I watch every episode of man vs. wild I can get, but that being said I watch every survivorman episode and episode of Ray Mears I can find also. It's not that I hate on Bear, but it's just if the things Bear does are so hard, how does a carmera crew manage? In this last episode, he was talking about how cold the water was, and how fast he had to get to the hot springs, but whoever was holding the camera filming him trying to get out of the water was just standing there in this cold water that Bear could barely get out of. Things can't be as dangerous as he says, or else they'd be having funerals for cameramen after evey episode. It seems to me that the more amazing people are the cameraguys and the soundmen, cause they do what Bear does, while still carrying around a lot of equipment and looking through viewfinders. So perhaps things aren't as dire as he says, and they are just playing it up for TV, in which case fine, they can do that if they want, but I wish they'd just skip it and be honest with theirselves. Something like "The camera crew is going to walk around the stream, but if you did need to cross it, here's how to climb across on a tree.", would go a long way towards making me respect the show. It also bothers me that while he does all those crazy things to show you waht to do if you are in the situation, why doesn't he show what to do if you don't have a flint or a water bottle. If you are prepared enough to have a knife, flint, and watter bottle, you aren't likey to get yourself stuck in the things he gets stuck in. To his credit, on his page on the discovery channel website, Bear admits that he did use a PFD, but that the insurance company made him, and he wouldn't do it again. I do appreciate all the different wilderness regions they shoot in. They get some amazing film...

In the end, I'm glad that all these shows are available, but if I was stuck out in the woods, I'd rather have ray mears around, instead of Bear. Unless of course I was surrounded by a angry mob of Pro-Wrestlers...