I have, for about the last three weeks, been watching Bear Grylls eat grubs on Man Vs. Wild.
Now, I have questioned many things about this show. It’s one reason I dig Deadliest Catch and Survivorman a bit better.
Bear tends to be a bit of a showboat. I mean, I’m watching it. But I’ve always sort of just done that because apparently I dig decent-looking guys eating grubs.
But then we hear from Sam Wollaston of the Media Guardian who says ole Bear is faking some of it:
No, it just doesn’t sound so good does it? I’m not surprised old Etonian survivalist, mountaineer, motivational speaker and all-round tough guy Bear Grylls didn’t mention that he left the Sierra Nevada mountains and spent some nights at The Pines Resort at Bass Lake, California, while filming a recent episode of Born Survivor. Did you bite the heads of your blueberry pancakes in the morning Bear, like you did with that snake? Grrrr.
The BBC is opining as well and calling foul.
Man vs Wild - called Born Survivor on Channel 4 in the UK - saw Bear Grylls supposedly abandoned in the wild.
But a consultant said Grylls stayed in a motel and had scenes set up for him.
“Isolated elements” were not “natural to the environment”, Discovery said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, and promised greater clarity in future.
Oops. Now, I don’t know if this is true or not. But, you know, I’m always wondering why there is always a cameraman waiting on Bear when he jumps out of planes.
Heck, I’ll keep watching it. Even if it’s just for the grubeating.
mmmmmm
Grubs
protein packed and they don’t bite back
“apparently I dig decent-looking guys eating grubs” so … uh you’d have had me if you’d only replaced *grubs* with … well sumfin else. Kill your t.v.
Kill you TV, made me laugh out loud, Sara Sue!
[...] When Reality TV isn’t reality. [...]
BTW, those aren’t grubs, they’re gummy worms.
[...] that Discovery Channel show Man vs Wild? ‘Coma and I are wondering how much of it is real. We’re [...]
I love Survivorman because that guy eventually looks dirty and tired and strung out, he just looks more real. I’ve seen Man Vs. Wild a couple of times and I was mostly cheering for wild against him. He just seemed to be more “acting” instead of really doing it like Survivorman. I would not be surprised to learn that he really retired at night in cushier accomodations. Fakery.
does anybody believe this is real with a camara crew 10 ft behind?
True, Norm.
That was sort of the point to it all as it never looked real.
Have you heard the latest gem?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=471510&in_page_id=1773
They actually had a crew member wear a bear costume in the Rockies to rummage around Bear’s camp when they couldn’t find a tame bear for the scene. There’s a script for the entire episode; this was “Scene 10 - Grizzly Attacks Camp”. The snake he ate in the rockies was found dead on the side of the road, the badger was actually steak inside a badger skin, he didn’t parachute into a tree but was hoisted up with safety gear on, and so forth.
If you want the full list of things he’s been caught in, by the way, check out BearWiki:
http://www.daughtersoftiresias.org/bearwiki/
if the grubs are fucking gummi worms why do they move? man vs. wild is so much better than survivorman, if survivorman is real then why do they have footage of him walking forward? if hes so intent on survival i dont think he would run up ahead, set up the camera, run back and then take the footage. Bear doesnt fake this shit
survivorman is a piece of shit, hes all high and mighty like ooh i go out here without food, water, or matches im the shit, i’m all alone i fucking rock. when he was in canada he brought like an axe and a harmonica. Bear is the real deal, and he does look dirty and tired by the end. and the reason he makes such bad decisions sometimes is because he can do them incase thats your only option.
So, uh, Bear is “the real deal” because he looks “dirty” by the end? Gee, its really hard to fake that! We now have mountains of evidence (check out that bear wiki link) that Bear’s show is completely fake.
Survivorman had an episode about the “making of” the show at the end of the first season where he explained how he does a lot of the show. He does have to go back and get the cameras. He says in this “making of” episode and also in a lot of the other episodes that surviving is a lot harder with 50lbs of camera gear. He also fully discloses that he consults local survival experts (they even interview them on camera in the desert episode and the canyonlands episode).
Regarding the Axe. He says in the episode that he brought an axe because only a moron would go anywhere in canada in the winter without an axe. Its not hard to believe this. In several episodes he brings other things with him so that he would have the same thing with him as someone who gets stranded. In the arctic he has a broken down snow mobile, in one episode he has an entire crashed airplane. In another he has a bicycle.
Survivorman, in addition to being entertaining, is very authentic. The character is, IMO, a much more likable guy. He doesn’t lord over you that he was in special forces like Bear does… because he wasn’t. He’s a musician turned documentary maker turned survival expert. Its very entertaining, and I encourage everyone to watch it when it starts up again next week.
Man vs. Wild just seemed like a terrible idea from the beginning. After watching Survivorman I made an attempt to watch other survival shows hoping they were all as cool (they aren’t). One of the ones I watched was Man vs. Wild. I thought the fact that he had an entire camera crew with him was pretty lame. And that was before it came out that he basically fakes the entire show.
I agree with you Bryan.
That’s why I’ve always dug Survivorman so much more than ole’ Bear.
Muffins?
Jeez.
doesnt matter if its fake or not! are you guys interested in the host or on the survival skills and knowledge. cuz thats universal and everlasting, hosts come and go… and all your talk about who’s better is just a matter of opinion. I like both of them… and Ray Mears! and Ron Hood, the old skool survivor…. cheers
I actually posted about this very dude over at Flektor. http://tinyurl.com/yvgl98 Check it out, etc. Someone did a Flek detailing where Bear’s advice is fatal/bad and where his show is faked.
I believe that we watch these shows because we see men eat grubs.
The real issue with “Man vs. Wild” isn’t that it is only a depiction of survival scenarios v. real situations… the real problem is that much of the advice given by Bear is critically dangerous, and could get you killed… It is not practical or informative survival advice. The show is a farce and sham because of his poor advice that is inaccurate and dangerous…
The link below discusses the “bad survival advice”.
http://www.daughtersoftiresias.org/bearwiki/Bad_Advice_and_Inaccuracies
I believe that he is a phenomenal athlete and fully capable of handling the physical challenges that are depicted on the show… Granted they stage the shots and setup the situations… I suppose it is advisable to eliminate the real danger (why should he kill himself for a show???), and to make the scenes more exciting and entertaining to watch (he is essentially replicating real situations in more a production friendly manner).
The problem: 1) It is a let down to see it is faked when it is billed as REAL SURVIVAL, and 2) It is upsetting to treated like we are all dumb out-in TV land (I for one am not OK with being lied to for the sake of entertainment - refer to the 1950’s game show “Twenty One”) 3) IT IS WRONG ON SURVIVAL!!!
So, Bear Grylls may be a capable and skilled survivalist, but he is not a genuine all-encompassing survival expert. He uses off screen consultants for the survival techniques that he presents, and the scenes are setup for him to be oh so adventurous… but yet somehow they actually come up with critically BAD survival advice… as in the link above…
1) Drinking your urine - full of toxins
Use coconut oil as a sun block - believe that and you will fry in the sun thinking you are protected
2) Squeezing elephant dung to get moisture - saturated with disease causing bacteria
3) Drifting down stream at high altitudes - The fast track to hypothermia
4) Jumping into a white-water rapid - ticket to drowning
5) Using parachute cord to repell - happy landing
6) Swimming under a log jam not knowing if there is an openning - who needs air anyway???
7) Climbing a tree to get ripe avocados - The ripe ones are on the ground dummy, big waste of energy
9) No discussion on the time, planning and preparation needed to gather enough firewood for an entire night, to build a sturdy raft, to build an adequate shelter, to gather enough food - he just runs, jumps and climbs all day, then settles down to a fire with plenty of wood, has a nicely crafted raft with sawed ends, starts grabbing food on a whim because he is hungry…
Bear Grylls - On this day, he is Rich Santoro’s “Worst Person in the World” (homage to Olbermann)
Bear is full of shit. Man vs Wild doesn’t have anything on survivorman. Survivorman is real and man vs wild is staged. Survivorman giives u good information, Man VS wild doesn’t.
Man bear grylls is not fake… you know this so called mountain of evidence, wow big whoop that’s like me saying i saw a unicorn in the middle of the rode, then photo shooping a picutre of a unicorn and a road…
the evidence could be just as easily made up as the accusations are saying bear is fake…
And bear grylls does not “act” like some of you say, it’s him being him… showing you “survival skills” not showing you how he manages to make it out… the whole point of the show “Man vs. Wild” is to give people a sense of how to survive in the wild, hence the term man versus the wild…duh…
I would say something about survivor man, but seeing how he seems more like the one who “acts” in his commercials for his show, i would go for bear grylls more…
survivor man ain’t got nothing on Bear!!!
Drinking your own urine will kill you if you have no other water sources. There’s a reason it is called waste.
Bear Grylls is a beast. Les Straud cant come close to being as cool as he is. Bear actually survives of of a canteen and flint, Les always has a bunch of extra crap with him. Man vs. Wild is also a lot more informational. I learn much more from it that from Survivorman. I love both shows, but Man vs. Wild totally owns Survivorman in my book.
if u gys fuckn say shit about man vs wild i don’t on waht i will do but it wont be prity who das ron think he is maby he shold drink his own piss the fuckn ginag
um, wow.
Ginger,
I’m with you after a corporate day where I didn’t see this.
WOW.
And I won’t even ban this.
WOW.
The whole appeal of the show is the survival tension and the learning component… Without the tension, and knowing that much of the advice is patently wrong for survival… it has lost its entertainment value. For staged outdoors survival, I will watch “Crocadile Dundee”.
Ever seen the movie “Quiz Show”??? That movie has some insight into why being lied to for the sake of entertainment is wrong…
Man v. Wild ought to be called “Bear Grylls does a one man Fear Factor knock-off”
Rich, “Quiz Show” is an excellent thought. You are right!!!
Man, I hadn’t thought about that but the whole thing does reek of that, doesn’t it?
Absoultely… Likewise, imagine if we discovered that Survivor was all faked and set-up (based on who would win the challenges, and how the voting would go)… or Sports games, or anything that derives its entertainment quality from unscripted authenticity. What is the point if it is all staged just for drama??? Then it is just a really bad low-budget soap opera… I don’t tune into the Discovery Channel for that… I can watch Pro Wrestling for fake action and cheesy drama (although it is most certainly not low-budget).
NOTE: For the record, I watch neither pro wrestling nor Survivor…
I like both shows and watch them for what they are…shows. I don’t plan on living in the “bush” anytime soon and if I did, I would contact a local guide for some advice.
As a matter of preference, I like Survivorman more. For a few reasons…but thats just me. As for Bear, I do like the guy and he does some crazy stuff. But if you watch the shows closely, they tell you when it happens and before the show starts that it’s not all real. No real trick there, people read and see what they want.
I just want a show.
The reruns of the episodes are where they tell things are set-up. Originally it was dishonest.
Now they have a diclaimer in the beginning, they editted out the outright fake scenes (like trying to mount the “wild” horse in the Sierra Neveda episode, and not showing him throw the stick to kill the rabbit), and added voice overs by Grylle to explain when something is set-up (like in the Scottish highlands episode when they added that he didn’t catch any rabbits in a snare but had one brought in so that he can teach you how to prepare it, and in the Outback episode when the voice over by Bear says “I won’t be staying out here tonight, and “the crew will help”, when he shows how to build a shelter to protect from heavy rains and floods).
Read here to see where they come clean:
http://www.daughtersoftiresias.org/bearwiki/Edited_show_revelations
I am not a surivval expert, but I did have survival training in the military, and I was told on several occassions that urine is too salty to drink, and that , like drinking salt water, you will actually lose more water than you gain. I also heard a survival consultant for NASA say the same thing during a tour I had with a group of pilots. During training in the Sierras, we were also told emphatically to never jump into a river because it is impossible to know how swift the current actually is just by looking at it. If the water is coming from high altitude or the ambient temperature is cold, you will lose all your strength in as little as seven minutes. Also, the biggest challenge to being stranded, even as a boyscout, is to find dry wood and build a fire. Having a flint starter with you is more than a bit unrealistic. It is actually easier to start a fire with that tool he has than with matches. I must agree that I feel Les Stroud is much more informative and realistic, and Bear’s show is more entertainment driven. I also would not be surprised to find out that Bear was neither SAS or a survival expert. And he would not be the first to claim to have climbed Everest without actually even trying. He is very charismatic and I rather like his presentation and do not feel he is arrogant or an egoist, but I rather feel that Discovery has tried to dupe us, and in doing so, has insulted our intelligence. The “moronic masses’” obviously are a good deal more keen than the entertainment elite seem to realize. A real pity they didn’t do something a bit more realistic with Bear, because he really is an entertaining fellow.
Well it really is the only way a british guy could possibly seem macho or tough; by staging it and acting. Even so, Bear seems more like a Cub eh. I find it impossible to tell the difference between who is gay, and who is simply british. I grew up in the Canadian wilderness, so none of these survivor types impress me. A real wilderness man doesn’t need a fire because he has his woman to keep him warm. Bit of a closet there if you like being with other guys in the woods you know. I went to the Ukraine once too, and now that’s a place you will find some real tough customers and rather good people as well. Once you’ve seen a real mountain man, all the others just seem like queers.
You people are full of crap! and it is just a show so if you don’t like it then don’t watch. You don’t know what Bear Grylls’s life is like, so how are going to sit there and criticize some thing and some one that you know nothing about! He isn’t doing the show to impress you eh, he is doing it so you will be aware of certain things if ever in those kind of situations.
I’m watching it right now. This guys is crazy, I watch it as a comedy show. He’s eating shit right now, literally. LOL!
Ok once again people take things way to far and argue over nothing. It’s TV. Ok once more. It’s TV. It’s entertainment so watch PBS or go to a college lecture if you want to learn something. Who cares if Man vs. Wild is not actually “real” it’s a fun show that I like to watch. Bear is probably not that hyper but the action is fun to watch. Actually he should be praised for his acting skills. Now Les Stroud is awesome too. His show can be seen as boring by some but I like it just as much as Bears show. It’s more educational. So quit rambling about people you don’t even know and get a life.
The problem is the advice he gives and risks he takes when attempting to SURVIVE, like he claims to be doing. I agree it’s just a show, but then don’t try and give people advice on topics of survival and not be accurate about the advice. There is nothing wrong with Bear running around the world showing you how to eat nasty things. Just don’t claim to be giving sound survival advice.
I don’t claim to be a survival expert by any means, but I did spend 9 years in the US Army in a combat arms unit, and a lot of the advice or just how Bear does things goes against all basic and fundamental survival advice.
I am a huge fan of the show. Even though I recently found out it was fake, I still like it.
You people have to understand, its a TV show… Entertainment. And to those of you who think its NOT fake… This might shed some light, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpSlpvb1is
Like I said, Man vs. Wild is a great show, but its fake… but honestly, it’s all for entertainment. So you can’t be that hard on him, he’s making money.