"Props to the four guys who lasted the longest. Alan was the real find for the show -- so entertaining!"

Entertaining - how appropriate! competitive elements and all, but nothing bad can really happen, what with sat phones and periodic medical checks. It might be disturbing if anything really bad happened...

Back in the early 80s, southern Arizona was slammed with an unseasonable, poorly predicted storm on Easter weekend that kept us SAR types very busy for several days. As the situation clarified, we were thankful that, while there were several close calls, our victims had suffered no fatalities.

That is, until later that fall, when a hiker in a remote canyon in the Baboquivari Mts. stumbled onto a pitched tent, camping gear, and a corpse. Among his belongings was a volume entitled "Survival Made Simple" but evidently no simple enough. He lacked the requisite sat phone and EMT check and was actually dependent upon his own resources.

What is this "survival" anyway, that is in the title of this forum? It has many manifestations, of course (recovering from a hurricane, adrift at sea, lost in the woods, etc) but key are the elements of isolation and unexpectation- you don't arise some morning and say "I think I will go surviving this afternoon" - you were just planning a short hike.

Personally, I have done a bit of rough camping, mostly in my feckless youth when I was learning. Later on, I dealt with the consequences of the survival epics of others, not all of which ended well. Some were the stuff of nightmares.

Real survival isn't a competitive sport or it would be an Olympic event. As entertainment, it is carefully staged rough camping. Relax and enjoy!