man vs. wild (bear in the everglades) your input?

my part of town.

If Bear comes near you do not let him convince you to let him pee on your shirt.
He will be pretty safe in Florida; nothing dangerous for him to climb or run down.
I wonder if he will eat an aligator raw.

I like Bear. I'd kindly like to hang with him, if nothing more than to take him aside and say, "Look. You're kiddin' us with this show, right?" As I've said before, Bear's show is just short of hilarious. Each time I see a new episode, I become more convinced the show is a sitcom.

He best be able to tell the difference between an alligator and a crocagator, or else we will see who eats who.

Bear was relatively reserved this time around. The only insane thing I can remember him doing off the top of my head was jumping into a quicksand/sinkhole (I can't remember the exact terminology) to show how to get out of it.

He even boiled his water...

It's coming on again right now. If I make it through the show I'll post any major silliness I come across.

In the same vein, if he offers you a brown clump of something to squeeze into your mouth for "water," kindly decline. Although last I checked, there were no elephants in Florida.

Although the last time I was in Florida, I did get to handle an alligator.

I haven't folow the show for many reasons but mainly because I was affraid it would be just stupid. Lately having been home injured I managed to catch 10 minutes segments of different episodes. I have no problem with the guy but I do belive that he is unneccesary risk taker and althou many of the stuff he shows is good his training gets him covered where regular joe would perish. If you take his show with the grain of salt there is always something you can learn for yourself. But imagine this: people on this site are prepared, we EDC a lot of items (or just basics) but in the end our pockets hold more than just a knife. What could you have done with all that equipment?

I find Bear a little nutty, but entertaining. One things for sure, he has no taste buds...lol. How can he eat some of that stuff??

"...the show is a sitcom..."


The little I have seen of his show was so stupid it was almost funny, so you may be right...

Bear Grylls, international mystery man of adventure survival. I think I once saw him once eat a raw zebra.

Grylls has a pretty impressive Curriculum Vitae having served in the UK special forces SAS for 3 years. I really don't know about that though. SAS soldiers tend to be small wiry men with ginger hair and mustaches and look as though the Prozac hasn't kicked in properly.

Oh well if he's in the everglades and has with him a large elastic band with him, the alligators had better watch out. Do you think we'll see a scene like the barbeque scene from the movie 'The Water Boy'?

Now I have to drink some of the "Mucky Yucky Stuff"

I like to watch this show, and this new episode was a good start for a second season, but a few bits were disappointing. First the episode seemed way too short for me and secondly it seemed more tame and not as exciting. It must have been the location because as Bear demonstrated everything looked the same in all directions, and he was deep in the swamps for about 3/4 of the whole episode.

I hope you are ok Matt.

Knock yourself out wildman! You want it with or without chunks? Check out this mucky yucky stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vlEavUH9ng&mode=related&search=

I might just hurl if I did that. Then it would be a net water loss.

Well, I hope he doens;t change his show too much. I mean, I look forward to Bear running down canyons, trying to catch (wild??) horses, floating down icy rivers, jumping into icy ponds, and drinking South American creek water without ANY form of purification. If he smartens up, I may just lose interest.

[censored] with the extreme Hollywood angles, rather than Bear not being legit. I watched the 'Glades episode last night since that was an old stomping ground of mine.

The show wasn't half bad. He built a serviceable platform above the swamp to sleep on & have a fire. He boiled his water this time, after filtering it. He respected the snakes & gators, though he played up the Hollywood alligator caricature. Hollywood tends to confuse the behavior of gators with crocodiles, much like the confusion between black bears & grizzlies. All these creatures deserve great respect but the griz & crocs are a whole different cup of swampwater.

All in all it was a pretty good episode.

The new 07 "everglades" episode did seem tamer to Bears credit. I think the Hype over the Aligators was a little excessive though. Personally I would have ate the Rattle snake, and not played with the one that "might" have been a coral snake, even though it wasn't. For that matter kill'em both and eat'um.

I am a critic, too, but somehow I keep watching it. At the beginning when Bear does the voice-over that concludes, "...and I'm going to show you how to survive it!" I find myself muttering, "Really, I'd rather you didn't" under my breath.

Come on. "Scree running?" I think I'd rather play in traffic while blindfolded.

That episode is why my wife won't have his show on if she is in the house. As Jay Leno said after viewing it, why didn't he just follow the elephants to water???

because clean water is less filling?

Eating the raw zebra was the last straw for me. I found myself yelling at the tv, "you have a knife in your hand!!!" He used the knife to cut the hide, then ripped the meat off the carcass with his teeth. Why you would put your face right into a dead zebra and pull off chunks with your teeth when you have a perfectly good knife in your hand.... I was expecting a lion to sneak up on him while he wasn't looking.

Personally, assuming that the meat was fresh enough as he suggested, I would have used the knife to cut off a large chunk and carried it away from the carcass. Why tempt fate? There are a lot of other scavangers big enough to ruin your whole day, that it wouldn't be advisable to hang around.

I don't think I will be watching him again after that one. I always thought he was dangerous, but this one tops the cake.

Ahhhh. Glad to hear Bear's sitcom will remain funny.

I like the show, but only because I take it with a grain of salt and keep the Hollywood goals in mind. I do wish they would put a disclaimer at the beginning which at least tells people to stay put if at all possible when lost.

The Everglades episode was probably the tamest and most realistic one yet. I do wish he would have shown ways to deal with the mosquitoes (like wearing mud), and maybe a few plant-based food options.

well, I live in south florida ( broward county )and am out in the everglades at least 4-6 times a month in my boat. ( a flat bottomed, duck boat with an outboard motor)

It's probably one of the most inhospitibale areas for being stranded I can imagine. I carry a considerable amount of survival equipment with me on board the boat every time I hit the water. Being standed in the everglades over night would be a very unpleasant experience, even with all the gear.

While I like bear grylls, I consider his show entertainment, especially this episode... I also laughed my posterior off at most of it. I'm sorry, but I dont for a second truly believe he spent the night out there, he would have needed a few pints of blood after sleeping on that platform.

In the areas of the everglades I frequent ( water management areas 1,2,3, rottenberger, and areas south of I-75 ) the terrain is ALOT more hostile than that. It would essentialy be impassible to a human being on foot, period. you would sink up to your knees in mud, or be forced to wade and swim for many miles in water that has not only leeches in it, but also has a prolific alligator population that actually do see man as prey. (His fear of swimming that canal might have seemed like hype but it was very, very, justified. )

Without a "bug suit" , mosquito net or tent/bivy bag to get into, you would be positively, absolutely be eaten alive by mosquitos after dark. Bug dope, even 100% deet is only marginally affective. you need a physical barrier between the bugs and you. That little smokey fire he had? please...

He was correct about it all looking the same in every direction out there, especially in the wetlands. Its super easy to get disoriented out there without a compass or GPS.

The episode was good for the entertainment value for me, but A real situation out there would probably be very different..

Great point, Bat. Thanks for the on-location perspective & expertise. Good stuff.

Fact remains, the Creeks, Seminoles, and the soldiers who were ordered after them slogged it out in that very terrain for many years with no bug suits, no Deet, and darn little else.

'Course, lots of 'em died of just about every disease imaginable. Too bad Bear wasn't there as an advisor.

Wait, that sounds cruel. Too bad Bear wasn't there to advise them and reduce their casualties with his vast knowledge of, well, everything. Yeah, that's the ticket.


Frank 2135