Man Vs. Wild TV Show Overview
Man Vs. Wild is a show on the Discovery channel that has a sole host being dropped into the wilderness, with the goal being to survive and find a way out as quickly as possible. The host of Man Vs. Wild is Bear Grylls, who has a lot of experience in survival that he has earned throughout his life, such as when he served in the British Army Special Forces. It has aired two seasons, with the first being shown in 2006, and airs under a different name (Bear Grylls: Born Survivor) in Europe, Asia and Africa.
A camera crew follows Bear throughout his journeys, documenting his experiences and encounters. This can get not only interesting, but also very entertaining and informative for the viewers. The show has been filmed in many locations all over the world, including Australia’s outback, the Pacific Ocean, deserts, rainforests, and more. In each episode, Bear begins his journey with only a few items, typically a bottle of water and a flint.
The goal for Bear is to find his way back to civilization as quickly as possible, which means a lot of the lessons throughout the show include how to read the stars for directional purposes, when to follow a river, and more. In the meantime of looking for a way out, Bear must survive almost solely off the land, and this allows for lessons in how to hunt for food (such as how to make a live trap for rabbits and where to set the trap), what types of animals can be eaten without cooking, flowers and plants that can give you energy, and more. You also learn how to build a shelter, fight off hypothermia, and much more.
Not only does the host, Bear Grylls, teach you general survival techniques throughout the show, but he also intentionally places himself in dangerous situations to show you how to survive. Throughout the first two seasons of filming he has jumped in a sinkhole, quicksand, a frozen lake, a whitewater river, and more. When he does these adventurous things, he is not showing the audience that this is what should be done during survival in the wild, but it might accidentally happen to you. He intentionally does it so that you can see firsthand how to survive if it ever does. These dangerous activities, however, have come under scrutiny due to the fear of people misunderstanding and following in the host’s footsteps.
There are also many other controversies surrounding the show, such as how true some of the encounters and situations are, or whether they have been staged. This is a topic of much debate and scrutiny. However, if the intention of the show is to teach and educate, whether the acts are staged or real, the lessons are still taught. But the entertainment value of watching him survive and knowing it is real is lost. This means that, if you like the valuable lessons taught in the show, it is an excellent choice of television viewing. But to stave off disappointment in Bear, it is best to keep in mind that he may not be actually enduring everything you see.
I think that anyone who thinks that man vs wild with bear grylls is a fake is full of ****. That man is nothing short of amazing.
Comment on November 3, 2007 @ 11:43 am
I’ve been stuck on Man vs. Wil since the very first time I’ve seen it. Any man who’s willing to put themselves in the situations that Bear does either has a death wish or is serious about trying to help his fellow man. Keep up educating the rest of us who are to sheltered to go out into the real world.
Comment on November 29, 2007 @ 11:48 am
Even if there is some staging, it would make sense to preserve the host for future episodes, n’est ce pas? The show is informative and entertaining and Bear has nerve enough for just about anyone. He eats maggots, jumps into impossible situations and hands out useful bits of “savvy” one would otherwise never know about. Besides, what’s not to like spending time watching such a gorgeous, gorgeous man.
Comment on January 15, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
How ’bout a little Ray Mears action?
Comment on March 4, 2008 @ 4:03 pm
I really like this show, but at this point it’s a fact that lots of these things are staged. I’ve decided to keep watching it for the educational value, but it’s disappointing to know that it’s not as real as it appears. He’s not starving when he’s out hunting. He’s not dieing of thirst. Survivorman is real, but less entertaining. Go figure.
Comment on September 12, 2008 @ 1:02 pm
Bear is simply amazing. Alot of the situations he places himself in are there for us to learn what to do in case of the worst happening. I see alot of critism on here about him being a fake or phony, because he has a safety crew and is being monitored but that is smart. He is not out there to really get hurt or be lost, if things go wrong he and his team can get outta dodge. But he does show us very valuable life saving lessons that he learned from the British SAS. Even our US. Special Forced Groups have been known to eat insects and do the same things that Bear teaches us. The show is for educational purposes. Nothing short of extraordinary!!!
Comment on October 25, 2008 @ 6:57 am
Big Fan of the show. Although I realized after a few shows that the show is mainly for entertaining purposes. Most of the info on there can possibly save you life. but others can definitely do the opposite. It can’t be relied on for proper advice. like draining the water out of elephant dung? come on.. the microorganisms in that thing will kill u of dehydration from diarrhea before it does giving u a septic shock! and thats just an example of the misleading “advice”.. nevertheless very entertaining.
Comment on November 8, 2008 @ 6:23 am
dear man v.s wild guy i am your number one fan and i want to go to the jungle with you and i know how to make a fire ,a bow,crossbow ,fish,make snowshoes,andmake a tent,snare ,and this summer i am going to alaska.and i love your show and ni saw every show of man v.s wild i was a boyscout and camped outside twice and making fires is my favorite thing to do. from nathan markle
Comment on June 2, 2009 @ 7:45 pm
I love man vs wild! I don’t care if it’s fake or not, the show still demonstrates important survival techniques that I would use if I were in that position. If I wanted to see the real thing I’d watch Survival Man but I can’t stand Les Stroud complaining about carrying all the camera equipment around with him. Stroud is a little whiny school girl.
Comment on November 17, 2009 @ 7:55 am
“”man vs wild episodes wrote,
I love man vs wild! I don’t care if it’s fake or not, the show still demonstrates important survival techniques “”
Yes, like:
- lowering yourself into a crevasse on a glacier because you were lazy and wandered into a dead end, and want to “save time” (even though when you are in a situation like this, rushing into dangerous environments is absolutely the worst possible thing to do)
- sliding down scree slopes for no reason (to save time again!) and destroying your raingear in a place where if it rains, you die.
- jumping into mountain rivers in yukon, with no way to dry yourself, and no support or safety precautions. Then…
- magically fixing a canoe you *found* (magic of TV again!) instead of building a fire to dry yourself… (dont worry, he magically dried off in 2 seconds somehow)… then sending it straight into rapids you could easily see coming, and ditch into the river again. Time well spent, Bear!
Nearly everything he does on his show falls under the category of “wrongest possible thing to do”…unless you want to die ASAP. The few small tidbits of useful info he manages to impart (e.g. coconut fibres work well as tinder, water collection is #1 priority on desert island, hypothermia is biggest risk in tundra…etc.) are often entirely contradicted by the wide range of dumb things he does despite these facts (destroys his bottles to make ‘water goggles’ on the desert island, jumps into rivers in places he could go hypothermic in minutes, jumps around like an idiot in environments where a small injury like a broken ankle could mean certain death. Like “descending a tree” from a cliff… then discovering there are no branches 30-40 feet to the deck. Genius! Of course it would have been far easier and safer to simply climb down somewhere else… but why not! Good TV = bad survival…
He may actually be a well trained outdoorsman for all i know, but the show certainly forces him to look like a flaming idiot. The crevasse lowering thing is what blew me away… he does it TWICE across two different episodes. Thats pretty much the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Suicidal and irresponsible. And one day some idiot might imitate him. He even says “this is really where you DONT want to be”, yet continues to demonstrate entirely wrongheaded behaviors and remain healthy and unscathed. How about methods for *walking across live lava flows*? Great idea Bear. You know what the best method is (even when they are faked, as in his case)…? NOT WALKING ACROSS LIVE LAVA FLOWS. Thats about as useful a survival technique as publishing, “How I Made Millions Playing Russian Roulette, And You Can Too!”. His version of ’survival’ is an embarrassment to anyone who’s been, lost, hurt in the woods, gotten hypothermia or dysentery, whatever… he seems to imply that ‘boneheaded gutsyness and rushing around’ is what helps you survive in the wild. If anyone followed his advice, they would die. That simple. Drinking your own pee and sliding down scree slopes may be more entertaining than Les Stroud identifying edible plants, but it has nothing to do with bushcraft.
Comment on April 27, 2010 @ 1:03 am
“”Throughout the first two seasons of filming he has jumped in a sinkhole, quicksand, a frozen lake, a whitewater river, and more. When he does these adventurous things, he is not showing the audience that this is what should be done during survival in the wild, but it might accidentally happen to you. He intentionally does it so that you can see firsthand how to survive if it ever does.”"
To this point: my beef is that he DOESNT show what to do if this “accidentally” happens to you = he presents these behaviors as nearly “best practices”. And he DOESNT show how to survive if it happens… he just magically seems to emerge unscathed and always vigorous. He doesnt ever show how to escape from a crevasse.. he shows (wrongly) how going into one is maybe sometimes a good idea… *if* you have a TV crew, someone to scout the thing first, someone to pull you out in the event you get stuck, and a hotel to sleep in that night. Anyone else following his example would of course die a horrible miserable death. Un-televised,
Comment on April 27, 2010 @ 1:19 am