Now you've got me curious- what issue do you have with Les? He strikes me as one of the few sane, sensible and skilled TV survival presenters out there.

I heard a radio interview with Les yesterday and, when asked what he'd take in real life, he pretty much said everything he doesn't on the show. His top four don't leave home without items were water, fire, shelter and signalling.

It's a good point about Bear always taking water, fire and a knife. There is a definite upside to his shows, and valuable education to be had. Like anything, I prefer not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and take the self-imposed adreniline stuff for what it is - entertainment value.

You are a fairly sophisticated viewer, and can recognize the inanity is his stunts. How many young kids can tell the difference, or people with insignificant outdoors experience? I haven't watched that many of his shows, but what I have seen absolutely disgusts me. Every one I saw featured an absolutely insane or improbable or unnecessary stunt. He is an irresponsible buffoon.

A contrast was a show on PBS a few years ago hosted by John Veahman (sp?), editor of Backpacker magazine. It was low key, very informative, and accurate. It typically featured a subject matter expert in whatever activity was highlighted. I guess it just wasn't jazzy enough.

Realistically, I think most are able to tell that what Bear does requires both specific skills and a special kind of crazy .

Outdoor skills and experience aren't needed to realize the risks involved in his adventures; just a modicum of common sense. For those incapable of this level of discernment, I don't blame the show; they're as likely to harm themselves trying to mimic "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "My Side of the Mountain" as they are "Man vs. Wild."

I'm not a hardcore fan, I've seen a few shows and while I've found them entertaining I tend to use them as an example of what not to do in a survival situation, but my opinion of him has really gone up since I read his book "Living Wild." Its a good book about fieldcraft and living outdoors that he wrote as the UK Chief Scout and dedicated to Scouts worldwide.

Because Bear gets slammed for his "irresponsible" stunts without fail. All the time, Every time. But Les does not. I'm not into hypocrisy. Intentional or otherwise.

"Irresponsible" is someone with a wife and children wandering off alone into the middle of nowhere for a week to make a film.

A very large part of me really hopes that he had much more kit with him, than he was admitting to.

Why not? The only thing that you have to be is clear on the difference between your own personal opinions/views on a given topic, and posts that breach Forum rules.

Also: BG's raft sank. DC & CL's rafts sank. If they are too dumb to take a hint - well, a grateful human race thanks you.

I once sat down and checked the backgrounds of about fifty or so of our recent SAR victims. The common denominator was inexperience, not necessarily low intelligence. i rather suspect that the IQs in that sample were fairly representative of the population as a whole; one of our fatalities was a PhD candidate who had just successfully concluded his oral exams that afternoon.

I myself was once inexperienced; as a matter of fact, I nearly died on my first significant hike into mountainous country. I consider myself reasonably intelligent, but I was certainly unaware of some very basic outdoor safety principles. Since then I have gone on to a long and happy time working and recreating in mountains, deserts, and oceans. Along the way I have been active in SAR and also in our efforts to reach out and give inexperienced people some understanding of the hazards that exist out there.

Now BG and his ilk are certainly experienced and know their stuff; an earlier poster mentioned his outdoor manual. I agree with him that the book is utterly unlike his shows. It contains good basic stuff. So why do these guys demonstrate zany antics that are likely to get you killed? The dirty little secret is that real survival tactics can be rather boring. It is much more dramatic to jump forty feet down a waterfall into unknown waters than backtrack and find a route that will allow you to walk down. You need to jazz up the action to get good ratings and if it means demonstrating unsafe antics, well that's life. To me, there is something immoral about that approach. But we live in a capitalist society and they are making money, so everything is just fine.

Bottom line. Good intelligent people get into trouble frequently because they just haven't been informed about basic principles. Those who have this knowledge really ought to be getting the word out rather than demonstrating and promoting unsafe practices. Enough already. End of rant.

It's a big country here.... maybe they just haven't found the bodies yet.

Sue

I just watched a movie called "The Happening", and it was interesting, showed how a need for quick mobilization would be easier with a little preplanning and prep. I didnt mind the general premis of the plants causing and issue, but it was good to put yourself in someone;s shoes who needed to mobilize quickly. Not highly rated but I thought it was fine.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0949731/

Ironwood