 May I say that BG does not really irritate me. Apart from a faint contempt that I feel for all empty self publicists I am otherwise indifferent to him. However, I will not buy or wear anything that bears his name, why would I? Surely it would show a certain ill judged and unintelligent tendency to revere false heroes? Homer Simpson? Now that's different, the guy rocks and everyone really knows his character is fictitious but unlike BG his personality is based on real people that his creator has encountered.
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 LOL. I was wrong about BG, I can see now that he models himself on the inestimable Survivor Stud.
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Bear is usually on at the same time as Dads Army. No competition 
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 i don't care as i don't watch any of his programmes after catching a glimpse of one werein he was a twonk. "neighbours" is FAR more irritating.
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 I don't know if any of you saw the pilot to the show; set in Montana or Colorado or similar. Bear's techniques were far more 'responsible' and he spent a fair bit of time talking solo to camera describing how isolated & uncomfortable he felt... and how much he missed his wife & children. It was really quite good. As was his programme about taking a few misfits onto a simulated French Foreign Legion basic training camp. And his propellor-driven flight over Everest was good TV too... A that so say that I think he's capable of doing things right but for BS /MvW he's doing stuff that should never be aired as documentary tv. You'd pick up better survival skills from watching reruns of McGyver. Whether that's the fault of his production team or his own input I couldn't say.
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Correct me if I'm wrong bt Lofty Wiseman was SAS then left it and made money on back of what he had learnt there. What about McNab bloke wasn't his first break a "biog" of sorts about his action in Iraq to be followed up with other works of aledged fiction? Wasn't there that guy who broke his back in the services and is now making a living following his experiences albeit through climbing talent.
I am sure there are many others who have cashed in on their military experiences yet don't get the same level of hatred / bile spilt out about them. All I say is fair play to the lad, he's providing quite hhandsomely for his family doing fun things too while travelling the world. If you could have gotten away with his career wouldn't you? I call that jealousy, something we in Britain do very well. Of course being special forces he should at least know his stuff. He is doing his own style of infotainment programme just like Ray Mears is, just doing it a bit more for the ADHD crowd than the venerable Mears. Each have their own markets and doing well within those markets. Just be aware that he can walk the walk as well as talk the talk despite it not showing in those 5* hotel survival stints that we all claim to know about after the gaffe came out. BTW how many of those shows were really near enough to such hotels? USA based ones maybe but do you not think some could have been filmed from a jungle base camp somewhere where he stayed with the crewe. Give the guy a break and accept him for what he is, a TV presenter who actually has skills. I mean it could have been done by Ben Fogle.
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 Well, I understand it was originally gonna be the American production version of Survivor Man. But Survivor Man did not wanna play ball by signing away his artistic rights of programme content - ie keeping it realistic - and so they got Bear instead who would allow them to control what he did more! The original name for the show was planned to be Stranded with Bear Grylls. They found out there in polling people in trial showings that no one particularly wanted to be stranded anyplace with Bear Grylls or anyone else for that matter! So the programme was re branded before release in the US as Man Vs Wild. That later got re-edited with less commercial break time in as Born Survivor across Europe. Thus I think for some of the not so good stuff we should blame Grylls himself; as it is all being done in his name, so he ought to argue his case more against the production company, to get things looking better in the show and more realistically played. At present there is too much showing off for the camera, and show boating in climbing waterfalls etc that do not need to be done; that would be ill advised actions to follow if one was that untrained person trying to survive thus in such a situation, as stipulated at the show start!
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| Edited: 06/07/09 14:36 |
A lot of stuff. Yawn
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| Edited: 06/07/09 14:41 |
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Don't be so egocentric Trev. 
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Sorry Mal, I responded just to the yawn there! I see now you've since added something else! I thought my droning on about the Bear was what was putting you to sleep there first off! lol
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| Edited: 06/07/09 14:51 |
Someone said they wouldn't buy stuff with his name on it, why? IF indeed it is good stuff and meets your needs then why rule it out. With gear I go for the best (IMO) compromise between cost, performance and features with weight thrown in there somewhere too. I think to rule out what is effectively Craghoppers gear just because they did a deal to put a TV personality's name on the stuff is a bit of throwing th baby out with the bath water (think that analogy works). Trev - I think BG is really just a presenter so why do think he has any clout with the production company? I think you only get that if you have a big name or presence which he hasn't. I mean Survivor Man didn't sign up to this because he wanted control but he has been around for a while and has a bigger fan base that someone who was pretty much un heard of when this programme started. I agree some of the things he did would not have been recommended in a survival situation but there is some validity in showing how to get out of stupidity related predicaments. He recently crossed a frozen lake that had qestionable thickness of ice and promptly got across but had to move around the edge at the other side until he fell in. That was purely to prove a point by doing what you shouldn't. He also showed how to get out and made some effort to show how to survive the aftermath. Whilst most sensible people would walk around. Some wouldn't and if his showboating for the entertainment value had any benefit it must have helped the idiots to know what to do. Personally I watch about 1/4 of one episode in total of each serious just to see what people get so hett up about him for. I think there is a little bit of mis-understanding as to what he is doing here. He is a presenter of an entertainment show based on the outdoors with some information thrown in. He is not showing you how to live in the outdoors like RM does (which TBH is also a little ridiculous as who cares about making a wooden spoon when a perfectly adequate titanium, long handled one is in your pack). You want dry information then Ray Mears, you want 30 - 60 minutes of entertainment then Bear Grylls. You want entertaining information then you have a problem as there is no such programme on TV. BTW does anyone remember thee Lofty Wiseman survival programme? I am sure I didn't imagine him doing one. I'd love to see that re-shown on tv. Would the grand master of survival still go down well in today's world of tv information?
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| Edited: 06/07/09 14:59 |
Com ab ifan - not all of us can produce your quality of punchy witticisms. Besides I'm trying to out-Trev Trevor with the length of posts. Obviously you don't agree with what I say so find it boring.
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Trev, the problem is that you are all over the place like a rash and often before other people have had a chance to respond to a particular post you interpose your own. In future, when I am responding to a particular person I shall have to start my post by addressing that person.
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Someone said they wouldn't buy stuff with his name on it, why? IF indeed it is good stuff and meets your needs then why rule it out. With gear I go for the best (IMO) compromise between cost, performance and features with weight thrown in there somewhere too. I think to rule out what is effectively Craghoppers gear just because they did a deal to put a TV personality's name on the stuff is a bit of throwing th baby out with the bath water (think that analogy works). Trev - I think BG is really just a presenter so why do think he has any clout with the production company? I think you only get that if you have a big name or presence which he hasn't. I mean Survivor Man didn't sign up to this because he wanted control but he has been around for a while and has a bigger fan base that someone who was pretty much un heard of when this programme started. I agree some of the things he did would not have been recommended in a survival situation but there is some validity in showing how to get out of stupidity related predicaments. He recently crossed a frozen lake that had qestionable thickness of ice and promptly got across but had to move around the edge at the other side until he fell in. That was purely to prove a point by doing what you shouldn't. He also showed how to get out and made some effort to show how to survive the aftermath. Whilst most sensible people would walk around. Some wouldn't and if his showboating for the entertainment value had any benefit it must have helped the idiots to know what to do. Personally I watch about 1/4 of one episode in total of each serious just to see what people get so hett up about him for. I think there is a little bit of mis-understanding as to what he is doing here. He is a presenter of an entertainment show based on the outdoors with some information thrown in. He is not showing you how to live in the outdoors like RM does (which TBH is also a little ridiculous as who cares about making a wooden spoon when a perfectly adequate titanium, long handled one is in your pack). You want dry information then Ray Mears, you want 30 - 60 minutes of entertainment then Bear Grylls. You want entertaining information then you have a problem as there is no such programme on TV. BTW does anyone remember thee Lofty Wiseman survival programme? I am sure I didn't imagine him doing one. I'd love to see that re-shown on tv. Would the grand master of survival still go down well in today's world of tv information?
Yes, the tv show for kids you remember was not Lofty sadly but rather the equally very good Stay Alive With Eddie McGee. Lofty has done videos for BCB International though, and recently did an effort on dvd for Trueways Survival School which I will be talking about at some length here very soon! Watch this space Lofty fans! Lofty too has been involved with a number of tv shows doing training for Castaway members for instance. Notably too Lofty did a fantastic up the jungle programme for British tv a few years back ago that was with the great commedian Lenny Henry! Very very funny!
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| Edited: 06/07/09 15:04 |
Didn't know he did knives. Kind of cashing in like RM then. What is it with cotton t-shirts in outdoors ranges? I mean there are some decent looking functional clothing why cotton fabrics. I keep looking in gear shops for short sleeved base layers (t-shirts) and everytime I see something looking decent I notice the cotton on the materials list. It is not just Craghoppers / Bear Grylls stuff.
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