Bear Grylls or Les Straub? Survivor Poll
Feb 16th, 2008 by admin
Wilderness Survival
I know this debate is played but it still gets to me somehow. I wanted to get your take on it so please let me know what you think. Up until recently I have been a fan of Bear Grylls’ style while realizing that some of the stuff he does is not entirely necessary. When I saw some of the following videos I must admit I didn’t know they were shortcutting as bad as they appear to be, but what can you expect, after all it is just a tv show. It does appear from the videos that Les Straub was a little more on the up and up. If you watch Survivor Man and Man vs. Wild you know he says he films all the footage himself while Bear admits to having a camera crew with him but they can not interact unless its a life or death situation right?
What they are obviously not admitting to on Man vs. Wild is how wild the location actually is.
At the same time some of the episodes show Les Straub being coached by locals on the location where he will be staying for the week. He is schooled on what foods are edible, what animals are indigenous to the area, and what all to look out for so he can sound versed and educated on the various areas. Oh, and have you seen some of the shelters Les puts up? Or the one or two Doritos he happens to have in his pocket? Bear only has a flint and a knife. Having viewed the youtube videos, it’s obvious that he has access to much more than it looks like on his show, but I always liked his show because he doesn’t have food magically appear out of nowhere (on screen), and I like the fact that he’s trying to show you how to find your way to civilization.
I have been reading others opinions on this topic and I think that I am of the camp that they are both just tv shows and should not be relied on so dogmatically. They are both shows centered around the outdoors which I enjoy. With all the junky shows out their I guess I can handle a little misrepresentation if it keeps my interest. What do you think? Leave your two cents in the comment section.
You have to consider that Bear does have a crew with him and maybe the show producers make him fake some stuff for their safety. Don’t know, but he does have these survival skills, and he is trying to teach you something. On the other hand, Les, who I’m sure is skilled as well, might not be into the trickery that Bear is, isn’t as interesting to me. He’s kinda whiney. Maybe next time I drive my truck into the Kalahari on fumes with naught but a full jar of peanut butter and a half gallon of water(who doesn’t keep those in their truck bed) I’ll regret saying that Man Vs. Wild is better.