It probably was prearranged, yes, but he did a good job of showing how it works. Notice how once he polished the aluminum can he just set it in place and left it there to work. It looked like it wasn't until some time later that he noticed smoke coming from the tinder bundle. I appreciated seeing Les light a fire in this manner because, since I first saw this on MythBusters, I have never thought of just leaving the can-mirror in place instead of holding and focusing it.

The set-up to me was not that it worked, it was more that he had the cans and the chocolate on hand. It was still a good show & I think he made it the whole 7 days. I'll have to rewatch it to make sure.

As the show began I was a little disappointed at all the stuff he packed in, especially the four days worth of water and and the ostrich egg.

However, as things developed and I saw how little that most of the stuff helped in the long run, it hit me how harsh the climate of the Kalihari is to survive and I wasn't bothered. Even with water Les was suffering, at one point on the verge of heat stroke.

In the end I enjoyed the show a lot. Great work once again Mr. Stroud!

And yeah, pulling a chunk of chocolate out of nowhere was a little cheesey. Thank goodness it wasn't a melty gooey mess with pocket lint stuck in it. Or was it? LOL

I'm curious, could you use the bottom of a jar as a solar concentrator for starting a fire? Could be lens shaped enough. If not, I think you can use a glass jar full of water to do it. As long as you sealed the jar to keep from losing any water, I think that's as much worth a try as the soda can and chocolate. Anyone else spot ways to start a fire he might have used?

I've wondered how the stuff Les has to scrounge from is picked. I finally decided it's not him, but someone on the production staff that chooses what to give him. Then it's more or less a surprise and he has to figure out how to use it. If anyone knows the definitive answer, I'd appreciate knowing for sure.

One thing I noticed was he had a couple of gallon sized buckets but never saw him use them. He should have used one to pee in and distill from. Pee in the bucket, put a rock in the cup to keep it from floating and put it in the bucket with the plastic on top. Virtually 100 percent recovery. He probably lost 60 or 70 percent by just doing it in the sand. As hot as it was, he probably urinated very little, but if he had been doing that from day one it could have made a big difference.

And buckets are good for digging in the sand too. Half expected some kind of dug out pit under the tree to keep a little cooler.

I thought the show was pretty good. Those were some tough, tough conditions for sure. The thought of running out of water, basically equalling death is just, scarey. I'm on the US east coast, theres water Everywhere.
My wife and I were looking at each other like: "Ok were never going to the Desert". (short of Vegas )
I just can't think of a good reason for me to be there, so in that aspect the show was not really appealing to me, but fun none the less. I am really looking foward to the Alaska episode!

On the bird nest deal, why didn't he find a forked branch, and fashion as "swatter" with the seat cushion from the truck. I bet he could have knocked a few birds down. lol

An entertaining show all around. Surviving that kind of environment is hard to imagine.

I thought he might put a shirt or sweater over on of the openings when he poked the birds' nest so that a fleeing bird(s) might get tangled up. Hard to skewer little birds in flight.

Anyone catch the Amazon show? It was way better the the 1st episode of the season. It looks like he used some Maya Dust in the episode, & it worked pretty well.