OK, so I like Man v wild; I watch Man v wild, but -- he makes a few decisions based on making good shows rather than good survial decisions.

Case in point: He stops at a jungle river with canteen and cup in hand and declares it safe* to drink because its got critters swimmin in it and its free flowing....later that night...He comes down with dysentery and worse.


Teacher

(* never assume any found water is safe to drink -- treat all outdoor sources.)

Just another reason why I can't stand watching the show. The folks here at ETS know what's wrong with his actions, but average Joe might not.

On the other hand, that's a good reminder to keep some Immodium in my kits. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

One thing to keep in mind about his show, he's trying to teach survival, not camping. He doesn't carry a BOB with him or have any gear (that they let you get a good look at anyway). His survival is based on the premis that you don't have any gear to survive with and have to make it entirely off of what you can find or make. In a perfect situation, a person would have the gear they need to filter water, make fire, and set traps to find food. In his "scenarios" he is without gear most of the time.

Granted, declaring water safe because there are living things in it is just plain stupid (parasites are living things!) and running water isn't always safe. The one thing I've found in nature is, there are no rules. Whatever rule there is has an exception and you never know where that exception will show up.

It's best to always take the proper precautions if you're able to, and after watching his show, I've noticed that he doesn't take ANY precautions. My guess is, it won't take him long to do himself in. However, I see the point of making do with what you can find also. Often as not, a tummyache can be fixed, but dead is dead. I'll take questionable water over death by dehydration anyday but I can always stack the odds in my favor by taking some simple precautions.

I saw that episode again this weekend. I think he has a metal canteen cup with his water bottle. Why not take the time to boil up some water? Sure as heck beats getting what he had later in the show.

TV is entertainment, and Man vs Wild is rather entertaining to me. It's interesting to see what he does, and what I might do different in a similar situation.

..........

How about when Bear was in the African Savanna, squeezed the elephant poo, and drank the water that dripped out? ack!

Was kinda hoping he'd find a watering hole.



with a hungry gator inside

Drinking straight out of the stream is more dramatic and gives more of a "wild man" impression.

Notice that he boiled the water and pointed out his likely mistake after he got sick.

He might've been taking the coyote teacher approach, knowing that people would learn more from watching his mistake than a lecture on purifying water.

As a side observation, notice how he takes the metal cup right off the fire in every episode and puts it right to his lips? Don't try this at home kids!

It has been said that a toddler has a better chance of surviving in the wild than most adults because they go off of instincts. The threat of dysentery may, I SAY MAY, come second to hydration. At many points it may be better to hydrate without having to boil in order to keep moving to find shelter. Any water he transports with him he should boil.

As long as there is a source of clear flowing water and the area is not heavily polluted it may be completely acceptable to drink from a stream. People have been doing it since the dawn of time. Filters have only been around for a very short time. Even fire is something that humans have only mastered fairly late in the evolution process and honestly, boiling just isn't always practical.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for playing it safe, boiling, chemically treating or filtering water whenever possible. But sometimes I think people overestimate the dangers. The outdoors is not necessarily such a hostile place. However, it sure pays to avoid stagnant water and any source close to densely populated residential or farming areas.

I've travelled a fair bit and it always amazes me how the locals in developing countries regularly drink water that would be considered totally unsafe by our standards. No filters, no boiling, yet they still manage to get by. I think it's also a matter of getting used to it. If you are exposed to bacteria all the time your body will develop a natural resistance. That's probably the reason why tourists get sick all the time in third-world countries though the locals have no problem with the food and water.

I like survivorman more than Man vs Wild...

One of the things I like about Survivorman, is that he's not afraid to confess that he's about to do something that he wouldn't really recommend to someone trying to survive. More than once, he's said something like "now, I wouldn't really suggest that you try this if you're stuck in this situation, but, heck, if I don't try it, we don't have much of a show do we?"

double post...

stupid computer (see below)

I dig him carrying around his own film equipment and not much else.

"If you are exposed to bacteria all the time your body will develop a natural resistance. That's probably the reason why tourists get sick all the time in third-world countries though the locals have no problem with the food and water."

That is probably EXACTLY the reason, in many cases. The people are probably full of parasites, too. Unless the chemicals being dumped on the areas have killed them off...

But there is a line between need and stupidity. I don't have TV, so naturally I don't see these shows, but this guy sounds like a real fool. And the people watching him from their sanitized world are probably going to "do as he does, not as he says".

I do miss Discovery and the History Channel, though...

Sue

Oh dear what to say about Bear Grylls. This TV Man Vs Wild series is just soooo annoying yet is remarkably entertaining in a 'No, NO , NO , what the f**k are you doing you t**t' shouting at the TV kind of way.

Other examples which have caused me to shout at the TV.


'Alright you've got your survival knife and 58 pattern water bottle and mug, but where is your PSK, you've forgotten it, haven't you, you t**t'

'Yeah, right, is that meant to be a deserted Island in Pacific, looks more like Barbados. The beach your stranded on looks like your only a stones throw away from Whitney Houston's pad'

'Why does your raft look like it actually on the back of another boat'

'There's something fishy alright about that shark circling the raft.'

'Why are you going to jump off a 50 ft cliff into water of an unknown depth, your going to break your legs or your spine, just calm down and just raise your hand to the bear and ask it to go away.'

'No, No, what are you doing, why are you trying to raft down that white water instead of walking around the rapids so that you can get out of the mountains safely, your now going to die of hypothermia or drown to death you fool.'

'Why would you want to swim across the lake, when you can see the long away round, your going to get drowned, you idiot.'

'Yeah right, lets try and see if you can get out of that icy tomb without that convenient hand help you have conveniently chiseled out of the ice 10 minutes before you jumped in.

'Oh my god, trust your life when hanging of a cliff with a single length of 550 paracord, No, No find another way down even if it means walking an extra few miles.'

Oh, please, don't eat the fish raw, it could have parasites in it. Its not Sushi. You should by now have learnt to build a fire. You are now just showing off you w****r.'

and I think I've only ever seen 3 episodes.

Follow this guys actions and you are going to either die from drowning, falling, hypothermia, exhaustion, or suffer a long slow agonising death from either water or food poisoning.

If real survival information is needed get hold of some Ray Mears not this 'Action Man'.

On that episode that he "floated" down the river.. I noticed something. Under his black shirt, he was wearing some form of flotation device (or insulation or both). Then it was "gone" when he "washed ashore"

"Follow this guys actions and you are going to either die from drowning, falling, hypothermia, exhaustion, or suffer a long slow agonising death from either water or food poisoning."

I wonder how much this guy has to pay for health insurance. Or life insurance. The production company is probably paying it, right? If he's still alive when the show ends, I wonder how much he will have to pay for it then?

I also wonder how much "star insurance" coverage the production company has on this guy.

"BEAR?"

Sue

You are absolutely correct. From http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/chat/transcript_06.html:

stealther: What do you have to say to people who claim you used a flotation vest instead of your backpack when you rode down the river in your previous show?

Bear: That was the first show I did, and health and safety insisted if I wanted to get in that river with those rapids, I had to wear a thin flotation device for one particular shot. After that show, I told the producers if I'm going to do it, I need to do it on my terms, i.e. no vest. And the rest of the series, they've allowed me to do it all my way.

I’m not expressing an opinion in any way, as I already have elsewhere on this board, but I just wanted to point out the facts.

I guess it's pretty much inevitable when someone tries to turn survival into entertainment/reality show. After all, survival is all about common sense. If you look at people who really know the otudoors they make it all look very simple. But this would not appeal to the masses who want the cheap thrill and drama of fake "reality" shows.

Like somebody else pointed out, Ray Mears has done some great series on the outdoor survival. No macho fantasies or BS, just good, solid information. A refreshing thing to see these days.

damn... I knew that looked odd.

...More...

Watched the show last night...Um. No don't do what he does. Case in point:

He's in the desert (Moab?) and in a slot canyon* which is blocked by debris -- then, saying never do this, swims under the debris, hoping to get to the other side, air and not to get caught.

Listen, I know its TV, therefore serves as entertainment, but he keeps taking chances when, in reality, you need to be very, very
( very) cautious when in a survival situation. No jumping off cliffs, no whitewater, no dozens of other things he does.

And shouldn't you carry --at least-- water and a hat in the desert?

TRO

Him not carrying any water may be the most realistic part of the show. He is supposed to be stranded and we don't always have the stuff we are supposed to, and in his case he forgot his brain the most important tool we should have.

Have just seen another episode last night of Born Survivor Bear Grylls (same as Man V Wild). He was in Mexico's Copper Canyon this time - he was eating rocks and dirt this time - what can I say... It's getting embarrasing!!

"...he was eating rocks and dirt this time..."

And some people complain about the extra weight of carrying WATER!

He forgot his brain? Did he ever have one?

Sue

I've gotta agree with you. I have lowered myself to watching his show twice now, and both times he got sick from drinking water (why is this, I used to drink out of river/streams all the time with no ill effect?). In addition, he rappeled down a waterfall, using vines, in the middle of the falling water, instead of alongside of the water, and beat on his knife with a rock, instead of a piece of wood, to baton thru a tree. Silly of me to waste my time once again...

I have a question for those of you with more smarts than I have.

When did all of the waterborn critters (giardiasis for example) come into being? I drank steam water by the gallons as a kid, never got sick. I have never read/heard about the mountain men, and the pioneers in general, getting sick from drinking stream/river water, and that is all they had, unless they had dug a well. Seems to me that if critters were in the water then, and all they had to drink was that water, they would have been so sick that many would have died of dehydration. Other critters must have been pooping in the water back then, so why don't we ever hear about such illnesses from that era???

These organisms have been around for millions of years.

Two things to keep in mind, people around the world are infected with these organisms, and in many cases have developed a tolerance/balance with the parasite as well as bacteria and viruses. Keep in mind a successful parasite, does not kill its host as it depends upon it continued existence for it’s own survival. In some case these organisms are almost commensal in nature (non-pathogenic or non-disease causing) as long as the person/animal is in reasonably good health. It is often when the human/animal becomes infected by other organisms, becomes malnourished or it’s immune system is not adequate (age: too young/too old, other causes), to maintain the balance, that these organisms multiply and in of themselves become health hazards.

The other issue is the increase in population and changes in land use (from natural to farms, towns, etc.) all of which will change the water table (redistribution) and quality of water. Also, (not a political commentary) as populations become mobile and immigrate or emigrate from various parts of the world, susceptible populations become exposed and subsequently pass on many of these infections.

Pete

As paramedicpete mentioned, I believe it simply has to do with resistance/tolerance. Back in the old days, all the water you drank came from the stream, well, or what-have-you. Many of them probably did get sick from the organisms a few times as a child. I’d imagine that after a few times of being sick, they would have developed a resistance to those particular organisms and therefore rarely got the same sickness again.

Now, if you compare that to today’s modern primary use EPA-controlled purified tap water and commercially-controlled purified bottled water, the chance to develop a resistance or tolerance to “nature’s flavoring” is nonexistent.

In fact, I imagine the same situation describes why water from other countries rarely agrees with us, too.

Makes sense to me. I knew that there would be someone here with the smarts to figure it out for me. Thanks to both of you...

Much of the problem with "tummy bugs" when abroad is due to not being used to the local germs. You don't have the right intestinal flora, the right antibodies etc. You can eat the same food as the natives and you'll get sick and they won't.

There are limits, though. When people like Oxfam campaign for water in 3rd world countries, they are often campaigning for clean water. Water from a well is drinkable because it has, in effect, been filtered by passing though rocks on its way to the water table.

There are various forms of Giardia that don't affect us, but G. Lamblia not only affects us, but also beavers ("Beaver fever"), domestic dogs, cats, cattle and sheep.

The old mountain men could have been affected with it, and attributed it to bad food, etc.

Also, the simple density levels of all the affected animals (including us) have risen exponentially into most areas that used to be fairly pristine. Where was the last place you went that you considered relative "wilderness" and didn't find human debris? And human waste?

Sue

I was infected with Giardia once (source unknown but I suspect a glass of water at a truckstop in PA) and waited a month before going in to see a doctor. The first two or three days were constant trips to the bathroom about every hour or so, although for some reason I only needed to get up once per night while sleeping. After that it seemed to level off and although my stools remained loose to very loose, one or two sessions on the throne per day were all I needed.

The doctor that tested and then treated me tried to give me a stern lecture about how people die from waiting so long before coming in for examinations when they have problems. I just asked him if, in his expert medical opinion after examining me, he thought I was in any danger of kicking the bucket in the next few days. He got mad at me! lol

I suspect that people in the past were infected with lots of stuff but just accepted it as part of living, adjusted accordingly and went on with their lives.

I like his show. I wouldn`t take the chances he does, but there are a still a lot of useful tips, I think.

It's a bit of a healthy profanation there, in my opinion. Many of those tips could do much better for survival by simply doubling the efforts, but that's not mentioned. In other words, most of the tips are kind of a lazy type. I do like the show anyway - very realistic, but I'd change "Survivorman" to "Survivorcaveman".

By the way, I saw another show, he's made probably earlier: Off The Grid. Same trend. The modular home parts delivery by helicopter was more than spectacular.