Let's face it, these shows are typically about entertainment, hence they feature the bizarre, spectacular, and showy stuff. Actually, real life survival, your typical tough night in the woods, is rather boring and dull - just doesn't look good on the tube.

Just an example. Some ear ago, the Discovery Channel did several features concerning the excavation of pygmy mammoth bones on the Channel Islands (USA). Occasionally, I would have to go over the edge of a sea cliff to retrieve a specimen. The TV guys ate it up and always featured this activity. Watching the show you would think this happened every day, while actually the operation was rather infrequent. But it did look good.