Don't expect too much from any television show and you won't be disappointed.

For example, watching "24" will not turn anyone into a counter-terrorism expert. Nor will watching "House" make one a brilliant MD. And the list goes on and on.

None the less, Man Vs Wild does provide entertainment value with some pertinent survival content thrown in. The risk taking is clearly overdone for the cameras, but in reality everything must be well scripted, staged, and tested. It would be pretty boring each time watching someone with mountains of gear await rescue after simply pressing the button on their PLB versus the ambitious, but under-equipped, self-help methods presented.

If the show in question gets ordinary people who otherwise would not be even remotely interested in the subject of survival to at least give it thought, then it has served a useful purpose.