AmazinTim: mr smart the great: that dude was a pussy he had a friken camera crew fallowing him every where.

Before Man vs Wild he climbed Everest and served three years in the SAS (since you're an idiot, you can liken them to British Navy SEALs), but I guess the camera crew was doing all the work for him.

Post MVW, he's done a half dozen expeditions for charity to Antarctica, the Northwest Passage, and the Himalayas.

Les Stroud's most notable outdoor accomplishment was winning the "Best Acoustic/Folk Act" award at the Spirit of the North Canadian Music Festival.

Shut up, Bear.

I'm sure Grylls can make an easy living with his skill set.

He can work for R. Kelly as a taste tester, for example.

I prefer watching this guy and his wife.

Put me in the Stroud camp. I do enjoy MvW for the entertainment value, but I'd imagine if I were to be lost in the wilderness, I'd more than likely run in to a situation along the lines of "where in the fark is a decent, bear-free shelter" instead of "watch as I kill a bull moose with my bare hands to make snowshoes out of his antlers.*"

Sure, Stroud can seem tedious at times, but I'm all about a practical approach. I am NOT saying that Bear couldn't survive in the wild, but he takes more of the Michael Bay approach to survival.

*-extreme, made-up, unlikely scenario

rudemix: I don't know that I am butthurt. I just posited at the beginning that when it comes to shows about survival (a word used to tout the show, not a word we chose) some would prefer a straight ahead guy offering sounds facts to a manic guy offering bad choices for the intended audience. Or it could be likened to this; when it comes to action movies some like Clint Eastwood, older a little more settled does his dirty work without too much need to be looked at, and some like Rambo and need an overt, red bandana 'look what I can do!' kind of guy. You like Rambo, I like Eastwood.

I will say this though, I don't know what Stroud does for a living prior to, or after his show. You know what Grylls did from the second it begins with reminders all the way through. You think he isn't going to live up to his own SAS hype? Both give caveats at the beginning which one guys seems to disregard in favor of "ridiculous stunts setup for entertainment and spends his nights in a hotel with his camera crew" and one follows his own caveat and his advice to me does too. I'm not opposed to a show about an ex-paramilitary guy wanting to go out into the wilderness and do the Piss drinking, snake eating equivalent of Jackass. Just label it as such.

I understand the fan base for Les Stroud and his straight-up, no-nonsense approach to survival and I can see the redundancy of Man vs Wild being lumped in the same category as Surviorman. What I have trouble understanding is all the commotion about Grylls being a phony and a fake because, unless I'm missing something, it seemed pretty obvious that his show has always been about setting up a scene and asking the audience to suspend some disbelief and follow along - and I don't mean literally asking the audience because I would assume they had some measure of skepticism and could go along with the set up with feeling betrayed afterwards by its lack of realism.

I like your Eastwood/Rambo comparison but I prefer to think of Surviorman as the sex ed video you watch as school: very informative but dull and Man vs Wild is like a full on porno with midgets, donkys, and 10ft dildos.

9beers: rudemix: It sounds like heresy at first but the first time you are able to survive in the wild without needing to bite a live critter's head off, drink your own urine, stand on a precipice or shinny down a vine over rocky outcroppings you'll be more receptive to it.

Can I still hang out in a train tunnel and then pretend to barely outrun a train, diving out of the way just in time?

Of course! It isn't really survival if you don't have a near death experience. If nature isn't going to present it to you, you have to make your own.

izzyweee: I don't think I've ever watched an episode of Man vs Wild and actually thought that Bear was truly stuck in the wild and trying his best to survive. I find it odd that some of you get so butthurt over the fact that he does ridiculous stunts setup for entertainment and spends his nights in a hotel with his camera crew. Comparing his show to Surviorman is pointless. Stroud may be realism but is boring as fark. Grylls is providing an endless supply of memes and is willing to do the unnecessary to satisfy some morbid curiosity.

I like Bear. He did a great AMA and just happens to be sexy as hell.

I don't know that I am butthurt. I just posited at the beginning that when it comes to shows about survival (a word used to tout the show, not a word we chose) some would prefer a straight ahead guy offering sounds facts to a manic guy offering bad choices for the intended audience. Or it could be likened to this; when it comes to action movies some like Clint Eastwood, older a little more settled does his dirty work without too much need to be looked at, and some like Rambo and need an overt, red bandana 'look what I can do!' kind of guy. You like Rambo, I like Eastwood.

I will say this though, I don't know what Stroud does for a living prior to, or after his show. You know what Grylls did from the second it begins with reminders all the way through. You think he isn't going to live up to his own SAS hype? Both give caveats at the beginning which one guys seems to disregard in favor of "ridiculous stunts setup for entertainment and spends his nights in a hotel with his camera crew" and one follows his own caveat and his advice to me does too. I'm not opposed to a show about an ex-paramilitary guy wanting to go out into the wilderness and do the Piss drinking, snake eating equivalent of Jackass. Just label it as such.

AmazinTim: Before Man vs Wild he climbed Everest and served three years in the SAS (since you're an idiot, you can liken them to British Navy SEALs), but I guess the camera crew was doing all the work for him.

Except that the SAS is part of the British Army, not the Royal Navy. They are more like a cross between Special Forces and Army Rangers.

What you are thinking of is the SBS (Special Boat Service) of the Royal Navy.

Hey man she was in my face!


I'm in your face?

Well, considering what Bear Grylls has done in the past, whatever it is that he's refusing to do NOW, it's got to be awful.