bear grylls thing

[galanthus]

Probably spelt his name wrong

Anyhoo, I just sat down to watch his survival programme in the desert, looked good in the write up

It was horrible. I watched for around 20 mins and he ate a spider, scorpion and lizard thing. I would have expected this if he was genuinely stranded in the desert and fighting for life, however, he has obviously been dropped here with the remit of making sensationalist tv. He didn't have to kill and eat any of these creatures, he could have just explained how and why they were edible. All I saw were marvellous creatures suffering for a tv audience.

Am I alone in this ?

[Darley]

It's entirely possible they were dropped in the desert along with BG, bred specifically for the purpose of making TV shows. He does make a point of not eating endangered species, but I agree it's all done purely for entertainment, and is a bit tasteless (excuse the pun!)

[epops]

Don't be so hard on him he's gotta have somthing to munch on before he has his slap up dinner in the hotel when his couple of hours filming is done

[Lancashire Lad]

Bear Grylls' programs have more set ups than You've Been Framed.

Everything is put across with a "look at me, I'm holding a deadly snake that's trying to bite me" sort of sensationalist attitude.

This article: -
How Bear Grylls the Born Survivor roughed it - in hotels | Mail Online -
gives quite an entertaining revue of how Mr. Grylls actually operates.

At least Ray Mears does this sort of program in a much more watchable, matter of fact style. Although I'm not overly keen on any of these bushcraft types of programmes.

Give me Johnny Kingdom any day - infectious, entertaining, and far more relevant for educating general public on all thing natural history.

Regards
Mike.

[deer boy]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

Give me Johnny Kingdom any day - infectious, entertaining, and far more relevant for educating general public on all thing natural history.
Regards
Mike.

From what i hear there isn't going to be anymore JK programmes

[ellen h]

Originally Posted by epops

Don't be so hard on him he's gotta have somthing to munch on before he has his slap up dinner in the hotel when his couple of hours filming is done

Now aint that the truth!!!

[Stewy]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

Give me Johnny Kingdom any day - infectious, entertaining, and far more relevant for educating general public on all thing natural history.

Indeed JK is excellent but you can't really compare him to Ray Mears though can you? After all I've never seen JK showing people how to survive in the wild ie making fires, building shelters etc,etc..........

Ray Mears is excellent and I love his programs, Bear what's his face is just an idiot, I watched one of his progs and he was biting the head of a live snake and in another he jumped out of a tree into a swamp but had to do a backflip in the process all in the name of "entertainment" I suppose.

Idiot.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Stewy

Indeed JK is excellent but you can't really compare him to Ray Mears though can you? After all I've never seen JK showing people how to survive in the wild ie making fires, building shelters etc,etc...

Yes but then, you've never seen Ray Mears extolling the sheer delight in just watching a deer, or being able to interact with a badger either.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Kingdom is any better than Mears. - They both present different subjects.

Of the bushcraft type of program, Mears is undoubtedly the best, but how many people who watch television find themselves needing to be able to start a fire from just twigs or eat "bush tucker", when compared to the numbers of people who enjoy nature for what it is?

I am of course excluding those indigenous peoples such as aboriginies, innuit etc. who have to have such skills to survive.

Mears is exceptional in his knowledge of his subject, but I find the likes of Kingdom more watchable - purely because it is more relevant on a personal level.

(Each to his own and all that. ).

Regards
Mike.

[ron1863]

Bear Gryllis was another of these bushcraft people who was exposed last year. He was supposed to be spending the night in the mountains, desert etc when in fact he was sleeping in hotels and I imagine Ray Mears spends most of his time in McDonalds because the man doesn't look as if he has roughed it very much, though he is very knowledgeable.

[Surrey Sam]

So it may have a little poetic licensing about it, but I shall not hold it against the programme because if it can enchant a hundred or so couch potatoes to get up and learn more about the outdoors and to experience it further, then that can only be a good thing.