Bear Hating

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
9
Brigantia
Must be surreal to become a public figure, and come onto somewhere like here, and see so many strong opinions about yourself from people you've never met.

Cant see the attraction in fame myself. [Aside from the wealth of course]
 

Adze

Native
Oct 9, 2009
1,874
0
Cumbria
www.adamhughes.net
Perhaps "What Jeremy Clarkson is to motor maintenance..." would have been better than Top Gear. James May doesn't appear to be such a stranger to a socket set as JC and Hammond owns a Land Rover so is presumably also relatively familiar with fixing things.
 

Adze

Native
Oct 9, 2009
1,874
0
Cumbria
www.adamhughes.net
I went looking to see what he was up to now. I honestly hoped that he'd put the worst excesses of animal cruelty and faux survival behind him :sigh:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...les-ordinary-people-survival-specialists.html

He seems quite happy to fake everything :dunno:

M

Daily Mail article above said:
Kiff McManus (circled left), Rupert Smith (circled, third from left), Dan Etheridge (circled, second from right) and Matt Bennett (circled, far right) have worked as crew in other extreme programmes before

Hang on... isn't third from left and second from right the same person when you're talking about a line up of four people? So 2nd from left has no name and 3rd from left has two identities... definitely dodgy that, nice one Daily Wail!
 
Why do you care so much? It's showbiz, and that's all it is; it counts for nothing whatsoever in the real world; it's meaningless!

I don't care about him or his shows, but find it a bit sad when I read a post on here where someone put what they bought as a newbie purchase and most of the replies all slated his choice in knives because he bought a Gerber knife with BG on it. The general trend for the comments were "I wont buy anything with his name on it". Similar posts were written when Gryll's new program was discussed ("I don't watch anything with him in it) and it made me wonder why people are so opposed to him. Is it because he is catering to a mainstream audience and so is not allowed to be associated with bushcraft? Other presenters make equally stupid/pointless programmes based on bushcraft yet do not seem to get the same level of criticism.

I agree that people can like or dislike someone but why refuse to use a product that carries their name without even looking at it objectively or trying it. I dislike Chris Evans but will often listen to Radio 2 in the morning because there is good music on his show.
 

demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,694
712
-------------
I don't hate him, I just find his stuff makes him out to be a right drama queen.
No doubt someone will waffle on about him climbing Everest now but I know two blokes who have climbed Everest and neither of them is in any way shape or form a drama queen so Ner.
 

tom.moran

Settler
Nov 16, 2013
986
0
40
Swindon, Wiltshire
I don't hate him, I just find his stuff makes him out to be a right drama queen.
No doubt someone will waffle on about him climbing Everest now but I know two blokes who have climbed Everest and neither of them is in any way shape or form a drama queen so Ner.


either of those two blokes have a TV program?
 

jacko1066

Native
May 22, 2011
1,689
0
march, cambs
He is young, he's English, he is hugely successful in his industry and he is a wonderful family man. We should be celebrating him for being one of us, and that's it in a nut shell!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

rg598

Native
I don't care about him or his shows, but find it a bit sad when I read a post on here where someone put what they bought as a newbie purchase and most of the replies all slated his choice in knives because he bought a Gerber knife with BG on it. The general trend for the comments were "I wont buy anything with his name on it". Similar posts were written when Gryll's new program was discussed ("I don't watch anything with him in it) and it made me wonder why people are so opposed to him. Is it because he is catering to a mainstream audience and so is not allowed to be associated with bushcraft? Other presenters make equally stupid/pointless programmes based on bushcraft yet do not seem to get the same level of criticism.

Well, to be fair, he takes it to a whole other level of stupid programming. I tend to be very critical of all TV bushcraft/survival personalities, but I don't find any of them to be as willing to promote outright dangerous and unsafe activities for the sake of a paycheck, as Bear.

The question about why people don't like the gear he produces or the shows he makes, is a different question from why people don't like Bear in general. The answer is simply one that experience has lead people to not trust the brand. If I've bought products from him before, that turned out to be defective or designed more to look cool than to function well, then I am not going to be willing to buy another one. It's just not how it works. We don't shop in a vacuum.

Same thing applies to his shows. After you've seen a few, you form an opinion as to whether or not you like shows made by that person. And to be fair, he never disappoints. I am yet to see a Bear Grylls show where someone didn't jump off a cliff, crawl through mud, hang from a rope bridge, go in a cave, or eat something disgusting. So, when I hear that he has a new show, I'm sure you understand why I am less than excited.

I bet that if you go to the individual threads and actually ask people why they think that buying his knife or watching his show is a bad idea, they will be willing to tell you exactly why.
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
26
Cumbria
I think it's just entertainment, most tv survival is. You would never jump off a waterfall into rapids on a normal hike, or go into a cave with a torch made from twigs, but someone who has no interest in the outdoors wants to watch this sort of thing as it appeals to them more.

I think he's a nice bloke, and I do watch him a bit I don't do anything I see him do, I don't think any of the programmes are pretending to be that realistic , I think everyone knows (or should realise) it's not always real, but it's better than the soaps for sure!

In real terms, or to me anyway, survival is common sense paired with general wilderness skills. And it's the nature of TV that they want to make it appear mor Rambo, I enjoy those films, but I'm never going to do anything I see in them. It's entertainment, not education. I think many people are against it because as Ross said, it's promoting dangerous activity to the public.

Anyway, just my 2p on the subject :).
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,136
2,874
66
Pembrokeshire
He demonstrates about as much honesty and integrity as his father did, he is needlessly cruel to animals for the sake of a quick TV stunt and I refuse to support him financially by buying or endorsing any of his products.

Is that simple enough for you?

Yup - works for me!
 

Robbi

Full Member
Mar 1, 2009
10,244
1,036
northern ireland
He demonstrates about as much honesty and integrity as his father did, he is needlessly cruel to animals for the sake of a quick TV stunt and I refuse to support him financially by buying or endorsing any of his products.

Is that simple enough for you?

His father ?

Please explain that comment.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE