Thursday, April 10, 2014

Les Stroud Vs. Bear Grylls: The Real Survivor

Although the debate may have begun long ago, even today I still hear people talk about who is better: Les Stroud (Survivorman) or Bear Grylls (Man Vs. Wild). If I were to take a stance on this argument, I would have to say that without a doubt, Les Stroud is the king of the wild. Here are some of the differences between the two survivalists:

While Bear Grylls does put himself in some dangerous situations, he always has a crew and medical team following close behind. This is unlike Les, because he is always alone and whatever situation he is in is truly dangerous, never staged. Les often has shots of himself walking far off into the distance. Because he is actually alone, this means that he has to walk all the way out, often climbing up steep slopes, only to have to do it all over again to go back for his equipment.

Even though some may argue that Survivorman does not have enough action and may even be boring at times, I would say that it is more for the educational value. When it comes to Bear Grylls, he tends to go for the shock and aw approach. You will not see Les Stroud bite the head of a live snake, but that is definitely something that Grylls would do.



When it comes to Les, his approach is to teach the viewer how to survive in real life situations. He brings almost nothing with him, and uses his knowledge of survival to adapt to different situations. I am not saying that Grylls isn’t smart or that he isn’t a real survivalist, I just know to take his show for what it is; entertainment. If that is what you are looking for as a viewer then by all means, watch a show where the host brings an entire crew and has a raft prefabricated for himself so that all he has to do is put it together. If you want a show that is going to actually help you survive in the wild, then I would tune into Survivorman.

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