Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Man vs. Wild









"survivor man" has nothing on this dude.
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3 comments:

goat said...

In regards to the comment, "survivor man has nothing on this dude," I feel obliged to point out that survivor man does, in fact, have a few things on Bear Grylls.

Les Stroud, aka Survivor Man, is a musician: a guitarist, a song-writer, and a harmonica player. He composed the theme music to his own show. Did Bear write the music for Man vs Wild?

Les Stroud goes into the wilderness on his own, sets up his own shots, and does his own camera work in the bush. Bear Grylls does it all with a crew trailing him. Bear is not on his own, Les is.


But the big story that needs to be referred to here is from last summer Bear Grylls is a big old phony. Here are a few links about his misrepresenting himself on the show:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article250674.ece

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6911748.stm

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07242007/news/nationalnews/grylls_thrills_bogus__expert_nationalnews_don_kaplan.htm


And here is part of the BBC story about the controversy:

American survival consultant Mark Weinert, who was recruited by Diverse Productions, told the paper Grylls claimed to be stranded on a desert island on one occasion.

However, he was actually in Hawaii and spent some of his time there in a motel, Mr Weinert alleged.

Another time, he added, Grylls was filmed building a raft by himself, whereas the crew had actually put it together and dismantled it beforehand, to ensure that it worked.

And in a further episode, supposedly "wild" horses rounded up by Grylls had come from a local trekking facility, he claimed.


And from the NYPost:

On the program, Grylls appears to camp out in quickly-built shelters deep in the wilderness while battling hypothermia and dehydration. But when the cameras stop rolling, Grylls has actually moved to luxurious hotels.

In the last two seasons, he and producers have contrived other scenes to make it appear as if Grylls is more skilled than he really is, a consultant for the show told The Times of London.

"If you really believe everything happens the way it is shown on TV, you are being a little bit naive," said Mark Weinert, an Oregon-based survival consultant, who said producers hired him as an adviser for the show.

Discovery Channel officials declined to comment, but in the U.K., where the show airs with the title "Born Survivor," stunned network officials at Channel 4 said they are conducting an internal investigation.


Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of both shows, and of course all of Bear's insect eating and camel-skinning couldn't be faked. Both of those guys are bad-ass, without a doubt, but Les Stroud deserves a lot of credit. Not only does he actually spend nights in sub-zero tempertures alone, he's also raising two kids off the grid, check it out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7740441619915152822&q=off+the+grid&ei=3t0pSOHiJaW-qQKuteCUCg

AND he plays the harmonica. Take that Bear!

Just wanted to voice my humble opinion: Les Stroud is more of a bad-ass and a better survivalist than Bear Grylls, though both shows are equally entertaining.

That is my piece. Go Birthday Cat, go!

May 13, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Drum said...

well then...

May 13, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Drum said...

let the nerd decide - http://youtube.com/watch?v=BOc34cP0uDA&feature=related

May 13, 2008 at 12:35 PM

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