reality TV is neither

PBS had such a show about ten-fifteen years ago, as I remember. It wasn't oriented strictly toward survival and emergencies, but it gave the audience information about staying out of trouble and generally good practices. The host was John Viehman, editor of Backpacker magazine. He did segments with various experts on a wide range of outdoors subjects.

I enjoyed it and learned a thing or two. Not sure precisely why the show lapsed....

Excellent Article. I must have missed this story from a few years back.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...untain-hut.html

[quote=hikermor]PBS had such a show about ten-fifteen years ago, as I remember. It wasn't oriented strictly toward survival and emergencies, but it gave the audience information about staying out of trouble and generally good practices. The host was John Viehman, editor of Backpacker magazine. He did segments with various experts on a wide range of outdoors subjects.

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The show was "Trailside: Make Your Own Adventure". It was an outdoor skills show. A lot along the lines of what I learned during Sierra Club's "Wilderness Basics Course"

I remember that show now. I really enjoyed it. It was where I first saw a hammock used for backpacking....

BOATMAN
John

To be fair, the only connection between Bear Grylls and this case is that the Daily Mail decided to throw Grylls' name into the mix to make a better headline. Nothing in the story even suggests that Grylls or any other TV personality had any influence on David Austin (though it did mention that Austin attended several outdoor survival and bushcraft courses).

In reality, for the Daily Mail good headlines beat the truth any day of the week (a good portion of the typical BS stories flying around the internet start with them!).

I remember that show. He had Ron Woods on as one of his experts. Ron tricked Viehlman into eating some grubs just to see his face when he bit into them....

You guys summed it up well, so my addition is more like venting

I saw a few episodes of "Naked & Afraid" and thought that it wasn't thought out all that well

First, those guys are said to be "naked" . Since it is a "survival show" , the word "naked" should be taken in that context and should mean "NO TOOLS WHTSOEVER". They do, however, have two bags and two tools !! So what is the point of putting two clothless ppl (male & female) in a show like this ?

If I would have done this show , I would allow MINIMAL clothing, so the clothing (or lack thereof) isn't the issue , but minimal stuff on you. Let them , then have a tool or 2 with them and call it (minimal survival).

Even in real survival situations you don't here about ppl having NO clothing whatsover, except in aboriginal tribes in rainforests. So , being naked seems rare and irrelevant to survival situations we read about in survival literature.

This just adds to everyone's point that Reality TV is neither.

Oh, and I just have to vent about one participant who was a "survival instructor" or maybe primitive lifestyle instructor who had hard time making useful cordage when he had TWO bags around him.

Shows like this often have hidden rules. Maybe he wasn't allowed to shred the bags.

The nakedness is a gimmick, although a fairly effective one. I do watch this survival show when I don't watch many others, and it's not because the educational content is superior. Generally it focusses on the trauma and what they did wrong, rather than what they did right. Letting them have two tools is actually one of the few points of interest, because we see how much difference different tools make. It seems if they have a fire-starter, then they can get a fire going quickly. If they don't, then it takes many days if they manage it at all, despite their skill with bow drills etc in their home environment. They don't know which local woods to use, and if they don't manage it the first day they quickly become too tired and hungry to work with the patience it needs.

The lack of clothing is a factor for exposure, both to heat and to cold. One guy was incapacitated by sunburn for his first week, and they all struggle with the cold and rain. Also, they all seem to underestimate the effect of insects on morale. No clothing means getting eaten at night, and no sleep. That said, wearing a small swimming costume wouldn't much effect the experience.

Returning to the subject: it's a show I wouldn't consider going on because they don't seem to take enough care over the participants. The crew all leave the island at night, and if there's an emergency it takes them hours to react. Emergencies are likely because of the lack of food, lack of protection and generally dangerous environment. You don't have to go behind the scenes to see how bad it is.