are the ones who usually live to tell the tale. As for me not being prepared, I grew up in the boy scouts (and yes received my canoeing merit badge), carry a knife daily (job requirement), wish I could get a CCW permit but live in a non shall issue state and have read numerous book and watched numerous videos on survival (of all kinds) trapping, hunting and so on along with real time experience. To top it off if you can’t tell by my sig, I’m an avid shooter. My point in the argument is he came off with a "I’m better than everyone else and you can’t possibly learn from anyone else outside of my greatness" attitude that rather annoyed me. Not trying to start internet wars over it, that’s just my opinion of his comment.

But in closing it dose work, me and some coworkers tried it out a couple years ago. It is extremely dangerous (witch I also want add, I personally feel the comment did to me down play the severity of a action like this) and since I turned off the show after said comment I hope he went in great detail to explain the danger of such a method and the proper way and materials to use.


Also I did leave out one important fact witch is my bad (come on guys I’m not perfect), this is only the second episode I’ve seen. And after reading your posts I can see where your coming from.

[edit on 29-11-2007 by minesweeper]

minesweeper

I remember the episode in question and I beleave you better watch it again. He said he had never tried that way of starting a fire. I dont recall him ever saying that he doesnt research any thing and makes it all up as he goes along. it was just that way of fire starting that it was the first on.

Having been a follower what I call " experimental archeology" for quite a while. I have spent a number of days and or even weeks in the wilderness with little more than what was in my pockets. What you see on T.V. may look glamorous but it is very hard work. It is one thing to set up a camp and hunt and gather. It is another to travel and provide for food and shelter while you are tired and lost. It is survival in an altogether different mode. So much of what we take for granted will get you killed if you are not careful. Building a debris hut looks easy, until you run out of daylight and it starts raining in thirty-five degree temps. If it is not right you will go hyperthermic in minutes. Food is the least of your worries for a while anyway. It takes some time to get hungry enough to eat some things untill you get used to them. I totally respect Les on survivor man he shows how it really can be. Bear Gryls[sp} is another story. Following him is a disaster waiting to happen.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

Originally posted by angryamerican
minesweeper

I remember the episode in question and I beleave you better watch it again. He said he had never tried that way of starting a fire. I dont recall him ever saying that he doesnt research any thing and makes it all up as he goes along. it was just that way of fire starting that it was the first on.

I remember it, but you could be right and I misunderstood him. Like I said only 2nd episode and maybe too quick to judge.

If you watch the episode I mentioned, when he went on the tropical island, he sought out and lived with the native tribe for about a week, getting information and tips, including how to make a 'torch' and hold it over the water at night to attract fish.

The special shows the native that was helping him doing it and he was successful. However Les admitted that when he's alone trying to do it, it's not always very successful. Obviously things like that take technique and experience and trial and error and time.

So while he doesn't get hands on with everything in every episode, he does do some research and has a list of things that he can try.

Thus somethings he never gets to try but he knows about them and then he relies on his gut instinct and experience in other areas to give some new stuff a trial while he's doing the show.

Remember there's a lot of footage that he gets and they have to edit it down.

IOW, it's not just a matter of him jumping out of the boat and using his wits independent of where he is and what flora and fauna is available. The harder the challenge, the more time he spends acclimatizing and training, I suspect.

However if you saw the Kalahari episode, he said that it was among the hardest he ever did, due to the suffocating heat. You just can't train for that very much.

Originally posted by reluctantpawn
Having been a follower what I call " experimental archeology" for quite a while. I have spent a number of days and or even weeks in the wilderness with little more than what was in my pockets. What you see on T.V. may look glamorous but it is very hard work. It is one thing to set up a camp and hunt and gather. It is another to travel and provide for food and shelter while you are tired and lost. It is survival in an altogether different mode. So much of what we take for granted will get you killed if you are not careful. Building a debris hut looks easy, until you run out of daylight and it starts raining in thirty-five degree temps. If it is not right you will go hyperthermic in minutes. Food is the least of your worries for a while anyway. It takes some time to get hungry enough to eat some things untill you get used to them. I totally respect Les on survivor man he shows how it really can be. Bear Gryls[sp} is another story. Following him is a disaster waiting to happen.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

Totally agree with you, and you all bring up a lot of good points. I do feel that more people do need to go out and get dirty trying it themselves. Tonight I’m sleeping in the back yard.

WOOO Ray Mears!!!

the man that was my biggest survival romadel once met Les Stroud (Survivor Man). He said Les seemed a little wacked out of it (he also said spend that much time in the bush by your self could do that to a person). I have watched Survivor man and I wasn't impressed. On his show he has some prety ammeture, and prety silly mistakes. I see his show as more of a way to avoid making mistakes. In this context I doe think the his show may be wirth watching but his information shouldn't be taken serious by ammeture survavilists.

one of the two shows did an episode where one would have to deal with a flooded home in
new orleans. it gave some good points. i learned that you can condensate ill flood water to be safe for drinking.
if one little thing triggers a memory for someone to make use of in a sticky situation from these shows, then that's a win. the chances of HAVING to use the knowledge, slim. but it could be a life saver.

sometimes it makes me wonder: is there a reason we're being presented with 2 survival shows on right now?

But some people don't recognize that some of the things he does are very dangerous, and they may not have as much luck as he does.

Originally posted by minesweeper
i was watching the first 5 minutes of survivorman on discovery channel tuesday (nov. 27) and he made in my opinoion a stupid comment that made me turn off the show. the setting was to simulate surviving a plane crash in the mountian snow and trying to start a fire with a car style battery. the comment that angered me was, he dosen't seek advice or practice his survival methods and just gose in and makes it all up on the fly like he's to mocho for that.

Sorry to tell you, but you obviously misunderstood the point he was trying to get across. I've seen quite a few episodes of survivorman. One in particular that I watched was a "making of" show. In this show, he showed how he spends time with the natives in every area where he films and learns the local tips and tricks from them. This goes against your entire statement.