Man vs. Wild

Man vs. Wild
File:Man vs. Wild title screen.jpg Man vs. Wild title screen
Starring	Bear Grylls
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	33 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	45 Minutes (without commercials)
Original release
Network	Discovery Channel
Release	October 27, 2006 – present

Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, also called Man vs. Wild or Ultimate Survival , is a survival television series hosted by Bear Grylls, on the Discovery Channel in the United States, Canada, India, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and Russia. In the United Kingdom, the series is shown on both the Discovery Channel and on Channel 4. The series is produced by British television production company Diverse Bristol. The show was first broadcast on November 10, 2006 after airing a pilot episode titled The Rockies on October 27, 2006.

Episode locations in Man vs. Wild (updated Sep 2008).
Red - Season 1 pt 1, Blue - Season 1 pt 2, Green - Season 2 pt 1, Yellow - Season 2 pt 2, Orange - Season 3 pt 1.

In the show, Grylls both demonstrates and narrates techniques for wilderness survival in regions around the globe, from ice fields and mountain ranges to swamps and deserts. The general format of each episode is that Grylls is dropped into the region simulating a stranded explorer/tourist. The episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring an overnight shelter of some kind. Bear also tells about successful and failed survivals in the particular area he is in.

The program has shown him eating raw meat and live fish, staving off hypothermia, and drinking the fluids of elephant feces and his own urine for hydration. In advertisements for Season Two of Man vs. Wild, Grylls is shown eating an enormous grub while the announcer states, "Does Bear Grylls really need to do these things? Yes he does and so might you."

Given the premise that Grylls completes the episodes unaided, the amount of help Grylls receives off camera and during filming the show has been debated, and attracted press and viewer comment. In the pilot episode, Grylls was made to wear a concealed lifejacket for one scene for health and safety reasons. For subsequent shows he has insisted all sequences be performed his way.

In April 2008, Grylls and Discovery released a book that includes survival tips from the TV show.

Man vs. Wild is similar to a competing Discovery Channel series Survivorman. In that show, however, the survival expert (Les Stroud) is not accompanied by a camera crew, but has a significant production and safety crew nearby that he communicates with at least once each day.

Episodes

Main article: List of Man vs. Wild episodes

Season One

1. The Rockies - Rocky Mountains, United States – (pilot episode) – (October 27, 2006)
2. Moab Desert - Moab, Utah, United States – (November 10, 2006)
3. Costa Rican Rain Forest - Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica – (November 17, 2006)
4. Alaskan Mountain Range - Chugach Mountains, Alaska, United States (November 24, 2006)
5. Hawaii: Mount Kilauea - Mount Kilauea, Hawaii, United States - (December 1, 2006)
6. Sierra Nevada - Sierra Nevada, United States – (December 8, 2006)
7. African Savanna - Northern Kenya, Africa – (December 15, 2006)
8. European Alps – French Alps, France - (December 22, 2006)
9. Hawaii: Deserted Island - Hawaii, Pacific Ocean, United States – (December 29, 2006)
10. Everglades - South Florida, United States – (June 15, 2007)
11. Iceland - Iceland, North Atlantic Ocean – (June 22, 2007)
12. Mexico: Copper Canyon - Copper Canyon, Mexico - (June 29, 2007)
13. Kimberley, Australia - Kimberly Region, Western Australia – (July 6, 2007)
14. Ecuador - Ecuador, South America – (July 13, 2007)
15. Scotland: Cairngorms Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland – (July 20, 2007)

Season Two

1. Sahara - Sahara Desert, North Africa (Part 1 of 2) – (November 9, 2007)
2. Desert Survivor - Sahara Desert, North Africa (Part 2 of 2) – (November 16, 2007)
3. Panama - Panama, Central America (Part 1 of 2) – (November 23, 2007)
4. Jungle - Panama, Central America (Part 2 of 2) – (November 30, 2007)
5. Patagonia - Argentina, South America (Part 1 of 2) – (December 7, 2007)
6. Andes Adventure - Chilean Andes, South America (Part 2 of 2) – (December 14, 2007)
7. Bear Eats - Special - (December 21, 2007)
8. Zambia - Zambia, Africa - (May 2, 2008)
9. Namibia - Namibia, Africa - (May 9, 2008)
10. Ring of Fire, Part 1 (Jungle) - Sumatra, Indonesia (Part 1 of 2) - (May 16, 2008)
11. Ring of Fire, Part 2 (Island Castaway) - Sumatra, Indonesia (Part 2 of 2) - (May 23, 2008)
12. Siberia, Part 1 (Tiger Forests) - Siberia, Russia (Part 1 of 2) - (May 30, 2008)
13. Siberia, Part 2 (Sayan Mountains) - Siberia, Russia (Part 2 of 2) - (June 6, 2008)

Season Three

1. Baja Desert - Baja Peninsula, Mexico – (August 6, 2008)
2. The Deep South - Louisiana, United States – (August 27, 2008)
3. Ireland - Ireland – (September 3, 2008)
4. South Dakota - South Dakota, United States – (September 10, 2008)
5. Man vs. Wild: Bear's Essentials - Special - (September 17, 2008)

According to Discovery Channel the current season is season 3. Some viewers have mistaken it for season 5 because each season is split into two separate parts.

Other locations still not dated but confirmed: Yukon, Norway, Carpathian Mountains (Romania), Eastern Turkey, Belize, Dominican Republic, Antarctica, and Oregon.

Bear's Blog 25 September 2008: Anyway, the new Channel 4 series starts in the UK next week, every Sunday night at 6.30pm. It is not always on at 6:30 though.

Criticism

After a series of exposés by the Daily Mail, the show was put on hiatus while Discovery reviewed claims that it deceived viewers. The show resumed on September 24, 2007, with a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode, scenes removed, and altered voiceover indicating where situations were staged. The decision to rebroadcast the show on British Channel 4 is yet undecided.

Realism

Grylls has stated numerous times on camera that he is not to receive any assistance unless his life is in danger. However, in July 2007 it was reported in the mainstream media that Grylls allegedly received aid during some sequences of certain episodes. In response to criticism, British Channel 4 issued a statement saying that:

"The programme explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls' experience is one of unaided solo survival. For example, he often directly addresses the production team, including the cameraman, making it clear he is receiving an element of back-up."

An article on the BBC News website also reported on the sentiments of Channel 4 towards the allegations:

"The broadcaster [Channel 4] said Grylls carried out his own stunts and did place himself in perilous situations, "though he does so within clearly-observed health and safety guidelines required on productions of this kind"".

The Discovery Channel said that future airings would be edited (including a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode) so as not to imply to viewers that Grylls was left alone to survive during production of the show. Since then, Grylls has stated on camera when he has received assistance in order to demonstrate survival tactics (such as attaining a dead camel from Saharan indigenous peoples to show viewers how to extract water from the carcass and make a shelter for sand storms) or is exiting the setting for a period of time due to safety concerns (as in the episode in the Scottish Highlands). Grylls also tells the cameras filming behind the scenes footage how the film crew sometimes assists him in order to film certain sequences (such as rummaging for earthworms for food along with Grylls in the Patagonia episode or when a crew member caught a salmon which Bear then ate during the Alaskan mountains episode).

On August 3, 2007, Grylls posted on his blog that the "press accusations of motels and stagings in the show that have been doing the rounds, all I can say is they don't always tell the full story, but that's life and part of being in the public eye I guess."

In response to allegations of spending nights in local hotels as opposed to staying in the shelters built during filming, Grylls clarifies in an article in the December 3 issue of People Magazine that:

“Episodes take about ten days to tape, explains Grylls: “The night stuff [shown on camera] is all done for real. But when I’m not filming I stay with the crew in some sort of base camp." Episodes now clarify when Grylls gets support from his crew and when situations are staged, “We should have done that from the start,” he says. “The more you see, the more real it feels.””

In spite of allegations, The Discovery Channel has released behind the scenes footage showing how sequences of Born Survivor are filmed. In the footage, while setting up a scene, each production crew member is introduced and their role is briefly explained, including a safety consultant who served in the Royal Marines. During the scenes, Bear Grylls tells how each crew members' role ensures his safety while he explains survival tactics. The footage includes open discussion over a safety harness and other precautions and also contains the production crew doing various takes with Grylls during dangerous stunts (including three sky diving jumps from a helicopter in the Patagonia episode). The crew of Born Survivor go to great lengths during filming to comply with safety regulations without any pretense of covering up their actions. No member of the production crew, including Grylls, attempts to alter or omit details of how episodes are filmed in the behind the scenes footage. Portions of the footage can be viewed on YouTube. As well, the DVDs contain a notice stating that Bear will receive help from the camera crew on occasion, that he will in certain situations use provided safety equipment to minimize risks, and that he will occasionally deliberately put himself in a situation to demonstrate the techniques for surviving it.

Survival advice

On March 13, 2006, the show's first survival consultant, Ron Hood, posted on his website:

"I want to remind everyone that Bear is very capable and highly skilled in survival skills. We both objected to portions of the show when we filmed but thought we knew that my narration would enlighten the viewers about the hows, whys and wherefores of what look like dangerous activities. When that narration was removed it left Bear looking like he was clueless. He is not clueless. He is clever, courageous and capable. If anyone can save this show it is Bear. As I posted when we started this project months ago, the show was supposed to be a new format that was drama driven with an educational and adventure component. The script I have looks nothing like the final show."

"I think Discovery did the viewing public a serious disservice by excluding the educational narration and concentrating on travel. Someone WILL attempt river travel as shown and there will be problems. Others will run from camp because they hear noises... Someone will attempt a rappel with paracord. People are like that. Discovery holds a huge credibility advantage and that alone will act as an endorsement of the actions seen in the show. Keep in mind that a LOT of people saw the show and a few of them are ignorant enough to attempt what they saw. Disclaimers aside, the presentation looks feasible. The fact that some folks overlooked the errors just proves the point."

See also

• Survivorman, hosted by Les Stroud
• Lofty Wiseman
• Ray Mears
• Tom Brown
• Les Hiddins, the bush tucker man
• Dick Proenneke, survivalist, author of One Man's Wilderness
• Thor Heyerdahl, lived a primitive life and detailed it in his book Fatu-Hiva

External links

• Man vs. Wild Discovery Channel official site
• Man vs. Wild at IMDb
• Bear Grylls official website
• Bear Grylls personal blog
• Bears photos on Picasaweb
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• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ol4_1vSLO0