Bear Grylls

DampCat

DampCat

DampCat

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I want to avoid the usual Bear Grylls complaints. We know he is never far from civilization, they have filmed their "remote helpless" situations on the edge of golf courses and we all know Ray Mears is more awesome. So lets skip all that.

Bear Grylls, is bloody well dangerous.

I'm just watching an episode now on Discovery where he is trapped in a Rainforest/Jungle. He's trying to find his way back to a trail... and has come across a phenomina he describes as a "Viper Pit". This is essential natural erosion by underground stream/river that has caused the "ceiling" of the cavern (ie, floor of the jungle) to cave in, giving access to the underground river.

Now. Bear Grylls' "survival" advice at this stage is to climb down into this cavern using wood vines.

Now forgive me for being overtly sensible... but he is advising people to climb into dark, wet, unstable, dangerous caverns in the hope it might lead you to a trail. This, aside from being stupid on his part, is just damned irresponsible! Now that he's in this cave he is banging on about how a flash flood would kill in you in minutes or the cavern could collapse without warning. Now... why would anybody be allowed to advise the public to put themselves in that situation?

I know little about survival in the wilderness. What I do know, i've learned from Scouts, or TV shows. The seemingly obvious piece of advice that crops up most often is "conserve your energy and take no unnecessary risks".

Previously on a different show, he advised when on a Glacier to climb down into ice caverns in the hope it will lead you to the sea. Seriously? Climb down into wet, melting ice caverns where you can't see the exit and once inside would be impossible to climb back out up the wet, icy wall? He punctuates these ridiculous suggestions with climbing down the face of waterfalls or jumping from tree to tree, or other over-the-top actions which in no way represent a manner to conserve your energy and certainly do not infer caution.

I can forgive the "filmed in a studio in New Jersey" misrepresentation if the show is providing an important message in keeping people alive or possibly saving a life. All this show does is show him running around like a moron in a manner that nobody should attempt were they ever in a life threatening situation.

At the very least they should remove the word "Survival" from the show. Rename it "Bear Grylls acts like a **** in a forest" and there would be no concern, but dressing it up as advice to outliving the wilderness is just dangerous, and irresponsible.

Just need to add this: He just used the words "I have no idea how deep this pool is at the bottom, it might only be inches deep".. and then jumps in from a 10 foot shelf. Hello, broken legs. How about showing us a method to discover the depth of said pool, or a way to avoid it?
 
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i can't say many people would find themselves in these situations; ultimately it's an entertainment show, and you can hardly deny he's an entertaining chap...
 
Bear Grylss :

Former S.A.S
Lieutenant commander of Navy reserves
Was the youngest Britain to climb Everest.
youngest Britain to climb Ama Dablam
The first unassisted crossing of the north Atlantic Arctic Ocean, in an open rigid inflatable boat


OP :

Watched some Ray mears?
???

Yes it is entertainment but he isn't just some random guy he knows his stuff. Ray mears is interesting but People want some action they want to see what its like in worst case scenarios and thats what Bear does. He shows the worst case scenario. Yes some of the things are a little extreme and there might well be a better alternative in some of his shows. But hes doing it to show the viewer what to do if that alternative isn't there.
 
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I'm not sure what my experience has to do with it? You don't need to be in the SAS to know sliding down into an Ice Cavern in the hope of a path to the sea with no way to return, ensure your safety or even be certain of what's in the cave that you can't exit is a bad idea.

If you don't know its a bad idea, sanaxe, i worry for your future.

I'm not saying he isn't skilled, im saying suggesting that people do the stuff he does is irresponsible and dangerous. If somebody was lost in the wilderness and thought it was a good idea to jump off every waterfall into a pool of water they would die very, very soon.
 
DampCat said:
I'm not sure what my experience has to do with it? You don't need to be in the SAS to know sliding down into an Ice Cavern in the hope of a path to the sea with no way to return, ensure your safety or even be certain of what's in the cave that you can't exit is a bad idea.

If you don't know its a bad idea, sanaxe, i worry for your future.

I'm not saying he isn't skilled, im saying suggesting that people do the stuff he does is irresponsible and dangerous. If somebody was lost in the wilderness and thought it was a good idea to jump off every waterfall into a pool of water they would die very, very soon.
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Do you know what show it was so i can look on youtube? Most the shows i see with him on hes always on about conserving energy etc.
 
I dont. The episode with the underground river and climbing down the face of the waterfall and leaping into unknown pools was set near the "abandoned port of portabello" and was to do with gold mining. More than that im unsure.

The Glacier one was Alaska, i think, but it was some time ago. I just remember being gobsmacked at the "descend into the dangerous icy cavern" suggestion.
 
I find his shows incredibly entertaining, I agree with the OP though some of his advice is so far fetched that no one in that situation would ever consider doing what he does. The most recent one I can think of was climbing a 200ft railway bridge in Montana, now before he even started I was thinking to myself how on earth is he going to climb the over hanging ledge when he gets to the top, he didn't even consider this until a few hours later when he reached the top where he then made a makeshift hook on the end of a chain and swung it over and climbed up. Or the time in the desert where he climbed down a disused well for a bit of water and he nearly fell back down (40ft) on his way out again.
 
He just likes to explore, that's all.

You said yourself that he emphasises the dangers of, for example, the 'viper pit' and how you could meet your end by climbing into it. Not that anyone will find themselves in these kind of situations but if someone was unlucky enough to do so then they will remember that Bear said bad things can happen and they'd stay away.

It's just entertainment at the end of the day.
 
ok watching the Alaska one now and :

hes at the edge of the glazier with a 40ft drop the only other way down.
deadly weather is on the way so he needs to get down ASAP.
He says there unstable and you should check the ice is solid
He says "ONLY DO THIS AS A LAST RESORT"


Climbing down the waterfall :

Says its risky , but hes a experienced climber. And would prefer to do the waterfall then the thick bush with bears.
Says take your time andWarns about the rocks , then tells you some basic climbing rules.
 
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Hunders said:
It's just entertainment at the end of the day.
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This.

Stop looking at it like its being construed as the ultimate guide to survival.

Its not and never will be, its a scripted, acted show about a likeable bloke doing stupid things in remote places.

Decent recipe for some good TV if you ask me and I like it.

Some of the stuff he eats is simply beyond comprehension and some of the other things he does (e.g sleeping in a camel's corpse) are plain nuts.

I'd much rather be watching Bear than the total and utter drivel that is being aired on the main channels.
 
It's good TV, to assume he is actually giving sound survival advice is a little silly.

I mean you just wouldn't do some of the stuff he does. And how many people would have a lovely sharp knife and some flint ready to make fires?
 
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What i don't get is;
if he's never far from civilisation, then surely he's not really 'starving' or 'dying of thirst' in his tv shows?
Then how and why the hell would be pull the eyeball from a long dead sheep and chew on it in front of camera?
Or open up the rotting carcass of a camel, obtain the contents of its stomach and squeeze the liquid from it for 'much need hydration'.
OMGZ.....i can understand people would do it in absolute desparation, but that guy must want to do it........ EEUGHGHG...RAAALLLFFFF !!!!

Oh, did you see the show where he took a micro-lite higher above everest than any human has been......nutt-errrrrrr !!!!
 
Banzai_Joe said:
What i don't get is;
if he's never far from civilisation, then surely he's not really 'starving' or 'dying of thirst' in his tv shows?
Then how and why the hell would be pull the eyeball from a long dead sheep and chew on it in front of camera?
Or open up the rotting carcass of a camel, obtain the contents of its stomach and squeeze the liquid from it for 'much need hydration'.
OMGZ.....i can understand people would do it in absolute desparation, but that guy must want to do it........ EEUGHGHG...RAAALLLFFFF !!!!

Oh, did you see the show where he took a micro-lite higher above everest than any human has been......nutt-errrrrrr !!!!
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Because the more disguising things eat causes sensation, sells to more networks and gets him more money.

That being said, if I was to go on holiday with any of these adventure people it would be in this order

Bruce Parry (he would make friends with the locals and seems quite good at hunting)
Ray Mears (you would get some nicer food, and he could whittle something out of wood for you)
Bear (nothing would make me travel with him, just because he would make me eat a live snake, or my own wee)
 
I see it as entertaining TV which I think is it's intention. I suppose the reason he eats the things he does is to show you what you can eat if you were desperate, and puts himself in mad situations to show people how to come out alive if you are ever unlucky enough (never for 99.9% of the viewers) to be there yourself. He doesn't need to teach you how to walk through a forest, walking is easy!
 
Banzai_Joe said:
What i don't get is;
if he's never far from civilisation, then surely he's not really 'starving' or 'dying of thirst' in his tv shows?
Then how and why the hell would be pull the eyeball from a long dead sheep and chew on it in front of camera?
Or open up the rotting carcass of a camel, obtain the contents of its stomach and squeeze the liquid from it for 'much need hydration'.
OMGZ.....i can understand people would do it in absolute desparation, but that guy must want to do it........ EEUGHGHG...RAAALLLFFFF !!!!

Oh, did you see the show where he took a micro-lite higher above everest than any human has been......nutt-errrrrrr !!!!
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He is far from civilisation. it was only a couple of times he was close to civilisation or didn't camp out. And a Narrative was added over telling this on the episodes after the controversy.
 
I love how he heads towards an old rotting tree, rips back the bark and pulls out a fat mega juicey maggot and then nom nom's it which makes its guts fly out! Now I dont wretch at things these days but that really did make me feel sick lol.

Then later he barbacues some tarantula only to get the squits lol.

I dont know whether to pat the bloke on the back or call him a prat!
 
ElectroBlaster said:
I love how he heads towards an old rotting tree, rips back the bark and pulls out a fat mega juicey maggot and then nom nom's it which makes its guts fly out! Now I dont wretch at things these days but that really did make me feel sick lol.

Then later he barbacues some tarantula only to get the squits lol.

I dont know whether to pat the bloke on the back or call him a prat!
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Pat him on the back obviously. :p

He does daft stuff to show you how you cope in the very worst case scenario. and let's be fair, it's entertainment. He's funny, damn good at what he does.

He's better than Ray Mears for this, because he tells you the worst case scenario, or tell's you something not to do - and then goes and does it, to show you exactly why you shouldn't do it.

He's an idiot, but he's really skilled, and really good to watch.
 
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