Is Bear Gryll's Insane?

a reply to: Phage

Hehe!

In the Expendables? Perhaps! Unless Bear Grylls is also a time traveller, in which case he could have picked up the entirety of Chucks stunt work.

a reply to: TrueBrit
Grylls eats time for lunch.
Then pees it out.
Then drinks it.
Out of the trunk of an elephant.
Which he killed with a toothpick.

a reply to: Death_Kron

You obviously don't know much about marketing do you? Read, how to lauch a successful tv show 101. Then get back to us okay. Rule #1: You need drama!

He sells the tv viewer ADVENTURE!!! HELLO. This is not navy seals survival training 101. This is: you're a dumb ass slave working for the man in a cubical for life. So here, watch me have fun and be free out in the wild and join me on this survival adventure, even if you can't be here in person.

Do you get it now???

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: JacKatMtn

First of all, Mr Grylls does not do survival in his back yard as a matter of course. He does it all over the damned place. The wilds of the Amazon, the foothills of the Himalayas, stuff like that. His familiarity with the fauna and flora of our whole planet are both pretty impressive, and I am sure he is more than aware, when he munches down on most things, what is, and is not appropriate eating. Also, he has conditioned his body to deal with certain stressors, which you and I might fail to cope with with as much aplomb.

Furthermore, with his being able to be dropped most anywhere, and get from A to B with no map, he has to be able to navigate using whatever he can see. In a forested area, that means either climbing a tree, or climbing a mountain or cliff face, to figure out what lies ahead. Rivers, streams, other mountains, any detail on the landscape that might indicate an area worth hiking through, or an area worth avoiding, will help him plan ahead so that he does not loose energy and time, on bad paths, or on going in totally the wrong direction.

We are not talking about a guy who is going to march back to his cabin, crack open a cold beer, roast up some of the game he just shot with his hunting rifle, and do a winter in the hills with a log fire and a generator. We are talking about a fellow who can be dropped anywhere on the planet with no idea where he is going to land up, and live through it. That is an entirely different prospect to going to woodland you know well, where every crevice in a rock and every cliff face the eye can see is known to you.

Yeah, whatever dude....He is surrounded by a team of experts at all times and when filming is done for the day it's off to the nearest 5 star for some lobster done in a lobster sauce all washed with a glass of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. He's a big girls arse.

do you believe those vines he climes, those murky croc infested waters. those underground caves have not been checked and checked again before he does what he does. ?

If i hear one more person say he was in the SAS i'll rip my scrotum off and use it as a tinder pouch...

He was in the TA version..ie, a weekend warrior. And as for being the youngest to climb Everest at 25... try doing it at 80

The Scouting movement should have thought better than to use a un-reality TV star, and a dangerous one at that as there chosen leader. The guy is a fraud.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

I would like to see any one of the survivalists who bash him, take a walk with the fellow with no crew and no plan.

I reckon he would come out tops. Sure, he apes for the camera, and I am certain that you are right, regarding the set up of the show. But he did not get to do that show, by not having been and done things that even the most insane amongst us would think more than twice about. The lad may be crazy, and he almost certainly does not put himself at risk on the show, but he only got to do the show because before anyone gave a crap about who he was, he was doing really crazy things.

That's how he got the gig in the first place!

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Soloprotocol

I would like to see any one of the survivalists who bash him, take a walk with the fellow with no crew and no plan.

I reckon he would come out tops. Sure, he apes for the camera, and I am certain that you are right, regarding the set up of the show. But he did not get to do that show, by not having been and done things that even the most insane amongst us would think more than twice about. The lad may be crazy, and he almost certainly does not put himself at risk on the show, but he only got to do the show because before anyone gave a crap about who he was, he was doing really crazy things.

That's how he got the gig in the first place!

He got into actionman TV because his wife worked for the production company and were looking for a action man type. Bears own words.

originally posted by: DerBeobachter

fixed

Meh, I don't really watch TV.

At least Bear shows you how to get the hell out of wherever you are lost, showing a few survival tricks along the way.

Les just shows you how to survive in the same exact location for a week until your guaranteed helicopter ride comes to save you.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

Perhaps Bear is modest.

He was doing insane crap before he ever got the TV shot after all. They wanted an action man type, but that is not what lead him to do bonkers things. He was doing them anyway, and got a slot on television because he fit the bill, not because he looked right for it.

Those types of shows are meant for entertainment value. They sprinkle in some nuggets here & there, but they focus on what the viewers want, which is usually outdoor drama & the appearance of "roughing it". I even joke w/my Mom about how they might bring an expensive coat or a backpack, but not a half gallon of water or some aspirin (or multi-use items like baking soda).

Personally, I'd love a real survival show. But I'm pretty sure it would be boring as crap for most people, since it would be like reading a field manual. Or it would be like my personal philosophy on survival, which is "simply making it to the next morning". In fact, real survival shows would look like most indigenous tribes or "primitive" societies. There would be larger groups of people, everyone would be delegated different duties, and it would include things like sex, diarrhea, childbirth & surgeries without modern medical supplies, building clay/mud bricks & pottery, planting basic crops, catching & taming animals, making makeshift alcohols & other "tonics", digging & maintaining makeshift wells, etc. But if people wanted to see that, they could just travel to a poor region. Hence my statement that most viewers really just want to see outdoor drama & the appearance of "roughing it", as opposed to real survival.

I think it's best to separate the individual credentials from the tv shows.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Soloprotocol

Perhaps Bear is modest.

He was doing insane crap before he ever got the TV shot after all. They wanted an action man type, but that is not what lead him to do bonkers things. He was doing them anyway, and got a slot on television because he fit the bill, not because he looked right for it.

Do you think it's right for the Chief Scout to be teaching these insane things. As far as i'm concerned he's the wrong man for the job. Children watch this stuff.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

My opinion of Scouting is low, because I was one, and the entire organisation as I experienced it, was full of bastards, knuckle draggers, and questionable authority figures. Frankly, as long as he has no unhealthy fondness for children, and does not sniff coke off his machete, he's a better Scout leader than he could be, and that's good enough.

Would have rather had that Bear fellow leading my pack than the fat, gormless, and morally retarded bastard we had.

originally posted by: Psychonautics
Meh, I don't really watch TV.



Les just shows you how to survive in the same exact location for a week until your guaranteed helicopter ride comes to save you.

In a survival situation experts will tell you the best thing to do is stay put. As long as you have stuck to the golden rule of telling people where exactly you are going and when you'll be back rescue will come to you. learning the basics will keep you alive longer than if you go wandering around jungles, climbing slippery rock faces and vines that might not be attached to much. That's just suicide.

You should never get yourself in these situations in the first place. Most of the situations he puts himself in are hypothetical anyway. The chances are 99.999999% of us will never ever be stranded in as remote locations as he portrays to be in.

The only exotic place he's never been stranded in is outer space fur christs sake.....i know, i'm waiting on it.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Soloprotocol

My opinion of Scouting is low, because I was one, and the entire organisation as I experienced it, was full of bastards, knuckle draggers, and questionable authority figures. Frankly, as long as he has no unhealthy fondness for children, and does not sniff coke off his machete, he's a better Scout leader than he could be, and that's good enough.

Would have rather had that Bear fellow leading my pack than the fat, gormless, and morally retarded bastard we had.

Sounds a lot like my Scouting days..Our leader left under a dark cloud then we managed to burn the hall down.

originally posted by: Death_Kron
a reply to: JacKatMtn

Very good Jack

I'm questioning why someone who obviously has the skills and experience would produce the urine he does.

That has been answered - $$$

The guy could survive as well as anyone and has incredible knowledge, but he's making tv shows.
It is first and foremost entertainment so if you're watching his shows like a serious documentary or instructional video then I'd say that's on you and not Bear.

i really dont care whether its staged of not. if i learn something out of it ill watch it.. ive watched all of mannvswild and all of survivorman, SM is quite boring and at least Bear intentionally puts himself in scenarios for educational purposes.

he will teach you how to make a shelter and what to eat and where to find it, where Les will just film himself sleeping on the ground and only eat what he knows is safe, wich is very little because he wont take the risk if he's not completely sure.

i like both shows but to be honest, id take Bear over most survivor shows just because he puts out more useful content.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

Probably the best thing that could have happened.

Honestly, there was no bloody decorum in that mob when I was a youngster.

Bear Grylls is a special kind of nutcase. I mean drinking your own piss is NOT right man.

He was caught out a few years ago after his first or second series aired in the UK. As he was 'surviving' in the jungle, they were actually basically filming in the back garden of a luxury hotel resort, and him and the whole crew were staying at the hotel, whilst pretending to 'survive' in the jungle.

All a scam. He's a super rich toff, with lots of super rich friends in the tv production world, who have helped him create this career.