The Island With Bear Grylls

  • 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.

ex-member BareThrills

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 5, 2011
4,461
3
United Kingdom
Ill have to disagree with you there, putting a knife through the poor things skull isnt going to contaminate the meat. common sense would tell you to bring a knife if you were checking a net for food. Even if you only had 1 knife.

in that sort of heat and level of potential contaminants id want my food living as close to dinner time as possible. I though they treated the act of slaughter with great dignity.
 

Bluffer

Nomad
Apr 12, 2013
464
0
North Yorkshire
Bit disappointing that they hadn't found the coconuts or figured out how to sleep off the ground after a week?

I think the call centre guy might crack, or at least plummet downwards into despair for a while.

I don't want to be a spoiler mate, but I've heard they ate him in Week 3 to put him out of his misery?
 

Joonsy

Native
Jul 24, 2008
1,483
3
UK
you just dont get that level of sensitivity with nets like that. You also dont want to sit in a mangrove overnight surrounded by predators. Do bear in mind these guys have no skills and that is the point of the show. Its easy to sit at home with knowledge and level criticism but these guys are winging it as they go.

yes you do actually get that sensitivity, i have caught literally thousands of fish in nets of that sort, by holding the line to the net between your fingers you can feel a fish hit a net up to fifty yards away, that net was only thirty feet long you would have easily felt a fish hit it, i know from personal experience i am not guessing, vibration is very sensitive in water, and besides the floats also indicate caught fish too. I take your point about sitting surrounded by predators in a mangrove swamp but they had a long clean sandy beach to set from instead, i have often been surrounded by predators overnight when using nets but they were usually the human kind.
 

Greg

Full Member
Jul 16, 2006
4,335
259
Pembrokeshire
Too many armchair critics on this thread...remember guys you are members of this forum which...I would hope...means you are all keen outdoors enthusiasts.!
The lads on the island are not...they were chosen because they have no experience or previous interest in outdoor pursuits...let alone how to go about surviving for a month with limited resources on a tropical desert island.
Its about time that should be realised.
I take my hat off to them for having the guts to take on the challenge....I've know plenty of people ...squaddies included..that would say "sod that..!!"
 

Greg

Full Member
Jul 16, 2006
4,335
259
Pembrokeshire
As for was stuff planted on the island...go to any beach in th UK..or anywhere for that matter and you will find rubbish of all kinds washed up...Fact..!!
 

Ape_Ogre

Tenderfoot
Apr 26, 2010
89
0
Southport, UK
I watched both shows, found the first a tad slow, but the second, for me, was both interesting and entertaining. As someone who works in front of a computer all day and has only in the last few years started 'dabbling in the outdoors' I can fully empathize with them, when I loiter on this forum I see all the stunning craft work, trips taken and knowledge and feel utterly in awe of the skills on show. I wander through nature thinking 'what is that plant?' and 'would it be edible?'.

Just from reading and trying a few skills out at the weekend and on holiday however I feel I could have been pretty useful in that group. The killing of the cayman was respectfully done I feel and obviously upset a number of them, as it should have done, even at home I felt a little moved. I didn't enjoy seeing the beast bound and gagged and carried but I understand the necessity of the act.

All in all, enjoyed it and will be watching the rest. Part of the fun is thinking how you would have done things differently put in the same situations. It would have been interesting to have had two groups, one unskilled with little knowledge and one of individuals skilled and knowledgeable, just to see the difference in standards of living...
 

cranmere

Settler
Mar 7, 2014
992
2
Somerset, England
As for was stuff planted on the island...go to any beach in th UK..or anywhere for that matter and you will find rubbish of all kinds washed up...Fact..!!

I once made useful amounts of cash sitting on the beach at Ipenema braiding bracelets on tourists' wrists using washed up cordage and shells. A couple of years back I made an alcohol stove from washed up cans, a small net, bits of camp furniture, a candle lantern and more, again from stuff on the beaches. Which is a long winded way of saying that I doubt very much whether the beaches on the island have been deliberately seeded. I consider it more likely that the crew removed stuff to make it more difficult, taking away coconuts and some of the more useful stuff wouldn't surprise me in the least.
 
Last edited:
Im pretty ****** of they didnt put that poor caiman out of its misery. Instead they tied it up and dragged it back to camp to decide who kills it!!


no a sensible thing to keep it live till needed we have no idea of time scale but assume they found it in the morning as they went to check the nets we have no idea how long it took to carry back (only seconds on edited TV) and they cooked it when it was dark its tropical and the meat could have gone off and easily got contaminated if killed and gutted on the spot to be carried (open flesh) back to camp and hold till later to cook etc Unless you saw a cold larder for safe meat storage etc (remember they cocked up the fish by having it dead to long before eating)

Binding the jaws and tieing the legs like that is the way you see most crocs and such bound when moved by experts for relocation they did have its eyes covered as well at least for some of the footage again as is done.
Croc%2B2.JPG



the only bit i would criticize from the position of my comfy armchair with a full belly and time to think about it is not to put the stick thro the legs and suspend it like that

but we can all pick massive holes in the whole thing ;) cant we.

barr the 4 camera team put in 2 of who worked with Bear G previously (who i suspect .... being paid will have been told to keep back as much as possible) they have picked people who have pretty much no exp or knowledge of survival or bush craft and have only had the 1 day training before being dumped So are going to make massive mistakes
 
Too many armchair critics on this thread...remember guys you are members of this forum which...I would hope...means you are all keen outdoors enthusiasts.!
The lads on the island are not...they were chosen because they have no experience or previous interest in outdoor pursuits...let alone how to go about surviving for a month with limited resources on a tropical desert island.
Its about time that should be realised.
I take my hat off to them for having the guts to take on the challenge....I've know plenty of people ...squaddies included..that would say "sod that..!!"



I agree no body even asked if the BG parangs where from a new batch that dont snap ;) and could I have a Dorset Woodland Blades Parang instead Mr Bear :lmao:



there focus does seem to be on the knives and getting meat but that could because of the perception in general of survival in the public mind and/or due to the focus of their one day training under BG etc
 

Blaidd

Nomad
Jun 23, 2013
354
0
UK
So being told that some of the participants are crew is somehow misleading. Not sure I follow, but then Mr Midgely is a freelance journalist and only gets paid if he sells a story, and I note that he doesn't say it IS misleading, but that viewers should decide. He'll be exposing the fact that TOWIE and Made in Chelsea are not real documentaries next. Welcome to the new style, partly scripted, reality show. If you don't like them, you shouldn't watch them. Please don't watch just so you can be outraged like some rabid Daily Mail reader. Even David Attenborough is on record that he adds noises to silent animals to make it more interesting for TV.
 
Mar 15, 2011
1,118
7
on the heather
Yeah I really enjoyed the 2nd show, I've never been to the tropics but I don't believe for a second "and correct me if I'm wrong" the fish apparently caught overnight rotted in less than 12 hours , but I take my hat off to the two dude's that cought that croc.#### that..
Now I know its sill early days yet and its probably just creative editing but COUGH Lord of the Flies...
 
Last edited:

cranmere

Settler
Mar 7, 2014
992
2
Somerset, England
I've never been to the tropics but I don't believe for a second "and correct me if I'm wrong" the fish apparently caught overnight rotted in less than 12 hours
I have, it does. We used to catch fish when I was yachting around the oceans and we ate them pretty much straight away because within a few hours they would be smelling unpleasant without refrigeration. We didn't have the problem of flies at sea but no doubt that island has a good collection of bugs that will bring in extra bacteria.
 

BCUK Shop

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

SHOP HERE