I have been watching "Survivor" for a while now and many things on the show crack me up. One instance is when they start the show off with no fire starting gear. I always thought that if I were to be on that show,I would be putting together gear ahead of time so that I could sneek it on the show, under the producers noses. I see all these contestants with these goofy, useless necklaces. How about a useful one?
I'm thinking 1" lengths of Ferrochrome rod and magnesium rod (drilled lengthwise) with maybe a 1" cross of carbon steel (for a striker) held together a few braided feet of Spider wire.
Just for a mental exersize, what other ways can you think of to cheat on "Survivor"?

You can't cheat when it's all scripted ahead of time.

"Survivor" is one of those total scams that CBS is famous for. I wouldn't watch it if they paid me to watch. "Reality TV" as a whole is itself a joke, because reality becomes non-reality when a tv camera is present. There is no 'normal' when people face a tv camera, it becomes a performance.

Well I see we don't have any survivor vans..so be it. I enjoy the show if only for the reasons other don't. It's entertainment value. Now back to your question. I've thought about this alot and I really like your necklace solution. Why not manufacture one of those anyway? You know how they never give them any fishing gear until like day 3 or 5. I thought I would just sew extra spider wire into my clothing that could be removed later. Now for the hooks...thought about removing the liner of my shoe, turn it over and carve out little spots for the hooks..the glue liner back in for removal later. Just my thoughts.

Yep... I remember at the start of the reality craze that maybe Survivor would be cool to watch - learn something, see some crazy skilled wilderness folk. Please. It's no different than any other wannabe actor reality show that's highly scripted and more than dubious in both content and performance.

Now, put 10 people out by their lonesome in the middle of nowhere and they have their own cameras and have to survive and record their experiences. With am emergency locator beacon or some way to make sure they really could get out in a hurry by chopper and that might be interesting. Even so, any sort of safetynet precludes a lot of the fear and anxiety a normal survivor would feel I should think.

If my wife turns on a "reality" show - I pretty much just leave the room. They are all crap.

Jeez, you guys! Did I ask for a treatise on the societal value of reality TV. No. I realise it's scripted and crap. If I substituted TSA for "Survivor producers" would that make you happy. This is just an excersize in creative thought. At least Hghvlocity gets it.

Scott

Well, if that's the case, then I think you suggestion is a really good one. Making it non-obvious to the casual viewer means it might be good for urban EDC too. I'm not sure about the cross piece (just from a comfort standpoint, but you could used a couple feet of paracord with a breakaway, maybe a small safety pin to go with the spiderwire holding together the flame kit too. I can see a problem with trying to conceal certain items and the TSA though. :-)

I saw the very first Survivor, which was incredibly stupid and pointless. And now I haven't had TV for a couple of years.

So... is it really true that they aren't allowed to take anything with them, or are they just stupid? I ask because the ones I saw basically didn't know how to do anything that didn't involve a shopping mall.

Since this is all hypothetical anyway... cheating is allowed, right? (ETS Rule #1). If they don't see it at the entrance to the site without a body search, it's yours to use.

We could make a necklace out of 550 cord, in the nature of a charm bracelet, just a lot more useful. All the stuff on your key rings goes onto the necklace, which goes under your shirt.

A siltarp could be tacked inside the back of your shirt, with an emergency blanket or two tucked in between, plus some aluminum foil.

Snare wire & fishing line could be tacked inside your cuffs.

A hatband of braided 550 cord, with fishhooks and split weights slipped underneath. A halfway decent knife could be duct-tapped inside the crown of your hat if there was room, or in a sheath hidden in your armpit.

A wire saw could be hidden in your belt.

Smaller ziplock bags could be filled with flat stuff and tacked inside your shirt. (BTW, I am assuming that nobody here would be stupid enough to wear skin-tight pants & shirt.)

Sue

Well, if the point of the show were actually about survival, then I suppose these would be good ideas, things I would consider.

However, from what I've seen of the show, it is more about how to screw everyone else (figuratively and literally in many cases) and solve problems that have nothing to do with survival issues. In this context, I think if I were on the show by day three they'd find everyone else in the competition with their throats cut by early morning if the objective is to be "the last man standing".

In contrast, I find the "Survivorman" series particularly entertaining and informative.

Those money belts hold a lot of stuff too! And it might not be comfortable, but you could stow one of those plastic pills full of tinder/fishing gear/compass/striker/purifier tab, etc. up you know where.