Reading recent responses about Man vs Wild show got me thinking: why do you guys ride so much on Bear? I mean I watch the show every now and than and I be the first one to admit that sometimes he does things the harder way but so what? He doesn’t do stuff our way, he doesn’t hole up and waits for the rescue but is proactive and searches for the way out. Yes, he takes unnecessary risk but he puts his skin on the line. I think that he shows you worst case scenario by going an extra mile to do things more difficult way. Well it would be nice to walk over the glacier but let me show you what would happen if you walk underneath. Stuff he eats would not be my choice to eat but hey if a guy wants to show me that huge worms can be digested than go for it. Why do you care how he holds a knife or what brand of blades does he use? So what that he destroys the knife every show? If destroying a knife gets me out of a jam than so be it. Maybe his $50 Gerber is hurting your eyes because you were under the impression that $400 Sebenza guarantees you a survival success? My skin is worth more than any blade out there. He is probably already being forced to wear certain gear and use certain equipment by TV producers since lately every damn program is one big commercial. He is more athletic, fit and with mindset that few of us can match. He also did a lot of extraordinary things in his life and personally for me even thou I respect his military experience what convinced me that he can hold his own is his Everest climb.

He doesn’t carry ton of gear on him and makes survival look easy. Also survival style that is being very popular here on this forum is passive and equipment oriented. Generators, piles of food, equipment and gear take priority over skills but than again skills that Bear has may not be a priority in urban survival. I would like you to do a 5 day hike thru a jungle or mountains or desert with your BOB. Somehow we cover the lack of skills by redundancy in certain items (ex: 5 different fire starting devices). Also with this board conservative approach to survival are we being too harsh in judging his style? When was the last time you were in the place where nearest human being is 5 days walk away? Also some people are not gear oriented. You guys should have seen the disappointment on faces of Doxa watches fans when Matthew McCoungey (sp) told them than he doesn’t care what timepiece he wore portraying Dirk Pitt in the movie Sahara and to add insult to an injury he wore it upside down thru the flick. I think same thing happened with Anderson and McGuyver and Swiss Army knives. Bear has a typical stranded ill prepared hiker approach to his “adventures”. If everyone was as prepared as us, watching survival shows wouldn’t be fun.

He is willing to make a clown out of himself on TV but than again you go out there, do some of his stunts with a smile while talking to audience and maintaining posture. If I was doing a survival show my commentary would be a one long beep. Bear has a successful show and is now in the entertainment business. He wants to make a buck and if he does it thru selling custom knives than be it. I know few people who did the same and somehow we don’t ride on them for it. And quite honestly I would rather have Bear on my side than some of those other guys. There are very few people out there who can put their survival skills into decent income job. He did the best he could so give him a break. I’m just surprised that Breitling watches are not picking him up as a spokesman for their emergency model. I don't worship a man but can recognize a man who is confident and agressive whcih in the end means that he will not fold under pressure.

I totally agree that Bear gets a bad rap. I think he's pretty entertaining, & seems to know what he's doing. It's easy to sit at a computer and second guess the guy; I'd like to see them try to survive with just a knife & canteen. Sure lots of us (me included) wouldn't do half the stuff he does e.g.: eating rotting zebra flesh, eating a live fish...amongst other things. But hey, if I could do those things & get paid for it, I’d do them too.

I think some of your points are valid. Bear would most likely fair well under any survival condition.

That said here are a few views on your thoughts.

Climbing Everest is no big feat especially if you climb the western Cwm which is now simply a pay your way up for most who attempt it. In the world of alpinism Everest is not considered to be that impressive. No I have not climbed Everest but if I had the money I could climb it too.

I have not seen anything about Bear's seeeing any action while in the SAS. I have heard that there is a division of the SAS that is for the aristocrats and not as tough as the other SAS groups; this is just hearsay.

I view Bear the same way I view any other TV show; just TV world not real world.

Bear feigns being alone but obviously has a camera crew.

Bear is reckless. Period.

Bear definitely wore a PFD in one episode.

Bear then goes and puts his name on a $700 knife that is average at best and way over priced.


Yes I agree that Bear still has the skills and experience but his show is a bit silly IMO.

I do like his minimalism though; I may be flamed for saying this here at ETS but I think many of us carry too much gear even for short walks in the woods. I love the feeling of having just the very basics and needing to use experience and creativity to get along in the woods.

I actually think there is a lot to learn from Bear. He normally prefaces his more risky actions by saying you don't want to do this, but if you must, here is a good way to do it. It may cause some to take unnecessary risks, but I think it is a good way to show people like myself how to overcome a bad situation, that I would never willingly put myself into. Also in the first series, he seemed to be drawing on his survival/evasion skills, which would be different than the survival skills practiced by members of this forum.

In the newer series, the associated camera crew is obvious, as he often speaks directly to them. I think the newer series is more "honest," no floating down a river what I think was a hidden life vest, and I think the series is trying to teach more survival skills as we know them.

Again, I would not take the chances he takes willingly, but he is trying to use those "chances" to teach. (What I like most and keep seeming to miss are his shelter building scenes. That is where I learn most.)

Spud

The problem with this TV show is that it is being aired to those folks who don't know any better. If the show Man v Wild is regarded as a source of good survival technique then it fails on some very important fundamental points. Those that don't know any better may follow this guys survival technique philosophy, which is mostly being of quick but highly dangerous methods of self extraction from a life threatening event, to the point where these methods are even more dangerous than the initial survival event itself. There are so many examples of this type of dangerous nonsense in this TV program. This is Hollywood fantasy survival caricature for those folks who have never been outside suburban living. It is popular simply because it excites these folks deeply held fears and fantasies of finding themselves stranded in the wilderness desperate to get back to suburbia to exclaim that they too can survive where others would have failed. Bear takes them along on this vicarious journey of survival thrills (hence the eating of raw zebra etc). For these folks to do the same in reality and follow Bears methods would be fatal. Survival is mostly about making good well thought out common sense decisions . As most suburban folks can't navigate to save themselves they are better staying put, hopefully to be found by SAR. If Bear showed the audience a map and compass and explained how these survival items worked to enable a much safer self extraction the show would suddenly become a mundane outdoor trekking show. Here lies the problem. Good survival instruction versus vicarious thrills. Vicarious thrills seem to always win out. We know the difference, others do not and their lives may well depend on knowing that difference if they ever left the city.

I have exactly the same feeling about this show. Dangerous nonsense.

Points well taken Polak. I've said many times in this and other forums I like Bear and would probably like to hang with him, BUT... I've also said I see his show almost as a sitcom. That's harsh, I know, and certainly not true, but unlike Les Stroud's show, Bear is more of a clown.

I really don;t think he put's himself "on the line". He has a camera crew and who knows whom else there to aid, comfort, and if necessary, rescue him. He does take unecessary risks.

I don;t worry about someone else repeating his mistakes (I've said that many times and will again). We're ultimately responsible for what we do and one can no more blame Bear for teaching dangerous stuff than blame the high-flying motorcycle jumpers for the same thing.

I watch every episode of Man-v-Wild that I can.....for the entertainment. If Bear were here, I assure I would be much more diplomatic just out of everyday friendly politeness. He seems like a pretty good guy.

Good points though....

I don't have the opportunity to watch Man vs Wild on TV, but I did watch some excerpts on youtube after the thread on the $700 knife. I think it's pretty obvious that this is mock survival, and think people in general including city dwellers can make the difference between theater and real life, just like everybody knows that professional wrestling is fake and mock combat yet we still go see it because it's fun and you can still learn some tricks out of it.

Pro wrestling is fake?

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...