Kissing Suzy Kolber (fun sports-site w/ more-than-occasional social commentary) discusses Bear Gryll's urine-drinking on last Friday's "Man vs. Wild" (along with the video in question).
I, like the guys at KSK, am nearly gay for Grylls. The dude is THE MAN. I was watching back-to-back episodes of MvW last week on Discovery, then went into my "On Demand" menu and found out they had two more episodes tucked away in there. They also had to two episodes of "Survivorman" on there, so I decided to watch both and, once and for all, settle in my mind who's better.
Bear's got some obvious advantages. He's British, so you can hear him say funny words or un-funny words in funny ways (i.e. "moss-quitos," "slippy" instead of slippery, and "disorientating"). He was in the British Special Forces, so he has that to talk about. And he covers a wider range of habitats.
Survivorman is Canadian, and I hate Canadians. I hate the French more. I hate French Canadians the most. Being Canadian is an instant strike against him. Further, while Bear is always teaching you to find your way out of your predicament, Survivorman is often content to make due in his predicament, and never really seems to do much more than subsist and play his harmonica. Finally, Survivorman doesn't eat any living animals (that I've seen) like Bear, and he doesn't have a camera crew, so half of his shows are him complaining about how he has to do things twice, once for the camera, and once to go back and get the camera. Dumb-ass, ask your producers for a better budget and stop whining.
I watched Survivorman dig a whole in the ice and wait to club a seal for several hours, and out of frustration resort to eating some seal blubber that he'd brought along for making candles. Lame. I think I once saw him kill a rabbit with a stick or something, but otherwise I usually just see him subsisting on berrys and crap.
Bear eats insects and snakes, I've watched him pull a fish out of the water and start eating it fresh from the stream, and last week I saw him eating the flesh off of a zebra some lions had recently killed. And then he drank his own pee. And I watched him squeeze water from elephant dung last week, straight into his mouth. And he often climbs trees for fruit, instead of grazing in shrubberies.
Verdict: Man vs. Wild is better. And, I bet, he'd kick Survivorman's butt in arm-wrestling, midget-tossing, or any number of other sports.
But I feel sorry for his wife. If the old saying is that when you kiss someone, you kiss everyone they've kissed for the last 10 years, I guess that means she's getting some elephant dookie and Bear pee in the bargain as well...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
You're one of the few sound thoughts on the subject. All you have to do is look at both shows' versions of the desert. Survivorman goes to teh Mojave, where he admits it's not that hot, doesn't get all that cold, sets his food on fire to show that it burns, and in the search for water:Goes away from the Snow, ignores the dew, climbs down to a non-existent river, and finally settles on a puddle surrounded by mouse droppings without boiling the stuff. Meanwhile he comments on the likelihood of getting "the plague." Well at least he was able to camp in somewhere kind of uncomfortable for a week, during which he was able to eat... once. Survivorman is a dip.
You're both idiots. The reason that you defend Man vs. Wild so much is because you are in love with this dude. I'm not sure if you know by now or not but let me clue you in that this guy's a major FRAUD. Everything he does is staged. It has now been confirmed that he has stayed in hotels at night, has had crew members run into town to buy pizza and even had domesticated horses shipped in and then passed them off as wild stallions. His time in the special forces was a part time position (ask anyone familiar with the British SAS) so he likes to pump himself up on that one. As for Everest, maybe that's something that he can brag about but he still needed a lot of help to finish the climb.
I guess this idea of having people around to help him was too good to pass up when he started this show. He not only fakes these ridiculous stunts and tricks but he also has bad, and HORRIBLE advice for people in these type of situations.
The reason that Les Stroud seems to struggle is because, well...survival is tough! You can't burn as many calories as you would building shelters, walking and enduring the elements and then tie your shoelaces together and hike yourself up a large tree in the amazon (give me a friggin' break!). You also can't have food readily available to you in the wild like Man vs. Wild makes it seem. Well, I guess you can when you bring in domesticated animals or try to pass dead animals off as living (snake in the Sierra Nevada episode was planted).
There are many instances of this guy faking what you are seeing. And you are downright naive if you think you can do this in the wild without tricks and lies. If you like it for the entertainment value then fine, but don't act like his show is more accurate or better in any way. In fact, his information is false, contradictory (don't drink water from a tainted stream but do drink the fluid from elephant dung) and dangerous.
I guess you're just gay for Grylls....
Being a survivalist I gotta say survivor man provides better advice... (why the hell does bear grylls keep climbing waterfalls???)
so... in terms of survival... survivorman.... you try hanging out somewhere for a week without anyone (ie film crew)
although I will say that the 2007 african plains episode was funny because he had a flamethrower for self-defense... not standard survival equip.
I haven't watched Man vs Wild, but watching Survivorman, I've learned that if that dude can barely get by, what chance do I have! I'm jumping off a cliff if I'm ever stranded.
he didnt have a flamethrower he had the fire thing from a hot air ballon
man vs wild is staged. The reason he pulls fish out of the water is because its set up, same with the rabit. survivorman shows you how to survive, bear just makes everything dramatic.
and les dosent barey survive, he is out there for 7 days. bear is only out there during the day time and then sleeps in a hotel at night. lol
Let's start with the raft. It was made with modern tools A week before. He was only A mile down the beach from the resort. Now we're crossing the volcanic bridge, Only A short five minute walk from the highway. Notice the camera never pans the horizon. It's also very easy to hunt domestic rabbits when they are placed for you. A wild horse would have stonped his british dumbass into the groud. Not to mention hotels, motorhomes just off camera. I allways order pizza when i'm solo in the bwca for ten days. twice as long as A fake tv show Being alone in the wilderness is no joke even with the right equipment. but having someone there even just to watch and not help unless needed is still A large confidence boost. Maybe bear should try to film it himself just once. I think he would'nt take so much risk. The one thing I hate is meth heads from Portland.
ok, first you might be gay. man vs. wild has great entertainment value, but when it comes to true survival he is way off base. I dont know about the roomers of planted food or hotels at night but no one looks that smooth, enerjetic or refreshed after being in the bush for several days. Survivorman is much more realistic, not so much dramatic action but thats how it really is, not every min. is a crazy adventure but then again that doesnt make for great t.v. And being alone adds a huge degree of difficulty. Living in the Appalachian mountains, Hiking much of the AT, spending extended stays in the Everglades and Gulf Coast barrier islands I consider myself to have somewhat frame of reference. And I dont even like the French or people from portland but Canadians are ok.
Maybe, Man vs Wild is staged but it does bring good entertainment. If you ever watched survivor man he is a total fuckin idiot. ok, so, he throws in a couple of useful tips throughout his 7 days of being out there in the wild but what does he actually teach you that will help you out in the event that you became stranded? I can tell you that answer, SHIT!! I mean he could teach you how to sit around for 5 days, starving and not doing shit but what where would that get you. I mean his show is suppose to be educational on how to survive using tecniques as if you were in a real life situation. this fag has matches, trucks, hot air balloons, ect.... now what if you got stranded in the same situation and you didnt have any of these things? your basically shit out of luck because he taught you tecniques based on materials that you may not have. Why dont he try to use old school tecniques, like rubbing two sticks together and making a fire, that would be useful. or build a camp using materials from trees and other things that nature has to offer instead of peices from his truck or sleeping in a hot air balloon. I think man vs wild runs survivor man in the ground. who cares if some of it is staged and he had some animals placed there. he shows you what to do and how to do things from scratch, the way it should be done. he just doesnt sit there and wait for 5 days just because its a little to cold just like that pussy survivor man. if you follow what survivor man does your better off jumping off the cliff or hanging yourself because he is full of shit. MAN VS WILD IS THE BEST AND SURVIVOR MAN IS A PUSSY WHO SHOULDNT OF EVEN CAME OUT WITH THAT SHOW. SHIT, IF HE CAN TEACH SURVIVAL THEN THAT MEANS I CAN TOO. I CAN SHOW PPL HOW TO SIT AROUND IN A TRUCK OR UNDER A TREE OR MAKE A FIRE WITH MATCHES. SURVIVOR MAN IS A JOKE!!!!
Post a Comment