Bear Grylls- TV programme

[spamel]

I dunno about following Ray, I don't own a woodlore knife, nor do I use a lapplander saw. I don't own any expensive Fjallraven trousers or use big heavy duty tarps, or silnylon tarps. I haven't been to live with eskimos or crossed the Namib desert, I've never dressed a deer with a knife let alone a bit of stone, and I don't know how to knapp flint. I also have no idea how he can eat three big mac meals one after the other, I couldn't do it! But I like his TV programmes and he comes across in a relaxed manner, life is too much rushing around these days and I like to try and relax now and then. How can you do that with some guy jumping up and down trees and vomiting everywhere?!!

Saying that, there's a few things I can do that Ray can't, like being able to see my own toes!!

That was a joke by the way, just in case anyone wonders!

 

[Jodie]

I caught only the last five minutes and found it quite delightfully unhinged with
him leaping about among the mangrove swamps having ditched his raft. I'd
definitely watch it again ...

... at the following times

SATURDAY 10 MARCH
7:20pm - 8:20pm
Channel 4
VIDEO Plus+: 898861
Former Special Forces adventurer Bear Grylls demonstrates how to survive in
the world's most extreme environments. Stranded in the French Alps, Bear
shows how to find shelter - vital when temperatures drop to -15C at night - and
food before making his way to safety. He also demonstrates the dangers of thin
ice, and how to avoid hypothermia.

SATURDAY 17 MARCH
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Channel 4
VIDEO Plus+: 6017
Former Special Forces adventurer Bear Grylls demonstrates how to survive in
the world's most extreme environments.

No repeats as far as I can tell though.

 

[spamel]

I wonder if he will get hypothermia to show us how not to do it!

Aside from all the grief I have given Bear, and I have given him quite a bit of stick, I still believe it is worth watching his programmes. I'd prefer the canadian guy with the penknife who strands himself for a week and gets by with a power bar and that's it, but I still feel we could learn a thing or two even if Bear shows us the wrong way to do it.

I just think it is wrong because of 'normal' people who won't know any better. They could get stranded and have only seen the bit when he drinks from the stream. Imagine doing that in a real survival situation, you get the squits and you will be even more dehydrated and weak as a result. This would severely affect your chances in a real situation, but then I realise that not many people will get to that state, and even the few that do probably won't have seen his programme!!

 

[backwoodsman]

maybe if the camera shots were not like a dodgey pop music video it would have been a little bit different, apart from that it was supposed to be "survival", if you want to drink then you do have to take that calculated risk, if ray wanted to drink he pops in his landrover and heads to tescos if he is unsure of the water source.
This bear guy done ok, its just that maybe it was on the tv too soon after ray was on
so people still remember his show, a bit like the oscars, its the good recent movies that win all the awards, not the brilliant one that was released just after the awards the last time.
As for people complaining about "quiet" members posting only about things like this, well it shows its a good subject.
And it would also help if they actually watched the show the thread is about before commenting!!
Anyway hope l have not ruffled too many feathers.
Good on the man for getting on the tv.
lets all have a

 

[Jjv110]

This is not directed at anyone in particular, but I reckon there are a lot of "armchair" survivalists/bushcrafters on this forum who are quick to critisise someone when they have had no experience in the subject themselves other than reading a book or wathcing Raymond on tv. People with few posts could be the ones who are out on the ground and not the ones behind the pc!

I guess there'll be a lot less people watching Bear next week (which is only a tv programme)!

I liked it.

Don't yell too loud at me!

 

[backwoodsman]

here,here
you ex mil?

 

[Jjv110]

That's classified! what makes you ask that?

 

[Glen]

I think the metal mug incident does sum it up for me, though I still think it was entertainment value. Clearly he didn't have the mug before and only acquired it when he realised that he needed it. I'd have been more impressed if he'd improvised, after all if you really are there with just yourself, knife and waterbottle then chances are you don't have a metal mug.

I don't think any of its clear about what he actually had at the original time he did the drop in and walk out.

When he was filling his water botttle for "the first time" seemed to be one of the reconstructions, the camera shot shows ( if memory serves ) a crayfish swimming along, had it been his original trip I think there's little doubt he'd have grabbed it for later. I think that they were trying to show the type of place it was safer to drink straight from if you had to.

I'm taking it all as a reconstuction of what he did, rather the actual original journey beeing film as it happened, as such it's normal for such things to be over dramatised, like the speed at which he's shown descending some of the slopes, and the final result edited with poular TV in mind rather than accuracy of details.

I think the main differences between the BG and RM programs is
The BG program makers are having an attitude of " Don't try this at home kids " and " look what Bears can do"
The RM program makers attitude is more " Look what you can do" and "try this at home yourself ".

If you were going to give a set of programs for someone to study to learn the skills of course the RM ones would be better. One has to realise that implicit in that is that they want to learn them in the first place.
If you were dealing with a bunch of people who weren't bothered about learning the skills and wanted to motivate them I suspect often the BG would work better.

Actually I can forsee a time when they'll show a BG episode followed by a RM on say UKHistory for just such reasons.

 

[backwoodsman]

the word on the ground

 

[Jjv110]

Yes I am! You too then?

 

[Wink]

On the water bottle issue, I re-watched the programme on video, and it seems that he had the cup from the start. His water bottle was nested in it dangling from that bit of paracord. I can only assume that he made a decision to gamble on the water being pure enough to save time. As he only had a single bottle, say 1 litre capacity, he would have had to stop and make a fire (using a bow drill, remember) every few miles to refill with purified water, which would have slowed him down considerably. I suppose he thought it was a risk worth taking to cut down his time in the jungle by possibly several days! Let's face it, most of us will have drunk wild water at some stage ourselves, and got away with it.

I don't think that Bear is reckless, as some have suggested, but he is certainly a risk taker, a bit like Sir Ranulph Fiennes. If you read Ran's books he comes across as a bit of a nutter, but then he has achieved a huge amount, and lived to tell the tale. He is also ex SAS, so perhaps it says something about the type of personality required to operate at that level.

Also on the water question, does anyone recall an episode of Country Tracks, where RM makes a water filter out of a plastic pop bottle, some charcoal, and spagnum moss? I wonder whether he would still recommend that nowadays!

 

[Nomad_Of_Soul]

Also on the water question, does anyone recall an episode of Country Tracks, where RM makes a water filter out of a plastic pop bottle, some charcoal, and spagnum moss? I wonder whether he would still recommend that nowadays!

Probably but only if woodlore could package it and stick a hefty price tag on it

 

[Greg]

Quote:

Also on the water question, does anyone recall an episode of Country Tracks, where RM makes a water filter out of a plastic pop bottle, some charcoal, and spagnum moss? I wonder whether he would still recommend that nowadays!


There are various methods of making a water filter, this is just one of them. RM was probably refering to this in the context of a survival situation.

 

[BorderReiver]

Am I the only one who finds it strange that there is so much contention over a program on TV.

It is ONLY a program made by people to make money.There is no other reason.

The merits of Grylls or Mears have no bearing on how we live our lives.They are merely two individuals making a living in the way they choose.

Good luck to them both.

I haven't had a TV for 16 years as the content was starting to go off even then.

 

[Tengu]

What is a TV anyway?

 

[backwoodsman]

theres and interview with him in nuts or zoo where he says he wishes he never drunk the water

 

[Jedadiah]

Hi Fella's,

well well, has'nt young Mr Bear stirred up a hornets nest with this latest foray? Just watched it myself this morning as i was 'out' until late last night.

Is Bear grylls peddling misinformation to the masses? Dangerous tips on how to (or not) survive in a rain forest?

Or is he using a MTV 'Yoof' format to entice the younger audience into exploring the world of survival/bushcraft?

Honestly, can you really expect a young teenager with his X-box's, PSP's MP3's, hoodies, sexual frustration, acne, and puberty to be rivetted by an hour of Ray Mears building a birch bark canoe?

Some Yoof who knows no better, who's parents or guardians are not into bushcraft, has no bushcraft influences, sees a sexy, fast moving 'rock'n'roll type program with a youthful(!) star, living off his wits and special forces training (more on that later) he may think 'yeah, that looks good, might be interested in that'. Next thing you know, he's on the information super highway getting accurate information.

Mr Grylls has no influence on how the programme is edited and put together, sometimes with very little resemblance to the actual time frame or events. I myself have taken part in a television programme which, when aired was so far removed from the reality of events, i did not recognise it!

Mr Grylls (Bear is a nick nam he has had for as long as he can remember) was apparently a member of the Special Forces but i can find no specifics anywhere. It has been mooted on the thread that he was in the Terratorial SAS (21/23). I seem to remember though that someone mentioned he was in the Royal Marines. Can anyone varify that? I was talking to a friend of mine who is an instructor on the SERE school who was rather angry about the program but would say no more!

The crusader cup question, ah yes. It was mentioned earlier that it was a black plastic mug that had been painted silver. I think you may find that it was a silver metal mug with a black non-stick coating on it. Rather than silver peeling off to show black underneath, it was probably black non-stick peeling off to show silver underneath.

Finally, i look on this program like i look at 'Ultimate Force'. Yes it may be factually incorrect and yes, it may be far fetched, but hell, it's better to have a dodgy programme on about your chosen interest than no programme at all, is'nt it? Or are all you hardened mountain men switching over to 'Dancing on Ice' ?

Try not to be too hard on the lad, it was probably a good idea until it was eaten by the media monster!

 

[PhilParry]

Hear hear!!

It's GOT to be better than Eastenders!!!

Hi Fella's,

well well, has'nt young Mr Bear stirred up a hornets nest with this latest foray? Just watched it myself this morning as i was 'out' until late last night.

Is Bear grylls peddling misinformation to the masses? Dangerous tips on how to (or not) survive in a rain forest?

Or is he using a MTV 'Yoof' format to entice the younger audience into exploring the world of survival/bushcraft?

Honestly, can you really expect a young teenager with his X-box's, PSP's MP3's, hoodies, sexual frustration, acne, and puberty to be rivetted by an hour of Ray Mears building a birch bark canoe?

Some Yoof who knows no better, who's parents or guardians are not into bushcraft, has no bushcraft influences, sees a sexy, fast moving 'rock'n'roll type program with a youthful(!) star, living off his wits and special forces training (more on that later) he may think 'yeah, that looks good, might be interested in that'. Next thing you know, he's on the information super highway getting accurate information.

Mr Grylls has no influence on how the programme is edited and put together, sometimes with very little resemblance to the actual time frame or events. I myself have taken part in a television programme which, when aired was so far removed from the reality of events, i did not recognise it!

Mr Grylls (Bear is a nick nam he has had for as long as he can remember) was apparently a member of the Special Forces but i can find no specifics anywhere. It has been mooted on the thread that he was in the Terratorial SAS (21/23). I seem to remember though that someone mentioned he was in the Royal Marines. Can anyone varify that? I was talking to a friend of mine who is an instructor on the SERE school who was rather angry about the program but would say no more!

The crusader cup question, ah yes. It was mentioned earlier that it was a black plastic mug that had been painted silver. I think you may find that it was a silver metal mug with a black non-stick coating on it. Rather than silver peeling off to show black underneath, it was probably black non-stick peeling off to show silver underneath.

Finally, i look on this program like i look at 'Ultimate Force'. Yes it may be factually incorrect and yes, it may be far fetched, but hell, it's better to have a dodgy programme on about your chosen interest than no programme at all, is'nt it? Or are all you hardened mountain men switching over to 'Dancing on Ice' ?

Try not to be too hard on the lad, it was probably a good idea until it was eaten by the media monster!

 

[British Red]

To be fair to "Bear" I might have done him a disservice when I described him climbing down a waterfall on a vine. I think I blinked and missed the bit where he put the climbing harness on. In fact it was only when someone on another forum posted a photo of the screen with him wearing the harness that I became aware of it

Most remiss of me. I guess it was not seeing him wear it at the top or bottom that threw me

Red

 

[anthonyyy]

You can see most of his stuff on youtube.com
Just type "eejit" in the search field.