Bear Grylls style survival - really possible?

[David M]

What do you think about surviving in the wild like Bear Grylls? Do you think many people could survive in the ways he demonstrates? How long would people have to wait until they got so hungry and desperate that they would be prepared to eat some of the disgusting things he does? Remember that after his wilderness encounters Bear gets to go back to the hotel and eat blueberry muffins for breakfast...

[wayno]

there are courses springing up all over the place teaching people to try and survive with just the clothes on your back and a knife
all depends on where you are and your knowledge of any available food sources
i certainly wouldnt be prancing around like he does running and jumping wasting energy.. avoid vertical faces and waterfalls which he seems to be attracted to like a magnet.. i doubt he can remain so energetic without having some augmented food supply, if you compare him with les stroud survivor man who spends half his time camping and is still knackered from the lack of calories he can find to eat....
just dont expect a pleasant experience if you try it yourself.

the australian army had an officer who's sole job was to drive around the outback and map the edible plants area by area. on the back of their maps is a list of what plants are in the area of the map... aparently even the maps were edible.....

[norts]

Major Les Hiddens

[michael_p]

The definitive answer :


Behind the scenes:


Hawaii:

[wayno]

yeah theres another vid which shoes a "remote island" they filmed in hawaii, the island was next to one of the main hawaii islands next to a luxury resort....
another vid pointed out bear getting on a "wild horse" that was nicely groomed and shod....
they changed the programme, in the early days they made out he was five days alone in the wild but they ditched that blurb when the lies came out. often he'd be evacuated at night to sleep in a hotel, he'd be seen going back and forward nightly in some cases....
he did an episode in nz and from scene to scene he was jumping large distances... he went to tongariro from the bush near rotorua , tongariro is totally ringed by highways they didnt really say whether they were supposed to be randomly filming different locations in that episode... another episode he was moving overland in the south island. but it was debateable whether he did it continuously, he pointed out to see when he got to the west coast and said "thousands of miles in that direction is south america".....
he was lucky in one scene he was walking across the top of a waterfall and slipped off into the water which happened to be deep enough. or maybe it was staged

[jackhinde]

if i was in a survival situation i wouldn't waste energy, i wouldn't eat or drink something that might have unwelcome consequences, i would stay put, i would stay dry and i wouldn't do anything risky that could result in adding injury to being stuck in the wild.

another gripe is the name of the show, if i did one it would be "man with wild", but that is just the tree hugger in me.

obviously i am jealous of the money he made, wish i had of done it first...

and finally i am sick of people telling me "do you know you look like bear grylls"!

[wayno]

i'm guessing bear might be getting sick of people telling him he looks like you!

[Onestepmore]

We were out walking with my son who was about 9 at the time, and making up scenarios about what to do in various situations, if they ever arose.
One was 'If dad or I fell down this cliff, and you were alone and it was getting dark, what would you do for shelter overnight?'
Straight away he knew the answer!
'I'd kill a camel and crawl into it's tummy and I'd be nice and warm'
/sigh

Personally I admire Andy McNab

[wayno]

could be worse. he could do what bears kids do and fill your water bottle with pee.....

[Moel Hebog]

For me it is Ray Mears over Bear Grylls every time. I was fortunate to spend a week with him on his Fundamental Bushcraft course in the UK. He is an excellent teacher with a real empathy for the environment he is in.

[Lindsay]

Short answer to Davids initial question...No. Grylls is nothing but a showman, most of his advice is useless if not downright dangerous.

[wayno]

hes like a hyperactive kid,,, anyone who's been in trouble in the bush who knows what they are about knows you must stay calm and think things through properly before you take action and when you take action you don't charge off like a maniac. once your heart beat gets above a hundred beats a minute your thinking isnt as good as it is when you're more rested, if you're running on adrenaline your thinking becomes more impulsive and you're working more on fight or flight mentality..
it doesnt matter for bear so much if things go wrong for him, theres a helicopter on standby for him, a film crew with him, he's getting paid big bucks to behave in a sensationalistic way, he has broken his leg in recent years in antarctica but i cant find any further information about it... i'm guessing it happened filming one of his shows and they hushed it up..... kids dont use him as a role model...

[Lizzy]

Its entertainment... and there is no denying his endurance, will power and faith. I just finished his book on his climb of Mt Everest when he was 23. He was very candid, honest and entertaining. I bet "he" could survive the way he does in the shows- I doubt the rest of us could though!
Go Bear!

[wayno]

his film crew feed him to keep his energy up. you cant prance around the countryside like that for days on end without a significant food intake....

[tasadam]

For goodness sake, just bring back the Leyland Brothers!

[Franco]

Alby Mangels....

[Mark F]

The problem with the BG stunts is that he appears to be constantly moving a quite a high pace. I don't believe you can survive for long if you do this - uses too much energy, no buildup of an intimate knowledge of the country being relied on to provide succor. If you stay put in the right locations then it is possible to survive as long as you quickly learn about the available food sources and there are sufficient of them. Only move on when the area is depleted just like most nomadic groups - centuries of learning and adapting.

[tasadam]

From the 2 and a half minutes (well, not much anyhow) of BG that I have had the displeasure of seeing, what I can tell is that those who do not know these things look upon the show with amazement, and those that do know would look on it as the comedy that it is.
The sad part about that is likely that you then get people out there thinking they can do everything he does. Could lead to problems. While it is possible to live off the land to some extent, good luck trying to get to sleep with the stench of a rotting carcass, or pole vaulting down a mountainside...

[maddog]

From the 2 and a half minutes (well, not much anyhow) of BG that I have had the displeasure of seeing, what I can tell is that those who do not know these things look upon the show with amazement, and those that do know would look on it as the comedy that it is.
The sad part about that is likely that you then get people out there thinking they can do everything he does. Could lead to problems. While it is possible to live off the land to some extent, good luck trying to get to sleep with the stench of a rotting carcass, or pole vaulting down a mountainside...

My Children think Bear is great. Bear makes the outdoors exciting. They realise Man vs Wild is entertainment.

[corvus]

Hands up anyone who could do what he did regardless of backup it was TV show for goodness sake and I have viewed a couple of them on line which may at times have been far fetched but no doubt introduced many to the use of flint and steel and some other survival methods albeit far reaching at the time maybe
Lack of knowledge is a dangerous thing some may just save your life IMHO

corvus

[nq111]

ok - i figure I may as well weigh in to this topic

I think he has a lot to contribute and may well be the most knowledgeable in real-life survival of the current crop on TV (Malcolm Douglas was better ).

But I fully agree the show is overdone from a survival perspective - there is no way anyone would try half those things without serious backup - and the way parts are contrived to make the story is a pity. Bear can get away with a lot because he is incredibly capable (to have made it to the SAS for one he would have had to prove he is highly predictable and rational under extreme pressure as well as all-round superb physically). Watching him climb you know he has done that many, many times before.

The premise of the show is that you are lost and have to self-rescue. This may be the case for the SAS on a deniable mission in Pakistan or something but for 99.9% of us people in the western world that is not going to be the case. Best move generally will be to set up somewhere reasonably secure (with shelter, food etc) and save energy until rescued. But the premise does give some 'licence' to what they do. Also, the SAS motto under which he was grounded is 'who dares wins' - basically you must take risks to prevail. I think this shows in his approach. Maybe true for those guys who have much better skills and more comfortable with the consequences when things don't work out but not for the rest of us.

I have watched some other like Ray Mears (very knowledgeable but he comes accross as being into a car-camping approach with paraphernalia from the bush just to adorn the camp and dinners ) and Les Shroud (he seems to want to lay around and die? - probably the right approach assuming a rescue is coming). Actually, the other shows have different purposes and premises - so hard to directly compare - they are what they are. I think Bear's show beats overall for entertainment value and often there is a lot to learn (if you know enough to filter the @#$%shi$). He does a better job of giving you the mental preparation that if you are going to have a chance - learn to be really uncomfortable and keep trying, failure after failure.

It is a pity there is not a more credible version of Bear's show (i guess the ratings need to come first) with better disclaimers and a toned down, more realistic approach. I really hope people haven't put themselves in dangerous situations because of the show but expect some fools will have.

[Rob A]

Bear gets to go back to the hotel and eat blueberry muffins for breakfast...

Sounds good to me. And gets payed for it, probably a lot more than I would get for working all year. Sign me up scotty!

[wayno]

yeah he has some good knowledge, , its his execution that is the big problem

[doogs]

Geez, It's just a bit of fun. Watch it for what it is and enjoy the scenery

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[Hallu]

Yeah I don't like the guy, it's a show and nothing else... And I agree that it's never about the nature, it's just about this guy... I actually had more respect for Top Gear doing that North Pole expedition : 2 middle age guys with no experience in a 4x4 convoy with no hotel around (that's for sure given the location...) and sleeping in tents... Or more respect for the "Lost land of the..." BBC series where they carry their filming gear on foot into the jungle, caves or the mountains, discover new species, and really endure remoteness. Hats off to those guys, at least they're contributing to something. Grylls is just a buffoon.

[wayno]

an extremely well paid buffoon,
pay people a lot of money and they will go to extraordinary lengths to do whatever they are told to do...

[doogs]

Yeah I don't like the guy, it's a show and nothing else... And I agree that it's never about the nature, it's just about this guy... I actually had more respect for Top Gear doing that North Pole expedition : 2 middle age guys with no experience in a 4x4 convoy with no hotel around (that's for sure given the location...) and sleeping in tents... Or more respect for the "Lost land of the..." BBC series where they carry their filming gear on foot into the jungle, caves or the mountains, discover new species, and really endure remoteness. Hats off to those guys, at least they're contributing to something. Grylls is just a buffoon.

Yeah what a fool : ex British SAS soldier, climbed Everest aged 23 and made a fortune making a TV show in which he got to go to some amazing places. Haters gonna hate. What have you guys done?

[wayno]

well we know he's a risk taker. depends on your priorities as to how you rate what he's done, he has "achieved".
he's also lucky not to be permanently injured or killed from the stunts he pulls on his tv programme, to a certain extent skill has helped him avoid serious injury, but thers also an element of luck with he amount of risks he takes....
if you read tom woolfe's "the right stuff" it will explain the psychology of the "hero", he also pokes fun at the hero.
the people who get kudo's for taking big risks, and society generally applauds them. historically soceities have needed risk takers to protect them and keep them functioning. the hunters and fishermen who took on the elements and wild animals to feed society. the soldiers who fight enemies. society feels protected by teh heroic risk takers. it even gives adulation in advance to people announcing they will take on risk thus encouraging them to do so.
you can say "nothing venture, nothing win" as sir edmund hilary was quoted as saying.
no matter how good you are if you do things the way bear does you take the risk of something going seriously wrong.
anyone going into the outdoors should be assessing their risk and that has been discussed on this site in the past, and they take a certain amount of planned risk that they are happy with.
bear is entertainment, he's not an ideal example of survivalism because of the consistent unecessary risks he takes.

[Hallu]

Yeah I don't like the guy, it's a show and nothing else... And I agree that it's never about the nature, it's just about this guy... I actually had more respect for Top Gear doing that North Pole expedition : 2 middle age guys with no experience in a 4x4 convoy with no hotel around (that's for sure given the location...) and sleeping in tents... Or more respect for the "Lost land of the..." BBC series where they carry their filming gear on foot into the jungle, caves or the mountains, discover new species, and really endure remoteness. Hats off to those guys, at least they're contributing to something. Grylls is just a buffoon.

Yeah what a fool : ex British SAS soldier, climbed Everest aged 23 and made a fortune making a TV show in which he got to go to some amazing places. Haters gonna hate. What have you guys done?

Good for him, but doing all those things and then star in show just focusing on gruesome stunts to get a juicy check isn't my idea of a tremendous accomplishment... He could have probably become a great and respected explorer, instead he's a farce. I have far more respect for a guy like Ranulph Fiennes, whom Grylls worships (I highly doubt the reciprocal is true...).

[Moondog55]

Well it is "entertainment" for sure; but the feller is probably as tough as nails and super fit too.
I actually envy the bloke, getting paid to have fun; and deep down he is probably a decent bloke too.