Bear Grylls , Escape from Hell

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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
I'll be escaping from hell by deploying the universal remedy for that particular hell.

The off switch. :)
 

Hypnagog

Full Member
Nov 12, 2012
136
2
Essex
hotchpotchblog.wordpress.com
I watched a couple of the Ray Mears "Extreme Survival" episodes last night (the Alaskan one and the military training one where the axe wasn't sharp enough…) and enjoyed it. Good combination of history and knowledge.

I'd heard about Bear Grylls' "Escape From Hell" and wondered if it would be similar, then this morning I saw the poster...

BU8udDDCUAAr3rQ.jpg

I just can't get myself past the poster of him surrounded by flames… I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, so hopefully it's more about the stories and how people survived rather than re-created "stunts". I'll record it and take a look.

This still makes me smile:

[video=youtube;3UpSlpvb1is]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpSlpvb1is[/video]

I know he has achieved a lot of things (climbing Everest, etc) and has my respect for all those things, but the way that things get faked for TV is not my sort of thing.
 
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THOaken

Native
Jan 21, 2013
1,299
1
30
England(Scottish Native)
I couldn't care less about the responses this might get, but that poster and video has inflamed me to say that I actually detest Grylls. Let's see his fanboys come out of the woodwork.
 

Wetneck

Full Member
Oct 6, 2013
72
0
South Coast - UK
I've got it on record, if I'll watch it I don't know. I like the enthusiasm he approaches things with and he obviously wants to teach. How much of it is the useful passing on of knowledge I struggle with, he puts forward a lot of what seems to be staged stunts for the sake of it.
 

Hypnagog

Full Member
Nov 12, 2012
136
2
Essex
hotchpotchblog.wordpress.com
I did enjoy his programmes with Jonathan Ross and Miranda - they were a sort of chat show with a twist - asking questions whilst trying to get Jonathan Ross to prepare a pigeon etc etc. Bear seemed very different then, relaxed and the whole thing had a good dose of humour about it too.

I read that he is making one with Stephen Fry.

If they could make a series of these programmes it would be well worth watching.
 

CLEM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 10, 2004
2,420
428
Stourbridge
I'll be watching, the poster however doesn't inspire! Grylls looks like he dont believe it himself.
 
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weekender

Full Member
Feb 26, 2006
1,814
19
54
Cambridge
I watched a couple of the Ray Mears "Extreme Survival" episodes last night (the Alaskan one and the military training one where the axe wasn't sharp enough…) and enjoyed it. Good combination of history and knowledge.

I'd heard about Bear Grylls' "Escape From Hell" and wondered if it would be similar, then this morning I saw the poster...

View attachment 23383

I just can't get myself past the poster of him surrounded by flames… I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, so hopefully it's more about the stories and how people survived rather than re-created "stunts". I'll record it and take a look.

This still makes me smile:

[video=youtube;3UpSlpvb1is]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpSlpvb1is[/video]

I know he has achieved a lot of things (climbing Everest, etc) and has my respect for all those things, but the way that things get faked for TV is not my sort of thing.

Ha ha ha ha ha not seen that before..... I agree you can't knock him for what he's achieved but come on......!!!
 

HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,141
88
W. Yorkshire
Jeez guys.... he doesn't decide what he does... he just does what he's told, its what he's paid to do.

Its only Man vs Wild people seem to have issues with... none of his other shows though. This is another show.... it aint man vs wild.
 

THOaken

Native
Jan 21, 2013
1,299
1
30
England(Scottish Native)
On the one hand you have a humble and respectful man such as Ray Mears, producing programmes such as Wild Food with the lovely Gordon Hillman, who only wishes to impart his knowledge and love of archeobotany.

And then you have showmen like Grylls who do fake stunts for the entertainment value and for the money.
 

HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,141
88
W. Yorkshire
Ah, so you actually know nothing of the man then :)

Bit of enlightenment needed i reckon....


Taken from wiki


Everest
On 16 May 1998, Grylls climbed to the summit of Mount Everest, 18 months after breaking three vertebrae in a parachuting accident.[36] At 23, he was at the time among the youngest people to have achieved this feat. There is some controversy around whether he was, as claimed, the youngest Briton to have done so, as he was preceded by James Allen—an Australian climber with dual British citizenship who reached the summit in 1995 at age 22.[29][37] The record was subsequently surpassed by Jake Meyer and then Rob Gauntlett summiting at age 19.
Circumnavigation of the UK
In 2000 Grylls led the team to circumnavigate British Isles on Jet Skis,[21] taking about 30 days, to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). He also rowed naked in a homemade bathtub along the Thames to raise funds for a friend who lost his legs in a climbing accident.[36]
Crossing the North Atlantic
Three years later, he led a team of five, including his childhood friend, SAS colleague, and Mount Everest climbing partner Mick Crosthwaite, on an unassisted crossing of the north Atlantic Ocean, in an open rigid inflatable boat. Grylls and his team travelled in an eleven-metre-long boat and encountered force 8 gale wind with waves breaking over the boat while passing through icebergs in their journey from Halifax, Nova Scotia to John o' Groats, Scotland.[38]
Paramotoring over Angel Falls
In 2005, Grylls led the first[citation needed] team ever to attempt to paramotor over the remote jungle plateau of the Angel Falls in Venezuela, the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall. The team was attempting to reach the highest, most remote tepuis.
Dinner party at altitude
In 2005, alongside the balloonist and mountaineer David Hempleman-Adams and Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal, leader of the Royal Navy Freefall Parachute Display Team, Grylls created a world record for the highest open-air formal dinner party, which they did under a hot-air balloon at 7,600 metres (25,000 ft), dressed in full mess dress and oxygen masks.[39] To train for the event, he made over 200 parachute jumps. This event was in aid of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and The Prince's Trust.[40]
Paramotoring over the Himalayas
In 2007, Grylls embarked on a record-setting Parajet paramotor in Himalayas near Mount Everest. He took off from 4,400 metres (14,500 ft), 8 miles south of the mountain. Grylls reported looking down on the summit during his ascent and coping with temperatures of −60 °C (−76 °F). He endured dangerously low oxygen levels and eventually reached 9,000 metres (29,500 ft), almost 3,000 metres (10,000 ft) higher than the previous record of 6,102 metres (20,019 ft). The feat was filmed for Discovery Channel worldwide as well as Channel 4 in the UK.[41] While Grylls initially planned to cross over Everest itself, the permit was only to fly to the south of Everest, and he did not traverse Everest out of risk of violating Chinese airspace.[42]
The expedition provoked some controversy. Grylls initially reported on his blog to have broken a new world record by flying over Mount Everest, when in fact – though reaching a height greater than Everest – he did not actually fly over the top of the mountain but was in fact some miles away from it.[29] Some explorers have cast doubts on the veracity of other aspects of the flight, such as its purportedly record-setting height, which would have put him into the "death zone" where the amount of oxygen in the air is insufficient to sustain human life.[29]
Journey Antarctica 2008
In 2008, Grylls lead a team of four to climb one of the most remote unclimbed peaks in the world in Antarctica. This was raising funds for Global Angels kids charity and awareness for the potential of alternative energies. During this mission the team also aimed to explore the coast of Antarctica by inflatable boat and jetski, part powered by bioethanol, and then to travel across some of the vast ice desert by wind-powered kite-ski and electric powered paramotor. However, the expedition was cut short after Grylls suffered a broken shoulder while kite skiing across a stretch of ice. Travelling at speeds up to 50 km/h (30 mph), a ski caught on the ice, launching him in the air and breaking his shoulder when he came down. He had to be medically evacuated.[43]
Longest indoor freefall
Grylls, along with the double amputee Al Hodgson and the Scotsman Freddy MacDonald, set a Guinness world record in 2008 for the longest continuous indoor freefall.[44][dead link] The previous record was 1 hour 36 minutes by a US team. Grylls, Hodgson, and MacDonald, using a vertical wind tunnel in Milton Keynes, broke the record by a few seconds. The attempt was in support of the charity Global Angels.
Northwest Passage expedition
In August 2010, Grylls lead a team of five to take an ice-breaking rigid-inflatable boat (RIB) through 2,500 miles (4,000 km) of the ice strewn Northwest Passage. The expedition intended to raise awareness of the effects of global warming and to raise money for children's charity Global Angels.[45]
Chief Scout

On 17 May 2009, The Scout Association announced Grylls would be appointed Chief Scout following the end of Peter Duncan's five-year term in July 2009.[46] He was officially made Chief Scout at Gilwell 24 on 11 July 2009 in a handover event featuring Peter Duncan in front of a crowd of over 3,000 Explorer Scouts. He is the tenth person to hold the position and the youngest Chief Scout since the role was created for Robert Baden-Powell in 1920.[47][48]
Charities

Grylls is an ambassador for The Prince's Trust, an organisation which provides training, financial, and practical support to young people in the United Kingdom.[17] He is also vice president for The JoLt Trust, a small charity that takes disabled, disadvantaged, abused or neglected young people on challenging month-long expeditions.
Global Angels, a UK charity which seeks to aid children around the world, were the beneficiaries of his 2007 accomplishment of taking a powered para-glider higher than Mount Everest. Grylls's held the highest ever dinner party at 7,600 metres (25,000 ft) in aid of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, and launched the 50th anniversary of the Awards. His successful circumnavigation of Britain on jet skis raised money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Grylls' Everest climb was in aid of SSAFA Forces Help, a British-based charitable organisation set up to help former and serving members of the British Armed Forces and their families and dependents. His 2003 Arctic expedition detailed in the book Facing the Frozen Ocean was in aid of The Prince's Trust. His 2005 attempt to para-motor over the Angel Falls was in aid of the charity Hope and Homes for Children.[49] In August 2010, Grylls continued his fund-raising work for Global Angels by undertaking an expedition through the Northwest Passage in a rigid inflatable boat. Many of his expeditions also support environmental causes such as his Antarctica expedition and his circumnavigation of Britain which tested a pioneering new fuel made from rubbish. In 2011, Grylls was in New Zealand during the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Following the incident, he appeared on New Zealand advertisements encouraging people to donate money to help rebuild the city.
Other work



A Gerber Bear Grylls branded survival knife.
Outside of TV, Grylls works as a motivational speaker, giving speeches worldwide to corporations, churches, schools, and other organisations.[31][36] He is also a spokesman for and owner of a Juice Plus franchise. Grylls has his own outdoor survival clothing range produced by British manufacturer Craghoppers as well as a series of knives and survival equipment manufactured by Gerber.


On the one hand you have a humble and respectful man such as Ray Mears, producing programmes such as Wild Food with the lovely Gordon Hillman, who only wishes to impart his knowledge and love of archeobotany.

And then you have showmen like Grylls who do fake stunts for the entertainment value and for the money.
 
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N

Nomad

Guest
Not quite sure why people get their woollen drawers in such a twist about him. Showmen is exactly the word. For those that haven't cottoned on yet, it's called "entertainment", and there is quite a lot of it, taking many forms, on television. The fact that television is approximately 99.999% soporific mind rot should give one pause for thought. Just because Grylls' stuff is putatively about being in the outdoors doesn't mean it's relevant.
 

Stamp

Forager
Aug 26, 2010
132
0
Swindon
Watching it as I type (well the adverts at the mo) looks good so far. Its pure entertainment so take it or leave it, I have a lot of respect for the guy. Reading his autobiography too currently, very funny and shows him in a new light. Worth the read.
 

HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,141
88
W. Yorkshire
2 things bugging me. How it flips between the two stories, and the advertising... Bears one big advert! The buggers are getting their monies worth out of him :)
 

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