Bear Grylls

[combatblade1]

One of the big differences between Ray Mears and Bear grills is Ray enjoys the outdoors the freedom and simplicity whereas Bear seems to hate it as he is always trying desperatly quickly to get away and back to supposed civilisation. Ive seen his site im not that impressed he is a fit guy who obviously has the cash to go on these adventures i wish i could. Lets face it you all probably know a handful of people who could do what he has done if they had the time and the cash, ive met and worked with fellas and girls from particular military units none of them act like he does and i am sure they certainly woulnt use it as a stepping stone for their own advancement. Im with Red and the gang who think he is irresponsible in what he does and should have a disclaimer on his shows as that is all they are shows not to be confused with instructional programmes, after all WWF wrestling has a disclaimer on it as kids try everything they see they will do the same here and injuries or worse will happen!

 

[combatblade1]

Oh and one more thing Bear my think he is a survival teacher but Ray Mears is the teachers teacher!!

 

[BIG-TARGET]

Maybe I've bee spoiled with Ron & Karen Hood( www.survival.com )But all those sur4vival TV shows don't impress me!!

 

[naylor b]

I like him hes entertaining and feel he has given some good advice in his shows.

Although (i am not trying to cause an argument her) i dont think he can be compared with ray because i think their shows are totaly different

 

[Dynamite Dan]

if your talking about the person im thinking about, is he ex military?

saw 5 minutes of a program he did where he caught a fish, and eat it raw, more or less straight out the river

I prefer the more take your time, do it right attitude RM has. 5% more work = 50% more comfort.

 

[Dynamite Dan]

here is something i found.. Thankyou Harry hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoagOL29Zqk&mode=related&search=

 

[Goose]

here is something i found.. Thankyou Harry hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoagOL29Zqk&mode=related&search=

Hmmm, for entertainment value on an expedition I would go with Bear but for a bit of sense and help Harry wins hands down!

Love the way the handholds have been precut so Bear could get out of the Icehole.

 

[Tourist]

I have doubts re his military service - no-one ever called a respirator a gasmas after it was drilled into you at basic training !!!!

To be honest he probably had a civvy production manager who said "whats a respirator"? I tend to civilianise quite a few army expressions 'cos most people would not understand them in day to day use.

Also, he may have passed SELECTION, but it was TA SELECTION and it was on the second attempt. There is mention that he spent 3 years with THEM, he would just about have finished his training by then. It takes just short of 12 months to do basic TA SELECTION, in the following two years you do in one year combat survival and in the other parachute training. If you are keen and the dates fall right you might squeeze the courses in quicker, but not much.........therefore 3 years.

I have a mate who is a production manager and he cynically reckons each day would probably take 3 - 4 days to shoot and would require around 6 bodies being on hand. As an example, if I recall Palins '6 weeks' or so around the Sahara actually took about 9 months to film.

I followed my old man around in the army for 20 years and joined for 11 years myself, I have met a damn sight more interesting people who have done just as much if not more than Bear. They just don't bother shouting about it.

 

[Zammo]

So was he definitely in the TA SAS?

One of their HQ/barracks was in Hitchin Hertfordshire, I remember seeing it and thinking it was a contradiction in terms.

 

[Goose]

So was he definitely in the TA SAS?

One of their HQ/barracks was in Hitchin Hertfordshire, I remember seeing it and thinking it was a contradiction in terms.

Yes, he broke his back after a parachute jump went wrong apparently and was invalided out. Think he would take things a bit more seriously after that .

 

[Greg]

I followed my old man around in the army for 20 years and joined for 11 years myself, I have met a damn sight more interesting people who have done just as much if not more than Bear. They just don't bother shouting about it.

Your not wrong there fella!!

Does everyone agree that this Bear Grylls thing has been done enough, its getting very boring now!!!

 

[Dano]

I think some of the thing he shows are irresponsible, he sets a bad example to the younger generation which I think would his main audience, scaling sheer cliff faces or running down icy slopes is not safe in my opinion, why eat a raw fish when he easily starts a fire? It seems its all for effect rather than education and I don’t like the “Discovery Channel” format of his program, it seems a bit staged and he’s always putting in something about a party or individual “getting lost here last year” every 5 minutes! He obviously has some knowledge and whatever his background he has done well to have his own program but Bush Tucker Man or Ray Mears he isn’t

 

[Tourist]

So was he definitely in the TA SAS?

One of their HQ/barracks was in Hitchin Hertfordshire, I remember seeing it and thinking it was a contradiction in terms.

Bear has a website you will find it if you google his name. There is a pic on there of him wearing uniform packing a parachute. He is also an Honorary Lt. Commander in the Royal Navy and wears his SAS para wing on a Navy Mess Dress jacket.

He did a world record parachute jump with Mumms Champers down at Nethers there was a lot of Services assistance for the event which he would not have received if he was a BS merchant about serving. Being ex military and a jumper myself I know some of the chaps down at Nethers, lets just say that if he was not entitled to wear the SAS wing they would have pointed that out to him. He went up to around 24K on Oxygen eating lunch and then jumped.............as all my jumping buddies have said though, Bear might have eaten and jumped from up there, but the camera man went up and had to film the entire thing aswell.

When I went to Uni as a mature student I knew a laddie who's Dad was a BBC Producer. I used to chat with him at length about making TV proggies, one time he said to me "Alex, the problem is with all this satellite TV and myriad of channels they need to fill them up with programmes. And, they are going to need so many programme hours of TV that any idiot with a video camera will be able to make a living out of it".........................

Zammo, TA SAS, very good.

 

[BIG-TARGET]

Bear has a website you will find it if you google his name. There is a pic on there of him wearing uniform packing a parachute. He is also an Honorary Lt. Commander in the Royal Navy and wears his SAS para wing on a Navy Mess Dress jacket.

Doesn't the SBS wear the same wings???

 

[Tourist]

Doesn't the SBS wear the same wings???

Nope, they is different.........subtely, but honest they are different. The chappie who designed them told me that he was after a more classic WW2 look for the SBS wing and ended up with something that has been compared to a canoe with a parachute in the middle......apt when you consider that the SBS are classified as Swimmer Canoeists.

There is also a subtle parachute qualification difference for members of the TA against members of the Regular Special Forces. Regular Soldiers do 8 jumps including one night jump to qualify, members of the TA do 7 jumps excluding the dangerous night jump.

 

[Smith]

To be honest, i think the show is quite entertaining, he was/is a SAS survival teacher (like john lofty wiseman) and i think he show intends to show the far extreme side( mainly for entertainment) i do not think the programme really teaches you too much, but some tips are handy i guess. I do admire what hes done, i mean he broke his back serving in the army, told he was never going to walk again, year later he breaks the world record for youngest brit up everest, thats quite something (even if he is a **rudeword**). I still perfer the claim father like teachings of ray mears though

 

[Zammo]

My brothers business partner broke his back and shattered verterbrate in it. He was in a cast for at least a year and then it was quite some time after that before he could do anything physical. But now he is running marathons and doing 50K bike rides. I wonder if Bear actually did climb everest a year after breaking his back, I find it a bit hard to believe. Maybe we shoould take it with a massive pinch of salt like his programme and other exploits.

 

[Stuart]

My brothers business partner broke his back and shattered verterbrate in it. He was in a cast for at least a year and then it was quite some time after that before he could do anything physical. But now he is running marathons and doing 50K bike rides. I wonder if Bear actually did climb everest a year after breaking his back, I find it a bit hard to believe. Maybe we shoould take it with a massive pinch of salt like his programme and other exploits.

there is no reason to belive that he didnt, it all depends on the type and severity of the spinal fracture. many people 'break their back' (broad term that) and walk away from the accident on there own feet, discovering only later via an x-ray in hospital that they have fractured their spine. In which case the individual is immobilised intentually by the hospital staff to ensure that they dont worsen the situation whilst it heals, the same as you would with any other break.

if the the fracture is relitivly minor and stable, the pateint may be unaware of the extent of their injuries. I have seen this happen with a ski trip accident, the individual was back to normal and none the worse for wear in a matter of months (and was never in a position of being unable to physically walk)

Mr Grylls spine injury may have been relitivly minor as spinal injurys go, but the broad term 'broke my back' and the preconceptions that go with it make for a good drama

he was/is a SAS survival teacher (like john lofty wiseman)

I doubt he was (no evidence either way here), he would have been an SAS 'survival expert' but that is a 'tick in the box' requirment for their training, they all have to be trained in survival and be marked down as a 'survival expert' but that does not make them a 'survival instructor' or prove that they actually know much about survival.

year later he breaks the world record for youngest brit up everest

At no point did he break the world record for the youngest British citizen to summit Everest, that’s not to knock the achievement, just the erroneous statement

 

[Templar]

I find the man to be entertaining, but a little dangerous in the way he dose things, His methods are more like a military E&E exercise than a "survival" get out alive under your own steam thing, I look at him as an entertaining distraction to every day life but feel that what ever he tells me to do I will do the opposite to stay out of any more trouble I might get my self into.

Thats my two cents worth...

Karl

 

[BIG-TARGET]

I find the man to be entertaining, but a little dangerous in the way he dose things, His methods are more like a military E&E exercise than a "survival" get out alive under your own steam thing, I look at him as an entertaining distraction to every day life but feel that what ever he tells me to do I will do the opposite to stay out of any more trouble I might get my self into.

Thats my two cents worth...

Karl

Almost like this kind of course: http://www.gosere.com/