[venus1]

Who is your favorite down & dirty survival man on the Discovery Channel:
Survivor Man - Les Stroud
Man vs Wild - Bear Grylls
Going Tribal - Bruce Parry

They all can start a fire by rubbing sticks together & cook up a tasty lizard or make a meal of grubs & ants. Building shelter is no problem for these guys. Who would you want to be stuck with on a secluded extreme mtn bike trail for a week? Any others?
What could you add?

 

[lidarman]

I have only seen Bear Grylls and love him and laugh at him at the same time. He seems to know a lot of stuff but is kinda crazy and more of a stunt guy than anything it seems (him purposly dunking himself in feezing water is nuts). He takes some of the most dangerous routes down things under the guise it's saving him time, even when he isn't completely certain he is going the right direction.

I recently took a survival class and a lot of what he shows contradicts what I learned. But then I learned it under the guise of avation safety and two things that are different from his advice are, 1. You never move unless you have to. 2. You can live without food for nearly a month so that really isn't a priority in the scheme of things (but in every show he eats some weird stuff). Priorities are first aid, signaling, shelter and water. I guess in my situation, rescue people will be looking for me. His scenarios almost seem like a criminal had to kidnap you and haul you out to a spot to get into them.

It's like he is a super boyscout and knows we all get a kick out of his McGuyver style. I mean really, do you think some one has 5 hrs to make snowshoes even if they have all the parachute cord handy?

Almost all his situations are totally unrealistic.

(It sucks cuz I haven't seen the one of him in moab, and that is the one I really want to see.)

 

[venus1]

Of the 3, Les Stroud is the only one responsible for most of the the video on his series. The others have a camera crew. I give Les 50 points for that off the top. He must spend half the time setting up the cameras.
I give Bear 50 points for making it to the summit of Everest as only a limitted % those that try go to the top. Bruce gets 50 for taking hallucinogens modern man has never heard of to get the full experience of living w/ the surrounding culture.

 

[rafdog]

all discovery channel, all the time.

Bruce Parry and his willingness to ingest herbs, vomit, before starting a 2-day religious bender...priceless. Not that the other 2 are anything to sneeze at....and the stunt masters show is pretty sweet...130mph nose wheelie:eekster: There was a MTB ride in Moab I caught the very end...need to track it down.

 

[lidarman]

Of the 3, Les Stroud is the only one responsible for most of the the video on his series. The others have a camera crew. I give Les 50 points for that off the top. He must spend half the time setting up the cameras.

That is another funny aspect. Bear, for example, is trying to bear the elements in his leaf shelter, while I imagine his camera crew living nicely 50 feet away in mountain hardware tents and caviar. Must be a sight.

 

[fat_weasel]

That Bear guy is an idiot. Some of the stuff he does, like running down talus fields or trying to ride wild horses, could easily get you killed in real life. One of the first things you learn in wilderness travel is that if you're lost and don't expect a rescue, you don't do anything that could get you injured. Being lost for an extra couple of says is a way better proposition than hurrying, breaking your leg, and being basically stuck unless you're lucky enough to get rescued.

Les Stroud seems like the real deal, on the other hand. He conserves his energy and doesn't take risks, and even on the shows where they dump him in the bush blindfolded he's aware enough of his surroundings to navigate. I do wish that the show was long enough that he could go into better detail about some of the gimmicks and techniques he uses.

 

[lidarman]

That Bear guy is an idiot. Some of the stuff he does, like running down talus fields or trying to ride wild horses, could easily get you killed in real life. One of the first things you learn in wilderness travel is that if you're lost and don't expect a rescue, you don't do anything that could get you injured. Being lost for an extra couple of says is a way better proposition than hurrying, breaking your leg, and being basically stuck unless you're lucky enough to get rescued.

Les Stroud seems like the real deal, on the other hand. He conserves his energy and doesn't take risks, and even on the shows where they dump him in the bush blindfolded he's aware enough of his surroundings to navigate. I do wish that the show was long enough that he could go into better detail about some of the gimmicks and techniques he uses.

Kinda like the "worst case scenario" combined with "survivor"

I agree completely, but I yet to see Les Stroud. Maybe I will given what you say.

But we have to realize, depsite it being discovery channel, it's still entertainment. You want real learning, ya gotta go watch PBS or Annenberg stuff.

 

[venus1]

Bruce Parry and his willingness to ingest herbs, vomit, before starting a 2-day religious bender...priceless. Not that the other 2 are anything to sneeze at....and the stunt masters show is pretty sweet...130mph nose wheelie:eekster: There was a MTB ride in Moab I caught the very end...need to track it down.

Bruce is the man to go where no man has gone before. Drink the drink & smoke the smoke untill one sees God & never looks back. Bruce gives it up & projectile vomits w/ the best of them to be ONE. Sweet.

 

[galleywench]

That Bear guy is an idiot. Some of the stuff he does, like running down talus fields or trying to ride wild horses, could easily get you killed in real life. One of the first things you learn in wilderness travel is that if you're lost and don't expect a rescue, you don't do anything that could get you injured. Being lost for an extra couple of says is a way better proposition than hurrying, breaking your leg, and being basically stuck unless you're lucky enough to get rescued.

Les Stroud seems like the real deal, on the other hand. He conserves his energy and doesn't take risks, and even on the shows where they dump him in the bush blindfolded he's aware enough of his surroundings to navigate. I do wish that the show was long enough that he could go into better detail about some of the gimmicks and techniques he uses.

I totally agree, the sh*t that Bear does is just plain stoopid and could certainly get him killed. Les Stroud is the man, very low key and carries 50+ lbs of camera gear all alone. I have been out in the wilderness alone on several occasions overnight and there is a HUGE difference in your psyche when you know your really alone and when you know you have a camera crew 50 feet away who will save you if you get into real trouble.

 

[wooglin]

I totally agree, the sh*t that Bear does is just plain stoopid

Ditto. I've never watched any of the other guys, but watching Bear jump up in the middle of the night and bolt from his camp because he thought he heard bears prowling around was priceless. What a tool. The guy definitely needs a crew nearby or he'd be dead by now I'm sure.

 

[Eric Hoefer]

Les stroud because he wont lead me under a glacier to save time.

But he did rip apart a perfectly good bike in one of his episodes though.

 

[rafdog]

Bruce is the man to go where no man has gone before. Drink the drink & smoke the smoke untill one sees God & never looks back. Bruce gives it up & projectile vomits w/ the best of them to be ONE. Sweet.

The best part may be watching how much respect he gets from the people he visits...very cool.

 

[RSP_RIDER]

Bear Grylls isnt as "authentic" as Les Stroud- put thought into it.

When Bear Grylls is going down a river on his raft, whats happening? A film crew is there in a boat filming him. The show has to be planned... when he is running through the jungle he has to stop and wait for the camera crew, and all he has to carry is the clothes on his back.

Les Stroud has to deal with 50+ lbs of camera equiptment, retreive cameras, etc. I give Les the benefit of the doubt here.

As for the other option, i never really watched Going Tribal.

 

[Unknownrash]

I've seen a few episodes of Les and Bear. I must say that Les would seem like he would get you out alive. Bear on the other hand, I think he would get somebody injured or killed doing some of the dumb things I've seen him do.

 

[EscourtU]

Ok I have seen nearly every episode of all 3 shows so here is my take.
Les Stroud is good at finding his way out and surviving in places most of us wouldn't be caught dead. He does have to carry all the camera equipment which I respect him for. Yet he is a clown at times and it shows.
Bear Grylls is someone nobody should look down their nose at. He has made a career doing the hardest things imaginable. Summiting Everest, He was in the Special Air Service in the British Army, crossed the frozen North Atlantic in a Rigid Inflateable boat, he's a black belt in the martial arts and flat out knows how to survive. Sure he does some unorthidox thing in his shows but there is some good ideas comming through his shows.
Bruce Perry isn't really a survivalist but I miss that show since it hasn't been on for awhile. He just goes around and lives with the natives and shows us all the customs of other civilizations and does it without complaining to much.
To say the least I would most certainly have to pick Bear over Les because Les is a musician by occupation and Bear is always doing things in very dangerous places and is still living.
It would be cool to hang with any of the 3 for a short while to learn about some of the things not seen on the shows. Just have to remember these shows are for entertainment purposes and they have to do different things (sometimes dangerous) to get the attention of the viewers.

 

[Carbon Ken]

I love the Bear ! Especially when he's eating maggots off a dead animal or taking a big chunk out of a live fish. (Sushi anyone ?)

 

[nachomc]

Les Stroud for sure.

He's the only one who really lives on his own. Handles his own shots. Is concious of the environment (always gives a verbal disclaimer about only eating animals in time of life and death, always good about not littering or destroying local environments) and he's educational as well. Also exciting to watch. I wish there were more 'survivor man'.

 

[Santa Clauz]

Les for sure. I watch Bear as well and find his stunts laughable and yet at the same time i'm asking myself, would I ever need to know that. Most of the time its a NO.
Les on the other hand does it all himself, and I have actually learned a few things from watching his episodes. I find hes very down to earth and explains the basics of what you need to know to survive in certain cituations.

 

[InvictaS1]

How about the Artic episode of "Survivorman" where Les awoke to find polar bear tracks just feet from where he was sleeping! He could have easily been bear breakfast.

"Man vs Wild" is good for a laugh and thats about it. I guess if you did the exact opposite of what Bear does then you'd be ok in most survival situations. Drinking the juice from elephant dung! Can you say E-coli ?!?

 

[pacman]

Bear is faked

Bear's adventures are a fictional creation of what might happen, Les is for real.

In the Sierra episode Bear strips a log for a shelter or whatever. But the other log at his feet has a perfect chainsaw cut.

In the river float (King's?) you can see the berm where the road goes along the river, oops.

When he parachutes into the unknown(ha-ha) Rockies the landscape below is crossed by roads and sectioned fields.

Hitting a wild rabbit with a thrown stick. Poor tame white rabbit from the pet store, tied down?

I'd eat the horse.

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On the other hand Les was lucky(?) to find a water source in the Sonoran Desert.