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Man vs. Wild

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Man vs. Wild
File:Man vs. Wild title screen.jpg
Man vs. Wild title screen
StarringBear Grylls
Country of originUK
No. of episodes15 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time45 Minutes (without commercials)
Original release
NetworkDiscovery Channel
ReleaseOctober 27 2006 –
Present

Man vs. Wild is a survival television series on the Discovery Channel in the United States and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom hosted by Bear Grylls.

In the shows, Grylls demonstrates techniques for wilderness survival. Throughout each episode, Bear also tells about successful and failed survivals in the area he is in. The program has shown him eating raw meat and live fish, staving off hypothermia after intentionally jumping in a frozen lake, and drinking the fluids of elephant feces and his own urine for hydration. In advertisements for Season Two of Man vs. Wild, the screen has shown a disgusted Grylls eating an enormous grub while the announcer stated, "Does Bear Grylls really need to do these things? Probably not. But you might."

The series is produced by British television production company Diverse Bristol. The show premiered on November 10 2006 after airing a pilot episode titled The Rockies on October 27 2006. The program followed Grylls as he supposedly survived harsh conditions with minimal resources and found his way back to civilization. The series aired on Channel 4 in the UK and Discovery Channel Europe as Born Survivor: Bear Grylls.[1]

After a series of exposes by the Daily Mail[1][2][3], the show was put on hiatus while Discovery reviewed claims that it deceived viewers. Future airings of the show in the US are scheduled to begin again in September of 2007.[2] However, the decision to rebroadcast the show on Channel 4 is yet undecided. [3]

Episodes

Season One

  1. Rocky Mountains - Pilot - (October 27, 2006):
    Bear gets dropped in the middle of the Rocky Mountain ranges and must find his way to civilization. On his way out, he must evade the danger of grizzly bears, jump 30 feet into a river, and abseil down a cliff.
  2. Moab Desert – (November 10 2006):
    Bear Grylls demonstrates how to survive a situation like that of someone who got lost in the desert. He is left in the harsh Moab Desert in Utah, in 110 degree temperatures, and goes about finding food, water, shelter and shows how to use the flow of rivers as tools to find civilization.
  3. Costa Rican17]] 2006):
    Bear parachutes into the Osa Peninsula to demonstrate how someone lost in the jungle can make it to civilization. He encounters snakes, mosquitoes and dangerous river currents, while searching for food and water and setting up camp.
  4. Chugach Mountains – Alaska (November 24 2006):
    Grylls is dropped in the Chugach mountains in Alaska, with skis and his usual gear. He demonstrates glissading as he traverses snow and glaciers, and climbs down a 200 ft. waterfall. He catches a salmon, which he eats raw, and appropriates a skiff from an abandoned lodge. The skiff sinks, but he reaches the shore and is spotted by a ship.[4]
  5. Mount Kilauea - Hawaii (December 1 2006)
  6. Sierra Nevada – (December 8 2006)
  7. African Savanna – (December 15 2006):
    Bear skydives into North Kenya to face the dangerous landscape of African brushland. He encounters lions, elephants and hyenas on his trek to find civilization.
  8. European Alps – France (December 22 2006)
  9. Deserted Island – (December 29 2006):
    Bear emulates what it would be like to be stranded on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. He demonstrates how to make shelter, find food, get hydrated and ultimately, after resources run out, to make a raft and try to be rescued on the high seas. On his raft he encountered a tiger shark.

Season Two

  1. Everglades - (June 15 2007):
    Bear Grylls gets stranded in the swamps of the Florida Everglades, where each year at least 60 tourists need to be rescued. With more than a million alligators, thousands of snakes and even black bears roaming these waterlogged lands, the area has more than its share of hazards. Bear demonstrates how to keep alligators at bay, and deal with vicious razor-sharp grass, and shows viewers how to cook a turtle Seminole-style.
  2. Iceland - (June 22 2007):
    Adventurer Bear Grylls demonstrates how to make a snow cave, find water in deep tunnels, and avoid frostbite in this Arctic environment. Because finding food is a problem in this climate, Bear is forced to eat a sheep's eyeball and catch a ptarmigan. He also has to deal with blizzards and 50 mph winds as he attempts to reach safety.
  3. Mexico (June 29 2007):
    Bear Grylls demonstrates how to build a simple compass and climb sheer cliffs safely in Copper Canyon. For shelter, he uses ancient caves and makes fire with a traditional "fire saw." Bear also offers important techniques for finding scorpions or grubs and fishing without a rod or line.
  4. Kimberley, Australia - (July 6 2007)
    Bear travels to Australia’s Kimberly region, which is roughly the size of California and a mixture of huge scrub deserts, dry riverbeds and red sandstone cliffs full of deep gorges. Bear puts himself in the position of a lost tourist to demonstrate how to prevent sunstroke, find bush tucker and explain why drinking your own urine could save your life. He also identifies what you can eat in the outback. During his journey, Bear builds a shelter in the middle of a lightning storm and confronts Australia's deadly saltwater crocodiles.
  5. Ecuador - (July 13 2007)
    Bear paraglides onto the edge of the Andes and follows rivers into the jungle -— bringing him face to face with huge colonies of spear-nosed bats, giant weevil grubs and vicious piranhas. Bear builds a bamboo bridge and a bow and arrow to successfully catch fish, but it doesn't always go his way and he's forced to ride the rapids of the Amazon on a single tree trunk.
  6. Scotland - (July 20 2007)
    Bear Grylls shows how to navigate the Cairngorms region using ice formations and moss growth, and tests snow slopes for avalanche potential. He uses moss to purify water and skins a red deer for shelter. For food, he traps and cooks a rabbit. Bear crosses deep marshes that can swallow a person and uses fallen trees to cross ravines.

Controversy

Use of crew and simulations of danger

Grylls has stated numerous times on camera that he is not to receive any assistance unless his life is in danger. However, in July 2007 it was reported in the mainstream media that at least portions of some episodes were staged and that Bear did not always survive without help. One of the more serious allegations is that while Grylls claimed to be sleeping outdoors, he was allegedly sleeping in hotels (although on Jimmy Kimmel Live, before the accusations came out, Bear stated that only the cameramen were flown out at night). The Discovery Channel said that future airings would be edited to reflect such things.[5][6][7][8] Grylls also noted that new episodes would be "more inclusive of the crew and their role. Discovery and Channel 4 will also include a disclaimer at the start of the show so there's no confusion."[9] Other reported instances of outside influence or staged situations include the following:

  • Grylls admitted wearing a flotation device in the pilot episode to ride down a river in a staged shot, citing safety reasons. He claimed that he was displeased with the decision, which came from Discovery producers, and has since been able to avoid the use of such devices.[10]
  • The director of the Desert Island episode, Graham Strong, noted that a diver was at hand who checked for sharks while Bear was adrift (he did not spot the tigers, only reef sharks), and that "we" beat on the raft to scare the tiger sharks away. Also, in the Copper Canyon, Mexico episode, director Scott Tankard says that the local Indian tribe, the Rarámuri Indians, acted as their guides.[11]
  • According to the survival consultant for the show's Sierra Nevada and Desert Island episodes, Mark Wienart of Lifesong Adventures, the "wild" horses in the Sierra Nevada episode were shipped in for a choreographed feature.[12][13]
  • The Desert Island raft was not made by Bear; it was made by a team of people over a week and a half, using rope, and was dissembled for Bear to put together on camera.[14][15]
  • Crew members simulated molten lava by using smoke machines and hot coals. The smoke machines were used to simulate poisonous sulphur dioxide, though Grylls was not in fact facing real danger.[16]
  • Hiring a man in a bear suit because they could not get a tame bear, running the show with a "script" (with scheduled scenes such as "Scene 10 - Grizzly Attacks Camp"), pretending that a snake found dead on the side of a road was alive, eating steak inside a badger skin, and hoisting Bear into a tree to make it look like his parachute "snagged".[17]

According to a C4 executive, "If what has been alleged is proven to be true, I think the channel would have to think very seriously about its future relationship with him."[18].

On August 3 of 2007, Grylls posted on his blog that the "press accusations of motels and stagings in the show that have been doing the rounds, all I can say is they don't always tell the full story, but that’s life and part of being in the public eye I guess."[19]

Survival advice

The show has also garnered its share of criticism concerning the quality of its survival advice. The show's first survival consultant, Ron Hood, posted on his Web site,

"I want to remind everyone that Bear is very capable and highly skilled in survival skills."

"We both objected to portions of the show when we filmed but thought we knew that my narration would enlighten the viewers about the hows, whys and wherefores of what look like dangerous activities. When that narration was removed it left Bear looking like he was clueless. He is not clueless. He is clever, courageous and capable. If anyone can save this show it is Bear."

"As I posted when we started this project months ago, the show was supposed to be a new format that was drama driven with an educational and adventure component. The script I have looks nothing like the final show."

"I think Discovery did the viewing public a serious disservice by excluding the educational narration and concentrating on travel. Someone WILL attempt river travel as shown and there will be problems. Others will run from camp because they hear noises... Someone will attempt a rappel with paracord. People are like that. Discovery holds a huge credibility advantage and that alone will act as an endorsement of the actions seen in the show. Keep in mind that a LOT of people saw the show and a few of them are ignorant enough to attempt what they saw. Disclaimers aside, the presentation looks feasible. The fact that some folks overlooked the errors just proves the point."[20]

Arctic skier/explorer Tina Sjogren, who fell through the ice at the North Pole, reacted with disbelief when she saw Bear's demonstration of how to deal with falling in a frozen lake.

"What is he doing?" Tina commented the youtube burp in disbelief. "And who dug those hand-holds for him?"

"There were two problems when I fell in the water," Tina says. "1. There were no holds to grab when I tried to get out. 2. The thin edge of the ice kept breaking off under my weight."

Spotting her ski pole floating around, Tina managed to catch it and swim to a thicker section of the ice, where she could drag herself up using the sharp tip of the pole. "It's important to know that you have more time than you think in the water. Don't panic, and don't kick about. Take a deep breath before hauling yourself out - the air in your lungs will increase your buoyancy."

And on Bear's push-ups in the nude, "I definitely did not strip afterwards. That would have been extremely stupid - leading to instant hypothermia," she said. "Wet or dry, the clothes will insulate, giving you enough time to find a suitable place to make camp. You can roll in the snow to remove excess water from the clothing if you want to, but if you strip you'll really find yourself fast in trouble!"

Tina survived the ordeal, along with 4 Everest expeditions, all without frostbite. "There's nothing wrong with inexperience, we've all been there," she adds, "but it's another matter when taught to a TV audience. Or when actors forget they're just that - it's like Sylvester Stallone starting to believe he actually is the World Heavyweight Champion."

Yet Tina has a reservation to make, "I have a hard time to believe the episode. Is it Bear for real? Eating a raw fish right after, too? That's the last thing you'd want to do - plus it's bad for you. Perhaps it's a comedy interpretation? I don't know what to think anymore. Why would people even want to watch this?" [21]

Survival techniques

Fire Starting

File:Bear grylls.jpg
Host Bear Grylls in the European Alps.

Bear generally carries a flint and steel with him, but in several instances, claims to start a fire from natural materials.

Some examples of different fire starting methods employed by Bear:

  • Copper Canyon, Mexico- Bear creates a "fire saw" from the Yucca Tree. The saw was made from two strips of wood from a branch strung together by some other natural cordage. In between the strips were two pebbles to create airspace and a small bunch of tinder between the pebbles. He then took another strip of the same wood and began to saw the wood until an ember formed and ingited the tinder.
  • Desert Island, Pacific Ocean- Bear uses the "fireplow" technique which he says is highly popular in the Pacific Islands. He finds a large fallen Hibiscus tree, known for its low moisture content, and with a bare branch, straddles the trunk and begins to drive the branch into the trunk with a forward and back motion. In several minutes, the groove driven into the trunk begins to smolder, and a small black coal made of hot wood shavings forms. Bear tips the coal into a small bundle of tinder, and waves it in the air to oxygenate the embers, forming a fire.
  • Rainforest, Costa Rica- Bear uses the Bow and Drill technique using cord from his water bottle to make the bow and a straight spindle.

Shelter

In each episode, Bear demonstrates how to build multiple types of shelters to protect himself from the weather and wilderness. Some examples are:

Heat Preservation

  • Stuffing dry grass in his shirt as insulation to keep warm.
  • Cutting the skin and fur off of a dead deer and using it to keep warm during the cold night.
  • Urinating in a bottle and using it as a hot water bottle to keep warm during the cold night.
  • Removing clothes to swim more easily, or to prevent hypothermia while wet in cold climates.
  • Rubbing snow on his wet body after falling through ice to help get the water off himself.
  • Heating rocks on a fire, then burying them under dirt and sleeping on them during a cool night.
  • Building a smoke blanket, building two fires and sleeping between them.

Staying Hydrated

  • Entering caves to find water that has seeped through the rock and been cleaned by this process.
  • Filtering water with his t-shirt to clear it before boiling.
  • Drinking water squeezed from elephant dung
  • Squeezed filtered moisture out of moss.
  • Waiting for snow to melt in his water bottle before drinking it.
  • Drinking the spinal fluid of a Raw surgeonfish.
  • Drinking his own urine.

Staying Cool

  • Soaking his shirt in urine and using it as a headdress to cool down in the desert

Nourishment

Bear Grylls biting into raw fish.

Bear supposedly often eats raw fish and meat, insects and insect larvae, and various plants for their protein and vitamins, claiming that survival is all about opportunistic hunting[22], which is the reason he never passes by any nutritious items offered by nature.

Among some of the things he has eaten for nourishment:

  • A raw giant grub in the jungle
  • Avocado
  • Rabbit
  • Raw salmon from an Alaskan stream.
  • Raw surgeonfish.
  • Snake
  • Spring-boiled sheep meat and eyeballs.
  • Raw trout
  • Live frog
  • Zebra flesh from a carcass
  • Raw Crucifix spider (Argiope keyserlingi).
  • Honeycomb
  • Raven eggs, one raw and one cooked on a rock in the desert heat
  • Turtle
  • Pine needle tea, which he claims have more Vitamin C per weight than lemons.
  • Ptarmigan

However, some "gross" meals filmed for the pilot were revealed by the show's consultant (Ron Hood) to be normal food in disguise, such as steak in a badger skin and meat smeared in flour and mealworms to appear old[23].

First Aid

  • Using aloe leaves on a cut.
  • Treating cuts with sap from a tree called the "sangre de dragon" which means "dragon's blood" in Spanish.
  • Using coconut oil to avoid sunburn and irritation and dehydration from sea spray.
  • Although Bear does not use it for first aid purposes he mentions that sphagnum moss contains iodine and can be used as a minor antiseptic.
  • Dousing a jellyfish sting with urine.
  • Climbing up a tree to survey the land.
  • Going downhill until he reaches a stream, following that stream to a river and that river to civilization.
  • Magnetizing a strip of metal wire and placing it on a leaf into a small puddle of water as a compass
  • Using where moss grows on a rock to determine north, moss tends to grow on the north facing side of a rock since it gets less sunlight and more moisture. The reverse is true in the southern hemisphere.
  • Using a compass cactus in the desert. In the northern hemisphere, these short cacti grow towards the south.

Facilitating Travel

  • Crawling over two ropes suspended above a deep chasm (Tyrolean traverse), with only improvised safety equipment (paracord wrapped around rope and secured to parachute harness)
  • Climbing up a knotted rope using Prusik loops.
  • Making a pair of snow shoes from branches and parachute cords.
  • Tying shoelaces together for a foothold to climb an otherwise unclimbable tree.
  • Fashioning a raft from bamboo and palm fronds.
  • Glissading down a glacier using a broken ski pole
  • Using trousers as a flotation device by tying off the leg holes to trap air.
  • Employing a technique used to climb narrow crevasses by putting both legs on opposite sides of the crevasse and moving upward through leg power
  • Using rivers to speed up travel, Bear has floated on his own as well as used a Balsa tree trunk.

Protection From Animals

  • Shouting to warn bears of his presence (rather than surprising them)
  • Getting rid of left over food by burning it to avoid attracting bears.
  • Keeping left over food away from his camp to avoid attracting bears.
  • Throwing termite nests on a fire to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
  • Yelling and throwing rocks into a cave before entering it.
  • Blocking the entrance to a cave he was using for shelter to deter wild animals.
  • Using smoke to calm bees down
  • Watching a river in the Everglades for over an hour before attempting to cross it, in order to spot alligators surfacing for air.
  • Banging a drink bottle against a cave wall to deter snakes.

Miscellaneous

  • Using a hammerstone to make a disc knife from flint.
  • Using a length of knotted rope (weighted down at one end with his pack) as a self arresting device to stop from falling down into a crevasse.
  • Making a torch from kukui nuts.
  • Using sheep fat to make a torch.
  • Determining north with no compass (or supplies listed above)
  • Determining how many hours of sunlight are left by using hands
  • Fashioning a depth indicator with a rock and leaf fibers

See also

References

  1. ^ Bear Grylls' Official Site: Latest News. Retrieved on November 30 2006
  2. ^ http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.14710.25268.32074.x
  3. ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2241720.ece
  4. ^ Discovery Channel TV Listings - Man vs. Wild
  5. ^ http://smallscreen.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1334235.php/Discovery_Man_vs._Wild_not_so_rough_after_all
  6. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6911748.stm
  7. ^ http://www.nypost.com/seven/07242007/news/nationalnews/grylls_thrills_bogus__expert_nationalnews_don_kaplan.htm
  8. ^ http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/07/man_vs_wild_series_to_be_trans.php
  9. ^ http://beargrylls.blogspot.com/
  10. ^ http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/chat/transcript_06.html
  11. ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article1457406.ece
  12. ^ http://www.lifesongadventures.com/newsletter/?p=44
  13. ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2116195.ece
  14. ^ http://www.lifesongadventures.com/newsletter/?p=40
  15. ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2116195.ece
  16. ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2241720.ece
  17. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=471510&in_page_id=1773
  18. ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2241720.ece
  19. ^ http://beargrylls.blogspot.com/
  20. ^ http://survival.com/IVB/index.php?s=&showtopic=7294&view=findpost&p=66085
  21. ^ http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=16305
  22. ^ http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/q-and-a/q-and-a.html
  23. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=471510&in_page_id=1773
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