Ok well since I have never actually had a chance to say anything on this subject I might as well. Ok I don't even think they're the same kinda show. Ray Mears has a show about bushcraft which at least to him is living comfortably in a wilderness environment and so he has some gear and stuff because he isn't saying "hey, I'm out here alone surviving and here's how you do it." he's showing you wilderness living techniques and skills. Bear is saying that he's out surviving although I think everyone knows he isn't. He's basically an insane version of Les Stroud that's all about doing crazy stunts and eating gross stuff. Sure he was in the SAS and he's done some stuff that alot of people can't, but does that have anything to do with bushcraft at all? NO! He's a military guy and his show probably appeals more to the folks that like Rambo kinda survival. I think he's more comparable to Les Stroud but I don't think he's nearly as good. I mean Les is out there alone, doing all the camera work AND all the actual survival stuff. Bear is out there with a camera crew that actually helps him with building his shelters and stuff that he doesn't really sleep in cause he's actually in a hotel. So what I'm saying is that Bear cheats IMO. He's like "Oh it's getting late so my camera crew will help me with my shelter." or "Ok so I didn't catch any rabbits in my snares but somehow I managed to buy one at the market in the middle of the woods, so here's how to cook it." I think that if your showing how to survive, and you don't catch a rabbit, you really shouldn't have one to eat. Also, if people actually followed his survival advice, they'd probably end up dead. I saw one show where I think he was in some jungle or something and there was a little stream, so instead of taking off his socks, rolling up his pants and walking across, he decided to leap to a branch hanging over the stream. I think he said something like "if I walk through I'll get wet, so I'm going to jump to that branch and stay dry but if I slip I'm just going to get wet so I might as well try to stay dry." but the thing I was thinking was, if you slip, your gunna smack your head off the rocky river bottom and drown. He also never really makes a fire by friction or anything. I'm not really a fan of the show as you can probably tell so I haven't seen them all but he always just pulls out his swedish fire steel. Once I saw him try to do the hand drill method but when he said there was an ember, there wasn't even any smoke and then he said it went out so instead of trying again he just whips out his firesteel. His show is fake, everyone knows it but it's still on because they say "It's not saying he's really surviving, he's just showing how to survive.". Ok well that may be true but he sure leads you to beleive he's surviving and besides, if he was showing people how to really survive, I think there'd be alot more injured people out in the woods.
Anyways, that's my opinion. Nice rambling eh? lol