Man vs. Wild – Fantastic entertainment with an edgy lesson

Man vs. WIld - Bear GryllsLately I have been really into the shows, Man vs. Wild, and Everest: Beyond the Limit. I find Man vs. Wild much more engaging than the Everest show, but my fascination with mountains and the images from those regions keeps me watching it. Everest is an amazing place, and a phenomenon all unto itself – but I have no desire to ever scale it, so I am content to watch the other crazies do it.

Bear Grylls as the host of this show, seems like a great fit. He has a pretty dynamic personality and is just extreme enough to not be in the realms of a freak of nature. Don’t get me wrong, this guy is not right – I mean, why would you really do what he is doing on a regular basis? I dunno. I would very much like to go to the places where he goes, but to deliberately park myself in harms way where it could take upwards of two days in some cases to get out? Better him than me.

This is a great show though. The thing that really gets me is he goes in with a water bottle, knife; not some Rambo-wannabe croc killer knife either, a wimpy little folding pocket knife, and a flint. That’s less gear than what I carry on my pack when I go humping around the bush looking for stuff to photograph. I always carry a 4" pocket folder (not any better than Bear), a compass, and (usually) two water bottles. I have to give him props for guts though.

This last show, he was in Hawaii and was dumped on the Kilauea volcano. He hit some spots so hot that his boots started to melt! WTF? Then he goes and drops into an old lava tube to look for water – and while he’s in there you hear some rock falls. I’m learned some great stuff too though (like all the ones I have seen so far), the fact that there are no poisonous spiders or snakes in Hawaii – which I thought there would be.

It’s a good show to watch, and I hope it sticks around a while – although I would imagine it has somewhat of a finite lifespan to it – but then again, I think Dirty Jobs is in its third season now? I wouldn’t have expected that either.

Give it a look-see – it won’t be a waste of time. Besides, how often do you get to see a guy take a wizz-bang on a tee-shirt, than wrap that bad boy around his grape to stay cool in the desert?

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