Survivorman in the Sierra Nevada

[Gossamer]

For Bear he never is "lost" he always knows where he is, it's hard to get lost when you know where you are.

Someone also said Les gets info from local guides...so he is not real

If you actually watch the shows do you hear the disclaimer and see it before they actually air Bear's show? They never did that before but put that up insted of cancelling him when the truth about him came out.......


As for the food that Bear catches he never caught any of it, all props put there by the set people that follow him around. If you think he actually caught all that food I have this awesome bridge you might wanna buy...

[tacklejunkie]

C: Bear Grylls doesn't need to be rescued because he finds his way out,.

Why did Les get lost when he tried to find his way out? Because he didn't know where he was! Hey now! Bear had already been over his route once and knew it. In other shows you see footprints on the snow where he he had already gone down the snow chute a previous time before he slid down it like a maniac trying to make it seem like a first time and uncertain thing. etc etc.

That's how you get more lost. Trying to find your way out.
When you get lost you are supposed to stay put. That keeps you the closest to the area you lost your way from. All you have to do is sit back and wait to signal for help! And never leave without a "I didn't return by this date so come looking" plan.

[mth1997]

A: You have no idea if Les has people around him helping film that. There have been multiple shots where there's NO WAY he could have filmed it. It doesn't say when he's officially alone and not..there's a reason for that.

B: Les does not always catch food, most of the time he ends up eating plants and bugs why? Because he knows his rescue team is coming. You can survive longer than 7 days without food, but not without water. Notice when he was in the Moab region of Utah, they put him there in the winter when there is ice and snow patches everywhere. Don't put him out there in the summer when Bear Grylls was there.. why? Because he wouldn't be able to survive that's why

C: Bear Grylls doesn't need to be rescued because he finds his way out,.. Les tried this one time to make it out of a location and look what happens... He needs a helicopter and search and rescue to look for him. what a joke.. Bear Grylls never needed search and rescue to find him.. never. He's made it out of every situation he's been in and he's still filming shows

A. I'll agree, I do not know for sure that Les is alone for each show. Regarding his camera shots, he documents well the fact that he traces and retraces his steps placing cameras to get shots (assuming he's alone).

B. I think you are equating food with animal meat. If he catches bugs, he is catching food. BTW, he does catch animals on several episodes I've seen. The rest of your statement is speculation, no comment.

C. Bear doesn't need to be rescued because he's not in a survival situation. His show is a farce. Maybe both shows are fake. Maybe Les' show needed ratings and advertised the show to look as if there were some trouble. Who knows. As you say, advetisers love all this nonsense.

[smokinflies]

The Bear episode that 'ruined' his show was the same one he did in the Eastern Sierras.

It was HILARIOUS when natives of the Sierras called him out on how impossible that segment would have been to film if he had traversed the paths he said he had. 6 months before the scandal about Bear's show being staged, it was already being talked about immediately after the Sierra episode.

My favorite was when Bear tried to 'ride the wild horse,' when in fact, the horse had been a prop all along.

Wait are you talking about the guy from man vs. wild?

[DarkShadow]

Wait are you talking about the guy from man vs. wild?

Yep, that one.

There's a disclaimer now before his show starts now. Quite funny....

[fishing_addict]

Ok... first of all... according to a journal entry made by Mr. Stroud back in the spring (when they filmed the Sierra episode) he was not lost. He went deeper into the woods from where he was camped in order to see if the SAR teams could find him. He explains this as a surprise for his viewers to see how well trained and effective the SAR teams are out here. Here's the link to the journal entries:
http://www.lesstroudonline.com/blog/?p=30
Now who's to say he wasn't really lost, I dunno, I haven't seen the episode yet so I can't make my own judgement on that one. What I will tell you is that the two shows (Survivorman and Man vs Wild) are two completely differnet shows with a different premise. I usually prefer to watch Survivorman being that Les is completely alone during filming and his crew will act only in an emergency. He actually shows you how to survive and stay safe if you were ever to become lost or stranded out in the middle of nowhere. I would follow his skills any day over Mr. Run reckless and full speed through a jungle, jumping off waterfalls. Man vs Wild should really be called, "How to survive if a tribe of headhunting cannibals are chasing your *** through the Amazon after you just thought you had gotten away from the Columbian Cartel after stubling upon their cocaine manufacturing plant deep in the jungle.".... Then I would follow Bears advice. But between you and me I'll just be fishing in the Sierras and want to know how to stay alive long enough for the SAR to find me if I were to ever become lost. I don't need to know that I can squeeze 2 drops of water out of elephant s**t unless I'm running from African rebels and I'm running for my life. Bears "survival" techniques are more like SERE training and have nothing to do with basic wilderness survival. And I doubt any of us in here will ever even use anything he demonstrates. Not to mention Bear forgets in every episode to teach how to operate an M-4, throw grenades, set claymores, HALO jump, locate an extraction point etc etc stc..........just my

[troutslayer05]

Bear is cheesy yes...BUT he was in the special forces and is pretty sav. The whole show is for entertainment not a reality show. that being said id rather watch bear than that goofy other guy anyday.

[Badfish2]

Yep, that one.

There's a disclaimer now before his show starts now. Quite funny....

There's a disclaimer before surviorman's show too.

[Badfish2]

Bear is cheesy yes...BUT he was in the special forces and is pretty sav. The whole show is for entertainment not a reality show. that being said id rather watch bear than that goofy other guy anyday.

Finally someone that gets it!! Right on man.

[FemaleFishinFool]

For the sake of comparison.......

Bio for Bear vs Bio for Les: (both paraphrased with key points for brevity)

Bear Grylls aka Edward michael "Bear" Grylls:

Grylls was educated at Ludgrove School, Eton College, and Birkbeck, University of London, where he graduated with a degree, obtained part-time, in Hispanic studies in 2002. He is also a second dan black belt in Shotokan karate. He can speak English, Spanish, and French.

Grylls has been married since 2000, and he and his wife Shara Grylls (née Cannings Knight) have two sons, Jesse and Marmaduke.

After leaving school, Grylls went climbing in the Himalayan mountains of Sikkim and West Bengal. He then joined the British Army's Special Forces reserve, serving for three years as a Specialist Combat Survival Instructor and Patrol Medic with the 21 SAS regiment. His military service ended in 1997 due to a parachuting accident he suffered the previous year during a training exercise in Kenya. His canopy ripped at 16,000 feet (4500 m), partially opening, causing him to fall and land on his parachute pack on his back, which broke three vertebrae, and left him struggling to feel his legs. Grylls later said of the accident, "I should have cut the main parachute and gone to the reserve but thought there was time to resolve the problem". Grylls spent the next 18 months in rehabilitation at Headley Court and, with his military service over, directed his efforts into trying to get well enough to fulfill his childhood dream of climbing Mount Everest.

Grylls has since been awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant Commander in the UK's Royal Naval Reserve for services to both charity and human endeavor.

Grylls has hosted and produced four television series of his own, two of which are Escape to the Legion and Man vs. Wild. The final two are the first and second series of Born Survivor: Bear Grylls.

Grylls filmed a four-part documentary in 2005, called Escape to the Legion, which followed Grylls and eleven other UK recruits in the French Foreign Legion, as they endured the month-long basic desert training in the Sahara. The show was broadcast in the UK and in the USA on the Military Channel.

In 2008, it was repeated in the UK on the History Channel.

Grylls hosts a documentary series titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls for the British Channel 4, known in the U.S. on Discovery Channel as Man vs. Wild. This series is titled Ultimate Survival for Discovery Channel in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The series features Grylls being dropped into some of the most inhospitable places on earth, and showing viewers how to survive. The second series premiered in the US on 15 June 2007, the third in Nov 2007, and the fourth in May 2008. Grylls is currently filming the fifth series.

Grylls' first book, titled Facing Up, went into the UK top 10 best-seller list, and was launched in the USA entitled The Kid Who Climbed Everest. Its subject is his expedition, at 23 years old, to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. The book details the climb, from his first reconnaissance climb on which he fell in a crevasse and was knocked unconscious, regaining consciousness to find himself swinging on the end of a rope, to the grueling ascent that took him over ninety days of extreme weather, sleep deprivation and almost running out of oxygen inside the death zone.

Grylls' second book Facing the Frozen Ocean was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2004, it describes how, with a team of five men, he completed the first unassisted crossing of the frozen North Atlantic, Arctic Ocean in a rigid inflatable boat (RIB). He was awarded an Honorary commission in the Royal Navy, as a Lieutenant-Commander for this feat.

A book was also written to accompany the series Born Survivor: Bear Grylls. It was published under the same title as the television series, featuring survival skills learned from some of the world's most hostile places. This book reached the Sunday Times Top 10 best-seller list.

In April 2008, Grylls published an accompanying book to the Man vs. Wild Discovery television show. The book is filled with survival tips from the TV show.

Grylls first entered the record books in 1997 by being the youngest Briton to summit Ama Dablam in the Himalayas with his good friend Colm Keaveney , a peak famously described by Sir Edmund Hillary as "unclimbable".

Then in 1998, Grylls achieved a Guinness World Record as the youngest Briton, at 23, to summit Mount Everest. However, James Allen, an Australian/British climber who ascended Everest in 1995 with an Australian team, but who has dual citizenship, beat him to the summit at age 22. Since then, British climber Rhys Jones reached the summit on his 20th birthday in May 2006.

In an interview with David Letterman (June 2007), Letterman calls him "the youngest Briton to summit Everest" and Bear corrects him by saying another man, Michael Matthews, did it the following year but died on the way down, and, regardless of his death, it has become this man's record.

Criticism
Following allegations that the show deceived viewers into believing that he was really stranded in the wild when he was not, Channel 4 temporarily suspended the show. Discovery aired re-edited episodes, decided to remove elements that were considered too planned, with a fresh voiceover and a preceding announcement pointing out that some parts are staged. It has continued to broadcast the program.

An adviser to the Man vs. Wild/Born Survivor series had claimed that Grylls had been staying at a California motel while filming. A crossing of a deep crevass was shown to be within sight of a busy highway. Bear was shown taming 'wild' horses who had horseshoes on their hooves when the film was examined closely. Similarly, it was alleged that Grylls had stayed at a crew base-camp in the Costa Rican jungle, while giving viewers the impression that he was alone. These allegations were confirmed by Channel 4, who argued that it was not a documentary, but a 'how-to' guide to survival, implying that 'faked' or re-shot scenes were acceptable in that context.

Les Stroud:

After graduating from Mimico High School in 1980, Stroud went on to complete the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. Stroud worked for several years at the Toronto-based music video channel MuchMusic, and as a songwriter for his band New Regime before a Temagami canoe trip sparked a career change. During this time he also worked as garbage collector for the City of Toronto.

In 1990 Stroud became a guide for Black Feather Wilderness Adventures leading canoe excursions into the Northern Ontario wilds. It was also during this time while on a survival course he met his wife, photographer Sue Jamison. After his marriage to Sue Jamison in 1994, the two of them spent one year living in the Canadian wilderness living a paleolithic existence. They traveled to Goldsborough Lake deep in the Wabakimi and built a cabin with no metal, plastic, or otherwise manufactured tools. They took a store of traditional foods and attempted to supplement it by hunting and trapping. Family and medical emergencies brought them out of the bush on two occasions. Their primitive living experience was filmed by Stroud and released as the 50 minute documentary, Snowshoes and Solitude, which was named Best Documentary at the Muskoka Film Festival and Best Film at the Waterwalker Film Festival.

Afterwards, the couple moved to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories where Stroud was employed as an outdoor instructor to special needs individuals of aboriginal descent. Stroud and Jamison then settled in Huntsville, Ontario, and started the outdoor instructional outfit Wilderness Voice and the media company Wilderness Spirit Productions. Inspired by the popularity of the television show Survivor, Stroud pitched a more authentic version of the show to The Discovery Channel Canada. Stroud produced two programs titled One Week in the Wilderness and Winter in the Wilderness for @discovery.ca in 2001. The success of these specials led to the development of his current show Survivorman which follows a similar format, leaving Stroud on his own, with minimal equipment, in the wilderness to film his survival experience.

Stroud has extensive experience with survival and primitive living skills, initially training with experts Gino Ferri (Gino F. Ferri Instructor / Director of Survival in the Bush, Inc.
Gino F. Ferri, PhD., is the director of Survival in the Bush, Inc., a company which acts as an instructional and consulting firm for military personnel, educators, students, hunters, anglers, executives, outdoor leaders, and others interested in mastering any number of wilderness survival and living skills.) and David Arama (Arama, 44, has been teaching and leading outdoor programs for 25 years. He has a BA in environmental studies from York University and a variety of certificates in outdoor recreation and wilderness emergency care. Nine years ago, Arama set up the WSC Survival School ww.wscsurvivalschool.com). The Kitchener-based company offers a program for just about everyone, from casual campers to troubled teens and pin-striped executives. His client list includes OPP search and rescue officers, geologists, bush pilots, teachers, school kids and corporate sales teams. He has also designed wilderness-survival manuals in conjunction with Emergency Management Ontario and the National Search and Rescue Secretariat.)

Les went on to study with many others including John "Prairie Wolf" McPherson ( a specialist in primitive living-- (an) experts at skills like basketry, pottery, flintknapping, and bowmaking, ... capable of doing... all of the essential skills needed for survival. John and Geri McPherson, a.k.a. "Prairie Wolf" are generalists who have mastered the art of doing a little bit of everything. They are true primitivists who take the "Naked into the Wilderness" approach that you should know everything you need to survive, even if you are in the wilds with absolutely nothing. Les has more than 20 years experience as a naturalist, outdoor adventurer and instructor in survival, white water paddling, sea kayaking, hiking, dog sledding and winter travel.)

Stroud has been an active participant in adventure racing and has competed at the Canadian championships.

In 2001 Stroud produced two one-hour specials for the science news show @discovery.ca. These segments follow the same format as Survivorman with Stroud filming his own survival in the wilderness. They were originally broadcast as daily segments over the course of one week but were repackaged as two one-hour specials titled "Stranded". The popularity of these pilots spawned the show Survivorman. Stroud teamed up with producer Dave Brady to produce 9 episodes of the show which began airing in 2004

Stroud has also hosted the TV program Surviving Urban Disasters, which aired on the Science Channel and the 20th annual Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

Stroud has produced survival-themed programming for The Outdoor Life Network, The Discovery Channel, and The Science Channel. The survival skills imparted from watching Stroud's television programs have been cited by several people as the reason they lived through harrowing wilderness ordeals

Stroud's idea of a nature outing is probably a little different from yours and mine: he takes off alone and heads to a punishing corner in the back of beyond with nothing but a few cameras to document his (often miserable) experiences. From the frozen Arctic pack ice to the fetid jungles of Central America, Survivorman highlights Stroud's extraordinary self-reliance and survival skills. In each episode he is set down in a deserted wilderness and left to fend entirely for himself with no food, no fresh water, no shelter and no matches.

With custom camera rigs and plenty of black humor, Stroud will spend nine weeks documenting his battle to survive in nine separate locations for Survivorman. Whether marooned on a tropical shoreline or deposited onto searing desert sands, Les Stroud takes living off the land to the extreme.

Lastly, excerpts from Les' & the Discovery channel's Q & A:

Q: How has wanting to do a "real" show about survival in these locales constrained you?
Les: A real show about survival means I must actually DO IT — actually be alone and have no food or matches. To make an instructional film is to show a bunch of techniques and go home at night. To make a TV show about survival is to have a crew with you all day ... and go home at night.

To make a real show about survival means being alone, running three to five cameras with all the set ups and tear downs, changing tapes, cleaning lenses, changing batteries and fixing gear ALONG WITH finding enough food and water to survive, building a shelter to protect from hypothermia, building a fire without matches. The camera work takes up about 65 percent of my time and the true survival leaves me filthy, wet, hungry and cold while I try to concentrate on good camera work and storytelling. It's a heavy combination of tasks.

: What is your back up emergency plan?
Les: I'm supposed to be able to pull the plug whenever I need to and so I carry an emergency satellite phone as well as a two-way radio. There is a safety crew positioned anywhere from a few miles to many miles away. The problem is that no device can get its signal out through thick jungle canopy and I often find myself without that safety link. It's those times that I must really slow down and concentrate on the fact that 'Ok, I'm completely alone now....I can't signal the crew...so I gotta take it carefully'.


Q: Do you really run all the equipment yourself? Isn't there a crew with you?
Les: I have a crew come in with me for the first introduction day only - then they leave me alone to do my thing for the week. That's the way it has to be or I don't have a show. So I run all the cameras myself - set ups and tear downs...build my shelters and try to catch game...start my fires...all completely alone. Sometimes the crew knows where I am...sometimes they don't...and sometimes there has been no back up crew - I'm out there on my own until the end of the week.


Bottom line.....
These guy's come from different backgrounds; both educationally and in terms of experience.

They both believe in thier perspectives in representing "survival situations" as intrepreted by each.

And NEITHER ONE is ever......really......alone.


~FFF