Bear Grylls: Fraud
For many days the people I associate with have been pestering me to watch a television program on the Discovery Channel called “Man vs. Wild”. As I am a bit of a contrarian I have resisted such efforts. Admittedly the show, as has been described to me, is some what intriguing. Essentially Mr. Grylls aka Bear is dropped out in the middle of nowhere and left to find his way back to civilization using only his own devices. Now I read though that everything isn’t as it would appear: Mr. Grylls apparently enjoys staying in hotels while he’s on his little travels, at least while he was filming a series called “Born Survivor”:
…an adviser to Born Survivor has disclosed that at one location where the adventurer claimed to be a “real life Robin-son Crusoe” trapped on “a desert island”, he was actually on an outlying part of the Hawaiian archipelago and spent nights at a motel.
On another occasion in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains where he was filmed biting off the head of a snake for breakfast and struggling for survival “with just a water bottle, a cup and a flint for making fire”, he actually slept some nights with the crew in a lodge fitted with television and internet access. The Pines Resort at Bass Lake is advertised as “a cosy getaway for families” with blueberry pancakes for breakfast.
The article goes on to cite other examples and also includes a spokesperson spinning some excuses for Bear. Ah well. My sister will be crushed.
Bear is an all American hero and would never decieve me like that
all American hero?? he’s british…
If you were a television personality worth, potentially, millions of dollars, and you went into the wilds where animals — although it’s highly unlikely that they would do it, especially as you have a camera crew along — could, potentially, bite your head off;
and if you drank the swill from elephant dung and did a number of other obnoxious things to your body for the sake of alerting the public how to survive under extreme conditions, o, lot of us who might have to, and, actually, if things ever get to Mad Max proportions, we might have to; or just for the fun, and profit, of it;
do you think you might not deserve a night or two, before, or after — or even during — filming, in a motel, which, might, after all, being as it is near some of the destinations, a little on the order of a survivor destination in itself, particularly if you could very well have Lloyds of London running after you pantingly trying to make sure that you don’t manage to kill your insured self at every turn? I don’t know if he’s insured, I’m just guessing.
I miss the show on Discovery, and now we have Survivorman, which is certainly a more rational approach to survivorship, and, seemingly more “real.” But I’m not sure if either of these guys is in harm’s way. Again, if you want to actually finish your series, it’s probably good to take precautions. And if you at least teach people something that is enjoyable — except maybe for the drinking of your own urine, which both have, in one way or another, accomplished, then I find it a little hard to find fault with the show, or shows.
Les stroud, is much more of a naturalist. Les is always by himself while dealing with survival strategy. Bear Grylls never seemed to be the real deal. Bear always seemed to try so hard while he was on his so called excursions.
I think I would do better in a survival situation on my own than take Les Stroud’s survival techniques. He can’t even catch a fish! He has a hell of a time lighting a fire. He is equipped with things that a normal person most likely would not have on them. Bear might have stayed elsewhere for a few nights, but at least he gives you excellent tips if and when you are ever caught in situations that require you to go into survival mode.
I still give Bear alot of credit for what he does. That is showing people how to survive. Who cares if he stays in a hotel!
It’s obvious that he is not living the survivor’s life it’s tv, please! there is no salary that can pay all the suffer that the real people who lived in that situations felt.
Hey he served for the British SF, climbed Mt. Everest now is part of a very educational and entertaining show that will give people outstanding survival tips. Who cares if it’s not as hardcore as it is portrayed to be, which I don’t believe. Being in the American Army myself, the stuff he does ON camera is difficult and painful enough to get my respect.
What the heck…..I have seen episodes where Bear has had to rely on other people in his crew to catch him dinner….at least Les does it alone….he has to work 3 times as hard with his camera equipment. Bear has help…and can ger pulled out of a situation when needed. Les has to actually wait the 7 days before his crew starts looking for him! Thats a real survivorman.
ever thought about reading his book, or other survival guides, i’ve dedicated years to studying wild life, plant guides and leave no trace techniques. every time i watch his shows i still learn something new, i spend alot of time in survival situations and saved one of my friends lives in some white water over a water fall because of what i have learned from bear, so get off your damn computers, go outside, and see if you can do it, bloggers probably couldn’t last the night in a hotel if their cell phone died. i for one think bear is an amazing individual, and motivational speaker. p.s. moorilla you forgot to say that he was the youngest person ever to climb everest and he has an honary commission as a lieutent colonel in the royal navy. respect him.
He probably didn’t write the books anyway. He’s the Robert Irvine of nature.
If you watch the show much they have a discaimer on there saying that some challenges have been “presented” to him to show how you could do it. They never said he was out there and it is exacly what happended the whole time. Its a show for entertainment
He’s great at doing what he does, doesn’t matter if he sleeps in a motel or enjoys at resorts. I enjoy every one of his shows just for the sake of knowledge.
Grow up man!
if you were faked with what he was doing and then i have to say that you are slow,
so what if he spend the night in hotels?
only you are the one who judges him,
its cool to see him what he is doing,
dont be a wak job and stop acting like a baby who just lost his barbie doll,
Man vs. Wild is an education show not if he can survive so i give him a lot of credit what he teaches you could save your life !
Bear sucks, every step of his “SURVIVAL SCENERIO” is ploted out for him. More than half the crap he does WILL GET YOU KILLED, he is a cheat and a liar. When Will Feral went on his show, it truly became a comady.
Also note, drinking piss will kill you, dont ever do this!!!