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 Bear Grylls "Man vs. Wild" off Discovery Channel
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  10:27:55  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
"Survival expert" Bear Grylls ("Man vs. Wild") and Discovery Channel ("Science, History, Space, Tech, Sharks, News!") have parted ways, apparently for the wrong reasons:
Bear Grylls of 'Man vs. Wild,' Discovery part ways

Don’t cry for recently axed “Man vs. Wild” host Bear Grylls.

True to his insect-eating, urine-drinking, rapids-braving TV persona, the 37-year-old has said he'll survive to tape another day.

His comments come after the Discovery Channel announced Tuesday that it was dropping the charismatic British adventurer and his survival show after six years.

The culprit? Failed contract negotiations.

“Bear's goal has always been to make life-empowering shows for his many fans around the globe, and he has taken great risks to bring Discovery such award winning programming over seven seasons," Grylls' rep Heather Krug said.

. . .
My opinion of Bear Grylls is that his show wasn't so much a program about learning how to survive, as about learning novel and thrilling ways to die.

A guy who takes as many wild risks as Bear shouldn't be teaching his ways to people who want to live. I've seen him drink bad water, eat bugs he had to spit out, dangerously swim out to a shipwreck for no good reason, and climb down a deep well-shaft to try to get water in the North African desert. (For purchase, he used sticks wedged against the shaft's sides. When one of the sticks broke while he was climbing out, someone from the production crew saved his life by grabbing his hand just in time.) I suspect Grylls has either killed people by his bad example, or that such deaths are only a matter of time.

I much prefer the "Man, Woman, Wild" series for its risk reduction take on survival. In one episode in Alaska, the man and wife team simply called in their chopper when things went very dangerously bad.

A very public humiliating but proper lesson, unlike Bear Grylls, whose ego wouldn't let him even mention how handy a film crew could be in a pinch!

In real survival, you take as few risks as possible, and use any help you can get in a crisis.

I also love the very intelligent "Dual Survival," in which an outdoorsy hippy and a snake-eatin' vet cooperate and demonstrate their varied but useful survival skills.

I hope Bear Grylls will not be given another chance to train people to take enormously stupid risks. He's tough as nails and skilled as Hell, but I think he's nuts.

Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.

Edited by - HalfMooner on 03/15/2012 11:29:12

Kil
Evil Skeptic

USA
13476 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  11:45:29   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Kil's Homepage  Send Kil an AOL message  Send Kil a Yahoo! Message Send Kil a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yeah. Pretty much. But on the other hand, if you just happen to be stuck in the middle of an African tundra with no water or food and you are by yourself, there are some good tips on how to survive that. The question is, how many of his viewers will actually find themselves in that situation? My guess is pretty close to none.

Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.

Why not question something for a change?

Genetic Literacy Project
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Fripp
SFN Regular

USA
727 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  12:43:26   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Fripp a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I've always been more of a Tom Brown, Jr fan.

"What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a small thermal exhaust port that's only 2-meters wide! That thing wasn't even fully paid off yet! You have any idea what this is going to do to my credit?!?!"

"What? Oh, oh, 'just rebuild it'? Oh, real [bleep]ing original. And who's gonna give me a loan, jackhole? You? You got an ATM on that torso LiteBrite?"
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict

2830 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  17:01:45   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send sailingsoul a Private Message  Reply with Quote
From you OP Mooner it seems you learned quit a bit from watching the show. I'm not sure what to think about a survival show that features a barefoot desert expert .

There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS
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moakley
SFN Regular

USA
1888 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  17:34:43   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send moakley a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I always enjoyed Les Stroud Suvivorman. Must have been a pain to take some of those long shots of himself and then have to return for the equipment.

Life is good

Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  21:16:05   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Kil

Yeah. Pretty much. But on the other hand, if you just happen to be stuck in the middle of an African tundra with no water or food and you are by yourself, there are some good tips on how to survive that. The question is, how many of his viewers will actually find themselves in that situation? My guess is pretty close to none.
Yeah, there are special cases like the African tundra. And if you're in the jungles of Iraq, knowing to hire yourself some ninjas could be handy, too.

Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  21:22:35   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by sailingsoul

From you OP Mooner it seems you learned quit a bit from watching the show. I'm not sure what to think about a survival show that features a barefoot desert expert .
Yes, but Bear mainly taught me negative lessons. Bear always chooses the most exciting survival options, and those are rarely the best for, like, staying alive.

Oh, Cody from "Dual Survival"? Yeah, that barefooted thing's just crazy, but at least his partner tweaks him about it constantly on the show. And he's a world-class marvel at starting campfires. I like the "Dual Survival" guys' attitudes. They find water, make shelter, find food, advertize their presence, and look for a way out, the priorities of all of those subject to conditions.

Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
Edited by - HalfMooner on 03/15/2012 21:41:56
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  21:23:30   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by moakley

I always enjoyed Les Stroud Suvivorman. Must have been a pain to take some of those long shots of himself and then have to return for the equipment.
That's one I've got to check out.

Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2012 :  21:38:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Fripp

I've always been more of a Tom Brown, Jr fan.
From the Wiki, he seems great.

Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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Fripp
SFN Regular

USA
727 Posts

Posted - 03/16/2012 :  06:17:44   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Fripp a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by HalfMooner

Originally posted by Fripp

I've always been more of a Tom Brown, Jr fan.
From the Wiki, he seems great.


When I was a young impressionable teenager, his books made me into a wanna-be mountain man. Though there some skepticism about his claims, an instructor I had in the Navy who was a point-man/tracker in Vietnam said Tom is the real deal.

And, yes, I realize that last sentence sounds like "my best-friend's-mother's-cousin's-butcher's-son says..."

"What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a small thermal exhaust port that's only 2-meters wide! That thing wasn't even fully paid off yet! You have any idea what this is going to do to my credit?!?!"

"What? Oh, oh, 'just rebuild it'? Oh, real [bleep]ing original. And who's gonna give me a loan, jackhole? You? You got an ATM on that torso LiteBrite?"
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HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/16/2012 :  08:43:55   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yeah, but that instructor was alive to testify.

Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
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