I feel the same way... well said.

I agree with WillCAD, despite his Mickey ears.

I agree. There's no sense (to me) in thinking the Bear is going to teach someone something that'll then get them killed. He runs down steep inclines at great risk of bodily injury....if someone else does that "because Bear did it", then that's life. What would be next....lobbying for Government intervention.... a warning before each show? "The Surgeon General has determined........"

It isn't that "we" know better so "we" don;t have to worry about emulating some of the things he does. "They" should know better, and if they don;t, it isn't Bear's job to make sure they do. His job is to keep us smiling, whinning, and complaining about the stuff he does. I think I've reached the conclusion that the show's producers know what's being said about the Bear's antics...so they keep doing it because his ratings are good.

I think that is a part of it- we know better, and we would never, ever in good faith suggest to anyone that they try some of his silliness.

I'm not going to say someone like the Jackass crew shouldn't be on the air becuase they do stupid, dangerous stunts. But I am going to call them tasteless idiots. At least they say that their stunts are dangerous, they have a nice big warning. (And if MvW doesn't have disclaimer on it, I'd be shocked. But it is probably teeny tiny little print that flashes quickly, becuase I don't remember it.)

If I could turn this hobby into a living, I would probably try to, but realistically I can't. As an professional geek, I see sloppy, badly written programs, inefficent hardware, and things that are just junk. I know I wouldn't admit to helping design a lot of the tech products on the market today. I have little respect for the designers of this equipment becuase making something good isn't much harder or more expensive. I get frustrated with them because they make conscious decision NOT to follow anything that comes close to what I could consider good practices nor do I think they take pride in what they do.

Bear styles himself as a survival professional, but instead he's showing something that isn't much higher than Survival Jackass. What I've seen of him, he goes out of his way to do things that hardest and most risky way possible, and he doesn't say "this is not how you should do this, you should do XYZ, but I'm going to do it the stupid way anyway". These are not best practices, this is not dealing with your customer in good faith, these are worst practices. Maybe he has little enough self worth that putting out a sideshow, and signing his name on it, is something he can live with. In which case, I could feel sorry for him. But he relishes it, he knows he has a cash cow and he's going to milk it hard and to ghenna with everything else. So instead, I'm embarrassed by him, as he is a public face to modern survival in popular culture.

Well, I personally would like to see the Bear on Iron Chef America, facing a Mario Batali or a Cat Cora. I bet they couldn;t top raw Zebra served without knife and fork!

Those aren't my Mickey ears, I'm just, uh, holding them for a friend. Yeah, that's the ticket, I'm holding them for a friend... Morgan Fairchild!



I see it slightly different; I see Bear not doing things the "stupid way" but intentionally doing things the hard way to show the worst-case scenario and its solution.

Les is less obvious about it, but let's face it, he intentionally makes things WAY harder on himself, too - what kind of person goes into the wilderness on a day hike with no knife, but carrying 60lbs of camera gear, then refuses to ditch the camera gear when it becomes obvious that it's a major liability to his survival? A person who's putting on a show, that who.

I see both of them as showmen, putting on very entertaining performances that really are at least a little educational. And hey - the scenery they've both shown us is nothing short of the most spectacular on Earth, right?

They're not really trying to teach us, they're trying to entertain us; they're the Evil Kenevils of Survival, jumping crocs and sharks instead of busses.

the truth is that you move slowly in a real survival situation -- cautious and slow. TV on the other hand needs speed and drama. Bear is not teaching survival, he is making tv.

I saw bear on some talk show a little while ago, he actually seems to be a likeable guy. At the very least I don't think he's stupid or has a death wish. Also, I can't imagine him promoting himself as a survival "professional", but he's just another actor in a TV show, and he's doing what actors do, and that's generate ratings. I still wouldn't follow any of his "survival" advice.

Maybe they should include warnings at the beginning of every show, for the kids, but ultimately it's not his responsibility to control what kids watch, especially since he's not on public television.

You're point about the 60 pounds of camera gear with Les is part of why I was hesitant at first, but it does a pretty good job of simulating a little kid or a hurt companion with you. But he's not someone who does stupid stuff. He makes mistakes, and he cusses at himself for it, that's human. He gets careless when he's tired, just like we all would. And If you'd read Les' comments on his website, if it gets bad, he's dropping the camera gear, lighting up his PLB, and hoping he'll get extracted. He's got a good simulation going.

If Bear breaks his leg doing something stupid like climbing up a waterfall or jumping off a 40 foot cliff into rapids, he's got a camera crew within a hundred feet of him, including a medical staff, and a helicopter on standby. That isn't a simulation, that is a side show. Toss in questions about his credentials and his habit of pointing his daddy's lawyer at the people who raise them (like the people who were on the safety boat when "soloed" some trip in a kayak). He has a credability gap that Kenevils wouldn't jump.

Hey, I am always entertaining, just usually it is only myself.

Bear reminds me of another young Scotsman I know who is often reckless just to show that it can be done, and for the thrill of the experience. People with a survival mentality will only jump out of a perfectly good aircraft in order to learn how to do it right. Bear is just too reckless to be a leader. He'd push you alright, right off the cliff! There's something wrong with that boy.